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NBA Playoffs: The Thunder Show Championship Mettle

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The Oklahoma City Thunder showed why they may be morphing into a championship team in front of our very eyes. The Boston Celtics showed the stuff that once helped them win a championship, as both teams won last night in the NBA playoffs. OkC successfully defended its homecourt against the LA Lakers to grab a 2-0 series lead, while the Celtics reclaimed homecourt, by beating Philadelphia on the road in Game 3 and going up 2-1. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to tonight’s doubleheader…

Oklahoma City 77 LA Lakers 75: It was a case of déjà vu. The Lakers opened the season back on Christmas by blowing a seven-point lead against Chicago in the final two minutes. The Thunder opened the playoffs by rallying from seven down against Dallas in the last two minutes. Oklahoma City did it again, Los Angeles coughed it up again and the Thunder escaped. As the final score indicates, there weren’t a lot of offensive heroics, but let’s start by contrasting the play of the stars. Kobe Bryant had 20 points, but needed 25 shots from the floor to get there. Kevin Durant had 22, which doesn’t jump out at you, but Durant only took 15 shots. When we see the Oklahoma City star playing much more efficient basketball and his team consistently being the one who executes down the stretch, it’s fair to wonder who’s the up-and-comer, and who’s the team with all the rings. Los Angeles put forth the effort last night, evidenced in a 41-36 rebounding advantage, with both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol giving double-digit numbers on the glass. But they didn’t execute and they didn’t hit from the perimeter, shooting 39 percent and bricking 13 of 15 shots from behind the arc. No one outside the core three players made any real contributions. Now the deck is stacked against the veteran Lakers, who not only have to win two straight at home, but a schedule quirk means Games 3 & 4 go back-to-back days on Friday and Saturday.

Boston 107 Philadelphia 91: The 76ers started off playing well and led by five at the quarter. On TNT though, analyst Chris Webber—and Sixers coach Doug Collins in the wired for sound feature—was noting that Boston was driving to the basket and not settling for jump shots. Once Philly cooled down, the game got out of hand, and the Celtics had it blown open by halftime. Kevin Garnett continued his strong playoff showing, with 27 points/13 rebounds and Rajon Rondo shot 9-of-16 from the floor in with a 23/6, plus 14 assists. When you look at Paul Pierce’s line you see some of the inefficiencies that sank Kobe—Pierce got 24, but was only 6-of-17 from the floor. Against a stronger opponent that would have mattered, but for now that big deal is that Pierce got back into the flow of play and was aggressive with the ball. The aggressiveness was reflected in getting to the foul line 14 times, where he cashed 11 of his points and also getting 12 rebounds. Philadelphia’s goats horns are worn primarily by the inside people, as Elton Brand and Spence Hawes were irrelevant to the proceedings, and Evan Turner shot just 1-of-10 from the floor.

Tonight, the LA Clippers game in San Antonio finishes all the Game 2s in this round. I would expect Chris Paul to play much better tonight. He’s a proud player, and since his problems in the opener were more the shooting touch that can come and go, I see a strong showing from him. But San Antonio’s Tony Parker is also due for a much better performance than he showed in the opener. I think Los Angeles will make this a much tougher game than in Game 1, but they’ve got to have Blake Griffin play like a star—specifically rebounding—if they’re going to win a game on the road.

Miami’s feeling the pressure (I was going to say feeling the heat, but didn’t feel like adding all the no pun intended qualifiers) as they go to Indiana. I’ll say flat-out that this is the Pacers’ series to lose right now. There is no way Miami can contain Roy Hibbert and David West in the post and while putting LeBron down at power forward in Chris Bosh’s spot might make the most sense, it also reduces LeBron’s ability to fill the lanes on the fast break. The problem that Pacers face is that Roy Hibbert needs to consistently demand—and be given—the basketball in the low post. And Danny Granger has got to step up with a 20-point night. He doesn’t have to be LeBron or Wade, but if Indiana’s best player is as out of it tonight as he was the first two games, then the interior edge won’t matter. I’m rooting for the Pacers in this series and hoping team president Larry Bird has a little chat with Granger about what it means to embrace the responsibility of being a star.

NBA Playoffs: The LA Clippers Fill Out The Second Round Bracket

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The first round of the NBA playoffs officially ended yesterday afternoon as the Los Angeles Clippers won Game 7 over Memphis, while the second round continued, as Miami beat Indiana. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to a doubleheader tonight…

LA Clippers 82 Memphis 72: Chris Paul shot 1-for-6 from three-point range and turned the ball over five times. Blake Griffin might as well have not made the flight, with eight points and four rebounds. The Clips shot 39 percent. And this is the team that won the game. How did this happen? Memphis was able to “counter” with an extraordinary display of shooting ineptitude from their top three guards. Mike Conley, Tony Allen O.J. Mayo combined to shoot 6-for-37 from the floor, a stunning 16 percent. As a team the Grizzlies missed all 13 three-pointers. That’s how you pull off the rarity of losing a seventh game in your own building and doing it to a team that played poor offensive basketball themselves.

In the media reports afterward, both coaches noted the play of their respective benches, good and bad and this was a big difference in the game. The Clipper reserves, led by forward Kenyon Martin and guard Nick Young, combined for 41 points/23 rebounds, while Memphis had only an 11/12 combined line. Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol each scored 19 for Memphis, but there was too much cold play elsewhere for that to be enough, so Los Angeles is moving to the second round for the first time in 16 years.

Miami 95 Indiana 86: Normally if I see a situation where LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, playing at home, against a non-marquee opponent, manage to combined for 24 free throw attempts—nearly as many as the entire Indiana team—it’s going to inspire a round of comments regarding David Stern’s desire to see the Heat advance. Not this time. The Pacers ended up with 10 fewer free throw attempts than their opponent, because they didn’t take the ball to the basket with authority, at least not in the  fourth quarter of a game they led or were at least even most of the way. Indiana’s idea of an offense down the stretch was to pass it around the perimeter and then fire from long range. They were just 4-of-17 from behind the arc. Miami, like Memphis in the early game, didn’t make a three, but the Heat didn’t waste possessions trying, only missing six. LeBron ended up with a 32/15 line, while Wade scored 29.

In spite of this, Indiana did a lot of what they needed to do win, even allowing the bricked treys down the stretch. Chris Bosh left the game with an abdominal strain and is doubtful for Game 2. No one else contributed offensively, though Joel Anthony did grab seven rebounds. On the Pacers side, Roy Hibbert had a 17/11 game, and David West stepped up with 17/12, effectively exploiting the Miami interior. But the Pacers will not win games without Danny Granger, and the star did not meet the moment, scoring only seven points. As discussed in the series preview, it takes a lot in the NBA to overcome homecourt advantage and superior star power, and Indiana just didn’t hit on all cylinders.

The second round in the Eastern Conference continues tonight when Boston hosts Philadelphia. The Celtics were able to get a one-point win in the opener without a major contribution from Paul Pierce and virtually nothing from Ray Allen. At least one of the two–likely Pierce–has to step up and give some help to Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo. Philadelphia needs to get continued strong play from Andre Iguodala, and they need better rebounding from Spencer Hawes and Elton Brand. Neither team is good at hitting the boards, but the Celtics had a narrow edge in this area in Game 1.

Western Conference action in the second round opens tonight when the Los Angeles Lakers visit Oklahoma City. Look for that series preview here this afternoon. Then on Tuesday it’s San Antonio hosting the LA Clippers in the opener. TheSportsNotebook will preview that series tomorrow.

NBA Playoffs: Spurs In, Clips Close In & Four More Tonight

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If you believe in the virtue of rebounding as a big key to winning playoff games in the NBA—and TheSportsNotebook does, as does another recommended blog over at Stat Intelligence—then last night was a challenge to the belief system. Because even though San Antonio and the LA Clippers were beaten on the boards—decisively in fact—it didn’t stop the Spurs from completing a four-game sweep of Utah and it didn’t stop the Clippers from taking a 3-1 lead in games against Memphis. TheSportsNotebook looks back on both games and ahead to potential Grand Slam Clinch Night on Tuesday…

San Antonio 87 Utah 81: Poor Utah did everything it could be reasonably expected to do to win this game, short of bringing back Karl Malone and John Stockton. They held both Tony Parker and Tim Duncan to 11 points each. They hammered the #1 seed Spurs on the boards to the tune of 57-43, with Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and Derrick Favors being positively ferocious underneath, with 39 rebounds between them. They got some solid backcourt work from Devin Harris, who kicked in 19 points. But the mark of championship teams is they always have something to pull out of their posterior, and San Antonio decided to open up from three-point range last night in Salt Lake City, hitting 10/22 from behind the arc. The top gunner was Manu Ginobli who came off the bench to hit three treys. This tied into to the other big San Antonio edge, and one completely in character with the team. It’s called depth. While Utah’s bench combined for ten points total, Ginobli’s 17 made one of three Spur players who came off the pine to score double digits by themselves. And while Ginobli was hitting from downtown, Utah failed to hit a single trey all night. A tough way to go out for a gritty team that overachieved to get into the playoffs. And while sweeping the Jazz can’t get blown out of proportion, it’s fair to say the Spurs did everything they could possibly do to impress people as they await the Clips-Grizzlies survivor.

 

LA Clippers 101 Memphis 97 (OT): Memphis hit the glass with a 47-36 edge on rebounding. But even though Blake Griffin may not have hit the boards, he did do something that was missing in Game 3 and he hit some free throws. 10-for-17 isn’t going to remind anyone of Ray Allen, but it will stop teams from bringing back the Hack-A-Shaq for the Los Angeles big man. Griffin was the biggest contributor to a 28-21 scoring edge for the Clippers from the line and before anyone shouts home cookin’,  Memphis just didn’t go down low enough to get the same kind of foul situations. Point guard Mike Conley is an excellent playmaker, but when you leads your team in scoring at 25 for the night, you have to wonder where everyone else was. The amount of time Conley had to spend with the ball likely contributed to increased turnovers, an area Los Angeles won 16-9. It was enough to enable the Clips to survive in a game where they didn’t execute down the stretch in the fourth quarter when they had a chance to seal the win in regulation. Memphis has to win three straight now, but at least the next one, and a potential Game 7 are back at home.

Four Game 5s go tonight, and all offer the prospect of someone cutting down the nets (well, at least if they did that in the NBA).Two games have home teams poised to clinch and I think the world would be shocked if they didn’t…

*Indiana faces Orlando, and while there’s no reason to think the Magic will quit—once Dwight Howard got hurt at the end of the regular season, they had all the excuse they needed if they wanted to mail it in from the outset—but the Pacers seem to have found their defensive focus and center Roy Hibbert now looks fully engaged, along with power forward David West. Orlando’s got no answer. They need the backcourt trio of Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson and J.J. Redick to hit perfectly on all three cylinders to have a chance down the stretch. Is it possible? Sure, NBA players can get hot. But when everything has to go that well just to make it a coin flip game, that’s nice way of saying it’s a big upset if this series gets extended.

*The LA Lakers host Denver, and I’m just very dispirited with the way the Nuggets played in this series. I shared Charles Barkley’s view that this was a real upset possibility, and the combination of me and Sir Charles jinxing them has been too much for the Nuggets to overcome. They have not pushed the pace the way they’re capable of, and they way it was necessary to do against a team bigger in the post, but older and shorter on the bench. Now the Lakers are back at home, with veterans who understand how to close the series and the importance of getting some rest before dealing with Oklahoma City in the second round.

Then we have two cases of the home team being the one on the ropes…

*Chicago will again be without Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose. I was sure they’d still find a way to pick up a win in Philadelphia. I’m not sure of anything anymore, except that there’s no reason to think Jrue Holiday and Spencer Hawes can be contained on the point and in the post without the injured stars. What Chicago can do is play much better in the backcourt—C.J. Watson may not be Rose, but he can do a lot mo re than what he did in Philly, as can Rip Hamilton. And the Bulls can bring the defensive intensity. Remember, both games in Philly were close, so Chicago can certainly believe they could win a Game 6 there on Thursday, which then means they’d just need to defend the home floor tonight and potentially on Saturday.

*Boston’s down in Atlanta with a  chance to clinch. Before we call this series prematurely, remember that the Celtics shot out of their mind on Sunday and the Hawks looked disinterested. It’s not likely the latter happens again, not in front of a home crowd with the season in the line, and it’s even more unlikely the C’s can shoot upwards of 60 percent into the second half. If the game is tight, I still like the chances for the Boston vets to find a way, but it will be interesting to see how Doc Rivers plays this if Atlanta gets a lead by halftime, say 10-15 points. Does he go for the comeback or pull in his horns, rest the vets and try and clinch at home on Thursday? If he had two home games in his back pocket, I’d say it would be a no-brainer to play it safe, but with just one game in Boston, it makes the decision a little tougher.

NBA Playoffs: Recap Grand Slam Saturday; Four More On Sunday

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The NBA’s Grand Slam Weekend, with four games Saturday and four on Sunday had an entertaining start yesterday. Indiana and the LA Clippers won nailbiters, Oklahoma City moved on to the second round and San Antonio kept methodically moving forward. TheSportsNotebook looks back on Saturday and ahead to Sunday…

Indiana 101 Orlando 99 (OT):  The Pacers are now officially forgiven for their blowing of Game 1 to the Dwight-less Magic. Indiana had already retaken control of the series with their Game 3 road win, but with this victory now they are not only in position to close the series out in Game 5—which was more or less the default prompt on this series anyway—but the past three games have seen them win in every possible way. In Game 2 they had a come-to-Jesus meeting at halftime and came out completely refocused. Game 3 was a lockdown blowout. And in Game 4 they showed they could win a dogfight on the road. Roy Hibbert, who’s been in my crosshairs, had 14 points/11 rebounds. That’s the kind of sustainable performance Indiana needs from him in the second round against Miami (yes, I’m making some assumptions on both ends there). David West was physical inside with 26/12, and Danny Granger knocked down 21 points in his role as the team’s go-to guy. Indiana was able to answer a good effort from the Orlando backcourt led by Jason Richardson and his 25 points. But forwards Hedo Turkoglu and Ryan Anderson have not answered the bell in this series and you have to wonder if it’s just bad play at a bad time or if they really are that dependent on Howard sucking defenders away from them.

 

LA Clippers 87 Memphis 86: Los Angeles holds homecourt advantage and takes a 2-1 series lead, but they really did all they could to give this one away. How does an NBA team miss of 17 of 30 free throws? I hit more than that when I’m shooting at the gym on my lunch hour (really, I do, take my word for it, there’s no one who can verify). Blake Griffin had 17 points and was 3-of-9 from the line, while power forward Reggie Evans was even more incompetent, going just 2-for-8. With regards to Griffin you have to wonder if Memphis goes to the Hack-A-Shaq strategy, the tactic teams used against Shaquille O’Neal to just make him hit free throws. What the Clips did do yesterday was play team defense, holding Memphis to 40 percent. That’s not something Los Angeles has done consistently this year and this, along with the big comeback in Game 1, make you wonder if this team is at least developing some championship toughness.

San Antonio 102 Utah 90: I’m going to go on a Musberger-esque gambling tangent here, and wonder why the linesmakers keep posting totals for this series in excess of 200. Utah isn’t going to score 100 in a game if these teams play a best-of-fifteen. Or unless the Spurs sit the vets down. Even the latter might not matter given San Antonio’s depth, which was again in evidence here. They won bench scoring 40-30, mostly accounting for the margin of victory. Utah gave a lot of effort, with their rebounding advantage being proof of that. But they couldn’t score enough. Paul Millsap was a microcosm of both the effort and the shortcomings, with a 9 points/11 rebound game.

Oklahoma City 103 Dallas 97: And we conclude with the one team that’s clinched a series. Dirk Nowitzki did what he could to avoid the brooms, scoring 34 points, but Oklahoma City won with a good team effort. Russell Westbrook didn’t have a big game and Serge Ibaka was kept off the boards. Normally those two factors combine with Kevin Durant to create the OkC winning combination. Durant still had 24 points and James Harden stepped it up with 29 to give the Thunder an impressive series sweep.

Sunday’s games ahead…

*First it was Derrick Rose, now it’s Joakim Noah, as the Bulls center is doubtful for today’s Game 4 in Philadelphia with an ankle injury. Philly’s dealing with nagging injuries themselves, although Andre Iguoadala and Lou Williams are expected to play. Sixers center Spencer Hawes came up big in the Game 3 win and with Noah out he’s got the opportunity to do so again here and put his team in command of the series.

*Atlanta visits Boston for Game 4. Josh Smith is expected to play for the Hawks, so with both him and Ray Allen now back, it looks like we’ve finally got full strength in this series. Boston’s in position to win this series by taking this game and a home date for Game 6, but they have to be a lot crisper offensively then they were yesterday…or for that matter, then at any point in the series. The C’s don’t rebound the ball, so good halfcourt excecution is paramount.

*Miami will look to close out New York, with Amare Stoudamire apparently planning to play after his ridiculous battle with the fire extinguisher glass down in South Beach. But this series continues to be about Miami’s focus more than anything. Their team defense is too good and the Knicks backcourt too poor for the underdog to win against a focused Heat team. Melo can get his points—and he probably will today. But since I just spent the morning reviewing the 1988 Atlanta-Boston playoff series for a Boston site I contribute to, I find myself comparing Melo to Dominique Wilkins, another player who electrified the league, but whose team dutifully fell short.

*And our one game in the West is the Lakers-Nuggets from Denver. This is the game where I want to see Denver do the things I thought they could do to win the series—use their depth and their superior pace to wear down a thin Laker bench, especially in the Rocky Mountain altitude. Ty Lawson, who scored 25 in the must-win Game 3, has to drive the pace and make Kobe play all 94 feet, a pace that has the further advantage of neutralizing LA’s size advantage with Bynum and Gasol.

NBA Playoffs: The San Antonio Symphony Hits All The Right Notes

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The San Antonio Spurs look like a team on a mission, the Memphis Grizzlies showed some heart and the Indiana Pacers showed their back in form in Wednesday night’s NBA playoff games. TheSportsNotebook recaps the three games and looks ahead to two more tonight…

San Antonio 114 Utah 83: I know beating the 8th-seeded Jazz is nothing to get all crazy about, but how can you not be impressed with the way the Spurs have just systemically demolished their opponent in this series, as they now head to Salt Lake for the middle two games. Last night was an offensive symphony. As a team they shot 57 percent from the floor and nailed 10/22 from behind the arc. But its how all the component parts of the symphony blend together that really make San Antonio a special team. While nobody scored 20 points, seven players were in the 10-18 range. And that did not come at the expense of having a clear go-to player. As has been the case throughout the year, Tony Parker led the way with 18 points, and Tim Duncan hauled down 13 rebounds. Then the role players, be they starters or coming off the bench, just filled in their niches. Last night was big for Kawhi Leonard, who hit 3 of 4 from trey range and scored 17 points. The Utah starting frontline was non-existent, with all three starters getting 14 rebounds, barely edging Duncan as a group.

Memphis 105 LA Clippers 98: The Clippers played as well as you can play in terms of offensive rhythm, hitting 57 percent of their shots and converting 9/16 from three-point land. Chris Paul scored 29 and Blake Griffin had 22. So what went wrong? Turnovers to start with. Paul, uncharacteristically sloppy, had five on his own and Memphis forced 20 turnovers on the night. Then there’s rebounding, where the Grizzlies held a 37-28 advantage. Finally we come to the free throw line, where it was a 31-13 scoring margin for the home team. That home cookin’ in Memphis must be awfully tasty. But that aside, the effort Memphis put into the rebounding area—something they did not do in Game 1, is to be applauded and they got balanced production throughout the lineup. Conversely, Los Angeles has to find someone else besides Paul and Griffin who can do something offensively. The injury to Caron Butler is a killer here, and it’s like two-guard Randy Foye who’s going to have to step up and hit some shots from the perimeter, which Paul can create through his dribble penetration.

Indiana 97 Orlando 74: This is the Pacer team I was expecting to see in the playoffs and this is the Roy Hibbert I’ve been waiting for. The Indiana center took full advantage of the Howard-less Magic with an 18 points/10 rebounds night and small forward Danny Granger acted like a leading man on offense should, in putting up 26 points. It’s important to note that Indiana shot 47 percent in this game, meaning that it’s not as though this was just a game where everything went right for them. They won because they controlled the interior and defensively the contained the Orlando backcourt. Jason Richardson, Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick combined for just 28 points and that’s not going to be nearly enough for the Magic to win a series. With homecourt advantage back in hand, Indiana looks like a heavy favorite to advance again. The question is whether they can do it in less than seven games—meaning one more road win, either Game 4 or Game 6—and be rested for an anticipated second-round battle with Miami.

It’s a TNT doubleheader in the playoffs tonight, just like a regular NBA Thursday…

*Miami-NY Knicks:  How badly does Miami want the fast knockout punch? Given how many minutes LeBron logged during the regular season, I can see the case that the Heat want to get this over with ASAP—ideally sweep two in MSG, but at least pick up one and close it out back home in five.

*Oklahoma City-Dallas: A lot of intrigue surrounds this one, as Dallas’ near-misses in each of the first two games make it realistic they can defend their home floor the next two games and make this a series again. I suspect the Mavs come out like champions for Game 3, with the ultimate fate of the series resting on whether OkC can steal a win in Game 4.

NBA Playoffs: The Stars Define Tuesday Night

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Last night, as I watched Jaleel White (formerly Steve Urkel of Family Matters) get eliminated from Dancing With The Stars (yes, I watch the show. Not fanatically. Not at the expense of Monday Night Football in the fall season, but enough to get a strike against me, per the Miller Lite commercials), I thought that Jaleel could’ve gone the distance, but often didn’t seem to unleash everything at the key moment. If there’s any sport that can be correlated to DWTS, it’s the NBA, with its special emphasis on individual stars seizing moments. And last night was all about three stars—Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant because they were there, and Derrick Rose because he wasn’t. TheSportsNotebook recaps the three games and looks ahead to three more tonight…

Philadelphia 109 Chicago 92: The obvious question that comes to mind is how much this had to do with the loss of Rose for the rest of the playoffs with his torn ACL. But even without Rose for about half the regular season, the Bulls were the best defensive team in the league. The Sixers shot 59 percent. That can’t be about Rose’s absence. They outrebounded Chicago. That has nothing to do with Rose’s absence. Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng were non-factors offensively. I suppose you can make the indirect argument for Rose’s value in getting them the ball, but with 14 points combined, that’s taking the point to an extreme level.

You can point to Philadelphia guards Jrue Holiday scoring 26 points and Lou Williams lighting it up with 20 off the bench as evidence of Rose’s defensive value. I’ll give some credence to this, but ultimately I have to see a team that hadn’t emotionally adjusted to not having their star player. Its one thing to strategically adjust during the regular season, knowing the Man is one the way back for the biggest games. It’s another thing to look at your huddle without him and know this is all there is from now until June. Chicago has absolutely demonstrated they can win two playoff rounds with their current roster. They have further demonstrated you can’t even count them out against Miami or the Western Conference winner with the current roster.

The team knows how to play without Rose—they aren’t better without him, it’s still a huge loss, but they can compete at an extremely high level. That leads me to believe this current battle is mental. I respect what the Bulls have accomplished as a team and what Tom Thibodeau has done as a coach, so I’m not ready to write off their title hopes based on last night.

Boston 87 Atlanta 80: If Paul Pierce’s basketball game would have been a DWTS number last night, he would’ve gotten 10s across the board. On the floor, he had 36 points and 14 rebounds and virtually singlehandedly pushed the Celtics to a road win without a suspended Rajon Rondo and an injured Ray Allen. And for all Boston’s woes in the early part of the playoffs, suddenly they’re exactly where you expected them to be and have taken homecourt advantage. Kevin Garnett was good last night. Atlanta helped the C’s out by settling for missed three-point shots all night, while Boston took the ball to the hole and created a 26-16 scoring advantage on free throws. But this was Pierce’s night.

LA Lakers 104 Denver 100: It was Kobe’s night in Hollywood as he poured in 38 points. Bryant’s performance wasn’t quite the epic that Pierce’s was, because the Lakers had some help involved. Andrew Bynum is terrorizing the Nuggets inside, with 27 points and 9 rebounds, following up his insane points/rebounds/blocks triple-double in Sunday’s Game 1. I picked Denver to win this series, but I thought that Al Harrington and Javale McGee could at least hold their own in the low post. They’ve done nothing of the sort, small forward Danilo Gallinari hasn’t made an impact and this series has turned into the Kobe & Bynum show. If Denver is going to pull the upset they need to win four straight, because no one takes a Game 7 in Staples from Bryant.

Tonight the top half of the Western Conference bracket goes into action with San Antonio going to Utah, the LA Clippers visiting Memphis and in the East its Indiana-Orlando. The Spurs-Jazz series is lacking in drama and lacking in any reason to think Utah can win a single game—just pushing the series back to San Antonio for a Game 5 would be a moral victory. And Orlando, having taken home court from Indiana, tries to show they can hold it.

As to the Clips-Grizzlies,  I erred in yesterday’s post saying this game would be played last night. So I’ll just rehash the preview I wrote….  “Do the Grizzlies roll over after blowing the 27-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 1 at home? Or do they realize that they can’t get outrebounded again, bring max intensity to even the series and vow to themselves that they can get homecourt advantage back when the series reverts west? The talent is still there. There was no reason to think, in general, that the Clippers couldn’t get one win on the road, while Memphis still won the series. If that’s the Grizzlies’ mindset, they can bounce back. If they feel like they gave a shot at the Finals, this potentially good series can get away early.”

Clippers Stunning Comeback Highlights Sunday NBA Action

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For the second straight night in the NBA’s Western Conference playoffs, the story was about a late comeback and a 99-98 final. But the Los Angeles Clippers came from a lot further back last night then Oklahoma City did on Saturday. The Clips were on the road, 27 points in the hole and in the fourth quarter, turned it around and won. TheSportsNotebook recaps this, along with Saturday’s other four games and looks ahead to Monday night’s playoff trio…

LA Clippers 99 Memphis 98: Beyond the blown lead, when Memphis looks at the overarching performance, what’s going to stand out is the failure to rebound. The Clips won the battle of the boards 47-41 and that’s thanks to Zach Randolph not being a factor for Memphis. Meanwhile, LA got a huge contribution off the bench from Reggie Evans, with the power forward collecting 13 boards. This kind of game was the exact opposite of what was expected as far as intangibles—the Clips had the feel of a talented team that couldn’t close, while the Grizzlies were the young up –and-comer who’d been battle tested by a surprising playoff run in 2011. But that didn’t translate into the ability to finish this game off and whatever happens the rest of the way here, it certainly doesn’t bode well for Memphis’s ability to reach the Finals. And defensively, neither team was stellar—which makes for an interesting series, but doesn’t lend confidence to either team’s ability to sustain a run. The broken hand to LA forward Caron Butler only adds to the doubts.

Okay, enough naysaying—I just bring these points up because both teams are seen as real threats in the 4-5 spot on the bracket. This was a historic comeback by any standard and we’ll see if it becomes a turning point for a long-suffering organization in the Clippers, whether the promise is fulfilled this season or in years to come.

San Antonio 106 Utah 91: The Spurs followed their core pattern of getting great performance from Tony Parker and Tim Duncan and then filling in the gaps. Parker had 28 points and 8 assists. Duncan had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Then add up the bench scoring and it was 44-31 for the Spurs. Utah got strong efforts from its talented interior pair in Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. What has to disappoint the Jazz is that even with 20 points from the outside thanks to Gordon Heyward, they didn’t get in position to win a road game.  Devin Harris at the point just looks overmatched for Utah.

LA Lakers 103 Denver 88: Kobe came out with 31 points, Andrew Bynum had 10 points/13 rebounds/10 blocks in a dominating performance and the Lakers—like the Spurs—showed they know how to close when it comes to playoff basketball. They also know how to play team defense. With Bynum on hand to erase any mistakes on the perimeter, Los Angeles stepped it up and held Denver to 35% shooting and kept a good offensive team under 90. One sentence sums this up—the Lakers played championship basketball on Sunday.

Atlanta 83 Boston 74: With Ray Allen in a suit and tie, the Celtics did not convert a single three-point shot. It took them too long to get started—while Kevin Garnett’s 20/12 line was a solid night, his first half was awful. Between digging a hole and being unable to hit a trey, that’s a bad combination for trying to come back. Josh Smith answered the bell for Atlanta, doing what stars do—he had a big stat line, at 22/18 and it seemed he was making a key shot every time the Celtics threatened to make a run. Allen’s status remains uncertain, and with Derrick Rose also out, this makes the entire top half of the Eastern Conference draw uncertain. We’re two days into the postseason, but is it too much to say that between the injuries to Rose and Allen and the Game 1 loss by Indiana, that the path to the Finals is opening  up for Miami?

THREE MORE GAMES MONDAY

Speaking of the Heat, LeBron and Dwayne Wade are back in action tonight against New York. I didn’t like the Knicks chances to win a single game in this series because of their poor backcourt. A 33-point loss in Game 1 and then seeing guard Iman Shumpert gone for the postseason, doesn’t exactly make me optimistic. New York needs Melo to put the team on his back and carry them, but even if that happens, the best they can hope for is a wash with him and LeBron—and the Heat have the better supporting cast. Short of a complete no-show for Miami, I just don’t see how New York can chart a reasonable path to winning a basketball game.

Indiana desperately needs to win Game 2 against Orlando at home tonight, having already coughed up homecourt advantage. And somewhere—whether it’s tonight or down the line, they need to do more than win and again establish themselves as a real threat. We can take it a step further and narrow it down to Roy Hibbert, the 7’2” center who failed to take advantage of Dwight Howard’s absence in the opener. I want to see a 20/10 from the big man tonight and reassert some Pacer mojo.

And in the Western Conference, it’s Dallas-Oklahoma City, where the Mavericks have to regroup after letting a late lead slip in Game 1. I wrote yesterday that I felt like the Thunder’s narrow escape, while not an ideal basketball performance, and was what they needed as far as an intangible win. Now I’d like to see OkC use their youth and momentum to run the veteran Mavs out of the gym before the series reverts to Dallas.

 

 

NBA 1st Round Preview: Memphis-LA Clippers

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Memphis and the LA Clippers will meet in the first round of the NBA’s Western Conference playoffs, slotted in the 4-5 bracket, with the Grizzlies holding homecourt advantage. TheSportsNotebook previews what looks like the best matchup of the opening round…

The Clippers looked like they were going to hold homecourt for this matchup and maybe even sneak past the crosstown Lakers for the Pacific Division title and get up to #3. The Clips had won 13 of 15, but the bottom fell out on three challenging road games in the final week. They lost at Phoenix, lost at Atlanta and completed the trifecta with a loss at New York on Wednesday night. Memphis, after an up-and-down year, was ready to move into the vacuum, winning 11 of their final 13 to move into the #4 place and earn the right to open this series at home.

Both of these teams are young and talented, but neither plays at a rapid pace. Both play lower-possession games, somewhat surprising when you consider Chris Paul and Mike Conley have the keys to the car for each team—but perhaps less so when you look at the inside talent, from Blake Griffin to Pau Gasol, that make the halfcourt game advantageous each way. Both teams are in the league’s upper third in rebounding, but where the similarities end is in what side of the ball each excels on. Memphis is a bottom tier team in offensive efficiency, but upper third on the defensive side. Los Angeles is in the league’s elite for offensive execution, but below average on defense.

The Clippers, as advertised by the mainstream media, are built around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, who each average 20-plus points per game. Paul leads the way in assists, while Griffin hits the boards. This team’s playoff success is going to be determined by factors like whether Randy Foye and Nick Young can take the burden of backcourt scoring off Paul. Or whether DeAndre Jordan will rebound and block shots on the interior, enabling Los Angeles to neutralize Memphis’ bigs. And small forward Caron Butler has to be seen as a prime candidate for a breakout series—at least if the Clippers are going to win.

Memphis gets its points down low, with Gasol averaging 15, Zach Randolph getting 12 at power forward and most of all by talented small forward Rudy Gay who hits for 19 ppg. But the biggest X-factor Memphis has down low is Marressee Speights, who can give key minutes off the bench at either power forward or center, effectively making the Grizzlies immune to foul trouble. The backcourt is solid in its individual components, with Conley a good floor leader and O.J. Mayo or Tony Allen respective at the two-guard, but this team really lacks a three-point shooter to open up the lane.

I’m skeptical of offensive-oriented teams to win at this time of year, so I like the Grizzlies, but there are some strong factors pushing the Clippers way—most notably the star system of the NBA playoffs. The same league that hotwired the 76ers into the 2001 NBA Finals and the Lakers into the 2002 Finals over small-market teams with some officiating that went beyond shaky, can’t be considered above handing a few extra calls to the team from America’s largest second-city, having the game’s best point guard and the big man in the KIA commercials. Especially when the opponent is less than marquee. I wouldn’t consider the NBA above it, but I haven’t become conspiratorial enough to assume it, so I’m going with defense and the strong interior of Memphis over a team who’s shaky defense and inconsistent supporting cast played them out of a division title and homecourt.