NBA Notes

Another wild few days in the NBA, on the court and off.

Pacers

They did it again! Going back to Cleveland for game five Tuesday felt like a sure loss, even with all the Cavs’ injury woes. Take the L on the road, the final punch of the year from the proud-yet-battered #1 seed, and then close out the series at home on Thursday.

It sure looked like that’s where things were headed as Cleveland built a 19-point lead early in the second quarter. Just like game two, the Pacers were missing open shots before the Cavaliers ratcheted up their defense to get Indiana away from what they wanted to do and then started hitting shots of their own.

The turnaround was quicker this time.

The lead was down to four at halftime and after Cleveland scored four-straight points to start the third quarter, Rick Carlisle called a quick timeout. Here came the big run, and the Pacers were leading by 12 with under a minute to play in the period. There were some rallies in the fourth quarter – the Cavs got it down to one point twice – but once again the Pacers always had an answer. Myles Turner hit a corner 3 with 23 seconds left to clinch the win and the Cavs’ dream season was suddenly over.

There was a very telling moment early in the third quarter. The Cavs were up eight when Donovan Mitchell picked off a bad Andrew Nembhard pass. There was nobody ahead of Mitchell and the Cleveland crowd was roaring in anticipation of a powerful dunk. Only Mitchell chopped his steps and timidly tried to lay the ball up, which Turner came flying in to block away. We knew Mitchell was playing with a bum ankle but he couldn’t even elevate for a breakaway dunk. After that play I knew the Pacers would win.

Mitchell did have to sit out a few minutes to get his ankle looked at, but still scored 35 points, including a couple huge 3s late in the game that gave the Cavs hope. But he also missed three-straight free throws during that run which could have cut the Pacers’ lead to three with just under 2:00 left. That dude is amazing and never stops, but his body let him down.

Darius Garland also could barely walk at times, it seemed, although Kenny Atkinson was reluctant to remove him since the Cavs’ bench was mostly ass in this series. It’s a testament to how good Cleveland was this year that they were still in this game until the end.

But, as many national observers have finally started to notice, the Pacers were simply the better team. They are a nightmare matchup for other guard heavy teams thanks to the relentless pressure they put on the ball and withering pace they try to sustain on offense. As I said a week or two ago they are a well-constructed squad where all the parts fit together nearly perfectly. And they seem to never get rattled by the moment.

Also, poor Cleveland.

It is now on to the conference finals for the second-straight season. And, most likely, there will be a surprise opponent waiting for them there. Because…

Tatum/Celtics-Knicks

I’m not a Celtics fan but it was terrible watching Jason Tatum blow out his achilles Monday night. He seems like a very good dude, in one of the best players in the world, and is never injured. Until now. He was playing one of the most complete games of his life. And then a teammate threw a bad pass that Tatum had to lunge for, only he crumpled to the ground as his achilles gave out.

The Celtics had already screwed that game, and the series, up. But any hopes of a comeback in that game or the series were gone when Tatum left the court. And now the future of the Celtics is very much in doubt. Tatum will likely miss an entire season. They face a massive salary crunch. A team that was built to contend over a 5–6 year period might need a total revamp by the time Tatum is healthy again. Time moves quickly in the NBA.

The real story from this series, though, is how the Knicks have thoroughly taken it to the Celtics. The Celtics have led by double digits in every game in the series, yet find themselves down 3–1. The Knicks were a regular season disappointment, but have found something the last couple weeks (although they barely survived Detroit in round one) and are on the verge of making this a truly special year. They’ve been lucky with injuries so far. As a Pacers fan I’m hope the reverse devil magic that seems to waylay Pacers opponents strikes the Knicks. And I would love it if the refs would not allow the Knicks to play a style closer to football than basketball, although we know that’s not going to happen based on how the playoffs overall have been officiated.

Side note about that: way back when L was in third grade and I was helping to coach her team, we had a girl who would put her arms around whoever she was guarding and give her loose hugs to stay close to her. We kept having to tell her you can’t hug the girl you are guarding. I keep thinking of that kid as I watch the playoffs this year. Superstars who are off-the-ball get completely wrapped up so they can’t move. When they try to break out, defenders will grab jerseys, waistbands, and arms, and I haven’t seen a single whistle for it. Then the Knicks take that to another level and do this to players who have the ball. I don’t get it. Prepare for a lot of complaints about that from me once the conference finals begin.

Draft Lottery

As big as the Tatum news was, the biggest NBA news of the week came earlier that evening when the Dallas Mavericks somehow won the NBA Draft Lottery despite having less that 2% odds to grab the #1 pick. Outrageous!

San Antonio grabbed the second pick, Philadelphia the third. All the truly bad teams – Washington, Charlotte, Utah, New Orleans, Brooklyn – got screwed. The Mavericks, who made the play-in tournament and would have been comfortably in the bottom of the playoffs had Kyrie Irving not blow out his achilles, leaped all those teams and get to take Cooper Flagg.

I was of the opinion that this was a massive fail by the Hoops Gods, rewarding Dallas GM Niko Harrison for his insane trade of Luka Doncic earlier this year. Others pointed out perhaps the Hoops Gods did this as a gift to Dallas fans for watching their homegrown superstar be traded away.

I’m not sure which is correct, I just know Dallas picking first is stupid.

Of course there were immediate jokes that Harrison would try to trade the pick to the Lakers to get Luka back. Or he would make some other dumb trade or pick rather than just plug Flagg in next to Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and eventually Kyrie Irving. I don’t think he’s dumb enough to screw this gift up, though.

Meanwhile the Spurs, who were doing just fine until Victor Wembanyama got hurt, now have a massive opportunity to either plug another young star in next to him, or flip that pick to bring in a veteran star (Giannis?). And the Sixers, who had one of the most disgusting seasons in NBA history, are gifted their fifth top three pick in 11 years, which doesn’t seem right.[1]

I’m not big into conspiracy theories about the draft. As Zach Lowe pointed out, it’s hard to believe 29 other owners would stand by and let the commissioner rig it so one of their competitors were able to get a specific player. This sure seems odd, bordering on fishy, though.