NBA Playoff Update

The top two teams in each of the Eastern and Western conferences have emerged, and now only four teams are left in the NBA Playoffs. But who will go on to the Finals? It’s the Spurs versus the Thunder in the West, and the Celtics facing off against the Heat in the East. With the semi-finals just begun, it’s still anybody’s guess.

The San Antonio Spurs kicked off the semi-finals in the West on Sunday night with a 101-98 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a close call and nearly took a record away from the Spurs. They are the only team to go 19 wins in a row, including Sunday night’s game, and the tied with the 2001 Lakers in being the only team to ever do that. The game was a close call right to the finish and it at a near end when Gregg Popovich told his Spurs, “I want some nasty!”

A very easy order to misconstrue in sports these days, it seemed to be exactly what the team needed. They came out onto the court looking far more alive and ready to defeat the Thunder once and for all — in the first game, at least.

“I said that?” Popovich asked after the game, explaining that things are said in high-pressure games and you’ve got to “play with more fiber, take it to these guys. Meaning you have to drive it, you have to shoot it.”

The Thunder definitely had a much harder time moving the ball around the court and keeping it away from the Spurs after that short remark from Popovich. As the two teams face off tonight in Game 2, the Thunder will need to find a way to keep the pace of the Spurs’ and either get the ball to Durant more; or amp up their defense against that of San Antonio’s — a tough job for any team.

Out in the East the Boston Celtics are currently fighting for their own way into the NBA Finals as they play against the Heat, one of the best teams in the league this season. The game against the two teams on Monday night saw lackluster performance from both sides during different points of the game. While the Heat were able to pull themselves together in the third quarter to deliver a 93-79 blow to the Celtics, the second quarter was nearly enough to give the Celtics the win.

It was during the second quarter that the Heat fell apart, and the Celtics were able to get 35 points on the board. But for the majority of the game, Boston seemed to simply be too tired from the past rounds to be able to take on Miami. That definitely worked in Miami’s favor as Lebron James put it, “We feel like we didn’t play our best basketball.”

Indeed, they did not; and the lack of effort on both teams’ parts definitely did not give the game that “semi-final feel.” The Heat are going to have to remember who they were throughout regular season and get the magic of the Big Three back if they want to move on to the Finals. Meanwhile, the Celtics are going to have to do a much better on job on defence if they hope to put out the Heat.

Categorized in: NBA