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Celtics-76ers series

NBA Playoffs: Celtics Go Cold At Chance To Clinch

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When I sat down to watch Game 6 of the Boston-Philadelphia series in the NBA’s Eastern Conference semi-finals, if you’d have told me that Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett would each have 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, I’d have figured the Celts were in good shape, and could fit enough offense around them. If you told me that Boston would win the rebounding battle 48-37, I’d have figured the series was all but over. Both of those things happened, but  the 76ers clamped down on the defensive end, the Celtics shot a miserable 33 percent from the floor and Philly got a survival win, 83-75 and set up a decisive seventh game on Saturday.

It was Brandon Bass, the hero of Game 5, along with Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo who were the culprits last night, with the trio combining to shoot just 10-of-37. Philadephia hardly put on a clinic, but they did shoot 46 percent and Jrue Holiday decisively outplayed Rondo, as the Sixer point guard distributed the ball, with six assists and knocked down his shots, hitting 7-of-15 and finishing with 20 points. Philly got additional help from Elton Brand, with 13 points/10 rebounds and Evan Turner had a 12/9 night including a nice finishing move on a drive against Garnett at a key point the second half.

Miami now gets a chance to succeed where Boston failed, and the Heat visit Indiana for a clinch opportunity in Game 6. Miami will play this game without suspended center Udonis Haslem, who was part of the cheap-shot brigade the Heat unveiled in Game 5. They’re also without Dexter Pittman, the backup who clotheslined Lance Stephenson and then winked at his teammates over it. Pittman’s out three games, but he’s an inconsequential player in any case. But if the loss of Haslem, in addition to that of Chris Bosh, can’t motivate Indiana to look inside to Roy Hibbert and David West, I really don’t know what will. If team president Larry Bird calling out his team for being soft doesn’t get them juiced up, I don’t know what will. The Pacers have shown they can play hard in this series and they’ve shown they can play smart. But they’ve never done both at once.

I concur with ESPN’s Michael Wilbon who’s noted frequently on his show Pardon The Interruption with Tony Kornheiser (5:30 PM ET on weekdays, and the funniest thirty minutes in sports television) that Indiana gets themselves in position, talks trash and then goes and “jacks up all kinds of threes.” Then in Game 5 they just went soft. If they channel their energy into feeding Hibbert and West, they’re going to win this game tonight and win it decisively. If they don’t, they’ll lose just as badly. At this point, I don’t have any confidence in the Pacers’ intangibles, so I’m predicting the latter.

NBA Playoffs: LeBron Carries Miami

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You can’t say LeBron James answered his critics on Sunday—that will take at least one championship, probably more, all with him winning Finals MVP honors, before that happens. But LeBron delivered the kind of game everyone’s been waiting to see—a completely dominating performance with all the money on the table—as Miami beat Indiana 101-93 to even their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series up at two games apiece. TheSportsNotebook recaps this game, along with San Antonio’s closeout against the Los Angeles Clippers, and we look ahead to tonight’s doubleheader…

Miami 101 Indiana 93: The final numbers are staggering—40 points, 18 rebounds and 12 assists. That’s what King James put on the board as the Heat reversed a halftime deficit and took the game over in the third quarter. And they overshadow a big-time performance from Dwayne Wade, who dropped 30 and got nine rebounds of his own. LeBron and Wade not only carried the scoring load, they did it efficiently—getting almost 70 percent of the team’s points, while taking a less than two-thirds of their shots. And the two stars were the reason the Heat won the rebounding battle 47-38. And they got their teammates involved with good assist numbers. Udonis Haslem was the biggest beneficiary of the latter, scoring 14 points, most in the fourth quarter.

Indiana suffered because it’s frontline couldn’t get into the game offensively. Roy Hibbert was a non-factor on Sunday, as was David West. If you’re an Indiana fan you can take heart in this—two of the three players who have to play well for you (the other is Danny Granger, who had 20 points) were missing in action, LeBron and Wade had a dominating game and you still had a chance to win in the end. And while Miami has to feel good about reclaiming homecourt advantage, I don’t know realistic it was to think Indiana would win all three home games to begin with. I think at this level of the postseason, an underdog has to think of terms of getting a 2-2 split on the road and the Pacers will have the chance to do that in Game 5. But that’s to talk about tomorrow. The aftermath of Game 4 is about LeBron, and if this is the year for him to get the monkey off his back, Sunday’s is the game that will live on for the ages.

San Antonio 102 LA Clippers 99: The balance of the Spurs stood out again, as did their ability to get the free throw line. San Antonio got eight more free throw attempts than the Clippers and scored seven more points at the stripe, thus creating the difference in a closely contested game at the Staples Center and closing out the Spurs’ second consecutive four-game sweep of the postseason. Tony Parker once again got the line consistently, hitting  7-of-9 and while Tim Duncan stepped up with a 21 points/9 rebounds night, consider the play of the role players—Daniel Green knocks down 14, Tiago Splitter has 11/7 in Duncan’s backup role, Parker backup Gary Neal hit 5-of-7 from the floor and scored 14 and Manu Ginobli, coming off the bench at this stage in his career, scored 11 and shot 44 percent from the floor.

The only nitpick to have is that it took 53 percent shooting for the Spurs to win this game. When the conference finals start, presumably against Oklahoma City, San Antonio will have to tighten up the defensive reins. As for the Clippers, Chris Paul was ready to go, with 23 points and 11 assists, but Blake Griffin again disappeared on the boards with only five. If Los Angeles was going to have a chance, Griffin needed to be attacking the glass each night and Game 3 was the only time he did. Perhaps it’s the knee strain he suffered in the Memphis series. Perhaps it’s the growing pains of a kid in the playoffs for the first time. Whatever the reason, it has to be something that doesn’t happen next year, because for the time being Los Angeles can feel good about making the playoffs and winning a series as they go into the offseason.

The Clippers may be followed into the offseason by their crosstown brethren tonight, when the Lakers visit Oklahoma City for Game 5. The Lakers were already dealing with a tough loss in Game 4 and now are dealing with some fallout from Kobe Bryant’s decision to throw Pau Gasol under the bus in the postgame interview. If this means that Kobe’s frustrated and is going to try and singlehandedly win this game, we may as well start the OkC-San Antonio conference finals series right now. If this means that Kobe is trying to motivate Gasol to be in position to get the ball and to hit the glass with more frequency, then we’ll have a ballgame on our hands. I think the Thunder are going to come out roaring and clinch this series tonight, but if they don’t, I consider it a virtual certainty that it ends up going seven.

Boston hosts Philadelphia in the pivotal fifth game of a series knotted at two. Three of these four games have been nail-biters and it’s been the young Sixers, not the veteran Celtics, who’ve made the key plays down the stretch, winning 2 of these 3. A combination of law of averages and homecourt makes it likely that the tide turns the other way if Game 5 comes down to the wire, and I really see no reason to think it won’t.

NBA 2nd Round Preview: Boston-Philadelphia

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The second round of the NBA playoffs opens tonight when Boston hosts Philadelphia in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semi-finals. Both teams won their opening series without the benefit of homecourt advantage and closed the deal in last-second Game 6 finishes on Thursday. The Celtics and Sixers have had some epic playoff battles in their history, especially 1981 and 1982. TheSportsNotebook previews the 2012 edition of this rivalry…

A Saturday night opener was an interesting choice by the schedulemakers. The first round is not actually over, with the Lakers-Nuggets Game 7 going right after Boston-Philly tonight, and then the Clippers-Grizzlies going tomorrow. With both Boston and Philadelphia having played on Thursday night you wonder why this game couldn’t have been played on Sunday night and have a clean break between the first and second rounds. Or if nothing else, why Indiana and Miami, who locked up their series on Wednesday, couldn’t have played in the Saturday night slot. Whatever the logic, it works in favor of Philadelphia. Ray Allen is doubtful tonight with his bad ankle and Paul Pierce is wearing a knee brace. A Celtics team that is rested can win the East. A Celtics team that is tired could lose this series in short order. Furthermore, Boston’s age and lack of depth stands in sharp contrast to Philadelphia’s youth and quality bench. The Sixers got key contributions in their win over Chicago from Thaddeus Young on the boards and sixth man Lou Williams has been instant offense all year. The schedule dynamic decidedly favors the underdog.

Before I allow pessimism over my favored Celts overrun me, let’s remember they didn’t close the season strong and win the Atlantic Division for no reason, and that Philadelphia clearly benefitted from Chicago’s playing without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in the first round. The 76ers were able to make hay in the backcourt, with Jrue Holiday being the team’s best player in the series, and Evan Turner coming up with some unexpected big games. With Rose in the lineup that doesn’t happen. And Boston’s guards—even without Allen—are a big strength, thanks to Rajon Rondo’s ability to control a game and the ability to lock down defensively. Philadelphia’s only chance to get effective production from the guards will be if the fatigue factor kicks in, and even here, Rondo and Avery Bradley don’t have the aging problem their more heralded teammates do.

Up front, Philadelphia center Spencer Hawes rebounded well after Noah was out, but Boston’s Kevin Garnett was his team’s best player in the first-round win over Atlanta. It’s a problem for the Sixers that Elton Brand was not a real factor in the Chicago series. If he and Hawes combine to play well, they can give their team the same formula Atlanta did, when Josh Smith and Al Horford keyed a Game 5 win over the Celtics. But it’s going to take both Philly inside players, because Garnett will eat up either in a one-on-one situation.

The 76ers may be seeded #8, but the outline we’ve put together now looks pretty good for them. Now let’s go to the small forward spot. Andre Iguodala and Paul Pierce are complete contrasts. Not only is Pierce a much better player on the face of it, but the Celtic veteran has a way of lifting his game when the team needs it most—his 36-point effort in Game 2 against Atlanta came with Rondo suspended, Allen out and the team in a 1-0 hole. It will be a part of Boston sports lore. Iguodala should be Philadelphia’s go-to player, but he faded in the second half of the season and only had a couple good games against Chicago. Sixers fans can put hope in the fact that one of those games was a 20-point effort in the Game 6 clincher, so maybe he’s going to get hot. But in any big situation down the stretch, Boston’s going to have a decided edge.

This last statement underlines why I think Boston will ultimately survive. I think this series is going to be a war, and given that both teams are oriented to defense and neither hits the offensive boards all that well (or at all), the games are going to be ugly. Both fan bases are hungry for a crack at Miami and neither fan base wants to be left alone with their city’s baseball team just yet.  There’s going to be tough, physical games, raucous arenas and seven full games. But Boston survives in the end.