On one of the rare off nights in the NBA playoffs, we have a few precious hours to catch our breaths and take care of everything we’ve neglected — our friends, families and most importantly, errands — for the last six weeks, and reflect.
While a handful of teams focus on the NBA draft combine, the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies are gearing up for the conference finals, which the Spurs and Grizzlies will kick off in San Antonio on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, there is still one series left to be determined – Indiana leads New York, 3-2, and the teams return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday night for Game 6.
Before we dive into everything else, let’s take a look at the two different perspectives this series brings from each city.
After taking Game 5, 85-75, the New York Knicks are back in this series. Despite trailing 3-2 and heading to Indiana for Game 6, the Knicks should be – and are – feeling confident. This series has taken quite the turn after Pacers point guard George Hill was ruled out for Game 5 with a concussion and is uncertain for Game 6, giving the Knicks a realistic shot at becoming just the ninth team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the playoffs.
According to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star, the Pacers should be feeling quite nervous: “They are still in the catbird seat, still secure in the knowledge that only (eight) teams in NBA playoff history have blown a 3-1 series lead. But the Hill injury, the team’s first major adversity since it was announced Danny Granger would not return from a knee injury late in the regular season, alters the dynamic of this team and of this series.”
“We didn’t play well,” forward Paul George said. “It was a bad game for us, but we were still right there. A couple of plays where with maturity and growth, we’ll get better at executing the plays our coaches draw up for us. They took us out of our game a little with their pressure.”
More from Kravitz: “The bottom line remains: The Pacers are the better team, and should close out this series Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. They’ve dictated the terms of engagement, have limited New York from 3-point range, have owned the boards and done almost everything they wanted. Even on a night when George and Roy Hibbert were in foul trouble, the Pacers couldn’t make a field goal (or a free throw), and they turned over the ball 19 times, they hung tough with the Knicks and made them sweat in an elimination game.”
“The encouraging thing is, if we make our free throws, we’re in the ballgame,” Vogel said. “… It was just one of those nights (from the free throw line). Everybody has a game like that.”
Ah, how fast things can change.
Just three days ago we were writing the Knicks’ obituary. And now, behind Mike Woodson, they are building confidence.
Ian O’Connor has the scoop: “So there Woodson stood inside Madison Square Garden for Game 5, staring at the potential for complete humiliation. If the Knicks lost this one, they would have lost the series by surrendering two home games to a lower-seeded opponent that reminds nobody of the world champion Miami Heat. Sure, Carmelo Anthony would have assumed some blame as a franchise player with a miserable postseason past, but Woodson’s credibility would have taken a bigger hit.”
“So Woodson showed New Yorkers the kind of toughness he didn’t get a chance to show them as a first-round pick of the Knicks in 1980, a year before they traded him to the Nets. Woodson had a good career as an NBA player, and so far he’s had a good career as an NBA coach.
But he’s said more than once he wants to be great, not good. And truth is, all Mike Woodson did in Game 5 was redeem his earlier second-round sins. If the coach scores two more victories over the Pacers, he’ll do a lot better than that.”
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