Kevin Durant scored 27 points, but none of them were easy in the second half as Stephen Jackson continuously hounded him. It may have reminded some viewers of the way the Spurs used to hound the tall, lithe German, Dirk Nowitzki. Durant’s body isn’t that thick, so Jackson’s antics and physical play were an annoyance, but they didn’t completely stop Durant (a scorer that pure is never completely shut down). But Jackson’s inspired defending did go a long way towards containing him.
That’s all Pop and Co. needed.
PHOTOS VIA
What happened to Indiana in Game 5?
The Pacers lost Danny Granger to a sprained ankle he re-aggravated in the second half.
There was a crescendo of running from Wade and LeBron to close out the first half
and ‘Bron and Wade started taking turns playing QB and receiver in the second half as the Heat sprinted ahead in the series 3-2.
It was just one of those nights for Indiana. Hopefully, they’ll get some of that home cooking in Indiana on Thursday and force a game 7 back in Miami.
Not to drop a John Madden bombshell, but this series is not over yet.
![fuckyeanba:
This Miami-Indiana series has stopped being a referendum on the cult of LeBron James. Thank god!
For some reason most people aren’t as excited as I am for the Pacers-Heat battle that’s brewing before game 6 tomorrrow. That’s OK. I’m sure everyone can prance around tough play and call it ugly and a disgrace to the game or whatever. Just don’t get too sanctimonious about it. This is a man’s league and reputations are at stake, so you can bury your head in the sand and pretend like physicality is a black stain on a league that’s still recovering from the Artest melee, but I prefer to go the alternative route and champion physical play in all forms. That doesn’t mean I support aggression simply for aggression’s sake, like Dexter Pittman’s elbow to the neck of Lance Stephenson followed by a wink. That’s just dirty and has no place in the NBA or anywhere.
No, that sort of violence is awful, but it’s part and parcel of the playoffs I remember from childhood. It’s not basketball so much as gladiatorial combat, and it’s in direct contrast to the aesthetic purity of the game a lot of writers prefer.
Although, I love the fluidity of the NBA, I also appreciate the toughness.
Life is tough, and the NBA playoffs shouldn’t be any different. As David Thorpe said in his conversation with Henry Abbot “I expect to see, literally, almost a blood bath between them.” I concur, it’s on the refs to make sure it doesn’t spiral completely out of control. But I don’t think Hansborough should have been kicked out, while others disagree and believe that’s when the referees lost control and ultimately led to Haslem’s hit and then Pittman’s.
Pittman’s especially wasn’t a play on the ball at all. It was a dirty hit, and he augmented it with his wink. Aside from Pittman, everything else falls under the scope of “playoff basketball.” The type of basketball Rick Mahorn and Charles Oakley made their living playing. It’s a man’s league, and Miami and Indiana are about to understand that even more tomorrow.
That being said, there are some things the Pacers need to do in game 6 tomorrow that have nothing to do with avenging teammates or responding to Bird’s call to arms. Mostly, they need to figure out how to score some points on a Heat defense that lacks a real inside presence.
Roy Hibbert should be getting the ball on the low block every single time the Pacers are on offense. Joel Anthony can’t do a thing against the 7-footer and neither can Udonis Haslem and his face bandage.
I’m excited for the physicality, but moreso, I’m looking forward to how Frank Vogel gameplans for the Heat’s swarming defense that ran them off American Airlines arena in game 5. It might be the difference between going home and going back to Miami in a pivotal game 7. It’s also more important than inflicting bodily harm on your opponents. Both will factor into game 6, but Indiana’s ability to score the basketball will be the final decider as to whether they live to play again.
I am so excited for this next game.
[LeBron James art from Dustin Watson via Hooped Up Online]
[UPDATE: Here’s the reaction from the Heat bench after Pittman’s elbow. Things are going to be really tense in game 6.]
[UPDATE 2: @BandwagonKnick is challenging the veracity of this photo timeline occurring during Pittman’s foul. Please let me know if you have proof one way or the other.]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4hme7Kaew1qbcs46o1_400.jpg)
This Miami-Indiana series has stopped being a referendum on the cult of LeBron James. Thank god!
For some reason most people aren’t as excited as I am for the Pacers-Heat battle that’s brewing before game 6 tomorrrow. That’s OK. I’m sure everyone can prance around tough play and call it ugly and a disgrace to the game or whatever. Just don’t get too sanctimonious about it. This is a man’s league and reputations are at stake, so you can bury your head in the sand and pretend like physicality is a black stain on a league that’s still recovering from the Artest melee, but I prefer to go the alternative route and champion physical play in all forms. That doesn’t mean I support aggression simply for aggression’s sake, like Dexter Pittman’s elbow to the neck of Lance Stephenson followed by a wink. That’s just dirty and has no place in the NBA or anywhere.
No, that sort of violence is awful, but it’s part and parcel of the playoffs I remember from childhood. It’s not basketball so much as gladiatorial combat, and it’s in direct contrast to the aesthetic purity of the game a lot of writers prefer.
Although, I love the fluidity of the NBA, I also appreciate the toughness.
Life is tough, and the NBA playoffs shouldn’t be any different. As David Thorpe said in his conversation with Henry Abbot “I expect to see, literally, almost a blood bath between them.” I concur, it’s on the refs to make sure it doesn’t spiral completely out of control. But I don’t think Hansborough should have been kicked out, while others disagree and believe that’s when the referees lost control and ultimately led to Haslem’s hit and then Pittman’s.
Pittman’s especially wasn’t a play on the ball at all. It was a dirty hit, and he augmented it with his wink. Aside from Pittman, everything else falls under the scope of “playoff basketball.” The type of basketball Rick Mahorn and Charles Oakley made their living playing. It’s a man’s league, and Miami and Indiana are about to understand that even more tomorrow.
That being said, there are some things the Pacers need to do in game 6 tomorrow that have nothing to do with avenging teammates or responding to Bird’s call to arms. Mostly, they need to figure out how to score some points on a Heat defense that lacks a real inside presence.
Roy Hibbert should be getting the ball on the low block every single time the Pacers are on offense. Joel Anthony can’t do a thing against the 7-footer and neither can Udonis Haslem and his face bandage.
I’m excited for the physicality, but moreso, I’m looking forward to how Frank Vogel gameplans for the Heat’s swarming defense that ran them off American Airlines arena in game 5. It might be the difference between going home and going back to Miami in a pivotal game 7. It’s also more important than inflicting bodily harm on your opponents. Both will factor into game 6, but Indiana’s ability to score the basketball will be the final decider as to whether they live to play again.
I am so excited for this next game.
[LeBron James art from Dustin Watson via Hooped Up Online]
[UPDATE: Here’s the reaction from the Heat bench after Pittman’s elbow. Things are going to be really tense in game 6.]
[UPDATE 2: @BandwagonKnick is challenging the veracity of this photo timeline occurring during Pittman’s foul. Please let me know if you have proof one way or the other.]
Game 6: Boston at Philadelphia
There have been moments in this Boston-Philly series where it’s understandable if people aren’t watching. There’s not much hope for either fan base that their teams have what it takes to win a championship. Boston because they’re struggling to put down the Sixers and the Sixers because they’re an 8 seed without a star. Both teams are also limited in their capacity to drop buckets. It’s been hard to watch for a public that wants 100 points and 3 highlight worthy dunks of Westbrookian or Jamesian proportions. That’s not what these guys do.
Sure Iguodala can sky on occassion,
and he’s still got arms from Over the Top, but he’s not a consistent scorer, hell, Iguodala’s not even the best scorer on his team. That would be Lou Williams, the name on the back of the jersey the Prodigal Son was rocking on his return to Wells Fargo Arena.
The appearance of the Answer, and his presentation of the game ball showed viewers just how important to the Philly basketball identity he continues to be. He was there guy, and you couldn’t pick a better guy to be your guy. The warrior attributes aren’t as ridiculous as they sometimes are with other athletes, but Iverson cherished his ALPHA status with a mediocre cast and played his ass off every night.
Maybe the lore of Iverson rubbed off on this Sixers team, but in the second half, they showed their mettle and held off the Celtics. It’s a Celtics team that desperately wants a few days off to rest achy legs and sore backs. Apparently, eliminating teams isn’t as easy as Andrew Bynum claims.
Evan Turner, all googly-eyed in front of Iverson before the game, decided to bring a little pizazz to the proceedings when he spun on Ray Allen and swooped to the other side of the basket with a gorgeous reverse.
Iverson was proud of you Evan, he told me so.
Turner ended the game with 12 and 9 and hopefully Iverson’s autograph. A reawakened Elton Brand poured in 13 points—including a nice steal on Pierce that he took the other way for a bucket—to go with 10 rebounds in 33 minutes. Jrue Holiday was probably the toast of this altruistic offense; he scored a team-high 20 points on 7 for 15 shooting plus 6 assists and 2 steals (Collins has implored Holiday to shoot more, so hopefully 15 shots was enough). Iguodala did an OK job on Pierce and also added 12 points, 6 boards a block and a steal to fill up the stat sheet. Sweet Lou off the bench, besides his envious status as the guy whose jersey Iverson was showing off, had 11 points and a couple jumpers mid-way through the 4th to help the Sixers stay course.
Garnett fought for the Celtics at the end, scoring 8 of his 20 in the 4th (he also had 11 boards), but his hot hand wasn’t enough. Pierce was the Celtics leading scorer with 24 to go with 10 rebounds. Rondo was an offensive rebounding machine with 6 early ones on the way to 9 total rebounds, 6 assists and 9 points, but he was a weak link late when Turner could dip off him into the lane and double Pierce. Rondo’s inability—or lack of confidence—to take and hit jumpers still continues to nag at Celtics fans even as his alien handle and large hand helps him find cutters, and gives those same fans paroxysms of joy. He’s someone you have to love warts and all.
In the end the Sixers hit their free throws down the stretch, Ray Allen didn’t go off on a heroic comeback, and they secured the win to even the series.
The arena tossed confetti, flags waved and the Philly crowd thanked the team for living to fight another day and not end the remarkable season at home. No one wants the season to end at home unless they’re the champions. The resiliency of the Sixers in this series was pure Iverson.
Now all they gotta do is go into Boston Garden to win a game 7. No big deal. Maybe AI will stop by.
Final: PHILADELPHIA 76ERS 82 - Boston Celtics 75
The Sixers and Celtics are tied 3-3
PHOTOS VIA
Game 6: Miami at Indiana
They came, they saw, they conquered. The mighty Miami team peopling were praising even as they limped into the postseason, continued their transformation from earlier in the Indiana series. They’ve loudly dispatched the Knicks after blowing an elimination game in MSG, then faltered in the next round against this Indiana team without a real star. They lost 2 of their first 3 and Chris Bosh. People were cheerfully over-reacting and claiming this was the end of the Heat.
The amount of glee and unrestrained schadenfreude towards this Heat team is unparalleled since possibly the Bad Boys started knocking off the Celtics and Lakers teams that dominated the first half the 80’s. Except, there was something commendable about the blue collar Chuck Daly-helmed collection of badasses, and everyone implicitly agrees the Heat are just a collection of stars too scarred to star on their own, and now they’re might not even be good enough combining their forces (like an under-performing Captain Planet!).
During the first 3 games of this Indiana series, Dwyane Wade played so poorly and acted like such a poor sport, I was forced to ask y’all* whether he was a douche. The overwhelming consensus was, yes! Now Dwyane Wade had turned into a douche, and when combined with LeBron and his oft-repeated and much-maligned Decision, a patina of douche had formed over the entire Heat team. The Heat will always be the villains, but now they weren’t even very good villains, getting out-played by Indiana at home.
This continued into the first half in game 4, where LeBron played well, but with Wade—the newest douche on the douchy Heat—still struggling. When the second half of game 4 rolled around everything clicked, and Dwyane Wade started acting like the 2006 NBA Finals MVP again; LeBron kept playing like the league’s MVP, and now here we are with them again running away with a series win. Wade just turned in a 40-point game (after LeBron’s in game 4), and they’ve escaped the “S-O-F-T” Pacers.
The Pacers did keep it close. After Miami rattled off a 9-0 run to close the 3rd and take a 10-point lead into the 4th, David West and his “grown man” post play got the score to 83-78, but could get no closer. The Pacers went away from what worked for them when they took a series lead: getting the ball inside to Hibbert and West who could take advantage of a Heat front-court down Haslem and Bosh. Even if West and Hibbert didn’t score, it would open it up for their over-matched guards and wing players that couldn’t stay with the ‘Bron & Wade show. The Pacers’ sloppy 22 turnovers didn’t help matters because once you’re turning it over, the Heat trains starts running, and like most trains, it’s hard to slow down.
The two superstars played like superstars for the 2nd (and a half) straight game: they combined to score 69 points (Bron 28 on 13/24 shooting, Wade 41 on a Dirkian 17/25); they grabbed 16 rebounds (6 for ‘Bron, 10 for Wade), dished for 10 assists (7 for ‘Bron and 3 for Wade) and collected 5 steals (3 for ‘Bron, 2 for Wade). Together, they were an unambiguously dominant duo. Sure Chalmers had 15 and Mike Miller 12 (before he started tossing airballs again), but these two just won on their own both in the boxscore and within the game itself. Even with Indiana sticking with them in the hopes of stealing the game in the end, the never stopped coming.
They both attacked relentlessly, with Wade splitting the double team and knocking down a cornucopia of various bank shots
Or he’d simply going all the way to the rim, take the contact and getting the ball up on the rim for a 3-point play; it was a clinic on how to split the top of the key double team.
Wade was special tonight, and when his mid-range game is flowing like it was in the first half, there’s only 1 or 2 guys that can match that level of excellence (and one of them is his teammate). George Hill would play perfect defense on Wade: pushing him away from the basket and forcing him to pick up his dribble and take a contested 2 outside the paint, only to have Wade hit an off-balance step-back fadeaway that for anybody else would be an airball and a mouthful from the coach, but for him only hit the twine. Special players have special games and this was Wades.
The craziest thing is LeBron had 28 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals and it felt like just an OK game. Wade and ‘Bron two are scary good when they decide to be. Lets hope for the sake of competition, they don’t decide to be all the time, or perhaps they can’t.
Bron and Wade have played big minutes in this postseason (James played 45 minutes, and Wade and his drained knee 39 tonight) and with the loss of Bosh early, they’ve been playing even more minutes and expending even more energy scoring all the points Bosh’s abdominal muscle stole from them. With all this effort needed to knock out a frisky Indiana team, a team that’s not really a title-contender, will they have enough left over for the Conference Finals?
How are they gonna fare against Boston or Philly?
Final: Miami Heat 105 - INDIANA PACERS 93
The Heat win the series 4-2
PHOTOS VIA
*I’m back talking about Indiana so I can use that contraction*
I was going to transcribe this entire interview between Pat Riley and Michael Jordan, but it would eat up the first part of this long weekend. The clip was shown at halftime of a Lakers Western Conference playoff game against Portland in 1991. This was BEFORE MJ won his first title.
In the interview he discusses:
-Overcoming the Pistons and their physical play.
-The only thing that could ever humble him.
-Winning the MVP and how much it meant to him to get the award that season from his teammates (he had won an MVP already in his seminal ‘88 season when he took home the MVP, DPOY and all-star game MVP).
-Being a role model (and the fact Sir Chuck doesn’t want to be a role model). He also elaborates on celebrity.
-Participation in the 1992 Olympics, which he hadn’t signed on for yet.
-Playing Portland or Los Angeles in the Finals.
-If there’s anybody he fears on the court (you can probably answer that one).
-And when asked what it would mean if he didn’t win a title?
“I’m not gonna look back on my career and say it was tarnished because I never won a championship.”
Don’t worry Mike, you don’t have to. You won that first title just a couple weeks later.
