THE 2017 National Basketball Association playoffs are down to the Final Four or the conference finals – Cleveland vs. Boston in the East and Golden State vs. San Antonio in the West.
Unblemished in the postseason at 8-0 with a pair of four-game sweeps in the first two rounds of the four-tier postseason, the defending NBA titlist Cavaliers are facing the dangerous and upset-conscious Boston Celtics in the best-of-seven East finals.
The Cavs, though, won’t have the homecourt advantage for the first time in the ongoing playoffs. The East top-seeded Celtics (53-29) gained the right to host the odd Game 7 in the series by virtue of a better regular-season record than the second-seeded Cavaliers (51-31).
Even without the homecourt advantage, LeBron James and company are unbeaten in their last six playoff games on the road – having romped away with the fifth and seventh games of the 2016 Finals at Golden State and posted twin victories (Games 3 and 4) at Indiana then Toronto en route to their current trip to the East finals.
The best-of-seven series opener will be today May 18 (Manila time) at the TD Garden in Boston. The second game will also be held in the Hub City on May 20 (MT) before the series shifts to the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland for the third (May 22 MT) and fourth (May 24 MT) games.
The Celtics, coming off a tough, physical seven-game series against the hard-driving Washington Wizards in the East semifinals, may have the extra home game in their pockets but this Hoopster picks Cleveland to beat Boston in six games or less to reach the NBA Finals for a third consecutive year and reward King James with his seventh trip to the championship round.
Lady Luck, however, favored the Celts this early when they won the NBA draft lottery yesterday and will make the first selection in the draft proper on June 22 (June 23, Manila time). Boston acquired the 2017 first-round draft choice of Brooklyn, which finished with the worst record during the regular campaign, in a 2013 trade that sent future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in return for three future first-rounders, including the right to swap picks this year. (The Los Angeles Lakers, who posted the league’s third-worst ledger, moved up in the lottery and will draft second overall for a third consecutive year. The Philadelphia 76ers, the fourth-worst team, also jumped to third in the college grab-bag. The Phoenix Suns, who owned the second-worst record, slipped to fourth overall in the draft after failing to place among the top three in the lottery.)
Out West, the 2015 champion Golden State Warriors whom the Cavs historically defeated in seven games in last year’s Finals after falling behind 3-1 in the series, have jumped to a 2-0 lead in their series against the injury-depleted Spurs following yesterday’s easy 136-100 victory in Game 2 at the Oracle Arena.
Reigning back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player awardee Stephen Curry chalked up 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead seven Warriors with double-digit scoring. Golden State was outrebounded, 49-40, but shot .562 (50-for-89) from the field. Of the Warriors’ 50 baskets, 39 came off assists.
Second-year forward Jonathon Simmons, who replaced injured multi-dimensional and new franchise cornerstone Kawhi Leonard in the Spurs’ starting lineup, netted 22 points and Latvian rookie frontliner Davis Bertans came off the bench to tally 13 markers as no other San Antonio player was in twin-digit scores. LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol were limited to eight and seven points, respectively.
The Spurs played without the services of playmaker de luxe Tony Parker, who had been declared out for the remainder of the playoffs after sustaining a ruptured left quadriceps tendon in Game 2 of San Antonio’s eventual 4-2 win over Houston in the West semifinals, and Leonard, who aggravated a pre-existing sprain to his left ankle after landing on the foot of the Warriors’ Georgian center Zaza Pachulia following a corner three-point attempt with 7:53 left in the third quarter of the West finals opener and leaving the game with the Spurs ahead, 78-55.
The Warriors, 10-0 in the current playoffs, got 40 points from Stephen Curry to register a come-from-behind 113-111 victory in Game 1 after trailing by as much as 25 points midway in the second quarter and facing a 20-point deficit (62-42) at intermission. It marked the largest comeback in a conference finals game since 2002 when the Boston Celtics bounced back from 26 down to beat the New Jersey Nets, 94-90, in Game 3 of the East finals to go up, 2-1, before losing in six games to the Nets. It also tied for the third-largest halftime comeback in NBA playoff history.
Leonard, who also was sidelined in the series-clinching Game 6 against the Rockets due to the same left ankle sprain he suffered in Game 5, had 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists against the Warriors before his departure in Game 1.
The Spurs, whom I had picked before the playoffs commenced to win it all (without, of course, knowing the destabilizing injuries to key players Parker and Leonard were forthcoming), will return to a friendly environment when they host Games 3 (May 21 MT) and 4 (May 23 MT) at the AT&T Center.
An MRI showed no sign of structural damage to Leonard’s left ankle and the Spurs forward could possibly return to action as early as Game 3.
Golden State (67-15) and San Antonio (61-21) finished with the top two records in the NBA during the regular wars. The Warriors have the homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.
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