if okc would have shot like that against denver, they'd have swept them. minny needs conley to be playable this series.
Knicks were up 14 with 2:51 left in the game: lost. I don't know how many games this will go, but I'm not sure how you bounce back from that, losing HCA in that way. Knicks almost lost in regulation on Tyrese's insane Don Nelson shot. My gawd. He thought he'd won it, doing the Reggie Miller "choke" move. Maybe that hubris bites 'em in the azz in OT? Naw... With 20 secs left in OT, IND up 1. OG's pass gets deflected off..was it Nembhard? and then off Brunson's fingers. IND wins the challenge, takes the ball out...and Toppin gets a dunk off the play? WHERE was the Knicks D? That's a monumental eff-up and might have cost them everything right there. Now IND is up 3 with 15 secs left. Brunson misses a 3, KAT misses a 3, Bridges gets the board, loses it out of bounds: game over. Wow. You're at home in the ECF in Game 1, up 14 with 2:51 left and lose. Rough night to be a Knicks fan. Edit to add: saw that ESPN researchers had Knicks up 14 with 2:51 left: a 99.8% chance to win.
toppin was hacked on that dunk and the officials ignored it, too. i really thought they were going to give brunson the flop on that three attempt the next time down, and today it would have been pandemonium on the internet had the knicks pulled it out. i don't think the series is over, but the knicks' margin for further error just shrunk a ton. adam silver anxiously rocking in a corner in fear of a pacers vs. min/okc final right now...
WCF game 2: another drag, as OKC just pulled away, MIN couldn't get a run going. The entire stadium all wearing the same color creeps me the eff out; maybe that's just me. Looks like a damned fascist Amway cult er some jit.
^^^ ... so they can run those ever so state of the art colored spots on different sections of the crowd
looked like the knicks were going to come all the way back, but the pacers showed some poise. i really like watching their more egalitarian offense. really, everyone but the knicks that's left does a pretty good job diversifying their offensive approach. i felt like we were on the right track for a while last year but in the playoffs, we bogged down into more iso ball (really moved away from ball movement as the season went on, too). hopefully jj is watching how rick carlisle uses a lesser player in haliburton--he gets plenty of touches and is heavily involved, but doesn't spend all the time just dribbling/floating out top. watching indy in general really makes me want to get that extra perimeter defender this summer, too. we can't get a myles turner, but there might be a path to a nesmith type.
Man, we should be up there in this last phase, what a wasted opportunity. There are rare seasons, where you just know the trophy is up for grabs, this is one of them
As the playoffs began, the two teams that had that "we just caught fire recently" vibe were MIN and IND. Or at least that was what I was seeing. It looks to me like MIN's fire has swindled to sparks, while the Pacers are still on that roll that has the whole team just picking up each other. I hope MIN can win both #3 and #4, but all those guys barely of Drinking Age on OKC are a nightmare, aren't they? Meanwhile, I have the nagging feeling that there's just something about a Good Player that also has them as a Loser, until they prove me wrong. KAT is like that for me. I find it really difficult to picture him winning it all, anywhere. And yet: Thibs shouldda given him more mins in Game 2. Mitchell Robinson defends the rim, but you need more with those matchups. Myles was 1-4 from deep, usually open looks from the corner. He hits a few more of those and it's embarrassing for NYK. Robinson can't get out there on Myles. And I'm better than Robinson from the line, so that's another achilles for NY.
Game 3 made plenty of sense to me: no way is OKC clearly the better of the two teams, despite the first 2 games. Let's see how MIN responds back home: won by 42 pts. Smashed them in the face from the tip and won the 1st Q 34-14 and won all the other quarters too, shot 20 of 40 from deep and shot 57% for the game, out-rebounded OKC 50-31. Just: ownage. Semblance of sanity. History of playoffs though: often the team that gets annihilated comes back and wins the next game. I expect Game 4 to be a good one. Wish I could say the same for the Knicks in Game 3. We'll see what adjustments Thibs makes with playing time and matchups. There's some talk about benching Hart to get Robinson and KAT on the court at the same time, which feels a bit desperate to me. But hey: you dropped the first 2 at home. May as well. Hell: you ARE desperate!
maybe thibs makes me look silly, but i agree that going twin towers seems more like a desperate straw grasp than a chess move.
Game 4 of WCF: OKC beats MIN in MIN to go up 3-1. 128-126. Really good game. World class competition, obviously. Either one of these teams beats IND or NYK in the Finals. Play of the game: Chet's block on Jaden's shot at the rim with about 39 secs left. 16 secs later Jaden hits a 3 to cut OKC's lead to 2, but that was it, really. OKC: 19 ORB: only 17 DRB. Wow. MIN: 21 turnovers. A lot of those were OKC's D though. Both teams making tough shots throughout. MIN shot 51% for the game; OKC 50%. Man...
may have mentioned this elsewhere, but it turns about the two centers thing wasn't the formula--sitting brunson for defensive reasons was! the press said zilch about this that i've seen, and the announcers were uncomfortable during the 4th quarter as the knicks grabbed a lead with brunson watching--noticeably annoyed. all the bellyaching about luka's or austin's defense, and nobody ever mentions that brunson grades out pretty terribly on that end, every year, no matter who's surrounding him. we're not allowed to, because he's short or something. people were gleeful when towns was on the bench down the stretch the previous game (he's not a winning player!). but in this one, towns carried the whole offense during that critical period that saved their season. first game where both teams showed up. wish we saw the first two games from minny in our series!
Both teams showed up in a big way, but Minny was at home in a must-win and couldn't get crucial stops. 19 offensive boards for OKC. Caruso protecting and scoring at the rim. Man...
Well, I picked MIN in 6, which puts my predictions for various series at 2-3089 so far. Something like that. I suck. OKC with their screaming hordes of pasty creepazoid fans buggin' jump out to 26-9 lead after the 1st Q. Yea, it was bad. You gotta win, MIN. You come out and score 9 (nine) in the 1st Q. Hey: not exactly answering the bell. Okay, so you need to have a strong 2nd Q, get back in the game. But this was where the wheels fell off: two wheels. And you's on a bicycle at the time. OKC wins the 2nd 39-23. You're in a 3-1 hole, in a gawdawful place like OKC, down 65-32 at halftime. It looks bleak. But that's an understatement. Pretty much the entire 2nd half was garbage. Kills me to say it, but OKC's D is what got them the win in 5. That one loss they didn't show up. They will WAX whoever they play in the Finals. Meaning they will wax the Pacers. OKC in 5. Anyone think IND has a snowball's chance here?
Admittedly I only watched the highlights of the last Pacers/Knicks game but there was a stretch in the 4th quarter that felt like a bit of a throwback with KAT and Turner going head to head getting multiple touches and outdueling each other. I miss that
Yeah. The Pacers have guys that can score and defend too. It depends on how the officials call the games. It should be an entertaining series.
they have to get there first. i believe they will, but you best believe the league office wants to give the knicks EVERY OPPORTUNITY to pull off the miracle. all the opportunities. indy will have to outplay them dramatically in one of the next three games. i think they probably will, though. after that...on paper, i like that indy has an elite playmaker in haliburton. luka picked okc apart last year, and haliburton will have to do the same. he's not at the same level, but their team constitution is similar to the dallas team that beat okc last year. problem is okc added hartenstein and caruso, so it's not apples to apples in many ways. the denver series seems to have woken up the okc role players, and they're not s***ting the bed like they were in that one. so i have okc pretty comfortably in the finals.
Knicks back at home, backs to wall, show more emotional energy, go up 20 and hold on to make it 3-2. Even though IND took the first 2 in NY, they don't wanna come back to MSG for Game 7. Let's see what these two teams are made of. There's a sense in which IND may have began the playoffs thinking they were playing with house $$$, but now ya gotta put up er shutup. Tyrese had a monster Game 4 in IND: 32/15/12 with no turnovers. Tonight: 8/2/6. KAT had a really good game, but he needs the same game in IND if they want a Game 7. "Emotional energy" sounds like a BS term maybe. What it cashes out to: playing relentless defense, and moving the ball on offense, creating good shots, and every guy paying attention to basic fundamentals. IND already showed they can go into MSG and beat them. Knicks won Game 3 in IND, but it was close. Actually, this was the first blowout of the series. I expect IND to get and play real large for Game 6, but hey: WTF do I know at this point?
