I just can’t see any match-up that Indiana has a clear advantage over Washington in. Maybe if Hibbert and George Hill didn’t look dead.
Yeah, I’m picking the Wizards too. I was waiting to see if Indy would respond after almost being upset in the first round, but Hibbert got no points and no rebounds again. I just don’t think this team has what it takes to withstand another week or so if withering critique. Though its not the embarrassment of a first round loss, a 2nd round loss is still pretty bad.
Meanwhile, Clippers looked great, but it was an usually good shooting day for them. I’m sure the Thunder will win game 2 and make this a series. Its interesting what one of the analysts said on the TNT broadcast. They mentioned that Westbrook seems to take things personally and see it as a challenge to jack up shots and beat the other team when they are down. In the first round, he was basically free to do what he wanted. But against the Clippers, he’s got to go against Chris Paul. I think Paul can definitely bait him into taking shots away from Kevin Durant by just being good.
Paul can’t keep up with Westbrook defensively. He can drive at will on them and force the defense to collapse.
Durant needs to start playing like an MVP.
No one can keep up with Westbrook, but Westbrook by himself isn’t enough to beat the Clippers. Memphis kept the series close by shutting down Durant and daring Westbrook to shoot, and slowing the game down. I think the Clippers can play slow or fast because they have someone like Paul, so they won’t have offensive droughts like Memphis. I like their chances a lot.
It’s the playoffs; not every shot is going to be a good shot. The teams that win are teams that have guys who create as many good shots as they can, but who make enough of the bad ones, too. Durant doesn’t really try to create a shot other than for maybe two four-minute stretches here and there. He takes “taking what the defense gives you” way past a fault. It really seems to me that a lot (not all) of Westbrook’s dominating of the ball comes from being the only one willing to create.
Getting “shut down” should not be an option for a perimeter player. It’s amazing that it’s even a conversation considering how talented Durant is – that’s something you say about Ray Allen or Klay Thompson or somebody, not about the MVP. In a seven game series against a good team, at some point you have to stop standing on the weak side at the three point line with your hand above your head hoping to catch and shoot a three. Sometimes you have to sacrifice efficiency because you’re still the best option.
So much for the Nets “owning” the Heat. Miami can just turn it on at will.
And so much for the Spurs being “old and slow”…
I’ve seen high school teams play better ball than the Blazers are playing tonight. It’s going to be a sweep if they don’t up their play by a large margin.
I’m thinking the Spurs were just playing out of their minds. The Blazers were sloppy, and all of the bounces literally went the Spurs’ way. They need to do a better job keeping a guy on Tony Parker (good luck with that), but they had 14 turnovers from their starters and they couldn’t buy a basket for almost the entire first quarter. I don’t see that happening two games in a row. Portland’s a better team than that.
I prefer to be gloomy and defeatist. 
Wizards had plenty of chances to take that one, just couldn’t get a basket when they needed it. Kinda sloppy with the ball. But the Pacers are the #1 seed for a reason; they’re a good team, and I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Still, headed back to Chinatown 1-1 is a good position to be in. I’m still pretty confident Washington takes the series.
The Pacers are the #1 seed because they were really good for the first half of the season or so. Since then they’ve mostly sucked, but that could change if Roy Hibbert has remembered how to play.
Whoever they replaced Hibbert with better keep that human skin suit and keep pretending to be him or else they have no shot. The Wizards were in it right up until the end. Most of these games are going to be close and I don’t have the confidence that Indy’s going to do anything yet, not after the first 8 games of the playoffs and the last 3 months of their season
I’m too accustomed to disappointment. I agree with everything you say, and I hope this time is different, but I just can’t open myself up to being hopeful yet.
I hear you. Sports are much less stressful when your team sucks.
First half of game two and the Blazers are again looking like a bunch of amateurs.
They’re doing a better job with Parker, but he’s still pretty much doing whatever he wants.
Tell something, because I don’t get to see the Blazers much: do they always play so short (not height)? They’ve only played eight guys tonight, and the bench didn’t see many minutes in Game 1 either.
They have the lowest-scoring bench in the NBA. Stotts tends to go with his starters most of the time, which means Lillard and Matthews at guard. They’re like 6-1 and 6-3. Mo Williams comes off the bench quite often, but he’s a shorty also, and it looks like he’s now on the injured list. Popovich throws the kitchen sink on the floor, which I would think makes for mayhem for opposing teams. You’re always facing someone who is fairly rested and who has a different playing style from the last guy you were guarding.
I have to say that SA has one of the best passing games I’ve seen. Portland looks dazed, confused and inept, particularly when they have a three to one advantage under the net and still lose rebounds. Aldridge had a horrible night and just looked like he was in a panic. Oh well, there’s always next year.
The playoffs are our annual reminder that Tony Parker is really freaking good.
It’s amazing that a team with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker can score 70 points in the first half, only to have Kawhi Leonard leading the way among scorers with a whopping 14… just one less point than TP and TD combined.
7 Spurs last night in double figures.
I’m sure nearly all of you were smart like me and elected not to watch the Pacers-Wiz game after taking a gander at the halftime box score, but holy crap, what a dogshit game by Washington. They shot 33% and were outscored 51-30 in the second half. In front of a home crowd. I’d have asked for a refund.
What a disgusting series.