By Jack Walker
This past weekend the NBA had a jam-packed schedule showcasing the league’s best teams and players. On Saturday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder were faced with a win-or-go-home situation against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Six of their best-of-seven series. On Sunday, the NBA had two Game Seven’s, the first one being the Indiana Pacers vs. the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the second game being the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. the Denver Nuggets in Denver.
Here’s a look at how each series finished and a closer look into the rest of the postseason.
Thunder vs. Mavericks
With their backs against the wall, down 3-2 in the series, Oklahoma City came out firing in the first half, starting the game with an early 10-point lead which eventually grew to a 16-point lead at halftime. The young Thunder team looked to be on the right path, until they weren’t, because unfortunately for them, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic play for the Mavericks.
Doncic scored 14 second-half points with Irving tagging along 18 of his own. Dallas also benefited greatly from Derrick Jones Jr, who scored 16 of his points in the second half.
For most of the fourth quarter, OKC and Dallas would go back and forth, but OKC was able to take a one-point lead with 20 seconds left on the clock. Dallas decided not to use a timeout, opting to get the ball into Doncic’s hand and let him do his thing. Doncic found Forward P.J. Washington in the corner for the win, and as he put up the shot, he was fouled with 2.1 seconds left.
Washington nailed the first two free throws to put the game to bed, and Dallas, in front of their home crowd, clinched a berth in the Western Conference Finals.
Dallas’s veteran experience proved to be too much for a young and inexperienced Thunder squad. Irving entered the game with a 13-0 record in close-out games and left the game with a 14-0 record. There’s no doubt Oklahoma City will be back, with a plethora of draft picks and young talent, the future is set up nicely.
As far as Dallas goes, a date with the Timberwolves is now on the horizon, in which could be an unpredictable matchup. Dallas will be looking to make their first finals appearance since 2011 when the Mavericks took down the Miami Heat.
Pacers vs. Knicks
Knicks fever hasn’t hit New York this hard since Knicks player Jalen Brunson’s father was on the team, and 37-year-old Jeff Van Gundy was coaching 36-year-old and future Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing., Iin other words, it’s been a long time coming for the Knicks.
As expected, Madison Square Garden was rocking on Sunday afternoon, packed from top to bottom with celebrities, former players, and die-hard fans waiting for the team to reach the Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
The wheels came off quickly for the Knicks however, trailing by 12 at the end of the first quarter, as the Pacers put up 39 points while only missing five total shots.
The question every person watching the game had was, “There’s no way this Pacers offense is sustainable, right?”
The answer was yes, the Pacers sustained their dynamic offense. In the first quarter, Indiana shot 76.2% from the field, an absurd mark. They followed it up shooting 76.5% from the field in the second quarter, missing just four total shots.
When your opponent shoots 76.3% from the field in the first half, missing only nine total shots, it’s gonna be hard to win. Despite all this, the Knicks found themselves only down 15 at halftime, a tough deficit to overcome, but not an impossible one.
Within the blink of an eye, the Knicks cut the lead to six with over 20 minutes of play left. But, that was as close as New York would get for the remainder of the game, as Indiana’s offensive outburst continued. Late into the third quarter, Brunson was removed from the game which was assumed to be for a quick breather. When he didn’t return for the start of the fourth quarter, something felt wrong. It was revealed later in the game that he had fractured his hand, an early dagger before the game was officially over.
The Pacers put up arguably the greatest offensive performance in the history of the NBA playoffs, finishing the game shooting an outrageous 67.1% from the field, a playoff record. It was a valiant team effort for Indiana, with every starter scoring at least 15 points. The Pacers will now face the team with the best regular season record, the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the end for the Knicks, the injury bug got the best out of them. Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, O.G. Anunoby and Brunson all dealt with injuries during the postseason. Until next season, Knicks fans will just have to keep asking the same question, “What if?”
Timberwolves vs. Nuggets
On paper, this series probably should’ve been better than it was. Out of the seven games, only three were within single digits. This series also included a 26 and 45-point win for the Timberwolves, in which both games felt about over by halftime. Luckily for the fans, the teams saved arguably the best game for last.
A strange series got even stranger in Game Seven when the Timberwolves scored lowly 38 first-half points. Denver led Minnesota 58-38 with 10 minutes left to go in the third quarter. But then, it was almost as if the two teams swapped places because slowly Minnesota started creeping back into the game.
Denver scored three total points between the 10:50-1:16 mark in the third quarter. Their 20-point lead evaporated quickly, with Minnesota only trailed by one going into the fourth quarter.
On the first possession of the fourth quarter, Minnesota took the lead with a layup by Rudy Gobert. From that point on, they never gave the lead back.
The reigning champions, with a three-time MVP in Nikola Jokic, blew a 20-point lead at home, in a Game Seven, to a Timberwolves team that did not get a great performance out of Anthony Edwards.
Jokic and Jamal Murray scored 34 and 35 points, respectively, nobody else on the Nuggets scored over seven points, in a win-or-go-home game.
Jaden Mcdaniels was the X-Factor for Minnesota in this series, scoring 21 points in Game Six and 23 points in Game Seven to keep the Wolves season alive.
For only the second time in franchise history are the Timberwolves playing in the Western Conference Semifinals, the last being in 2004. With home-court advantage on their side against the Mavericks, Minnesota has a real chance at playing in their first-ever NBA finals.
Pacers vs. Celtics
The Pacers and Celtics faced each other four times in the regular season, and once in the NBA’s new in-season tournament. Their first meeting resulted in a 51-point Celtics win. However, the other four games were an even split between the teams, each winning two.
Indiana has a red-hot offense that can explode at any moment, but Boston was the best team in the regular season for a reason, winning 64 games to Indiana’s 47. So far, Boston has the best point differential in the playoffs, winning by an average of 11.3 points per game. Indiana will give Boston a run, but the Celtics depth will be too much to handle.
Prediction: Celtics in Six.
Mavericks vs. Timberwolves.
Doncic vs. Edwards, two of the premier young talents in the NBA will square off in this Western Conference Final.
Doncic, a career 30-points-per-game playoff performer, will be the best player on the floor whenever he’s out there. But, Edwards will let his presence be felt, and he’s not scared of anyone, ask Kevin Durant.
Doncic was not his usual self against OKC, dealing with an injury. If that were to linger over into this series, it could go south for Dallas. Minnesota however feels like the team of destiny, for the first time in forever, it feels like the Wolves have a serious chance to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Prediction: Timberwolves in Six.
