New York Versus Indiana Preview
Eastern Conference Finals
#3 New York (51-31) vs. #4 Indiana (50-32)
Season series: New York, 2-1
Indiana can win if…the Pacers' up-tempo offense breaks down New York's defense and wears down New York's players. The Pacers ranked seventh in the league in scoring (117.4 ppg) and third in field goal percentage (.488) during the regular season, and so far in the playoffs they rank second in scoring (117.7 ppg) and first in field goal percentage (.501). Their fast pace and excellent shooting stretches defenses and puts pressure on opposing players to keep up mentally and physically.
The Pacers started the season a sluggish 6-9, but ended it a sizzling 12-3. They destroyed the East-leading 64-18 Cleveland Cavaliers in five games in the second round, winning game five 114-105 and holding the Cavaliers to 114.2 ppg on .426 field goal shooting during the series. The Cavaliers led the NBA in regular season scoring (121.9 ppg) while ranking second in field goal percentage (.491), so the Pacers appear to be improving defensively at the most important time. The Pacers are not known as a bruising team, but they pushed around the Cavaliers' vaunted double big lineup featuring 2025 Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Tyrese Haliburton led the NBA in assists in the 2023-24 season with a career-high 10.9 apg, he ranked third in the league in assists this season (9.2 apg), and he is currently leading the league in assists during the playoffs (9.3 apg). His scoring and assist numbers are like those posted by a young Magic Johnson, but Johnson was a big-time rebounder while the third way that Haliburton impacts the game is three point shooting, leading the team in three point field goals made in the regular season (218) and tying for second in that category (22) so far during the playoffs.
Pascal Siakam is not flashy, but he is effective and he has championship experience with the 2019 Toronto Raptors. He led the Pacers in scoring during the regular season (20.2 ppg), and he is leading the Pacers in scoring during the playoffs (18.8 ppg). He leads the Pacers in playoff field goal percentage (.547) after shooting .519 during the regular season, and he is second in rebounding (6.2 rpg, just behind Aaron Nesmith's 6.5 rpg).
Myles Turner ranks third on the team in playoff scoring (16.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) while leading the league in blocked shots (2.5 bpg).
Five Pacers are averaging at least 29 mpg during the playoffs, and four of them (Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith, and Myles Turner) are shooting at least .505 from the field, while the fifth (Haliburton) is shooting .474.
New York will win because…the Knicks will slow the pace, keep the games close, and rely on the clutch time heroics of Jalen Brunson, who ranks fifth in the NBA in playoff scoring (28.8 ppg) and seems to make every crucial shot in the last five minutes of close games.
Brunson is built like an NFL safety, and his game is a mixture of physicality, finesse, shooting touch, slick passing, and overall savvy. He does not seem to move fast or jump high, but he has mastered perhaps the key skill for any great offensive player: change of pace. Brunson knows how to get defenders off balance to create openings and also to draw fouls. There is so much talk about Dallas' midseason trade of All-NBA player Luka Doncic for All-NBA player Anthony Davis, but little is said about Dallas lowballing Brunson and losing him for nothing in free agency in 2022. That may turn out to be the worst player personnel move in Mavericks history, which is saying a lot considering that the Mavericks have lost or given up on Steve Nash and Luka Doncic while also breaking up their 2011 NBA championship team, which led to not advancing past the first round of the playoffs from 2012-2021.
Both of the Knicks' major offseason moves have paid dividends. It can be debated if Mikal Bridges is worth five first round draft picks, but there is no doubt that he has been productive during the regular season (17.6 ppg) and the playoffs (14.8 ppg) while playing heavy minutes and not missing any games. After being acquired from Minnesota in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, Karl-Anthony Towns ranked second on the Knicks in scoring (24.4 ppg) during the regular season while finishing second in the league in rebounding (career-high 12.8 rpg), and he is second on the team in playoff scoring (19.6 ppg) while placing fifth in the league in playoff rebounding (11.3 rpg).
OG Anunoby is averaging 15.1 ppg during the playoffs as a solid third scoring option, while Josh Hart chips in with scoring (13.5 ppg), rebounding (8.3 rpg), and assists (4.6 apg). Hart is the Knick most likely to get a triple double and most likely to get a floor burn.
During the regular season, the fact-based narrative about the Knicks was that they could not beat the teams ahead of them in the standings. That narrative has been forgotten after the Knicks took a 2-0 lead versus the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics, and then finished off the Celtics with a 119-81 game five rout after the Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to a ruptured right Achilles near the end of game four.
Coach Tom Thibodeau is often criticized for shortening his rotation and playing his starters for too many minutes, but the two pillars of his coaching style--trust your best players, and try to win every game--are preferable to the load management, tanking, and other shenanigans that have infested the league.
Other things to consider: New York took a 3-2 lead versus Indiana in the second round last year after Jalen Brunson scored 44 points in a 121-91 game five win. Indiana won game six at home, and then demolished the injury-depleted Knicks 130-109 in game seven; by the end of game seven, five of New York's top eight rotation players were unavailable due to injury. It is fair to argue that a healthy New York team would have beaten Indiana last season, and that a healthy New York team should be expected to beat Indiana this season.
Towns provides the Knicks with size in the paint and elite rebounding, but he also stretches defenses with his three point shooting. He seems to drift at times and just float through games, but if he is focused he can have a big impact during this series. His former team returned to the Western Conference Finals without him, so if the Knicks take care of business there is a chance that Towns and the Knicks will face Minnesota in the NBA Finals.
New York will defeat Indiana in seven games.
Labels: Indiana Pacers, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 11:30 PM
Knicks Rout Celtics 119-81 to Reach Eastern Conference Finals for First Time Since 2000
The New York Knicks dismantled the foolish notion that the Boston Celtics might be better without Jayson Tatum, routing the 2024 NBA champions 119-81 in game six to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. During the regular season, the Knicks went a combined 0-8 versus the
64-18 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 61-21 Boston Celtics, but the Knicks took
care of the hobbled Celtics and will now face the Indiana Pacers, who blitzed the Cavaliers 4-1 in the Eastern Conference's other second round series.
The Knicks broke the franchise record for largest margin of victory in a playoff game after the Celtics gave their fans a brief flicker of hope by winning game five 127-102 sans Tatum, who suffered a ruptured right Achilles in the waning moments of New York's 121-113 game four victory. The Celtics now own the dubious distinction of suffering the worst loss ever by a defending NBA champion in an elimination game, and the 38 point defeat is tied for the third worst in franchise playoff history.
Four New York players scored between 21 and 23 points: Jalen Brunson (23 points, six assists, six rebounds), OG Anunoby (23 points, nine rebounds), Mikal Bridges (22 points), and Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, game-high 12 rebounds). New York's fifth starter, Josh Hart, logged a triple double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and a game-high 11 assists. Brunson led both teams in scoring (26.2 ppg) and assists (7.2 apg) during this series. It is interesting that so much attention is paid to Dallas swapping Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis but little is said about Dallas getting nothing in return for the "Brunson Burner," who had a scorching run during the 2024 playoffs and is quickly establishing himself as one of the most productive playoff performers in Knicks history.
My Eastern Conference Finals Preview will take a deeper look at the Knicks, so this article will focus on the Celtics not only in terms of losing to the Knicks but also regarding the franchise's future in light of Tatum's injury.
It is not clear why Tatum has so many critics, doubters, and detractors, but their voices could be heard loudly after the Celtics won game five without him. It is not surprising for a team--particularly a talented team with a lot of playoff experience--to win one home playoff game without their best player; the challenge is to sustain success without him, and game six spoke volumes: the Knicks outrebounded the Celtics 55-36 while holding the Celtics to 31-86 (.360) field goal shooting, including 12-40 (.300) from three point range. Tatum was the centerpiece of Boston's offensive juggernaut, leading the team in
regular season scoring (26.8 ppg) and assists (career-high 6.0 apg) while also pacing
the team in rebounding (8.7 rpg); he also led Boston in playoff scoring (28.1 ppg), rebounding (11.5 rpg), and assists (5.4 apg). Tatum was Boston's leading rebounder (11.8 rpg) in this series by more than 5 rpg.
We often hear about Stephen Curry's "gravity," but Tatum exercises a significant gravitational pull as well: during the 2024-25 regular season, the Celtics averaged 116.3 ppg while shooting .462 from the field and .368 from beyond the arc, sinking the most three point field goals (17.8 per game) in NBA history. The decline without Tatum was dramatic; the Celtics' 81 points versus the Knicks is their 2025 playoff low by 10 points, and they only scored less than 81 points once during the 82 game regular season; during the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs, the Celtics scored less than 91 points just once.
Tatum has been one of the NBA's most productive players for more than half a decade, averaging at least 23.6 ppg in each of the past six seasons while earning six straight All-Star selections, three All-NBA First Team selections (likely four after this year's voting is announced), and three top six MVP finishes (likely four after this year's voting is announced). He has been even better in the playoffs, averaging at least 25.0 ppg for six straight playoff campaigns while winning the 2022 Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP as the Celtics reached the Eastern Conference Finals four times, and the NBA Finals twice. Tatum has averaged at least 29.0 ppg in five playoff series during his career, and the Celtics won four of those series. He averaged at least 21.5 ppg in 17 straight playoff series dating back to 2020. In terms of signature performances in individual games, Tatum scored a playoff career-high 51 points in a 112-88 game seven win versus Philadelphia in 2023 (outdueling Joel Embiid and James Harden, who have each won a regular season MVP), and he scored 50 points in a 125-119 game three win versus Brooklyn in 2021 as the injury-depleted seventh seeded Celtics defeated a second seeded Nets squad featuring Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. Tatum has scored at least 40 points in three other playoff games, including 42 in game four versus the Knicks this year before rupturing his right Achilles with 3:06 remaining and the Celtics trailing 113-104. Tatum had 11 points in seven fourth quarter minutes, and the series would have been tied 2-2 if he had stayed healthy and led the Celtics to a late comeback.
Last year, Tatum led the Celtics in playoff scoring (25.0 ppg), rebounding (9.7 rpg), and assists (6.3 apg), but the media gave the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP and the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP to Jaylen Brown despite Brown not being as productive or dominant as Tatum. Tatum has a 15-7 (.682) career playoff series record, including 1-1 in the NBA Finals and 2-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tatum's career playoff resume ranks near the top among active players; here are the career playoff series records of the other players who made the All-NBA First Team at least once since 2019-20:
Stephen Curry: 24-6 (.800), 6-0 Western Conference Finals, 4-2 NBA Finals
LeBron James: 41-14 (.745), 9-1 Eastern Conference Finals, 1-1 Western Conference Finals, 4-6 NBA Finals
Kawhi Leonard: 19-9 (.679), 2-2 Western Conference Finals, 1-0 Eastern Conference Finals, 2-1 NBA Finals
Kevin Durant: 22-11 (.667), 3-3 Western Conference Finals, 2-2 NBA Finals (he has four NBA Finals appearances because the Warriors won the 2019 WCF without him and then he played 12 minutes in the 2019 NBA Finals before rupturing his Achilles)
Nikola Jokic: 10-6 (.625, pending the outcome of tomorrow's Denver-Oklahoma City game seven), 1-1 Western Conference Finals, 1-0 NBA Finals
Anthony Davis: 7-5 (.583), 1-1 Western Conference Finals, 1-0 NBA Finals
Devin Booker: 5-4 (.555), 1-0 Western Conference Finals, 0-1 NBA Finals
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 8-8 (.500), 1-1 Eastern Conference Finals, 1-0 NBA Finals
Luka Doncic: 5-5 (.500), 1-1 Western Conference Finals, 0-1 NBA Finals
James Harden: 15-16 (.484), 1-3 Western Conference Finals, 0-1 NBA Finals
Joel Embiid: 5-7 (.417), no appearances in Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 2-4 (.333, pending the outcome of tomorrow's Denver-Oklahoma City game seven), no appearances in Western Conference Finals or NBA Finals
Tatum has also been durable, playing in at least 72 regular season games in each of the six seasons of his career not impacted by COVID-19 (and he played in 66 out of 72 games in 2019-20, and 64 out of 72 games in 2020-21). Tatum has only missed one playoff game out of 121.
Considering Tatum's productivity and durability, it is difficult to overstate the significance of him likely missing most if not all of an entire season during the height of his prime. It is unusual for a reigning NBA champion to lose its best player to injury during the next season's playoffs; perhaps the most prominent such example is Bill Walton's foot injury that short circuited Portland's 1978 playoff run and marked the end of his Portland career, though Walton later won a championship as a reserve for the 1986 Boston Celtics. Magic Johnson suffered a hamstring injury during the 1989 NBA Finals, ending the L.A. Lakers' chance at a "three-peat" after they went 11-0 in the first three rounds of the playoffs, but that injury did not affect the rest of his career, and he led the Lakers back to the NBA Finals in 1991.
Tatum's injury not only sealed the Celtics' fate in an already challenging series versus the Knicks, but it will have implications for next season and beyond. The Celtics had the NBA's third highest payroll ($195,598,491) in 2024-25, and their projected 2025-26 payroll ($223,938,825) is expected to be the league's highest. Brown was paid $49,205,800 in 2024-25, and he will be paid $53,142,264 next season, while Tatum made $34,848,340 this season and will receive $54,126,830 next season even though he will likely miss most of the season. Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White will each make at least $28,000,000 next season. Without getting into all of the financial details, the Celtics are a "second apron" team, which means that they not only have a hefty luxury tax bill but they also face severe restrictions regarding permissible trades and free agent signings.
Thus, the Celtics face some tough and potentially very costly options. Keeping the core roster players will be expensive, is unlikely to yield a championship next season sans Tatum, and ties the franchise's hands in terms of adding depth. The Celtics could reduce their payroll and obtain some financial flexibility by trading Holiday and/or Porzingis. Bobby Marks floated the idea of the Celtics trading Brown to get out from under his massive contract, but it is difficult to imagine the Celtics breaking up the Tatum-Brown duo that has been so successful unless it becomes clear that Tatum will not return to form (in which case the Celtics could decide to do a full overhaul).
The Celtics' situation highlight how fragile success is; if Tatum had stayed healthy and engineered a 10-0 run in the last three minutes of game four, the Celtics would have been two wins away from the Eastern Conference Finals--but instead they are out of the playoffs and facing a very uncertain future.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Jalen Brunson, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
posted by David Friedman @ 8:40 PM
Nuggets Silence Thunder to Force a Game Seven on Sunday in Oklahoma City
The Denver Nuggets have pushed the league-leading 68-14 Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink, winning game six 119-107 to extend the series to a seventh game in Oklahoma City on Sunday. The Thunder are nine wins away from capturing the 2025 NBA title and being recognized as one of the greatest single season teams of all-time--and they are one loss away from forever disqualifying themselves from being mentioned in that discussion. It will be interesting to see how the young Thunder respond to the pressure.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring (29 points on 9-14 field goal shooting), rebounding (14), and assists (eight), but he received significant help from Jamal Murray (25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Christian Braun (23 points, 11 rebounds, five assists). Julian Strawther scored 15 points in just under 20 minutes off of the bench, exceeding his scoring output (14 points) from the previous games in the series combined. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 32 points on 11-16 field goal shooting while dishing for six assists, and Chet Holmgren contributed 19 points plus a team-high 11 rebounds, but the other Thunder players combined to score just 56 points on 24-60 (.400) field goal shooting.
The Nuggets outrebounded the Thunder 52-40, and the Nuggets overpowered the Thunder physically for large stretches of the game. Denver jumped out to a 30-20 lead late in the first quarter, but the Thunder went on a 38-16 run to go up 58-46 at the 2:05 mark of the second quarter. The Nuggets tied the score at 58 before Lu Dort's three pointer just before the buzzer put the Thunder up 61-58 at halftime. The Nuggets outscored the Thunder 32-21 in the third quarter while winning the points in the paint battle 16-12 and outrebounding the Thunder 17-10. Both teams shot worse than .420 from the field in the fourth quarter, but the Nuggets outrebounded the Thunder 16-6, and exploited those extra possessions to outscore the Thunder 29-25. Jokic scored 11 fourth quarter points.
Jokic has been the best player in the series so far, leading both teams with 29.8 ppg and 14.7 rpg. Jokic is averaging 5.7 apg--well below his regular season average of 10.2 apg--but part of his decline in that statistical category is due to his teammates shooting just .393 from the field. Jokic dominated during Denver's game one win (42 points on 15-29 field goal shooting, 22 rebounds, six assists), and he had 44 points on 17-29 field goal shooting in Denver's game five loss, but in games two-four he averaged 21.3 ppg on 21-63 (.333) field goal shooting; it would not be fair to say that the Thunder shut him down, but the Thunder made him much less efficient and somewhat less productive than usual.
Gilgeous-Alexander has had an excellent series, averaging 28.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, and 7.0 apg. Except for his 18 point outing in Oklahoma City's game three loss, he has scored between 25 and 34 points in every game, topping 30 points four times. He is a worthy MVP candidate--and is generally expected to be the winner after finishing second to Jokic last year--but there is no doubt that Jokic is both more productive statistically and more impactful on opposing defenses: Jokic is an elite scorer, rebounder, and passer who punishes opponents physically while also taxing them mentally because he is thinking the game at such a high level. Gilgeous-Alexander is an exceptional player, but a 6-6 guard just cannot affect the game the same way that a versatile big man can.
What should we expect to see in game seven? The Nuggets won game one in Oklahoma City,
got blown out in game two, captured game three to maintain homecourt
advantage, and then lost two straight games to fall behind 3-2 before winning game six at home to avoid elimination. "Experts" speak about "momentum," but the reality is that (1) each game in a playoff series is a separate entity and (2) over the course of a series what matters most is the exploitation of matchup advantages. I picked Oklahoma City to win this series in six games, based primarily on the notion that the Thunder would use their suffocating defense to wear down the Nuggets, which has not happened so far: the series statistics through six games are skewed a bit by the Thunder's 149-106 game two win, but in the other five games the Nuggets have outscored the Thunder 545-534. It is possible that in game seven Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander will cancel each other out, and the series will be decided by the Thunder's superior depth overwhelming the Nuggets; that is the most likely outcome.
However, there are two Denver advantages worth noting: (1) Jokic is capable of skewing everything by putting up a monster stat line (40-plus points, 20-plus rebounds, 15-plus assists) that Gilgeous-Alexander cannot match (his playoff career highs--not in the same game--are 38 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists), and (2) the Nuggets have several veterans from their 2023 championship team (Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr.) who have come through in big playoff games and will not be intimidated by playing on the road in game seven, while the Thunder have only one player who has won an NBA title (Alex Caruso with the 2020 Lakers).
Labels: Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
posted by David Friedman @ 2:59 PM
Pacers Reach Eastern Conference Finals for Second Consecutive Year as Cavaliers' Dream Season Ends in a Nightmare
The Indiana Pacers started the season 6-9 while the Cleveland Cavaliers started the season 15-0, but the numbers that matter the most for these teams are 4-1: that is the final tally of their second round series after Indiana won game five in Cleveland, 114-105. Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers in scoring (31 points) and assists (eight). Pascal Siakam added 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists as each Indiana starter scored at least 10 points. Donovan Mitchell scored a game-high 35 points, but he shot just 8-25 from the field and only had one assist. Evan Mobley contributed 24 points and 11 rebounds.
The Cavaliers finished first in the Eastern Conference with a 64-18
record and they went 34-7 at home--but they lost all three home games to
the Pacers in this series, culminating in game five when they
squandered a 19 point second quarter lead. The Pacers seized homecourt advantage in this series by winning game one in Cleveland 121-112, and then the Pacers took a commanding 2-0 lead by taking game two 120-119; the Cavaliers were missing three key players due to injury--Defensive Player of the Year/All-Star Evan Mobley, All-Star Darius Garland, and De'Andre Hunter--but that is no excuse for enabling the Pacers to outscore them 8-0 in the final 57.6 seconds. The Cavaliers avoided being swept by routing the Pacers 126-104 in Indiana in game three, but the Pacers eliminated any realistic chance for a Cleveland comeback by stomping the Cavaliers 129-109 in game four. The Pacers led 80-39 at halftime of game four while facing Cleveland's full roster, and the Pacers destroyed the Cavaliers in the paint (58-32) for the entire game, making a mockery of Cleveland's double big lineup featuring Mobley and Jarrett Allen. At least one commentator compared Mobley to Tim Duncan this season, and that madness needs to stop. Mobley is a talented and still improving player, but Duncan entered the NBA as a polished, MVP-level player who would have destroyed this Indiana team at both ends of the court.
Six Indiana players averaged between 11.4 ppg and 17.8 ppg in this series, with Siakam (17.8 ppg) and Haliburton (17.4 ppg) leading that balanced attack. Andrew Nembhard (7.2 apg) edged Haliburton (7.0 apg) for team-high honors in assists. Myles Turner had a solid series (16.2 ppg, team-high 7.2 rpg, team-high 2.8 bpg). The Pacers are not known as a physical team or a defensive-minded team, but they spent most of this series pushing the Cavaliers around at both ends of the court. After the game four rout, Coach of the Year Kenny Atkinson lamented that his Cavaliers did not play with enough force, but nothing much changed in game five.
Donovan Mitchell's playoff career is a mixed bag, and this abbreviated playoff run as the best player on the East's top seeded team embodies those contradictions. Mitchell is a dynamic scorer who owns the seventh highest scoring average (28.3 ppg) in ABA/NBA playoff history, and he has scored at least 30 points in eight straight series openers, breaking a record held by
Michael Jordan, who had two separate streaks of seven such games. In game one of this series, Mitchell scored 33 points, but he shot just 13-30 from the field and he only had six fourth quarter points. Mitchell scored 48 points on 15-30 field goal shooting in game two, but he shot 2-6 from the field with three turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers blundered away the game down the stretch. Mitchell scored 43 points on 14-29 field goal shooting in Cleveland's only win, but then he had just 12 points on 3-11 field goal shooting in the first half of game four before coming up lame just prior to the second half with an ankle injury that caused him to miss the rest of the blowout loss. That all adds up to 34.2 ppg on .424 field goal shooting. Is Mitchell an MVP-caliber player who needs more help or just tougher players around him? Or is there something about the way Mitchell plays that is not conducive to deep playoff runs? Mitchell has never advanced past the second round.
As I noted in my series preview in which I picked Cleveland to beat Indiana in six games, the Cavaliers led the NBA in scoring (121.9 ppg) while ranking second in field goal
percentage (.491), third in defensive field goal percentage (.454),
sixth in rebounding (45.4 rpg), and 12th in points allowed. Their regular season point differential (9.5) is on par with the point differentials of all-time great championship
teams such as the 1986 Boston Celtics, the 1991 Chicago Bulls, and the
1997 Chicago Bulls. I also emphasized that all of those numbers mean nothing unless/until the Cavaliers validate those statistics with a deep playoff run. The Cavaliers failed miserably versus the Pacers, and their failure cannot be attributed just to injuries; the Pacers proved to be tougher, and they played smarter in key moments.
This will be a long offseason for the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, after their sluggish start to the season the Pacers have reached the
Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season, and they are
suddenly in excellent position to return to the NBA Finals for
the first time since 2000; the franchise known as the Boston Celtics of the ABA after capturing three ABA titles (1970, 1972-73) has not yet won an NBA title. Speaking of the Celtics, the Pacers await the winner of the Boston-New York series. Defending NBA champion Boston is without the services of Jayson Tatum, who ruptured his right Achilles in a game four loss that gave New York a commanding 3-1 series lead; after eliminating the best regular season team in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers may have a path to the NBA Finals that does not involve facing the Eastern Conference's other 60-plus win team.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Indiana Pacers, Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 8:44 PM
Timberwolves Reclaim Homecourt Advantage With 102-97 Win Versus Warriors
Anthony Edwards scored a game-high 36 points--including 28 in the second half, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter--as the Minnesota Timberwolves reclaimed homecourt advantage with a 102-97 game three win versus the Golden State Warriors. Julius Randle contributed a triple double (24 points, game-high 12 assists, 10 rebounds), and Jaden McDaniels added 15 points while playing his usual tough defense. The Warriors led for most of the second half and were ahead 82-77 with 8:16 remaining in the fourth quarter before the Timberwolves went on a 16-4 run to take control. The Timberwolves outscored the Warriors 33-24 in the fourth quarter.
The biggest story of this series so far is the strained left hamstring suffered by two-time regular season MVP and 2022 Finals MVP Stephen Curry, who played just 13 minutes in Golden State's 99-88 game one win before being sidelined. Sans the injured Curry, the Warriors lost game two 117-93 but returned home owning homecourt advantage. Jimmy Butler did his part in game three, scoring a team-high 33 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and dishing for a team-high seven assists. Jonathan Kuminga, who fell out of the rotation earlier this season, scored 30 points off of the bench. Buddy Hield had a solid game with 14 points, five assists, and four rebounds. If the Warriors had received anything of substance from Draymond Green, a player touted as a future Hall of Famer, they could have won the game--but "Mr. Triple Single" finished with two points, four assists, and two rebounds on 1-4 field goal shooting while committing a game-high five turnovers before fouling out. He had more turnovers and fouls (11) than points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots (10) combined. Having more turnovers than field goals made is a "Harden," so perhaps having more turnovers and fouls than points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots combined should be called a "Green." It should be emphasized that his primary matchup, Randle, ate his lunch (and breakfast and dinner).
Green is a four-time NBA champion whose career should not be defined by one game, but the larger point is that there is a consistent pattern during his career that when he is not surrounded by multiple All-Stars--if not multiple Hall of Famers--then his numbers and his impact are muted. Is it too much to ask that in a pivotal playoff game Green figures out how to get five of something positive? If not five points, then five rebounds or five assists? Is it too much to ask that after getting in foul trouble Green avoids making high risk, low reward plays that result in him fouling out? One could cynically comment that the Warriors' best chance to win was to take him out so he took those fouls for the team, but even though he had a -5 plus/minus number the Warriors probably missed his defense and physicality down the stretch.
After game two--during which Green received his fifth technical foul of the 2025 playoffs--Green ranted that he is the victim of a false narrative depicting him as an "Angry Black man." One of the characteristics of people who have anger management issues is to deny that they have a problem and instead blame others, and this is a recurring two-pronged pattern of behavior for Green: the first prong is him lashing out inappropriately, and the second prong is his stubborn refusal to take responsibility for his actions. Green's basketball playing ability has enabled him to obtain generational wealth, a host of accolades, and almost certain induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; it takes a very peculiar, warped thought process for a person who has been so blessed to conclude that he is a victim who is being singled out for negative treatment. If Green lacked basketball playing ability and behaved in a similar fashion while holding a regular job then he would not only be fired but would likely be in jail and would almost certainly would be found liable in a civil action; he not only punched teammate/co-worker Jordan Poole in the face, but he has assaulted several opponents over the years, and he has been let off the hook with minor game suspensions plus fines that are negligible compared to his huge salary. Green is not only not a victim, but he is the beneficiary of privileges granted to a very select few athletes whose teams and leagues consider them to be valuable commodities.
The Warriors would be much better served if Green focused on performing at a high level in game four and for the rest of the playoffs instead of pouting off of the court as a prelude to disappearing on the court.
Labels: Anthony Edwards, Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 1:17 AM
