A place to talk basketball
The NBA Playoffs no longer include the Detroit Pistons , but they are still offering plenty of intrigue. I’ve been negligent in not providing a space for the Detroit Bad Boys faithful to talk all the ongoing series, surprises, disappointments, and downright collapses.
Our old foes the New York Knicks are currently up 2-1 on the Boston Celtics , and I guess that makes the Knicks our friends now? Brunson foul-batiing aside, even when they were facing the Pistons, it was hard to put too much hate on New York, if I’m being honest. Brunson is a stone-cold killer, Karl-Anthony Towns is fun to watch operate in the post, and Mikal Bridges has the longest arms on a person I’ve ever seen in my life. Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson are certified dogs who would make Isaiah Stewart proud. New York finds itself up 2-1 because the Celtics seems like the opposite of all that. Swap out heart for math and grit for execution, and you have the Celts.
Decisions that are logically sound and also seemingly infuriating and sometimes pathetic. It’s a brand of basketball that can look beautiful but also still give you the ick. Shooting variance is ruling the day (the nerds will tell you all about shot quality and shooting variance any time you complain the Celtics’ offense is lacking any sort of punch or creativity. Boston finally got shots to go down in game three, but I would still be worried if I was hoping for a Celtics repeat.
Next on my hit list is the utter collapse of the Cavs, who have been beclowned by the Indiana Pacers. The jewels of the East somehow find themselves down 3-1 and potentially missing Donovan Mitchell in a must-win game five. The Cavs’ offense has been stagnant, and Indy is like a school of sharks that have sensed blood in the water since the opening tip. They are definitely a team that will torment their prey until the bitter end. Maybe Evan Mobley finally shows up?
On the Western side of the bracket, we have a moderately interesting Timberwolves-Warriors series that looked a lot more interesting when Steph Curry was healthy. Here’s hoping they can somehow stretch this thing to seven and we have Curry vs. Anthony Edwards and a potential passing of the face of the league torch.
Finally, we have the Thunder and Nuggets playing in games I always seem to be falling asleep during. I’m not sure how the series is tied 2-2 because anytime I start nodding off it has been with full confidence OKC is in the driver’s seat. Nikola Jokic isn’t playing at an MVP level, but somehow Denver has stolen two games and who knows where this series is going if Jokic can fully lock in.