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2014 NBA Conference Finals Preview

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The 2013 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs were one of the best in the league’s history, especially the final two games. Both teams have made it back to the NBA conference finals, and if the oddsmakers are to be believed, a rematch looks in order.

Miami is a heavy (-440) favorite to beat the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals that begin on Sunday (3:30 PM ET, ABC). San Antonio isn’t quite as strong, posted at (-215) against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as the Western Conference Finals get set to tip on Monday (9 PM ET, TNT), although with word that OkC forward Serge Ibaka is out, that may change.


Is there any way that Indiana or Oklahoma City—the preseason NBA Finals picks here at TheSportsNotebook can pull off series upsets? Here’s few brief thoughts on each series in the 2014 NBA conference finals…

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Indiana Pacers-Miami Heat

Both of these teams struggled down the stretch. Indiana’s fade was widely chronicled in the media, but what was overlooked is that the Heat still failed to catch them for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. There was a belief that Miami was just holding something in reserve for the playoffs. Early returns through the first two rounds suggest that belief was accurate.

Miami has rolled through Charlotte and Brooklyn with an 8-1 record. While that’s nothing compared to what Western Conference teams endure in the playoffs, it’s at least as difficult as Indiana’s slate of Atlanta and Washington. The Pacers have lost five games in these playoffs and been pushed to the brink by a Hawks team that went 39-43 in the regular season.

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Yet the flip side to this is that Indiana stepped up its game against Washington, a series where a lot of people—including yours truly, who picked them to win it all in October and stood by it through much of the slump—finally threw in the towel and said the Pacers were finito. Roy Hibbert bounced back and had some good games. David West stepped it up and showed leadership off the court, and some big-time scoring on it, including 29 points in a Game 6 road win to ice the series.

All of that’s nice, it speaks well to Indiana’s ability to turn themselves around. But is it enough against the Heat? Frankly, it might be.

LeBron James has had to carry this Miami team like no other. I won’t go so far as to say it’s reminiscent of the Cleveland days, when he dragged four guys from my Wednesday night men’s league into the 2007 NBA Finals with him, but it’s close to it. If Indiana could play like the Pacers of old (and by “old”, I mean January), they can win the series, particularly with homecourt advantage.

Miami has no answer for Hibbert and West down low. Indiana is the ideally constructed team to beat the Heat. But that presumes that Indiana is all the way back, and while there are some positive signs, I think everyone is right to be gunshy about this team.

I’m going to pick the Pacers to win this series in seven games, but honestly, that’s more out of deference to my preseason prediction. In reality, I just want to see what Indiana can show the first two games on this home floor, to see if this is still the Pacer team I once believed in.

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder

The league’s MVP goes up against the league’s best team, as Kevin Durant faces the 62-win Spurs. Sitting here on Saturday morning as I write this, the injury to Ibaka has taken a lot of the steam out of this series. The OkC power forward is the only player who can match up with Tim Duncan down low. Without him, San Antonio can feel free to extend their defense without consequence.

But the flip side is that Tony Parker only played ten minutes in the close-out game of San Antonio’s series win over Portland. Recall that Parker tweaked a hamstring in Game 3 of last year’s Finals, and while he continued to play, was never the same. That injury cost San Antonio the championship last season. If he plays at something less than full health this year, it could deny the Spurs a repeat trip to the Finals.

Duncan is still a solid player, but with a watered-down Parker, Oklahoma City would have not just the best player on the floor, but the best two players on the floor in Durant and Russell Westbrook. San Antonio is a wonderful team, brilliantly coached, with solid depth and everyone understands their roles. But the NBA playoffs are about stars, and having the two best guys on the court is a pretty big edge in a best-of-seven series.

I’m picking the Thunder, again in deference to my preseason pick, and again, I want to watch the opening of this series to get a read on how much Parker will be able to give. But I’m picking Oklahoma City with more conviction that I am with Indiana, and I’d actually step up and bet the Thunder at underdog prices. 

NBA Playoffs: Miami Wraps It Up On The Road

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Dwayne Wade was amazing last night in Game 6 of the Miami-Indiana series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. LeBron James was good, while Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert were so-so. These themes, commonly struck in TheSportsNotebook’s playoff commentary on this series, were very much in evidence last night. But they aren’t the reason Miami won 103-95 and clinched a spot in the conference finals. Miami’s advancing because they took care of the ball and Indiana didn’t, with the final turnover numbers being 20 for the Pacers and 9 for the Heat. Offensive execution like that ends seasons and that’s what happened to Indiana last night.

Miami didn’t just get turnovers, they clamped down on defense in the second half. Indiana for the game shot 48 percent, which is certainly good enough, but the number was 59 percent at halftime. The Heat maintained a steady 53 percent pace throughout the game, with Wade sizzling at 17-for-25 to score his 41 points. LeBron was 12-for-23 to get 28. Furthermore, Mike Miller and Mario Challmes combined to go 7-for-11 from three-point range.

>As for Indiana, they got a big offensive night from David West, who scored 24 points, but Hibbert only had 12 and Granger had 15. Neither of the latter two were bad, but they didn’t look like players ready to step and play big in a must-win game. It underscores the core difference between these teams—Indiana is deeper and better balanced, but big games in the NBA playoffs are won by stars and Miami’s got that power in spades. Indiana’s key players have to take that next step. Granger’s steady 15 a game will help his team win 50-55 games next year, but he needs to have some monster nights in the playoffs if they’re going to break through the Heat.

We have a night off in both the NBA & NHL playoffs (check that, Rangers-Devils Game 6 goes tonight). For the NBA, it’s the first since the postseason began. Miami’s in the East finals and will wait to host the winner of Boston-Philadelphia, who play Game 7 on Saturday night. The Celtics have homecourt, and just as importantly they have a couple days rest for that game, instead of the usual one night off between games. Between Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, at least one of them and probably both need to get their body to snap back into shape or Philadelphia is going to win. In either case, the Sixers matched up well with the Celtics throughout the season, so it should be no surprise that they’ve done so in this series. And while a Game 7 win in the Garden would be an upset, it wouldn’t be a stunning shock, particularly given how battered the C’s are at this point of the season and their individual careers.

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: Miami Turns Up The Defensive Heat

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The series between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers turned ugly in more ways than one. Indiana felt Miami resorted to cheap shots, including one that sidelined power forward David West in the second half, and the Pacers themselves played some flat-out ugly basketball, turning in a performance that on less than authority than team president Larry Bird called “S-O-F-T” and Miami delivered a resounding 115-83 win to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Miami shot a stunning 61 percent from the floor. Regardless of how hot a team might be, it’s difficult to get that kind of percentage without the defense being complicit, lending credence to Bird’s remarks. The Heat had no problem bringing the defensive intensity, holding Indiana to 33 percent and playing the kind of D that had made Miami one of the league’s best at that end of the floor. And the Heat went after the misses with more vigor, winning the rebounding battle 49-35 in spite of having the inferior inside personnel. It was all an extremely disappointing night for the Pacers, who saw West get just four rebounds before departing and Danny Granger, the presumed meal ticket of this team, took only six shots, scored just ten points and managed a meager one rebound. By contrast the Heat two-guard, Mario Challmes, got eleven rebounds.

It was, frankly, a stunning non-performance by Indiana in a game that I believe—with all due respect to my fellow Celtics fans to the Sixers—decided who plays in the Finals. Indiana can come back with renewed defensive and rebounding intensity in Game 6 and extend the series, but the degree of difficulty for winning on the road skyrockets when you hit a seventh game and now Miami has that hole card in their hand.

Miami’s own showing got big nights from the usual suspects, with LeBron dropping a 30 points/10 rebounds/8 assists line and Dwayne Wade getting 28. The offense got a little bit of help from Shane Battier, who chipped in 13 and Udonis Haslem had 10. But overall, it’s the defensive intensity that Miami brought that’s most impressive about this win and why their worst-case scenario now still has them at home for a potential decisive game on Saturday.

The next two nights are the chances for both Miami and Boston to play with house money and get the road close-out. It’s Celtics-Sixers from Philadelphia tonight. Ray Allen showed life on that sore ankle last night—not necessarily scoring, but he did more than just stop and shoot for the first time in these playoffs. But between Allen’s ankle, Pierce’s knee and Avery Bradley’s shoulder, the Celtics are a wounded team and I wonder what happens if Philadelphia comes out strong and grabs an early lead—does Doc Rivers fold his hand quickly and make sure he’s got a rested team for Saturday?  And if the reverse happens, Doug Collins knows from Game 4 that his team won’t quit.

NBA Playoffs: Oklahoma City Closes Out Lakers

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The Los Angeles Lakers are going home early for the second straight year, as the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled to a 106-90 win and clinched the NBA’s Western Conference semi-final in five games. The Lakers have lost in the second round two straight years, and gone 1-8 in those games. The Thunder are in the conference finals for the second consecutive year. Can anyone spell “Changing Of The Guard In The West?” In the meantime, the Boston Celtics showed they aren’t quite ready for a Changing Of The Guard In The Atlantic Half Of The East—at least not yet. The Celtics put together a strong second half and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 101-85 and took a 3-2 series lead. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to tonight…

Oklahoma City 106 LA Lakers 90: Maybe Kobe Bryant knew what he was doing when he called out Pau Gasol in the media after the Lakers’ Game 4 loss, because Gasol was considerably more aggressive on the glass, getting 16 rebounds to go with his 14 points. But it seems like having to motivate big men is a double chore in Hollywood, because Andrew Bynum had only four boards. Oklahoma City won the rebounding battle 51-35, a positively stunning stat when you figure that even just staying close on the boards is enough for the Thunder to win. Kobe hung 42 points on 18-of-33 shooting, but when one key player is shut down to the degree Bynum was, it spells blowout. And with Kendrick Perkins crashing the glass to the tune of 11 rebounds, in support of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combining for 53 points and Durant himself getting ten boards, this one was opened up in the fourth quarter.

Boston 101 Philadelphia 85: After blowing a lead in Game 4 and trailing at halftime on their home floor and the crowd getting anxious, the Celtics turned to their forward to get things turned around, repeatedly getting him the ball in good spots, helping him to get to the line and turning the tide of the game late in the third quarter. But the forward wasn’t Paul Pierce. It wasn’t Kevin Garnett (yes, I know he’s officially the center, but he still plays like a power forward). The hero in Boston last night was Brandon Bass, who scored 27 points, including 9-of-10 from the foul line. The latter was the big edge the Celtics enjoyed, with a 26-10 scoring edge at the charity stripe. Garnett added 20 points, while Pierce scored 16 and Boston survived a strong night from Philly’s Elton Brand, who scored 19, and Evan Turner, who chased down 10 rebounds in the backcourt.

The East’s other Game 5 goes tonight, with Indiana down in Miami. I’m going to go blue in the face repeating the fact the Pacers have to look inside and find Roy Hibbert and David West, each of whom can score all night if they just get the ball on the blocks. And the Heat have got to find a third scorer to help LeBron and Wade, at least during the first three quarters. The best analogy was used at the blog Stat Intelligence by Jeff Fogle, who said asking the two stars to do what they did on Sunday is like the Phillies’ relying on Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee to throw a shutout each game. Sure, they’re great and they’ll do it more often than most anyone else. But is that a realistic plan to win a championship? So by all means, ask the questions about whether LeBron should be taking shots at the end of games. But also ask if someone else could take and make a few in the first 36 minutes.

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 Playoffs: Black Saturday At Staples

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Yesterday at the Staples Center will undeniably go down as Black Saturday in the developing history of the 13-year-old Los Angeles arena. The Clippers and Lakers each hosted must-win playoff games, each had them seemingly in control and both let them slip away. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to Sunday’s twinbill in the NBA playoffs…

San Antonio 96 LA Clippers 86: I was in a car driving back from Baltimore listening on XM Radio and when the Clips were ahead by 24 early in the game, I audibled down to baseball and general talk shows. I missed a devastating San Antonio turnaround highlighted by a 24-zip run in the third quarter. Beyond the obvious—and accurate—talk about how this shows the Clippers are still learning, while the Spurs are championship tough, the thing that stands out most in the big picture is free throw shooting. San Antonio got the line more frequently and did it via the backcourt. Tony Park and Manu Ginobli were 10-of-14 from the foul line, while Chris Paul was only 2-for-2 and Randy Foye never got a charity stripe attempt. Furthermore, the Clippers bricked the free throws they did get, with Reggie Evans 3-of-10 being the biggest culprit. Overall, the Spurs 17-9 scoring advantage in this area accounts for most of the margin of victory in a game evenly contested elsewhere. Los Angeles got positives—Blake Griffin finally played like a stud, with a 28 points/16 rebounds showing and Paul dished 11 assists. But whether the season ends in Game 4 at home or Game 5 back in San Antonio, those are lessons to build on next year. The Spurs are up 3-0 in games and this one’s over.

Oklahoma City 103 LA Lakers 100: The meltdown wasn’t quite as dramatic in this one, but the Laker lead hovered in the 10-point neighborhood for most of the game, before Oklahoma City finally made a decisive push at the end. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum were not nearly active enough on the boards, neither in double digits and Gasol a mere five. It became a battle of the stars at that point and with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Kobe Bryant all having huge nights, the Thunder had one more star. Westbrook hit big shots all game long to keep his team afloat, Durant gained steam in the fourth quarter and finally buried a trey in the face of Metta World Peace that proved be the game-winner. Bryant was accurate in complaining after the game that Gasol needed to be more aggressive, although I’m sure Kobe’s diplomacy on the subject will be called into question and that’s equally accurate.

I do think the whole back-to-back game thing hurting the veteran Lakers more than the young Thunder has to be given some credence here. Oklahoma City played its best basketball in the fourth quarter, Bryant went 1-for-8—a sure sign he was losing his legs—and the Laker perimeter defense suffered. It’s hard not to see some fatigue issues in there. No question Durant and Westbrook played big, and the former’s continued clutch play stands in sharp contrast to LeBron James at the halfway point of the second round. But the Lakers did not get a fair deal from the schedule-maker and I continue to wonder why Boston-Philadelphia got the entire weekend off while the LA teams played back-to-back. It makes even less sense when you consider that NBA planners are worried about tonight’s game with the Clippers, since if the LA Kings’ playoff game with Phoenix goes multiple overtimes, there will be an issue with clearing the ice to set up the basketball court. If a rush job has to be done and any moisture on the court creates an injury look for there to be a real media furor over a situation that could have easily been avoided.

That Clips-Spurs game tonight offers little in the way of storylines. We’ll see how hungry the home team is to stay alive one more game and how hungry the veteran team is to close quickly. I suppose we could read long-term stuff in there, like Los Angeles developing some mettle for future championship runs or San Antonio showing further hunger for the coming conference finals, but I’ll need to see this series stretched to a Game 6 before I’d be ready to go there.

Indiana-Miami is the big one this afternoon. I’ve been high on Indiana’s chances of taking this series this distance from the start and to win it since Chris Bosh went down, but I’m also not ready to give Miami a free pass for their play in Game 3. Say what you will about Bosh, losing him is not an excuse for a 19-point defeat, unless Dwayne Wade is hurt worse than he’s letting on, as I’ve seen suggested. Furthermore, Durant and Westbrook showed last night that a two-man show can at least give you a chance to win. If Wade is better than Westbrook—and he is—and LeBron is really the MVP (I don’t agree, but it’s still close enough)—than shouldn’t they be enough to take this game to the wire. And if Paul Pierce can carry a decimated team to a win in Atlanta, can’t both LeBron and Wade do the same here? I say they can, and look for both big guns to have huge games. Whether Indiana answers depends on whether Roy Hibbert continues to have nights like he did on Friday, when he scored 19 to go with his usual stellar rebounding and defensive effort. He’s the one man the Heat have no answers for.

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: Rebounding Keys Indiana & San Antonio Wins

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Rebounding was the story in the NBA last night, as the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs each hit the glass, and the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers either couldn’t or wouldn’t. The Pacers evened their series with the Heat at a game apiece and the Spurs took the opener of their battle with the Clippers. TheSportsNotebook recaps both games and looks ahead to tonight’s twinbill…

Indiana 78 Miami 75: Both teams shot under 40 percent from the floor, so there were plenty of rebounds available and it was Indiana who got 55 percent of the available boards. To a certain extent this was to be expected, as Miami was already a little overmatched down low by Indiana and then lost Chris Bosh to the abdominal strain that appears to have him sidelined for at least this series. So Miami has an excuse, but we still have to ask why Udonis Haslem and Joel Anthony can only combine for ten rebounds. By comparison three Indiana players—David West, Roy Hibbert and Paul George all matched or exceeded that by themselves. And George is a freakin’ guard! Yes, he’s 6’8”, but he should be outrebounding two centers by himself? Thus, even though LeBron got his 28 points and 9 rebounds, and Dwayne Wade got his 24, Miami’s giving up homecourt advantage. You certainly have to like Indiana’s chances right now—they have homecourt and have an inside edge they know they can hammer away at the rest of the series. But Danny Granger is still in a funk, with only 11 points last night. Depth is great and frankly I’d be heartened to see it prevail, but realistically you aren’t going to win a series with your best player persona non grata.

 

San Antonio 108 LA Clippers 92: No one can be surprised to see Tim Duncan grasp a big moment. With 26 points and 10 rebounds, the veteran big man sent a message to young Blake Griffin—not just yet. And Griffin didn’t seem inclined to protest the message too loudly, settling for 15 points and 9 rebounds. Now the point total’s not a big problem—it matches what Caron Butler had, and that was a nice game for the small forward. The rebound total is not a big problem—it matches what DeAndre Jordan had and that was a nice game for the center. But someone needs to tell Griffin words to the effect “You are Blake Freakin’ Griffin, guy who jumps over cars and sells Kia’s. 15/9 doesn’t cut it for you. 20/10 cuts it for you. And at this time of year, make it every night.” Griffin can take a lesson from Chris Paul, who might have struggled last night, but at least showed he recognized his role. According to the game write-up on ESPN.com, Paul corrected his son who told him “Good game Daddy.” The point guard informed the boy “Daddy had a bad game. Daddy couldn’t make a shot.” Indeed, he went 3-of-13, but shooting comes and goes. Leadership and understanding your importance to the team endures.

The other Los Angeles team, the Lakers, looks to get back on track tonight in Oklahoma City. Like the Clips, the Lakers best chance to win a road game early is realistically Game 2, since both Hollywood teams came off Game 7s over the weekend. The prereq to a Laker win is going to be both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol being into the game on both ends, and then Kobe being willing to give up the ball down low. If it’s left to Bryant—by circumstance of the superstar’s own insistence—it won’t work. Oklahoma City can more than match the star power. Los Angeles also needs Ron Artest to at least slow Kevin Durant, or shift him to guarding Russell Westbrook. The Thunder will get their scoring from those two, plus James Harden and all it takes it just a little defensive effort against one of them to swing a close game.

Boston goes to Philadelphia in the first series to have a Game 3. The first two in Boston where knockdown ugly affairs. The Celtics got Ray Allen going in Game 2 and now they need Paul Pierce to get off the schneid in this series. Philadelphia needs center Spencer Hawes to continue the strong rebounding effort he gave in the Game 2 win.

NBA Playoffs: Philadelphia Makes It A Series

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The Philadelphia 76ers officially sent word to the NBA that the battle is joined in their second-round series against the Boston Celtics, as the Sixers pulled out an 82-81 win in the Garden last night to even the series at a game apiece as action reverts to Philadelphia on Friday night.

While Jrue Holiday played an excellent game at point guard—he scored 18, drained 4/6 from three-point range and was part of a defensive effort that helped keep Rajon Rondo under control—the biggest reason Philadelphia won this game was that they owned the glass and got to the foul line. Spencer Hawes led the rebounding effort with ten boards and the Sixer bench was a big part of the win. The quartet of Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Jodie Meeks and Lavoy Allen combined for 26 points, and more impressively, for 19 rebounds. Contrast this with the Boston bench, which got only six rebounds (The C’s reserves had 31 points, but that’s because Ray Allen is technically a bench player and scored 17. If you base it on minutes played and move Allen up, with Avery Bradley down, the Celtics’ subs only had 22 points).  And the Philadelphia bench was 10/10 from the line. Boston was able to get its three-point shooting game back in gear, with the good night from Allen and Mickael Pietrus nailing a couple big treys in a fourth quarter rally that looked like it would deliver another Boston win. But when the outside shooting denies you getting to the foul line consistently, it loses a lot of value. Paul Pierce was a non-factor for the second straight game, scoring only seven points.

Oklahoma City 109 LA Lakers 90: If the Lakers were going to win a game in Oklahoma City it wasn’t going to be last night. Not with the team coming off the emotional Game 7 win on Saturday night over Denver and the Thunder well-rested. The energy disparity showed up on the defensive end, where Los Angeles let OkC hit 53 percent from the floor and had no luck forcing the ball off of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, with the duo combining for 52 points. But I think the Thunder have to be concerned about the lack of inside presence from Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins—not so much in scoring, but rebounding. Even with Pau Gasol playing as though he’d have been better off staying in the hotel, the Thunder were still narrowly outrebounded last night. Andrew Bynum, the youngest of the Laker core, was the one who made the biggest impact, with 20 points/14 rebounds. Kobe had 20, but little else, which for him is a quiet night. Oklahoma City doesn’t need scoring balance—with James Harden kicking in off the bench they have the three scorers necessary to win a big series like this—but they need the entire lineup involved in defense and rebounding, and if both Gasol and Bynum click in rhythm in Game  2 on Wednesday, this could still be a series.

Two more games go tonight. Indiana takes another crack at Miami after being beaten by the Heat in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Sunday. Chris Bosh is out indefinitely for Miami and the reports that indefinitely means at least this series. This is no small loss—not only because of Bosh’s talent, as one just a step behind LeBron and Dwayne Wade, but because Indiana is exactly the kind of team that can exploit a Miami interior that was already a problem. Roy Hibbert and David West played well on Sunday and they have to smell blood in the water tonight. Danny Granger needs to play like a leading scorer. If Indiana does these things, they’ll steal a road win and that’s what I’m expecting to happen.

The Los Angeles Clippers visit San Antonio to start their second round series. TheSportsNotebook’s series preview will post late Tuesday morning.

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.