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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: Miami Beats Back New York, Indiana Answers

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The New York Knicks brought the intensity to their Game 2 battle with the Miami Heat, but the end, the Knicks lacked the backcourt balance in their offense and it appears at least one key player lacked some emotional balance at game’s end. TheSportsNotebook recaps the three games from Monday night in the NBA playoffs and looks ahead to three more on Tuesday…

Miami 104 New York 94: The fact the Knicks won the rebounding battle 40-33 tells you they brought the effort, and it was led by Carmelo Anthony who scored 30 and got nine boards to lead the team in both categories. Amare Stoudamire and Tyson Chandler each got seven boards apiece. But Miami was stronger everywhere else. They hit 52 percent from the floor, with Dwayne Wade’s 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting being the biggest reason why. They got some key production from the bench, as both Mike Miller and Shane Battier came out and went 3-of-5 from behind the arc. It left Stoudamire so frustrated that at game’s end he punched through the glass of a fire extinguisher. Conjuring up memories of Yankee pitcher Kevin Brown in 2004, who broke his hand against a wall after a bad start, Stoudamire left the arena with his hand wrapped and his status uncertain for Game 3. Give the Knicks’ key players credit for the effort, but without a good backcourt you can’t play really good team defense and the combination of Wade, plus the surprise three-point bombings from the bench, showed that.

Indiana 93 Orlando 78: Indiana trailed by a point when they finally seemed to figure out they needed to attack the boards. David West ended the game with 11 rebounds. Roy Hibbert finished with 13, although the big center still doesn’t want to assert himself offensive—either that or the team doesn’t him to. Either way, it’s a mistake. But Indiana’s rebounding and defense made up for a bad shooting night. The Magic guards, so productive in the Game 1 upset, combined to shoot less than 30 percent from the floor, and Glen Davis shot just 5-of-16 from his power forward spot.

Oklahoma City 102 Dallas 99: The number that stands out in the team stats is that the Mavericks were 5-of-23 from three-point range and the memory is Dirk Nowitzki getting the ball wide open from three, his team up 97-96. He spotted up, had enough time to evaluate the basketball and maybe sign a few autographs. The launch was sure to be the backbreaker that would give Dallas a road win. Instead it bounced harmlessly off the rim and Oklahoma City prevailed. Kevin Durant didn’t shoot well, but he got to the line repeatedly, where he converted 14-of-16. As valuable as the three-point shot can be, there’s no substitute when you’re not connecting. With Durant, his ability to create activity around him kept him flush with scoring chances. And in the backcourt Russell Westbrook’s 10-of-21 shooting night contrasted sharply with the Maverick trio of Jason Kidd, Delonte West and Jason Terry only making 4 of 15 treys.

Three games go tonight…

*Boston-Atlanta: Rajon Rondo will be suspended for his bumping of a ref at the end of Game 1. As a Celtics fan, the suspension was deserved, and if we lose the series because of it, the person to blame is the player, for letting his team down, and not the league office. Ray Allen is still listed as doubtful with the ankle injury. So it comes down to this—has Atlanta achieved the maturity level necessary to not back down, and make sure to handle a team that will bring an A-grade effort—Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will move heaven and earth to try and even this series—but does not have the talent to win if Atlanta’s ready.

*Philadelphia-Chicago: We already know the Bulls can play well without Derrick Rose, at least against a team like the 76ers. We have to watch for more intangible factors tonight—when the team carried on without their r star during the regular season it was in anticipation of having him rested and healthy right now. How do they respond now?

*LA Clippers-Memphis: Let’s continue our theme of mental response on Tuesday night, from Atlanta to Chicago and now to Memphis. 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.