INGLEWOOD, Calif — The only blowout on Thursday night was in the one series where the games had been incredibly tight in the first two games. Let’s break it all down.
CLIPPERS 117, NUGGETS 84 (Los Angeles leads series 2-1)
Maybe the billions Steve Ballmer spent to build a new home — the Intuit Dome — for his basketball team was worth it.
In their first-ever playoff game inside their new home — which was rocking and loud — the Clippers’ offense just clicked. This wasn’t simply the cliche “role players play better at home” — everyone on the Clippers played well and the team was energized top to bottom. Every Clipper talked postgame about the energy from the crowd.
“It was crackin,’ it was loud. Just how I expected it to be,” James Harden said. “That’s one of the reasons why we jumped out to a huge lead.”
The other big takeaway from this game: Denver is in trouble.
The Clippers are asking questions the Nuggets can’t answer. Their depth of talent — Nicolas Batum had a huge game with four no-dip 3-pointers plus three blocked shots— is too much for a thin Denver squad.
Nikola Jokic had an efficient triple-double of 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, but take him out of the equation and the Nuggets shot 34.9% on the night. During the regular season, in moments like these, the Nuggets asked their MVP to do more, but against Ivica Zubac and a quality Clippers defense, can he?
“I mean, I don’t know,” Jokic said. “I’m just trying to play the game how I know how to play the game. Maybe I should be. Maybe I shouldn’t. As long as we have an open look, I think we need to be satisfied. Sometimes we miss, sometimes we make. I think we need to get open looks; that’s the most important thing.”
Additionally, Michael Porter Jr. said that he is playing at about 30% due to a sprained shoulder.
Denver has less than 48 hours to answer those questions, Game 4 is Saturday afternoon back at Intuit, and if they don’t they will be in a hole they will not climb out of against a Clippers team finding its stride.
THUNDER 114, GRIZZLIES 108 (OKC leads series 3-0)
This game just ripped the hearts out of the Grizzlies and their fans.
Memphis came out with the desperation of a team down 0-2 in a series — the Grizzlies had a 40-point first quarter (they had 36 in the entire first half of Game 1). Memphis seemed to do everything right. Ja Morant was getting to the rim, Scotty Pippen Jr. was draining 3-pointers, everything was clicking and Memphis built up a 27-point lead.
Then Lu Dort undercut an airborne Ja Morant — with what seemed a reckless play — and Morant went down hard. He left the game not to return.
That’s when the Thunder started to turn things around and make a comeback. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31, Jalen Williams 26, but the real star was Chet Holmgren, who knocked down five 3-pointers on his way to 24 points.
OKC came from 29 down to get the win, the second-largest playoff comeback win in NBA history.
“I just thought out of halftime, we kind of reconnected to who we are. We were very out of character in the first half,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, via the Associated Press.
Now OKC is up 3-0, Morant’s status for Game 4 is over, and the brooms are out. It suck for Memphis, this should have been their day.
KNICKS 116, PISTONS 113 (New York leads series 2-1)
New York is the more talented team in this series. It took three games, but the Knicks finally showed it.
Karl-Anthony Towns was draining 3-pointers (4-of-8) and also getting deep post position, or getting the ball on the move to the basket and not stalling out the offense in Isolation.
“I just got opportunities to do things on the offensive end,” KAT said. “We found a way in transition to get me some good looks, and I was able to capitalize on that to start the night off.”
Jalen Brunson not only got buckets but dished out nine assists. Four Knicks scored 20+ points. Plus the Knicks defended better, particularly Mikal Bridges on Cade Cunningham (he scored 24 but needed 25 shots to get there).
Expect a desperate Pistons team in Game 4, they know their season is essentially on the line, they can’t go down 3-1 in the series.
However, if the Knicks play like they did in Game 3, it will not matter.
Read the full article here