Tonight is Game 3 in the Pacers-Heat series, and it looks like a pivotal one. The Pacers can show that they are a real threat to the Heat’s dominance, or the Heat can assert their dominance after two games where they were arguably the worse of the teams on the floor. If you’d mentioned this scenario five years ago, it would have been laughed at. Probably. But hey, five years ago LeBron James was a Cavalier, the Pistons and Hornets
So are the Pacers legit now? Does playing the Heat close once and then beating them the second time make a team legit? Does it matter, when they comprehensively beat the Knicks in the last round? My answers: yes, not necessarily, and not really, but the Heat are a much better measurement of legitimacy. One thing can’t be denied, though: the NBA establishment is warming to the previously no-name Pacers. The reaction to Paul George’s dunk last night proves that. And what
Even though the Pacers lost Game 1, they had to have impressed many impartial observers. Maybe the Heat won’t have an easy path to the Finals after all. Or maybe the first game was an aberration and they’ll turn on the jets and roll over Indiana from here on out. We’ll see, I guess. For some analysis of what went wrong for Indy at the end of OT, check out Chris Sheridan’s column blaming Paul George. And since we’re about to
It seems like every couple years or so, there’s a dilemma about who to select first overall in the NBA draft, and one of the options is almost always a defense-first center with an “unrefined” offensive game. This year’s model is Nerlens Noel, and right now it’s looking like he’ll go No. 1 unless a team with no need for a center lands the No. 1 pick. Our own Joe Kotoch, whose next Mock Draft goes up Tuesday, has already
Well, the Knicks are done. Kind of anti-climactically, as well, at least compared to previous playoff series against Indiana (see right). Now it’s up to the Pacers, who are kind of like the anti-Heat, to stop the Miami freight train that seems destined to roll right on through to the finals. For all the gory details on just what went wrong in the Knicks’ elimination, I’ll point you over to Chris Sheridan’s latest column and podcast. In the West, we’ve got the
The Warriors knocked off the Spurs today to knot their series back up, 2-2. And they did it with Steph Curry on a balky ankle. Tomorrow night, the Thunder and Bulls will try to even up their series as well. If you know who’s going to win each of these series, you could probably make a fortune. The NBA future is about as unclear as it ever gets right about now. For a couple teams, though, the future is getting a
Every remaining NBA team is banged up right now. It’s a fact of the playoffs that they are a of endurance as much as skill. Since the start of the first round, the Thunder have lost Russell Westbrook and the Warriors have lost David Lee for effectively the remainder of the playoffs. The Knicks and Spurs have a number of nagging injuries. [Read more…]
And just like that, the second round is upon us. If that felt a little abrupt, don’t worry: it was. Somehow the first series to be set is the last to get underway, which I’m sure Gregg Popovich and the Spurs won’t mind. Mark Jackson and the Warriors probably won’t mind too much either, with Andrew Bogut and Steph Curry’s ankle troubles. For more on the Warriors and Spurs, check out Jan Hubbard’s latest column. The other series that starts tomorrow