NBA Playoffs, Recap 3 — Switching Courts
At the point where series are starting to switch cities, some teams are in more trouble than others
Last night, three home teams played games after losing the first game of the series. The Clippers, Celtics, and Raptors all dropped game on on their home courts, and looked to regain some form of momentum before going on the road. Two of these teams did, and three other series will make the same switch tonight.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Boston is in serious trouble. Down 0–2, after dropping both home games, the levels of panic in Celtic nation have to be pretty high. In truth, the only reason most people have any faith left in this team has more to do with the Bulls than with Boston. Chicago has been woefully inconsistent all season, and most people don’t trust them to even close out a series against a better opponent.
But even accounting for how bad the Bulls can be, they’ve been as good as they possibly can during these short playoffs. Chicago is up 2–0, and now only has to win twice in the next five games, three of which are at home. If the Bulls are exactly as good as they’ve been all year — a .500 team—they will win this series. I know comparing a full season to a playoff series isn’t responsible, but I like the illustration. The Bulls are in a good place, let’s see if they can stay there.
For LA and Toronto, last night was redemption after a bad start. Both teams are facing huge roster decisions after this season, and an inauspicious playoff performance would make those decisions much more pressing. Do Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry (to say nothing of Blake Griffin and Serge Ibaka) really want to stick around for the long term on teams that can’t win a first-round series as the higher seed? Going down 0–2 would have been disastrous for both franchises, and the wins last night are difficult to overstate.
Tonight, there are three more game twos, all of which feature the home team up 1–0. Out of the three road teams—Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Portland—it’s difficult to pick which one is most likely to win. All three have a chance though, even Portland (since Kevin Durant’s status is unknown as of this writing). All the road teams are facing pressure as well, since going down 0–2, even with home games coming up, is a difficult hole to climb out of.
We haven’t gotten to a game three in a series yet, but that point is quickly approaching. I don’t believe the old adage, “it’s not a series until the home team loses a game,” but games three and four are often turning points. Two series went to 1–1 last night, hopefully today will follow with a similar amount of excitement.
