Welcome to Day 3 of the NBA Play In Tournament!
Can you feel the excitement?
Well, I guess on some level that’s understandable.
You know what I mean) and advance.
But the winners from today?
), it’s very unlikely that whoever comes out of today’s games will matter.
Both the Thunder and the Cavs have just completed two of the best regular seasons in NBA history.
That is a fact, not an opinion.
That year, they beat the Bulls to secure the 8th seed.
Is it possible that whoever comes out of today’s games can push a first round series?
Maybe to 6 games?
If you’ve watched any Heat playoff series since about 2020, you know what I’m talking about.
Trust me, I’ve lived it too many times to count.
Then, of course, there’s the Spo factor.
That’s what makes them so tough to gauge.
For the majority of the time, this team will barely score 100 points.
Same thing with Andrew Wiggins.
Really, the Hawks' only path is to do tonight what they couldn’t do against the Magic.
They have to take a much higher volume of 3PA.
That’s just the reality of today’s NBA.
In that loss to ORL, they were outshot 39-21 in terms of 3PA.
The Heat LOVE to play these games that live in the 90s-low 100s.
Their issue is when you play in the 110-120s, and you only get that way by taking 3PA.
The Heat simply don’t foul anywhere close to the level that the Magic do.
In fact, MIA leads the NBA in fewest fouls per game (15.5).
That’s where you might get into trouble as the Hawks if you try and trade 2s for 3s.
This may be ultimately where their ceiling is, but my guess is they move on.
If there’s one thing OKC struggled with last playoffs, it was size.
It’s why they went out and brought in iHart.
It basically all comes down to AD.
Can he dominate the MEM frontcourt like he just did against the Kings?
The fans deserve better, so perhaps this is what that looks like.
For them, the path to victory is the same as it was the last round
1.
Don’t turn the ball over
2.
Don’t give up a billion points off those TOs
3.
They finished with 19 TOs for 27 GS points, and obviously lost to a team above .500.
They are well below .500, and the Grizzlies were an elite 34-9 against that caliber of team.
Too often in their loss to GS it felt like JJJ was just out there doing cardio.
It certainly makes tonight no guarantee.
