1. Is it just me or have you noticed players driving to the basket with apparent layups are passing them up. Instead of taking the layup they kick the ball to a usually open teammate in the weak side corner for a three. I’ll take the easy two points instead of a less than 50% chance at a successful three.
2. Golden State refuses to go away. Like them or not you have to realize they have the heart of a champion. If Anthony Davis is concussed and out for any time Golden State may be able to pull this off.
3. The New York Knicks shot 35% from three this season. Miami has defended taking away the Knicks dribble drive by keeping two and three defenders in the paint. When the Knicks got hot in the second half last night the Heat were forced to get out on shooters. This allowed the Knicks to get to the basket. The better the Knicks shoot from three the more Brunson is successful going to the basket. It also doesn’t hurt the Knicks if Miami continues to struggle from three. Last night they shot 30%.
4. If you think about it, the Knicks are in an up hill struggle. Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle are good players, however, is there another team in this round of the playoffs where either one would be the best player on his team. Neither one of those two would be the best player on Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Golden State, Miami, Philadelphia or Boston. If it is a stars league the Knicks have a problem.
5. Maybe it’s me, but I don’t understand why a team thinking championship would hire a coach with only division II experience as a head coach and last year sat on the back row of assistant coaches on Boston’s staff. I’ve mentioned this before and after watching this series thus far I continue to believe it. There had to be a more experienced coach out there. If not ownership should have forced Brad Steven to come back.
6. Boston opened the door by losing game one to Philadelphia who played without their best player. They then lost game four on two silly mistakes. One Jaylen Brown not staying with his man in the strong side corner allowing James Harden a wide open three and two Joe Mazzulla, the rookie coach, not calling timeout to set up a play for the last shot. Philadelphia from these Boston mistakes has become a more confident team believing they can win.
7. After struggling for the last part of the season Denver seems to have righted themselves. Nikola Jokic is still a great offensive player but he is getting solid contributions from his teammates offensively.