NBA Playoff Recaps: KD Takes Over, Pacers Hold On

Second Round of NBA Playoffs will feature two games of night.  I dropped the ball on writing on Saturdays meaning Friday games were left in the dust.  I am going to write about the games like we did for the first round because it is picking up steam in terms of the hits. I will probably add a full blog post sometimes when we have a must talked playoff win. 

A late Thunder roll in Los Angeles pushes Oklahoma City to victory 
It seemed like we were heading to at least one Game 7 in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Los Angeles Clippers got out to a 16 point lead in the early stages of the game, but Oklahoma City slowly but surely came back pulling away late in the game with a huge effort from Kevin Durant.  When people talk about the best players in the world, they want them to come up big in the big moments no matter what the sport can be, and Durant did just that after a bad start. He picked up two fouls early on with 1/7 shooting meaning KD shot 7 of 29 in about six quarters. He turned it on from there going 11/16 for the rest of the game finishing with 39 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Hell of a stat line from Durant when the team needed it the most. Additionally, this leads to people forgetting all about the fact Russell Westbrook shot 4/15 in a Game 6.

Valient effort by Los Angeles, but they got tight at the end of the game. They didn't really attack the basket when Serge Ibaka left the game with a calf injury, and it didn't feel like anyone wanted to take that big shot when Los Angeles needed it the most. They also were on the bad end of the officials multiple times down the stretch with consecutive offensive foul calls with one being bullshit on Chris Paul and the other, a clear foul on Blake Griffin. As for Paul, he fails to make the Western Conference Final and this will become a narrative like it did for many of the other greats whom had postseason struggles. He played well in the game going for 25 points, eleven assists and seven rebounds, but in the end, Oklahoma City will face off against San Antonio, a rematch of the 2012 Western Conference Finals.

Pacers Continue Winning Road Ways 
You know how there are things in sports that end up being the most difficult to explain. I think that's what we have with the Washington-Indiana series. The road team ends up winning five of the six games and the Pacers move on to a rematch against their rival, the Miami Heat. Nothing is more Eastern Conference than Indiana finding their way into the remaining two. A team with a great deal of dysfunction is in the final two, but to their credit, they withstood a hell of a fight from Washington. The Wiz took the lead in the fourth even, but Indiana stood tall getting back the lead with two big David West jumpers. West played great with 29 points and six rebounds. Lance Stephenson bounced back from three straight rough games to have 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds including only missing five shots all game. Might not be able to understand Indiana, but got to respect them a bit.

Charlie.

NBA Playoff Recaps: Ref Controversies, Confusing Pacers Strike Again

Second Round of NBA Playoffs will feature two games of night.  I dropped the ball on writing on Saturdays meaning Friday games were left in the dust.  I am going to write about the games like we did for the first round because it is picking up steam in terms of the hits. I will probably add a full blog post sometimes when we have a must talked playoff win. 

Thunder Somehow Beats the Clippers 
We have our first playoff referee controversy.  There were a couple blips here and there, but nothing compared to what we saw last night between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.  Clippers blew seven point lead with 49 seconds left which included a no-call on Matt Barnes, the officials keeping the ball with Oklahoma City even though it was clearly the Clippers ball and the phantom bail out call on Chris Paul with Russell Westbrook's three-point attempt. This sequence is probably the only thing in life that still gives Jim Burr a hard-on. It was terribly bad, but Los Angeles has no one to blame but themselves.  Oklahoma City went on a 17-4 run to end the game including Kevin Durant coming up with Chris Paul adding another lowlight to his playoff career.

There have been times in his career where Durant has come up short in the fourth quarter. He disappears, defers to Westbrook or all of the above yet Durant hit the two biggest shots in the game even though Westbrook nailed down the final three free throws to win the game.  To that point, Durant had a horrible game. He would have probably received a ton of criticism for how bad he played in Game 5 with the whole Mr. Unreliable bullshit resurfacing as Durant went 6/22. But he hit a huge three to pull the Thunder within four points then recovered a loose ball with a hard take to the lane following it.  It shouldn't be forgotten that Westbrook played an awesome game with 38 points on 11/23 shooting with six rebounds and five assists. He has thrown out some great gems in this playoffs.

CP3 hates the whole narrative about him failing in the playoffs, but games like these ones will not help his case. Paul struggled down the stretch with a couple missed shots, two turnovers and a big foul. Complain about the refs all you want, but Paul tightened up late in the game leading Los Angeles losing to this game. Paul has won Los Angeles games therefore he needs some criticism when he cost the Clippers the game as well. It will be interesting to see how he responds in Game 6. That's a huge game for Paul. If he goes off for 25 plus and leads them to a Game 6 win, I don't think anyone should be continuing the playoff narrative.

Wall and Gortat Keep Wiz Alive
With how bad the Los Angeles-Oklahoma City finished, everyone sort of forgot how Indiana got blown out at home in a close out Game 5. That's horrible. Indiana continues to be the most confusing team in all of basketball. Maybe the most confusing team in the last decade. Just when you think everything is all good, they get boat raced at home by 23 with meager efforts from Paul George and Roy Hibbert. Marcin Gortat and John Wall dominated the game with a a great inside/out game. Gortat had 31 points and 16 points scoring 13 of 15 shots, but Wall is probably the biggest story. He had 27 points which is in far contrast to Wall's first four games where he is averaging 11.5 points and 3.5 turnovers. Wall sliced and diced the Pacers which is huge because people would have came down hard on Wall if he didn't have this one.

Charlie.

NBA Playoffs Recaps: Game 1 Road Warriors

Second Round of NBA Playoffs will feature two games of night.  I dropped the ball on writing on Saturdays meaning Friday games were left in the dust.  I am going to write about the games like we did for the first round because it is picking up steam in terms of the hits. I will probably add a full blog post sometimes when we have a must talked playoff win. 

What injuries? Chris Paul takes control in Game 1

For the first round of the playoffs, much of the discussion with Chris Paul had to do with his injuries bothered by a hamstring and a hand injury. Paul did not really play well in the seven games against Golden State, but he stepped up in Game 1 against Oklahoma City. Paul drilled six straight threes in the first half propelling him to 32 points with 10 assists only missing two shots for the entire game. Additionally, the six threes were a career-high, he finished the game with eight threes. Paul added an element to his game, and if this becomes consistent, the rest of the league is in trouble. Blake Griffin had a nice night with 23 points on 7/16 shooting making most of his free throws from the line. This was an ass-kicking from Los Angeles, and I don't know how exactly Oklahoma City responds to it.

Oklahoma City needs to do something else on defense because they aren't playing Memphis anymore. They gave up 69 points in the first half. 69!  They have done this before as the Thunder do not have the best defense in the world, but at the same time, you aren't winning championships by giving up that many points in one half. It could be a case of Oklahoma City playing more in the halfcourt to slow down the potent Clippers offense.  

Wizards continue their road dominance 

This is starting to get silly for The Wiz Kids. They have won their last seven road games if you include playoffs and regular season plus they exorcised a demon by beating Indiana on the road, something they hadn't done in the last 12 tries. Bradley Beal does not really seem like a second option. Like it feels offensive to call Beal the meatballs to John Wall's spaghetti.  He is a star in the making and will only get better. Beal made a statement with 25 points, seven rebounds ans seven assists. But the thing that impressed me about this Wizards win was how the role players showed up in this one, and if that happens consistently, we could be heading to a real strange place with the Wiz. 

Trevor Ariza hit six threes channeling his days as a Los Angeles Laker in the postseason where he just became a difference maker from the outside.  He also did a pretty good job on Paul George as he went 4/17 from the field, obviously Ariza wasn't the only one guarding George but had a hand in it. Drew Gooden had 12 points with 13 rebounds including seven offensive rebounds. They both added a new element to Washington's game. Oh and Roy Hibbert... 0 points with two rebounds. YIKES.

Charlie. 

Donald Sterling - The Racist Clipper

People usually drop things to the media on Friday night to avoid the media buzz. Usually people do not talk about something as much on the weekend, and it can get ignored leading into Monday morning. Although there are things that are sometimes too big to ignore. An example would be Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, making racial remarks to his then girlfriend where Sterling does not want 'black people at his basketball games.'  This became a firestorm as everyone weigh in with their opinion, and while Adam Silver's first playoffs are a roaring success on the court, he has to deal with a black eye off it. 

None of this should be a surprise to people when it comes to Sterling. He is a known racist. After reading his rap sheet, it is mind blowing Sterling still owns an NBA team. The audio released by TMZ and Deadspin is stunning and disappointing a discussion like this is still needed on Wednesday.  It becomes even more laughable when you look at the picture that soured Sterling. If the NBA does not act, there will be terrible consequences.  

The fact notable names such as LeBron James, President Obama, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan all spoke against the Clippers owner as well as State Farm pulling their advertisements from the air featuring Clippers player Chris Paul. Sterling and his wife cannot attend Game 5 of the playoff game between Warriors and Clippers Tuesday night, and the belief is Sterling will be suspended by Silver indefinitely with probable suggestion Sterling should sell the team. But it is not that simple for the NBA as they do not have the same power that Major League Baseball did when it banned Marge Schott from baseball (I read this article about Schott six months ago which got her banned, absolutely fascinating and depressing stuff plus the fact Rick Reilly did a hell of a job reporting on it reminds you how good he once was a journalist). But could the Clippers possibly lose everyone and everything they have built in the last couple of years if Sterling remains owner? 

Blood is on the hands of David Stern for why the Clippers are the third seeded team in the Western Conference. Stern barred the trade sending Chris Paul to Los Angeles Lakers and instead he wound up traded to the Clippers forming one of the best duos in basketball with Blake Griffin. Stern doesn't allow it to happen, Griffin isn't on the team, Doc Rivers isn't the coach and this Clipper team is probably not a playoff team. Instead, they became one of the most public teams in basketball and professional sports as well as taking over the city of Los Angeles from the Lakers. Stern paved the way for his friend Sterling to get to prominence for the first time since the mid-80's. The fact Stern remained silent this weekend speaks volumes to how much Stern's hand was in the Clippers cookie jar. 

If Sterling remains as owner, I could see a mass exodus by the players. Paul, Griffin and Rivers are all under contract yet could all of them protest playing next season? I could see something where any of them could talk to their lawyers whom know a shit ton more than I do, could make a move saying 'This is an unsafe and unfair work environment.' My assumption is it will happen as the Clippers already made a statement on Sunday afternoon. Additionally, anyone whose a free agent next season is not coming back to Los Angeles if Sterling remains on as owner. All of this is more reason why Sterling should not be owning an NBA franchise in 2014-2015. 

But right now, Los Angeles has a critical Game 5 where they face a Warriors team that's beat them twice as well as once as Staples Center. There will likely be protests outside the arena as well as protests inside the arena. Clippers could use it as motivation finding a way to defy their owner and have all sorts of success without him getting to relish in the moments. Sterling loves the Clippers and thinks of himself as Mr. Clipper so if Los Angeles makes it to the NBA Finals without him sitting courtside would tear him apart in more ways than any of us probably know and might be the greatest punishment besides forcing him to sell the franchise.  

Sterling deserves to punished to the highest degree, and a part of me truly believes Silver will make a big splash as this is his first test as commissioner and if he screws up, it could be the avalanche of bad things to come in the next couple months. Hopefully Silver makes the right decision.

Charlie.