We nearly had a night where every lower seed came out victorious. The Hawks (a sub-.500 team!) held their home court last night against the Pacers. As did the Grizzlies, who survived in OT against the Thunder to take a big 2-1 series lead. So, which team is feeling more pressure now that they’re down 1-2: the Pacers or the Thunder? I’m going with Indiana, no doubt. They’re the top seed in the conference and were supposed to have an easy road to the conference finals. Oh yeah, they’re also playing the Atlanta Hawks who were free-falling to end the regular season and wouldn’t be in the postseason, expect that Moe’s Knicks decided to fall a bit harder. It’s such a shame that the Pacers are in this position. But does anyone feel bad for them? Remember that this was the same team that was puffing their chests all season long, claiming that THEY were the team to beat in the conference. The road to the finals was no doubt going through Indiana if you asked anyone the Pacers squad. It starts with their two best players Paul George and Roy Hibbert. George was supposed to continue his excellent form from last season’s postseason. The only thing left is the elite defense but even that isn’t enough to overcome how bad he’s been on offense. And now that we’re on the subject of all things bad, how about Roy Hibbert? He’s supposed be that old-school, defense first, post moves and paint-controlling center who gives all other teams a fit. Now Hibbert sits on the bench for an entire 4th quarter and the Pacers sit on the losing side of a series (so far) against the worst team in the playoffs.
Things aren’t as bleak for Oklahoma City but there’s still reason to be concerned. Once again, the Thunder were able to fight back to force overtime but once again, the Grizzlies were a bit better and took home the victory. It’s 2-1 for Memphis with possibly their best game of the series. Why is that? Well, for one, they didn’t need a massive game from Zach Randolph to win. Z-Bo put up a nice stat line (16 pts, 10 reb, 6ast) but he didn’t jump off the page. Unless you remember how much he owned the paint and continues to be the go-to man in crunch time. I like the Grizzlies so far but their tendency to let the Thunder back into games worries me a bit heading forward. How do the Thunder respond? I’m not buying the “chemistry issues” that are supposedly going on between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Yeah, Westbrook took some ill-advised 3s but at least he made some of them. Aside from Derek Fisher making his only attempted 3, only Westbrook was able to knock down the shot from long-distance. Durant did score 30 but needed 27 shots to do so. The Thunder just need to move the ball around a bit more and be more effective on offense because going down 1-3 might be spell doom for one of the favorites.
The Clippers (non-Lakers LA team for those wondering) are also among the favorites to win the title and bounced back nicely once against, this time on the road. There was a bit of controversy to end the game but overall, a nice win for the Clippers as they take the series lead. I’m surprised that the Warriors were within striking range to end the game because up to that point, LA had a pretty strong hold on the lead. But then when I think about, it’s less and less surprising for me to watch a Golden State rally. They have the type of players and team that is built for scoring barrages. Then you add that crowd and anything is possible. Last night the Warriors crowd left the area in silence though. Who was best for the Clippers last night? It starts with Blake Griffin, who at times looked like he was not going to be denied the bucket. But how about DeAndre Jordan with this stat line (14 pts, 22 reb!, 5 blk) last night. If that’s not and inside presence, I don’t know that is. It’s going to be very interesting to watch the rest of this series as the Warriors essentially are on the ropes now. There’s so reason to stress how big of a difference 3-1 is to 2-2 when it comes to 7-games series.
Remember everyone: you can spend all of tonight glued to your TV watching the NBA playoffs. Same goes for the entire day on Saturday and Sunday. Act accordingly.
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