When the lanky, uncoordinated Kelly Olynyk is the hero – and villain – of an NBA playoff series, you know things have taken an odd turnIn a sense, the Eastern Conference playoffs essentially ended last night. When the Boston Celtics beat the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 of their series, they most likely merely secured their spot as the team that LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will beat on their way to their third straight NBA Finals. The only remaining drama in the East might be whether or not the Cavaliers will remain undefeated. It wouldn’t have been any different had the Wizards won, by the way, although John Wall is a bigger potential X-factor than anybody on...
Golden State and Cleveland are a combined 16-0 in the postseason, and everyone is bored. Let’s hope the conference finals offer something more compellingThe poor guys didn’t stand a chance. A day after the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their sweep of the Toronto Raptors with a 109-102 victory on the Raptors’ own court, the Golden State Warriors knocked the Utah Jazz out of the playoffs with a 121-95 win on Monday night. Cleveland and Golden State have both been perfect this postseason: the two teams have won two straight series in four, going a combined 16-0 without doing anything to challenge the growing perception that they will meet in the NBA finals for the third straight year.All of this is great...
San Antonio can still make progress after losing their veteran guard for the season. But questions over his future – and the team’s old guard – will emergeIn the middle of one of their biggest wins of the season, the San Antonio Spurs suffered a painful loss. In the fourth quarter of what was shaping up to be a blowout victory over the Houston Rockets, Spurs point guard Tony Parker crumbled to the ground, clutching his left leg and eventually had to be carried off the floor. San Antonio ended up winning Game 2 121-96, evening up their series against Houston, but the post-game mood was anything but celebratory. Related: NBA playoffs: Thomas scores 53 points in Celtics win, Warriors...
Golden State and Cleveland didn’t always play their best basketball in the first round, but they’re favorites for a reason, and another finals match-up looks likelyThe game was almost over before it ever really began. Seven minutes into game four in Portland on Monday night, the Warriors built a 30-7 lead over the Trail Blazers – and from there, Portland never stood a chance of winning. The Warriors eventually prevailed 128-103, completing a four-game sweep that ended the Trail Blazers’ season. Related: 'That was unbelievable': Warriors score 45 in first quarter to sweep Blazers Continue reading...
The East’s top-seeds are already down 0-2 in their opening round series against the unimpressive Chicago Bulls, and have lost home court advantage It took the Boston Celtics the full 82 game season to secure home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs and exactly two games to lose it. With their 111-97 loss at TD Garden on Tuesday night, the Celtics fell to 0-2 in their opening round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls. It marked only the second time a No1 seed has dropped their first two games against a No8 seed since the development of the current NBA playoff system.Things felt a lot different for the Celtics just a week ago as they secured the best record...