NBA Playoffs Blog – Page 3 – NBA Blog

Nuggets await winner of Celtics-Heat series

Via the Miami Herald:

While the Miami Heat prepared for Saturday night’s Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center, the Denver Nuggets were already preparing for both the Heat and Celtics ahead of the NBA Finals.

The Nuggets earned that luxury after completing the 4-0 sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals on Monday night. Next up for the Nuggets is Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 1.

“Each round we have one coach dedicated to the opponent,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Friday. “So right now, obviously, we have two coaches, one working on Boston, one working on Miami. We have been talking about both teams every day.”

The Heat’s historic playoff run as a No. 8 seed has left Malone impressed. The Heat already became the sixth No. 8 seed in league history to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the first round and the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to advance to the conference finals after qualifying for the playoffs through the play-in tournament this year.

FULL ARTICLE

2023 NBA Eastern Conference Finals head to Miami for Game 6

Via the Miami Herald:

Miami will host Game 6 Saturday night and it will (and should) have a must-win feel in order to avoid a Game 7 back in Boston.

“They let us get two,” said the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, “so don’t let us get another one.”

It’s amazing/amusing how the national narrative had flipped entering this Game 5.

At 3-0, Heat: It’s done. Change is bearing down on the Celtics like a tsunami off Lake Charles. Joe Mazzulla can’t coach. Time to break up the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown duo and retool.

At 3-1 entering Thursday: Whoa, Miami. Uh oh. Mighty Boston is back! The national media (Chowderhead Division) fell in love again during the third period of Game 4 and is convinced NBA history is happening.

Now, the Heat still is up 3-2 but it hardly seems so.

FULL ARTICLE

A key stat from Celtics’ Game 4 and 5 wins versus Heat

Via Boston.com:

No team has ever rallied back from a 3-0 deficit. All three teams in NBA history who have evened a 3-0 series went on to lose Game 7. The Heat still have a home game, and even if they lose that one, they’ve won two games at TD Garden this series. They have a number of solid role players. They have Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Smart money would probably still bet on them to get back to the Finals.

But the Celtics have turned a lot of things around and applied a ton of pressure to a Heat team that looks shakier now than at any other point in the postseason. The Heat had a negative point differential during the regular season and were one of the worst 3-point shooting squads in the NBA. The Celtics had the league’s best net rating and were the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference…

One of the most eye-opening stats over the last two games has been the turnovers for the Heat. The Celtics forced 10 turnovers in the second half of Game 4. On Thursday, they picked up where they left off by forcing 16 and outscoring the Heat 29-17 off those turnovers.

The Heat were the more aggressive team by far in Games 1-3. The fact that the Celtics have turned that on its head is maybe the most important reversal aside from the 3-point shooting.

FULL ARTICLE

Heat can and still will win series vs. Celtics, says Jimmy Butler

Via Boston.com:

Jimmy Butler’s energy was completely different from the last time he walked into a postgame press conference at TD Garden.

On Sunday night following Game 3, Butler sang as he strutted in, playing Morgan Wallen’s 2021 single “Somebody’s Problem” from his smartphone. He yelled and clapped his hands as he left the TD Garden floor. He said “hell no” when asked if Grant Williams was the answer to stopping him.

But Sunday night’s postgame presser following Game 5 showed a more quiet and reserved Butler. There was no singing or trash talk this time. The Celtics crushed the Heat with a 110-97 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals and forced a Game 6 on Saturday night in Miami.

“We just have to play better, start the game off better, make it more difficult for them” Butler said. ” They were in a rhythm since the beginning of the game. But we’re always going to keep it very positive knowing that we can and we will win this series. We’ll just have to close it out at home.”

FULL ARTICLE

Celtics win Game 5 at home, extend series with Heat

Via Boston.com:

The Celtics have been staring at improbable odds for close to a week now.

But their messaging hasn’t wavered since falling into an 0-3 hole against the Miami Heat.

“Don’t let us win one,” was the mantra echoed by both Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown on Tuesday — just hours before Boston kept its season alive with a Game 4 victory down at Kaseya Center.

And minutes after the Celtics became just the 13th team to force a Game 6 after three straight losses, Brown stuck to a familiar and focused script.

“They let us get two, so don’t let us get another one,” Brown said on TNT’s broadcast following Boston’s Game 5 win in the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday.

FULL ARTICLE

Jimmy Butler shares preparation plan for Heat at Celtics Game 5

Via Boston.com:

Now, as the series heads back to Boston for Game 5, Heat guard Jimmy Butler says Miami has to play like its backs are against the wall.

A Celtics win on Thursday night would give Boston a two-game winning streak heading into Game 6. If a Game 7 is needed, it will be in Boston.

So, how does Butler plan to stay loose ahead of Thursday’s game?

“Just stay consistent,” Butler said. “Do the same things that I do, that we do after every game. We’re going to listen to some music, you know. Going to drink some beers back there. Going to have some wine. I don’t think you can just focus on basketball at times. You have to be able to get away from the game a little bit.”

FULL ARTICLE

History still on side of Heat, up 3-1 on Celtics

Via the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

The Miami Heat still have the math on their side, even after Tuesday night’s 116-99 loss to the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center that trimmed their lead in the Eastern Conference finals to 3-1.

Of the previous 150 teams that have started a best-of-seven NBA playoff series up 3-0:

— 44 have managed to force a Game 5, as the Celtics have with Thursday night’s 8:30 p.m. matchup at TD Garden.

— 11 have made it to a Game 6, which in this case would be, if needed, 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Kaseya Center.

— 3 have made it to a Game 7

FULL ARTICLE

Nikola Jokic leads Denver Nuggets to their first-ever NBA Finals trip

Via the Denver Post:

Nikola Jokic stood near halfcourt and unleashed a roar that had been years in the making.

Late in the fourth quarter of Monday’s gripping Game 4, after one of Jokic’s sublime dimes found Aaron Gordon for a dunk, Jokic screamed at the history he and the Nuggets were approaching. Not four minutes later, in front of championship banners that Denver had only been allowed to dream about, the Nuggets seized the Western Conference crown over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-111.

Their victory punched Denver’s first-ever trip to the NBA Finals by virtue of its first-ever playoff sweep in franchise history.

As James drove to the hoop in the final seconds, Jamal Murray got his hands on the ball in an attempt to thwart James. At the same time, Aaron Gordon soared over and blocked the ball. Game over, and Denver’s reserves stormed the court.

“We got four more wins to go,” Murray said.

Jokic, named the Western Conference Finals MVP, finished with a 30-point, 14-rebound, 13-assist triple-double, setting an NBA record with his eighth in the postseason.

FULL ARTICLE

Lakers change starting lineup but lose Game 4 and series to Nuggets

Via the Los Angeles Times:

In the end, Lakers big man Anthony Davis was outdueled by Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic, and that made the difference in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Monday night.

In the end, changing the lineup and starting forward Rui Hachimura and point guard Dennis Schroder in place of forward Jarred Vanderbilt and point guard D’Angelo Russell didn’t make enough of a difference for the Lakers in a 113-111 loss.

In the end, even though the Lakers showed how much fight they had, it wasn’t enough to prevent them from getting swept in the best-of-seven series and seeing their season end.

Jokic was simply the best player in the series, producing his third triple-double in four games. He had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists despite committing five fouls and allowed the Nuggets to pull out the win after trailing by 15.

FULL ARTICLE

LeBron James’ 40 points can’t carry Lakers over Nuggets

Via the Los Angeles Times:

LeBron James would yawn, often, when the cameras were, and weren’t, aimed at him. From early in the season, when the Lakers were still trying to tackle to unsolvable problems of last year, until deep into this playoff push, it never was much of a secret.

He was tired.

This was the best argument among plenty of credible ones why Monday evening would be it, the end to Year 20, the conclusion to a season in which he made history and improbably got his team to the conference finals.

The year was so long, so mentally exhausting, so physically demanding, that the Lakers and James wouldn’t be able to fight to extend it any longer.

Yet Monday night, James gave everything, all of the energy that was left in his 38-year-old body. He got his team close. He couldn’t get them any further than that.

Nikola Jokic hit the game’s biggest shot while two chances for James couldn’t get converted pushed Denver to the NBA Finals after a 113-111 win to sweep the Lakers.

FULL ARTICLE