That gnashing of teeth you hear comes from the NBA offices in New York, where they are crunching numbers and figuring on lower TV revenue if the low-profile Memphis Grizzlies seal the deal in this series and take out Kevin Durant and the Thunder.
Larry Bird, who knows a thing or two about NBA playoff basketball, used to tell anyone who would listen that the key to winning a series is to get the job done in Game 4.
You can survive injuries to key players in the short-term in this man’s NBA, but as the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics have learned, eventually you have to pay the bill.
Imagine a Bulls-Heat series with an in-his-prime Michael Jordan going up against LeBron James?
Something happens to the Indiana Pacers when they head to Atlanta. Maybe a few of the players sneak off to the Gold Club for some entertainment. Who knows?
Some people get life in the NBA – the ebbs and the flows, the way many players in true Michael Jordan tradition use any perceived slight to their advantage once the playoffs come around. Then there are the New York Knicks.
Tonight the Brooklyn Nets pay the price for not winning Game 2 on their home court.
Road wins in the playoffs are plated with gold, and the Bulls may have nailed down the series a little more than a week ago when they sucked it up in Brooklyn and came away with a 90-82 victory after being blown off the hardwood by 17 points in the opener.
This is why teams care about home-court advantage in the playoffs. In the first two games of this series, in Indianapolis, the Pacers could do just about whatever they wanted whenever they wanted – winning both by an average score of 110-91.
They are home in a series that they have dominated. They are younger. They are more talented.
So here’s what you can expect tonight in Oklahoma City when the Thunder try to close out the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of their Western Conference playoff series:
Ok, maybe someone in the Houston Rockets camp can explain how a team can fall behind by 26 points in an important playoff game. At home. Against an opponent still trying to figure things out two days after losing its second-best player.
Western Conference
Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0) at Houston Rockets (0-3)
Monday, April 29
Toyota Center, Houston
9:30 p.m. EST
Spread – Thunder -1.5 at TopBet
O/U – 206.5
ATS Matchup Stats | Gambling Insight!
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Maybe the Rockets’ fold in Game 3 had something to do with Jeremy Lin not being at 100 percent and Houston not being to take full advantage of the Thunder missing Russell Westbrook.
Maybe not. But Lin, who has not been shy about this season about his team not always putting its pedal to the metal, put up his third straight bowser of a game (he has 13 total points of 5-for-20 shooting over three games) on Saturday night and the Rockets are on the fast track to elimination in these playoffs.
Houston is going down. The only question is whether it will be tonight in Texas in Game 4 or later on this week. But go down the Rockets will. Forty-one points by Kevin Durant on Saturday night and a stunningly lackluster effort by Houston in the first two periods guaranteed that this series will not go deep.
Houston’s job right now is to figure out a way to get off the blocks faster tonight than it did on Saturday. Then again, any change would be an improvement after Houston gave up 39 points in the opening 12 minutes and carried a 20-point deficit of an anvil into the final three periods. [ad-6571516]
OKC is hoping to get this thing over with in a hurry so coach Scott Brooks can buy some practice time before the start of the next series and work Reggie Jackson and Derek Fisher into the equation after Westbrook went down for the season.
Early returns are promising – Jackson and Fisher combined for 23 points, and Fisher had zero turnovers in 24-plus minutes. That’s important, because Job 1 in the Thunder offense is to keep possession of the ball and work it until Durant gets an open look.
The Westbrook injury and Houston’s nearly swiping of Game 2 in OKC appeared to have opened the door wide open and portend a 6- or 7-game series.
But the Rockets’ F-for-effort first quarter put an end to that talk, and now it’s a matter of time before the Thunder get it over with.
Houston is desperate to find another offensive threat to make life easier on James Harden, and the Rockets may have found him in Francisco Garcia, who had 18 points in 24 minutes in Game 3.
Looking for Houston to avoid a slow start this time and break through, though an under play makes more sense than a bet on the side since fatigue has to be setting in as all the key offensive players have played huge minutes the entire series.
In the snap of a finger, this series has changed from RFOFLMAO to OMG.
No one knows when or if Russell Westbrook will return to the court as he deals with the aftermath of surgery to repair the damage caused by injury suffered in Game 2.
Even the most ardent Hawks fans – assuming that such a species exists – know that the Hawks’ chances of playing any basketball beyond the end of this week are melting fast, and with Atlanta trailing 2-0 in its Eastern Conference quarterfinals playoff series against the Pacers, if there is a stand to be made, it has to be made tonight in Game 3.
Eastern Conference
Indiana Pacers (2-0) at Atlanta Hawks (0-2)
Saturday, April 27
Philips Arena, Atlanta
7 p.m. EST
Spread – Hawks -2.5 at TopBet
O/U – 190
ATS Matchup Stats | Gambling Insight!
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Over the last decade the Hawks have made a living lurking around for a round or two in the playoffs before compliantly heading home, and this season doesn’t look a lot different. Atlanta didn’t put up much of a fight in Indianapolis in either of the first two games of the series, losing by an average score of 110-94.
The Hawks had vowed to bring a more physical approach to Game 2 after getting bended, folded and mutilated in Game 1, but Atlanta was beaten by Indy in all phases of the game, with pretty much the same result.
“It’s natural for us,” said Indy’s Paul George of the Hawks’ new-found toughness. “We naturally play physical. It wasn’t like, ‘They’re playing physical, let’s retaliate.’
That’s how we approach the game — in a physical way. We’re not interested in retaliating or injuring players; we’re going to play tough, but (we’re) not interested in all the other stuff.”
George laid 27 points on the Hawks’ heads in Game 2 after a triple-double in Game 1, and it’s clear that putting an end to his MVP-type play is Atlanta top priority if the Hawks have any intention of taking this series back to the heartland for a Game 5. [ad-6571516]
The Pacers, meanwhile, are content to enjoy their recent offensive success and let the Hawks figure out things. Only Golden State and Oklahoma City are scoring at a higher rate than Indiana in the playoffs, and the Pacers own the largest margin of victory (11 ppg).
Of course, Atlanta’s lackadaisical defensive play has something to do with that, and the Hawks aren’t doing themselves any favors by shooting a high school-like 18 for 34 from the free throw line in the series.
The Hawks’ starters were abused by Indiana in Game 2. In the first and third periods, when most of the minutes were logged by Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Josh Smith, Atlanta was outscored by a whopping 60-47.
That has to change tonight, and the first period could go a long way toward determining in there will be any bite at all in this series or Indiana can coast.
The Hawks have never been a circle-the-wagons type of club, and Atlanta has far more questions than answers.
Indiana is just playing too well. Pacers to cover the 2.5. Suggest a money line play on Indiana to bump up the profit a bit.
If the Nets made any mistake in the leadup to their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series against the Bulls, it may have been in assuming that things were going to pretty much play out the way the regular season did.
Do you know Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock?
No?
Well, tune in tonight because they figure to be in Lakers uniforms and perhaps will comprise LAL’s starting backcourt when Gang Purple tries to keep alive its flickering playoff hopes against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinal series.
It’s possible that we are seeing the final few games of Kevin Garnett’s career.
Garnett and the Celtics take on the Knicks tonight in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff quarterfinals, and the blood and guts of Boston’s defense is hardly at 100 percent in the most important few games of the season.
