NBA Playoffs Recap 2 — Desperate Times for Toronto, Boston, Indiana, Memphis
Several teams are in “must-win” territory right now
There are four teams that desperately need to win their next game to have any chance of competing in this year’s playoffs. Now, I recognize the inherent silliness of labelling a playoff game “must-win.” It’s the playoffs, so every game is crucial for both teams involved. But because of how the early games went for these four teams, the next game on each slate takes on even greater importance.
Indiana and Memphis
The Pacers came within one missed bucket of stealing game one in this series, and that may be as a close as they’ll get to really challenging the Cavs all playoffs. They played well last night, but Cleveland looked much more balanced and in control. Most importantly though, Indiana is now down 0–2 and has to win the next two games to have any credible chance going forward.
The nice thing about being the road team is that you can easily build up momentum by stealing one of the first two games. However, it’s also pretty easy to lose both of these games since they’re on the road, and the pressure to win at home after that is enormous. I think the Pacers will win at least one of the two upcoming games, but that might not be enough to actually scare Cleveland.
Memphis is in a similar situation, although their close loss came last night instead of in game one. This most recent contest brought some truly memorable comments from Grizzlies’ coach Dave Fizdale:
Regardless of whether or not he’s right, making those comments is a bold strategy. It’s also worth trying, since his Memphis team is down 0–2 and could be in danger of a quick exit. The Grizz were always going to be underdogs in this series, and not many expected them to win. I think a lot of people (myself included) expected a good fight, though. And after these comments, we may be about to get one.
Toronto and Boston
These two teams rode the momentum of great seasons into game-one losses at home. They’re still favored to win their series, but getting game two now becomes absolutely crucial. Given this blend of skill and desperation, I fully expect both teams to pull this off.
But if they don’t, the sky may be falling in Boston and Toronto. And just from my observations, the Raptors may be in the worse position. Giannis Antetokounmpo is already making his presence felt against the Raps, and he has the skill and athleticism to take everything to an even higher level. As the team around him slowly evolves to fully maximize his potential, the Bucks are becoming more and more dangerous.
Even if Toronto is in greater danger though, there has to be more pressure in Boston. The Celtics are the top seed in the conference, and they can’t let Chicago push them much farther than this if they want to maintain any credibility. Home-court advantage isn’t worth much if you lose game one. Again, I think they’ll be fine, but this is an important moment of adversity for the team to overcome.
And let’s be honest, it’s not easy to beat this guy:
