Playoffs Day 7
Pre Game: Today we have 3 action-packed Game 3’s, like #2 Toronto vs #7 Orlando, #4 Boston vs #5 Indiana and #3 Portland vs #6 Oklahoma City. Boston and Portland both lead their series 2-0, and Indiana and Oklahoma City need to win Game 3 to stay alive. Toronto and Orlando are tied 1-1, so whoever wins this takes a 2-1 series lead.
On a side note, Michigan State point guard Cassius Winston will stay for his Senior season. Also, Kevin Durant and JaMychal Green received technical fouls that were later rescinded by the NBA. Right call, I was watching the game, and both players did almost nothing.
Game 1: We see #2 Toronto vs #7 Orlando. The series is tied 1-1 and Toronto needs to win 1 game on the road to take back to the home court. At the end of the 1st quarter, the Raptors played well, leading 26-21. Pascal Siakam had 12 points, Jonathan Isaac had 8 points for the Magic. The Toronto Raptors led by 6, 48-42, but Kawhi Leonard lost the ball and Terrence Ross hit a half-court buzzer beater to cut the lead to 3, 48-45. Pascal Siakam had a great half, scoring 16 for the Raptors. Terrence Ross and Jonathan Isaac combined for 21 points in the 1st half. The Magic are very much in this game and have a great chance at winning. They played great defense of Kawhi Leonard, holding him to 8 points on 3/11 from the field, forcing 5 turnovers on Leonard. They need to keep Leonard in check otherwise he could go off like in Game 2 when he had 37 points. At the end of the 3rd, the Raptors led 76-65. Pascal Siakam had 26 points, Nikola Vucevic had 18 for the Magic. With 42 seconds left in the game, the Raptors led 96-93. Kawhi Leonard hit 2 free throws and the Raptors led 98-93 with 12.9 seconds left. The Raptors survived a scare and won 98-93. Pascal Siakam had 30 points, Terrence Ross had 24 points. Good job by Toronto taking back the home court, and taking the series lead 2-1.
Game 2: In the 2nd game of the night we see #4 Boston vs #5 Indiana. Kyrie Irving had a great Game 2, scoring 37 points and leading Boston to the win and a 2-0 series lead. Indiana has been relatively close in both Game 1 and 2 losses but had moments in the game when they collapsed and Boston took advantage both times. According to ClutchPoints.com, Mate McMillan said that the Pacers would try to trap Kyrie Irving more often, but that could backfire on the Pacers as Boston has other playmakers like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier, and Al Horford on the floor. Unfortunately for Pacers fans, Victor Oladipo will not be able to attend Game 3 because his flight got delayed because of the weather. Boston got off to a hot start, leading 12-5 with 8:21 left. At the end of the 1st quarter, Boston was up big, 41-28. Jaylen Brown had 12 points for the Celtics and Bojan Bogdanovic had 8 for the Pacers. At halftime, the Pacers clawed back to take the lead, 61-59. Tyreke Evans had 15 points for the Pacers, for the Celtics, Brown, Irving, and Horford combined for 34 points. The Boston Celtics outscored the Pacers 21-12 in the 3rd, leading 73-80 at the end of the 3rd. The Celtics held off Indiana and won 104-96. Jaylen Brown had 23 points, Kyrie Irving had 19, Tyreke Evans had 19 points, Bojan Bogdonavic had 15. The Pacers only had 12 points in the 3rd, and again the Celtics took adavantage and eventually won the game, taking a 3-0 series lead. Boston now all but has the series in the bag, but if they win Game 4 at Indiana, they will most likely play #1 Milwaukee in the 2nd round. Boston has to score more and play the same defense they have played against the Pacers, they will set themselves up for succsess against the best team in the NBA.
Game 3: In the 3rd game of the night, #3 Portland goes on the road to play #6 Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City struggled at Portland, shooting the ball terribly and Paul George and Westbrook getting outplayed by Dame and CJ. As a Blazers fan, I expect the Thunder to come out swinging and don’t really expect to win the game. I assume the Thunder made adjustments, trying to make players not named Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum make shots. Paul George and Westbrook need to play better, but Dennis Schroder, Terrence Ferguson need to step up for OKC. If Game 3 is anything like Games 1 & 2, then Portland should prepare for a sweep. At the end of the 1st, the Blazers led 22-21, and nobody really had that many points. It was still a sluggish game as the Thunder took a 37-33 lead with 3:22 left in the 2nd. At halftime, the Thunder led 49-39. Al-Farouq Aminu had 9 for the Blazers, Westbrook and George combined for 21 points. The Thunder played great defense of the Blazer backcourt, but the refs were once again terrible. The Blazers seemingly got no calls while the Thunder got lots of calls. The Blazers trailed by as many as 16 in the 3rd, but then Damian Lillard happened. He scored 25 of his 29 in the quarter and helped the Blazers to trail only by 4, 86-82. Lillard had 29, Russell Westbrook had 19 points. The Blazers played literally no defense on the Thunder, giving them whatever they wanted, and they trailed by 8, 100-108 with 4:49 left in the 4th. The Blazers fell apart at the end and lost 120-108. Lillard had 32 points, Russell Westbrook had 32 points. Paul George dunked at the end of the game as the buzzer sounded, and I for one did not appreciate this. Russell Westbrook got a tech and Mo Harkless got ejected for “throwing” his headband into the stands. Lillard and Westbrook were chirping all game, but if I were Lillard, I would be thinking, “I guard him and do a decent job, but he does not guard me on the other end.” That shows that Lillard is burning Westbrook on the other end. The whole thing with Paul George on the other end, Paul George only had 22 points, shooting 3/16 from the field, but 14/17 from the line. The Thunder got to the line 15 more times and made 13 more free throws than the Blazers. The refs gave more calls to the Thunder and they got more free throws. The Thunder also shot well at home, 15/29 from 3, 51.7%. That is amazing compared to shooting 10/61 combined from Games 1 & 2, 16%. If you are the Blazers, you have to play as you did in the 2nd half of this game, scoring 68 points in the 2nd half compared to 39 in the 1st half. The Thunder will most likely play like they did today, and Portland stayed close, but if they were not coming out of a hole, then they probably would have won this game.
So, thanks for reading this post and I hope you are enjoying the 2019 NBA Playoffs, please leave a comment on how your team is doing and what I should do in future posts.
