Grand theft Boston
The Celtics survive a game they definitely should have lost.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Nonchaloir (Repose); John Singer Sargent; 1911
The Indiana Pacers
put 117 points on the Boston Celtics in regulation,
watched the Celtics shoot just 33% from deep,
got Joe Mazzulla to play a center every minute of the game even though those centers (Al Horford and Luke Kornet) were largely being abused by Indiana’s offense,
shot 63% inside the arc
and lost. It’s like the Nicene Creed of heartbreak, and it very well could be the series. Playoff series can turn on whims. Indiana don’t advance past the semifinals without an Andrew Nembhard prayer shot that gets more improbable every time the broadcast shows it. The Boston Celtics are an incredible team, and Indiana had the C’s right where they wanted them. Indiana up five with two minutes to go. Indiana up three with the ball with 35 seconds left. Indiana still up three with the ball with 10 seconds left. Indiana down one with the ball with a minute left in overtime. Take your pick. Indiana had lots of chances to close out an excellent team in their building on a hot night in May (I don’t know the weather in Boston), and did not, and might not get another chance like that in this building.
The turnovers were so painful. Tyrese Haliburton lost his dribble twice in crunch time. Nembhard couldn’t cleanly inbound the ball in the defining possession before Jaylen Brown’s actually defining possession. It’s just brutal stuff.
Indiana could very well still compete in this series. Someone will have to actually slow them down for multiple games before I believe it can be done. I thought Indiana’s defense was nowhere near the overall level it had been in Games 6 and 7 vs. the Knicks, and even a few of the early games against Milwaukee. Of course, the Celtics’ offense is exponentially more adept at scoring in different ways than those earlier Indiana opponents. Aaron Nesmith did a credible job on Jayson Tatum, and it’s noteworthy that Tatum’s crunchtime offense totally turned around once Nesmith fouled out.
The Pacers are really trying to make Horford a main character on both ends of the floor, and it mostly worked to their advantage … in Game 1. Horford is smart as hell, though, and might figure out how to frustrate the Haliburton-Myles Turner and Haliburton-Pascal Siakam two-man game. He’ll probably shoot better than 3/12 from deep given the quality of looks the Pacers are giving up, too. Kornet? I have not seen enough in his career to know whether he can adjust or whether the Pacers just played him out of the series. In Game 1, it felt like the latter. (Boston narrowly won his minutes. It did not feel like it in real-time.) It’s hard to go small against Indiana, but Mazzulla might have no choice until Kristaps Porzingis is cleared. Or perhaps it’s Neemias Queta time.
Jrue Holiday was brilliant on offense and had a few standout defensive possessions on Haliburton in crunch time. Derrick White, I felt, had a pretty quiet game overall … but finished with 15-6-9. Just a solid, solid contributor whose team is plainly better when he runs the offense. Tatum did his damage early and late with only a few stretches of settling for his jumper, and his rebounding was really important. I thought Peyton Pritchard’s zip in his first long stint matched Indiana’s energy and put the Pacers on their heels. It didn’t quiet work like that later in the game, but it’s worth watching given the otherwise steep disadvantage in reliability and depth that is perceived of Boston’s bench versus that of Indiana. Speaking of two-faced bench performances: are First Half Obi Toppin and Second Half Obi Toppin even the same person? He was a nightmare for Boston in his first burn (quick decisions, physical, attacking) and a nightmare for Indiana later in the game (hesitation, overdribbling, finesse over power).
The biggest star for Boston, though, was clearly Brown, who had some strong defensive plays, did some brilliant isolation and post work on offense and brought the energy and emotion required in this stage of the NBA playoffs. And then he hit a tough shot to send the game to overtime. He’s your leading candidate for Eastern Conference Finals MVP after one game, and it’s not a debate.
Let’s see if Indiana has another offensive performance like that in them on the road on Thursday, or if Boston can build some momentum heading to the Midwest.
Rick Carlisle, You’re Wrong
I’m seeing the Doris Burke-J.J. Redick team getting flack for a relative lack of excitement through the course of the broadcast. I’ll say this: all playoffs long, something has felt a little off about the games on ESPN and ABC. Like … are the crowds not juiced, or is the mix just off? Crowd noise is an important factor in whether a broadcast feels frenetic and exciting, and I know the Boston crowd is rabid most of the time. Mike Breen was citing the loud crowd in a couple of moments when he didn’t hear the whistle. What’s going on here?
Anyways, shaping the tone of the broadcast is part of the booth’s job. I think Burke and Redick are not perfect in that regard: they feel a bit too buttoned up, they have no catchphrases (say what you will about Mark Jackson but the dude wrote some lasting one-liners), they are very similar in style.
That said, they are fantastic in actual analysis. Redick’s commentary going into Brown’s shot at the end of the regulation was a perfect example. He noted the two prior opportunities in the playoffs Rick Carlisle had to foul up three in the closing seconds, he noted that Carlisle didn’t do it, and that Indiana split those games. That is wonderful context for when … Carlisle, inexplicably, does not call for his team to foul up three against one of the greatest three-point shooting teams of all time.
Rick Carlisle, my man: you are wrong. Foul them.
And J.J.: you’re almost assuredly going to be a head coach soon. Take a stand here instead of merely suggesting you might disagree with Carlisle’s decision. Be bold in telling us about the tradeoffs and the numbers and the history. Be opinionated. The broadcast needs a little more drama from the booth; Mike Breen can’t do it all. Let us know you’d do better than the coaches on the floor.
The NBA’s Win-Win Western Conference Finals
Before the playoffs tipped off, I picked the Dallas Mavericks to make the Finals. This isn’t really a brag: I picked them to beat the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, and as you may have noticed based on the fact that I led just about every newsletter over the past two weeks with the series, the Minnesota Timberwolves knocked off the champs. My hunch on Dallas was
a more straightforward path to the West finals given OKC’s overall lack of experience in tough playoff series,
a defense that I believe has proven itself to be real, and
two incredible offensive stars in a single backcourt, which makes defending them really, really difficult.
Those latter two points still apply in a series against Minnesota. Beating Denver in seven on a 20-point second half road comeback erases the first point when it comes to the Wolves. They are officially playoff tested. No question about that.
The question I have is whether the Wolves offense can be at all efficient against the Mavericks. OKC had an elite offense in the regular season and a middling offensive performance over six games against Dallas. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored at a high level in the series; Jalen Williams was made much less effective, and Chet Holmgren (despite getting some points on the board) was never comfortable. Dallas took away much of what OKC wanted to do, and OKC shot poorly from deep, in part on account of getting fewer open looks.
The Timberwolves did not have an elite offense this season. And yet they scored about as efficiently against a good, sub-elite Denver defense as the Thunder did against a better-than-good, perhaps-elite Dallas defense. Where the OKC supporting cast wilted against the Mavericks, the Wolves’ No. 2 star Karl-Anthony Towns and certain members of the supporting cast (Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid early in the series, Jaden McDaniels late) rose to the occassion.
To be clear, the Wolves won their series primarily with defense, and finding a recipe that works for big, strong Luka Doncic as well as did Minnesota’s recipe to limit quick, crafty Jamal Murray and tall, smooth Michael Porter Jr. will be key.
There’s also the fact that Luka has not consistently looked to be fully healthy. He’s not been as purely effective as he was in his first two career series against the Clippers or in the previous WCF run two years ago. I don’t think he’s far off of that level, and having Kyrie Irving plus a parade of hot-shooting wings plus legitimate lob threats are great equalizers, and having a few rest days must feel like absolute magic right now.
We’ll see! This is a new match-up for all intents and purposes: the teams haven’t met in the playoffs and due to timing and player availability, there isn’t much to take for the regular season matches.
The big takeaway here though is that the NBA has a win-win series. Either Luka advances to the NBA Finals for the first time to cement himself in the public sporting consciousness beyond basketball fans or Anthony Edwards and the lovable Wolves are minted as darlings of the sports world. Can’t-lose proposition here.
Links
My bud
with 13 takes on the opening week of the WNBA season. on Game 1 of the ECF.It sounds like the Celtics are targeting Game 4 for Porzingis.
Dan Devine on the end of the Knicks’ amazing season.
All-Defense teams were announced. Domantas Sabonis got *multiple* votes. The contagion is spreading. Anyway, the first team had four centers, including Victor Wembanyama. This is going to be the new norm. Both having four centers on first team All-Defense, and Wembanyama being on first team All-Defense.
It’s May. The conference finals are starting. What is the third best player on the Los Angeles Lakers doing? Almost qualifying for a tournament in the G League of golf.
"I was laying on the couch the other day and I was bored, and I called [my friend Trent Swaim] and said 'Find me a Monday qualifier around here,'" Reaves said.
Life goals. Maybe not if I was a 25-year-old NBA star. In that case maybe getting to the NBA Finals would be the goal. But you know. Take what life offers.
The Ringer ranks the top 25 under 25.
Alright, that’s good. Be excellent to each other.
As a Pacers fan, I didn't mind not fouling up 3 just given how little time there was for it. And they did lose to Chicago this season on that exact kind of foul. I do blame Carlisle for not calling a timeout before that. I was surprised he didn't do it right away just to advance the ball but it was even worse when it became clear that inbounding was going to be tough. Just seemed like a total brain fart and what should've been an easy call.
Catchphrases suck ass.â„¢ Kenny Mayne excepted.
For thirty-five years, Sportscenter has been trash as you can practically hear the anchors scratching each one off of their list as they dump it into the broadcast. Naturally, that has filtered down to every other aspect of sports coverage, nationally and locally.
Keep calling your games, Doris and JJ. Lots of us like listening to a broadcast where the announcers are talking about the game instead of trying to get something plastered onto a t-shirt.