Leafs in 6 and Quick NBA Thoughts

 Fast post today, just wanted to get some thoughts out on the weekend in sports. I had a lot of confidence in my Leafs in 5 take, and honestly even after game 3 I was still rolling with it. So many weird bounces in game 3, they played great, surely they'd come out with something to prove in game 4 right? Shows what I know. The basketball has been fun too, although I barely got to watch any of it this weekend. So with me catching only glimpses of the basketball and barely knowing anything about hockey, we're going to have a short one today. 

Leafs in 6

Ok! I watched game 3 in a bar with friends which was a good time. They got up 3-1 early which is when I boisterously started talking about how the Leafs might win in 4 and how Bobrovski is washed and the Panthers will never overcome a 2 goal lead. The Panthers proceeded to score 3 goals in a row to take the lead. At this point the bar crowd got a little quieter until the Leafs got an incredibly lucky bounce off a Panther's skate for the equalizer that sent the game to OT. The Leafs would go on to lose this one in OT, which sucked. There were a couple of weird ones in this game, it's hard to say the Leafs were particularly lucky or unlucky since I think they had some bounces in their favour as well as some that went against them. One of the Panthers goals that stands out was a puck that barely dribbled across the goal line after being nearly stopped by a broken stick. I was informed that a broken stick is illegal to use so I really wanted that goal to not count just to see how that would be scored. Ended up a Panthers goal. Anyway, I was confident after this one! They lost but they showed they're just as talented as Florida and a game where there were so many crazy bounces didn't sway me one way or the other. 

Then they played game 4. I watched this one at my parent's place for Mother's Day. Don't worry, my mom told us that's what she wanted to do with the evening. The Leafs evidently do not love their mothers because that was a pitiful performance. From start to finish the Panthers were dominating the possession. Any time the Leafs got the puck they were met with a body immediately and they couldn't get any kind of sustained pressure going at any point. The hardest thing is, they had a ton of power play opportunities this game and even those looked awful. By the second period the Panthers started applying pressure on the Leafs while they were short handed. Joseph Woll stood on his head and only allowed 2 goals despite the Panthers spending the entire time in the Leafs zone. If it wasn't for a great game from Woll this game would've been 5-0 and the Leafs would've deserved it. It's normal, this happens in the playoffs you sometimes just don't have it for a game. It hurts especially coming off a game they could've won in game 3, but it's a brand new series tied 2-2 now, the Leafs have the home ice advantage and I still think they get it done. Funny though, nobody would let me be confident about this team and now we see why. Just make these fans believe Leafs come on!!!

Quick Basketball Lay of the Land

I managed to catch the very end of the Nuggets Thunder game yesterday where the Thunder just barely squeezed that one out to tie the series up at 2-2. Massive game for the Thunder, they couldn't get down 3-1 against the best player in the world so this essentially saved their season. The game before both Shai and Jokic shot terribly while their supporting casts did everything they could to keep each team alive. They ended up dropping the game in OT as Shai walked off the court smiling. Shai shot better in this next one but Jokic continued his struggles and ultimately Jokic shooting poorly isn't going to be enough for the Nuggets to win many games. The Thunder don't look as dominant as they did in the regular season that's for sure. People undersell playoff experience, the Nuggets have a ton of it and it really shows up late in games. 

The Pacers look to be well on their way to dominating the Cavs in a surprise series that I am glad I had the bravado to pick the Pacers in. After getting Garland and Mobley back on Friday, the Cavs took game 3 in pretty convincing fashion to calm their fan base down after a couple of gut wrenching losses at home to start the series. Game 4 was a completely different story though. The Pacers came out and absolutely washed the Cavs from the second quarter onward. The final score was around a 20 point victory but that doesn't tell the story of how badly they got smoked. At halftime the Pacers were leading 80-39, a brutal performance from Cleveland. As a Raptors fan, this is delicious. For so many years Raptors would have great regular seasons, beg to be taken seriously, then get washed by the Cavs. Now the Cavs are the 1 seed begging to be taken seriously getting smoked by the 4 seed Pacers in the second round. Shout out to Spicy P who had a great game 4, but who didn't. 

The Celtics are back in their series after convincingly taking game 3 against the Knicks. This is one we could all see coming. After blowing 20 point leads in back to back games, the Celtics finally kept their foot on the gas and showed why everyone called them the better team. Sucks though, hopefully the Knicks can steal 1 more but I really think that comes down to the Celtics folding mentally again unfortunately. 

The other series in the West is depressing. The Curryless Warriors put up some good efforts but they don't have enough star power to take on the Wolves in the west without Curry. Until Steph comes back, this is the series I am most comfortable skipping. 

Finally, draft lottery tonight! Tomorrow I'll probably do a little reaction to wherever the Raps pick. The #1 pick in this draft has been pitched as generational, franchise changing. We could use another superstar to cheer for, I'll take back all my Cooper Flagg slander if we win. 

And that's that! Quick one today no deep thoughts. Go Leafs go man, don't blow this.