Leafs Game 1, Celtics and Thunder Blow it

 Won't have time today for a longer post like I made yesterday, but still needed to hop on to recap some of the awesome games I saw yesterday! The playoffs are relentless, any time I have plans during the evening in May I am missing at least 1 game that I really want to watch. It's a blessing and a curse, I can't look away! Anyway, big ones on last night with the Leafs taking an important first step to winning in 5 and the Celtics and Thunder each blowing leads in respective stupid ways. 

Leafs Take Game 1

What a crazy game! I turned away from this one when the Leafs went up 4-1 going into the third period in favor of watching the end of Knicks Celtics. I was messaged and informed that the lead shrunk to 2 and so I tuned back in to watch a hectic third period. As soon as I tuned back in the Panthers netted another one to make it 4-3 and really ramp up the pressure. The period went back and fourth with each team getting some good looks while my heart pounded until Matthew Knies broke through on a breakaway to make the score 5-3. The Panthers pulled their goalie and managed to get one with over a minute left, which of course made me sweat. The Leafs missed multiple empty net opportunities that would've ended it but ultimately they hung on and took game 1 in a much closer than you would've liked contest. I was really thinking after they went up 4-1 that the game was in hand, but it's the playoffs and I should know better. Still, this kind of effort is going to win them more games than it will lose them and I am feeling strangely confident in this team. 

All the talk today is on Anthony Stolarz' injury which came from a second period elbow to the head from Sam Bennett. I've been told Bennett has quite the reputation of injuring players on purpose which adds to the vitriol, but I didn't think the play looked like anything dirty. Unfortunately Stolie was stretchered out of the arena which doesn't bode well for the rest of the playoffs. People tell me this Woll guy is awesome too so I think the Leafs can still be in good shape here. As a casual, I hope we send out a goon for retribution, that would be fun to watch. 

How Many 3s is Too Many 3s?

60, 60 is too many 3s. The Celtics lost game one at home to the Knicks last night largely because the team shot 15/60 from deep, setting an NBA playoff record of 45 missed 3 pointers in a single game. It was actually disgusting to watch the 4th quarter, the Celtics weren't even trying to get into the paint. Jayson Tatum would force a switch and get Brunson on him, who Tatum is at least 8 inches taller than, and instead of taking him down to the basket and forcing a double team Tatum would opt to step back for a 3. I get that the Celtics are a team with a lot of shooters but when you're shooting 25% from 3 why not try to get it going inside the arc for a change? The boxscore says that 60 out of the Celtics 97 shot attempts were 3s, but I wanted to take a deeper dive to show just how absurd the Celtics strategy is: 

Of the 37 shots the Celtics took inside the paint: 3 of them were putbacks off of missed 3s, and 3 of them were fast break points where a guy was ahead of the play with a clear path to the basket. This means that in the half court, the Celtics only made a conscious effort to take 31 shots inside the arc, less than a third of their total shot attempts. The most infuriating thing about this strategy is next game I bet they shoot 20/60 and come away with the victory. Their game isn't fun to watch, and it comes with a lot of variance like we saw yesterday, but I guess it works so what can you do. 

Before I leave my section about this game, shout out to Jalen Brunson man. In the 4th quarter he looked better than any player on the Celtics. They were just giving him the ball, clearing out and having him go to work, usually hunting Horford on switches and getting whatever he wanted. The final play in regulation was drawn up with Brunson as the inbounder, he got the ball to KAT then quickly backcut Jrue Holiday, received the pass and had a golden opportunity at a floater to tie the game. The ball just barely rimmed out and you could tell he was going through it. The rest of the Knicks came alive in OT and picked up their star to secure the victory. If the Knicks are going to win this series, we'll need a lot more cold shooting from Boston and a lot more superhero performances from Brunson, they got both in game 1, feels hard to imagine both happening 3 more times unfortunately. 

When Do You Foul Up 3?

I'll keep this one brief. The Thunder last night after getting up 3 with 20 seconds left decided to play the foul game. As soon as the Nuggets inbounded the ball they fouled immediately to not allow them to take the 3. This led to a back and fourth of fouling each other, presumably to run the clock out and end the game. The problem was, Chet Holmgren missed 2 free throws during this sequence setting up the Nuggets for a chance to take the lead with 5 seconds left. Westbrook found Gordon on the wing for a 3, he drained it, Nuggets up 2 and the Thunder had no answer dropping game 1. 

The strategy to foul up 3 makes sense, but only when there's like 5 seconds or less on the clock. Doing it with so much time left was a bad mistake by the Thunder leaving too much room for variability. This will be a hard lesson learned in a playoff game, next time let the other team just run the clock and find a shot, even if they nail a 3 you still get to go to OT. Jokic is the best player in the world, you can't just be spotting him games, especially if you have championship aspirations. I still got the Thunder winning this series, but that's a tough start. 

And that's that! More fun today with the Pacers and Cavs squaring off again, I love this Pacers team.