What Does AD’s Injury Mean For LA?; Clippers Tie Series With Game 4 Win! 5.30.21
It’s a Sunday slate of the NBA playoffs and we have 4 more games on the schedule tonight.
(4) New York Knicks vs (5) Atlanta Hawks
New York Knicks (1-3)
Maybe pissing off Trae Young wasn’t the right move. The Knicks offense continues to struggle as Randle is just in a box. De’Andre Hunter has simply taken him out of this series. Randle was 7/19 from the field, his best game of the series. Yikes. Barrett was 8/15 and Rose was 7/15, but not having Randle holds the offense back.
The Knicks struggled shooting and getting good looks, their best offense coming at the free throw line, lots of fouls, sloppy. They can’t guard Trae Young and all of the Hawks weapons. The Hawks bench dominated again as without their bench of Burks and Quickley producing, the Knicks are thin scoring wise. I had this series going to 7 but I’m not surprised it’s going like this. The Knick offense is so inconsistent and they can’t handle the Hawks. I doubt this series goes to 7, maybe 6 if the Knicks are lucky. They can’t survive without their MSG Crowd cheering/spitting on people.
Atlanta Hawks (3-1)
“See you in the A.” Damn right. The Hawks dominated the 2nd half, scoring 35 points in the 3rd to blow the game open. The offense continues to be very good as Trae Young has been far and away the best player in the series. Collins was very good, Hunter continued to lock down Randle. The bench showed up again and the Hawks led for most of the 2nd half.
27 points and 9 assists for Trae Young who was 4/14 from 3, but who cares? They won. 21 for Gallinari off the bench. Definitely going to need this for the rest of the series as well as the playoffs when the Hawks eventually win this series.
22 points and 8 rebounds for Collins, his best game of the series. Double-Double for Capela, 4 3’s for Bogdanovic, and 11 for Huerter. The Hawks hit 15 more 3’s and they were 26/28 from the line. They didn’t turn the ball over and their gameplan defensively has worked to a T. The Hawks are showing they are the far better team in this series, as they look to take the series in 5 on Wednesday.
(2) Phoenix Suns vs (7) LA Lakers
Phoenix Suns (2-2)
“I’m Back,” – Chris Paul 2021 NBA Playoffs (also some guy names Michael, never heard of him).
The Suns shouldn’t have won this game, but luckily Anthony Davis is made of glass. The Suns have no chance of beating the Lakers with a some-what healthy Chris Paul and AD/Lebron on the other side. But just Lebron? Now that’s doable. And it was. The Suns dominated the 2nd half, built a big lead and hung on to win the biggest game of the series as they are headed back to Phoenix in a 2-2 tied series.
The first half was very close as the Suns did a very good job guarding AD, who was 2/9 before leaving the game with that groin injury. Booker got to the line and had 15 points and Crowder added 11. Ayton was solid, the shooting was good, the defense was really good. They held the Lakers in check and made them shoot 25 3’s. They also only allowed 4 first half free throws, which was big. The Suns trailed by 11 early on, but rallied back in the 2nd and took the lead at the half.
The Suns played a picture perfect first half and then with AD out, they dominated. They held LA to 3/16 shooting, 0/7 from 3 in the 3rd as they held the Lakers to 15 points while they scored 27. Paul got going a little bit, that shoulder looking a lot better. The Suns built a 18-point lead in the 4th and a Jae Crowder dagger 3 ended the game as the Suns re-insert themselves back into this series.
6 guys in double figures, led by 18 points and 9 assists for CP-3 who looks a lot better than he did in the past few games. Maybe that shoulder issue is gone. 17-7-5 for Booker, 17 for Crowder, 17 rebounds for Ayton, the Suns needed this game and they got it.
If Chris Paul is looking like this and AD is hurt, the Suns could still win this series. If AD isn’t healthy, Chris Paul and Devin Booker can attack the Lakers bigs because none of them can withstand pick and rolls like AD can. The Suns can pack the paint more and focus on Lebron. If AD isn’t 100%, the Suns should win this series with 2/3 remaining games being on their home court.
This series has been such a weird roller-coaster, but hey, the Suns are back in the drivers seat (for now).
LA Lakers (2-2)
Yeah, you lost, whatever. But there are more important things at hand. KCP already didn’t play in this game and AD had a knee issue going into the game. He played but he played like he did in Game 1 and I have to assume that that knee was bothering him. Then he hurt his groin and missed the entire 2nd half. So now he has two nagging injuries, as Glass Man has once again been broken.
I can’t assume that AD is going to be 100% for the rest of this series. The Lakers don’t have any centers capable of guarding all the pick and rolls that the Suns have. Drummond was awful again as he got targeted, Montrezl Harrell doesn’t even play, and if Marc Gasol is your best 2nd option, you might have problems. Lebron is going to have to be ultra-aggressive, like he was in the 4th.
He had 11 points in the 4th and played 38 minutes tonight. Lebron hasn’t really been trying in this series but he’s going to have to be aggressive with all of AD’s injuries. Lebron has struggled, for all intents and purposes in this series. He had 6 turnovers tonight and he had 7 in Game 3. The Lakers are going to have to ask a lot out of Lebron and their back up bigs assuming AD isn’t at 100%, which is a fair guess.
I’m not saying it’s impossible because Lebron is the 2nd greatest player ever, so it wouldn’t surprise me if LA won, but if they want to win, Game 6 2012 Lebron James will have to be activated.
(2) Brooklyn Nets vs (7) Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets (3-1)
KD had 42. 39 for Kyrie. 23 points and 18 assists for Harden. The Big 3 shot 33/55 from the field and scored 104 points. Yeah there is no stopping this. The Bucks will be a challenge with their size but there is no stopping this. It’s just incredible. 103 points from 3 players. My god this team is scary. Scary Hours indeed. Watch out Milwaukee and rest of the league.
Boston Celtics (1-3)
No Kemba and no Robert Williams. If this series wasn’t already a death sentence, now it was. The Celtics got to the free throw line a bunch in the first half, it kept it close for a while but 40 points from the Nets in the 2nd and 73 points overall from them was too much. Of those 73 points, 59 of them came from the Big 3. The Celtics had 60 points as a team in the first half. I will repeat this;
The Nets Big 3 had 59 points in the first half. Boston had 60.
The 2nd half was merely a formality, but the game and series are over. Boston needs to rebuild their bench and hopefully get back to the top of the East next year. They certainly have a solid team, just missing a few pieces.
(4) LA Clippers vs (5) Dallas Mavericks
LA Clippers (2-2)
That urgency we saw in Game 3 was on display tonight. The Spurs were there for a purpose and they weren’t going to fall down 3-1 in this series. 35 combined for Kawhi and PG in the first alone as these two have been great. The Clippers went small and avoided putting Zubac into the game. Doncic wasn’t 100% with that neck injury and LA dominated.
They have all the momentum in the series as they win in 6. Just have to keep this mindset and the series will be over. Stay focused Los Angeles.
Dallas Mavericks (2-2)
The Mavs reliance on their stars is catching up. Luka is injured, the shooting is awful, and the bench is letting you done. The Mavs flaws were on again on display as their 2-0 lead is gone like the wind. There isn’t much hope for Dallas, they have to shoot a lot better and hope the most efficient 3-PT shooting team in the league gets worse. They have to hope Kawhi and PG are while while their bench players drink Michael’s secret stuff.
The Mavs need to get Luka more consistent help. Get KP out of there, get John Collins, Bradley Beal, anything. I am done for Luka dragging around Dorian Finney-Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. Until then these results of very good and very bad in the same series will keep on happening.
What Are Your Thoughts From The 4 Games Today? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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