After a week-long blogging sabbatical, I'm back to take a look at the NBA Playoffs so far with our Playoff Pulse. The Playoff Pulse is a regular look at the NBA and NHL Playoffs where we'll analyze the best performances, biggest winners and losers, and as always unique opinions about the big stories in Playoff Time. With one round in the books and the 2nd Round just getting underway, let's look at the Playoff Pulse of the Association.1) Biggest Winner - Boston Celtics
-Through 7 games played... who would have thought that the aging, dilapidated, broken down Celtics would melt the Heat AND steal homecourt advantage from the Cavaliers. The Celtics resurgence has been nothing short of staggering. Suddenly, they look like the team that won the title 2 years ago instead of the coasting bunch of over the hill players we saw throughout the season. It's not so much that they "turned the switch on" but that they are finally healthy for the first time in more than a year. It's also that the team is relying more on the playmaking abilities of Rajon Rondo instead of hanging on to the Big 3. The Celtics now have a great chance of upsetting the Cavs (more on them in a minute) and going even farther.
2) Biggest Loser - The East... Again
-Another year... another year of great games and great drama out West, and an unremarkable first round in the East. I mean, come on, did Charlotte or Chicago even need to show up for the first round? Yes, Milwaukee put up a valiant fight, but that was awful basketball to watch at times against the Hawks... and we've seen that Atlanta's goal in R2 should be to just finish within 40 points of the Magic each game... and the Heat crumbled in spite of Dwyane Wade. Orlando awaits the winner of the Cavs and Celtics again while the rest of the Eastern seaboard waits for another team to just be competitive and interesting. This year there were 8 West teams that reached 50 wins and only 4 East teams. We keep hearing these things are cyclical and the East will rise again... but I'm wondering if that day will ever come.
3) Best Performance - Dwyane Wade Game 4 vs Boston
-Yes, the Heat were eliminated in the next game, but Wade's remarkable Game 4 performance has been the only transcendent performance in this year's playoffs so far. Wade scored a remarkable 46 points in 43 minutes, many against double and triple teams in the 2nd half and 4th quarter. The pictures of Wade talking to his flame-throwing hand was awesome. Miami fans have to wonder if it was his last great performance in a Heat jersey.
4) Best Game - Game 6: Lakers 95 Thunder 94
-This game is what playoff basketball is all about. The young challengers to the throne throwing everything they have at the team at the top. An insane home crowd that made the incredible atmosphere leap through the TV screen. Drama throughout the game. A spirited comeback. And then, a buzzer beating tip-in by Pau Gasol and an escape from the champs. This series (and Lebron's elbow) have defined the playoffs thus far and shows what's so great about playoff basketball. It also showed that the Lakers won't be giving up their title easily.
5) Biggest Surprise - The Cavs Find A New Way To Disappoint Cleveland
-Ok, maybe this shouldn't be a surprise.
In Ohio, the sky is falling. The Cavs have lost homecourt advantage to the C's. Lebron's elbow is the most talked about injury since Dwight Freeney's ankle. Mo Williams is choking in the clutch again. Shaq sucks. Role players are disappearing. And, Mike Brown still hasn't figured out how to coach his team properly. But, this year it is a surprise because we expected Lebron to have righted the ship, gotten his team focused for an entire playoff run, and that the Cavs wouldn't let this happen again with Lebron on the open market this summer. Wake up Cleveland, it is happening again. The role players need to step up... but so does Lebron James. If he really wants to be the best in the world and win a title, he needs to man up, forget this elbow thing, forget free agency, and forget fancy MVP ceremonies and go win a title.
6) Highlight Play - Russell Westbrook Posterizes Lamar Kardashian
-This isn't only a cool play and an awesome posterization, but it said something about the arrival of Russell Westbrook and the Thunder. Even with Kevin Durant struggling, the Thunder challenged the Lakers through 6 games and showed they belonged amongst the elites of the NBA. Westbrook also showed that he could step up and help Kevin Durant lead the Thunder to even greater heights...
7) Biggest Story - Home Court >>> Home Ice
-The biggest story throughout these playoffs on the hardwood and the ice has been the distinct advantage that homecourt offers in the NBA as opposed to the NHL. In the NBA, only two higher seeds were upset in the first round, and neither were surprises. Dallas lost to San Antonio like they usually do, and Denver without George Karl was beaten by Utah. Road teams were 11/45 in Round 1 in the NBA. That's a 24% winning percentage and keep in mind that includes a sweep by the Magic and wins in 5 and 6 games by multiple teams. Lower seeded teams only won 3 games on opponent's home floors.
Compare that to the NHL where road teams won an amazing 26/47 games in R1! That's 55% meaning you have a better chance of winning on the road than at home. Lower seeded teams won a remarkable 14 games on the road including Game 7 wins by Detroit over Phoenix and incredibly the 8th seeded Canadians winning in Washington, who had the best regular season record in the NHL. Could you have imagined the Bulls doing that in Cleveland? Of course not.
So, what does this boil down to? A few factors I believe...
1) Crowds have a much larger effect in the NBA on teams... and referees. Watch the 2nd quarter of Game 2 of the Cavs/Celtics and see how much help the refs were trying to give the Cavs or how much a great home crowd lifts teams. Whether it's a vast conspiracy or not, home teams in the NBA have a big advantage.
2) The NHL Playoffs are more dependent on current form, a la a hot goalie (like Montreal's Jarolslav Halak stonewalling the Caps and making 41 saves in Game 7 while Montreal managed 16 shots the entire game). Rarely can a player on an inferior team carry his group to victory in a 7 game series in the NBA when you're going against the Kobes and Lebrons of the world. In the NHL, the Ovechkins and Crosbys are on the ice for 1/3 of the game and have much less of the puck than Lebron or Kobe.
3) The elite NBA teams are just better. Parity in the NHL is much more prevalent than in the NBA where we have known since before the season started that the Lakers, Cavs, Celtics, Magic, and Spurs would be in the mix at the end.
So, it does make for an exciting and unpredictable Stanley Cup Playoffs... but also a more intense NBA Playoffs where each home game is so critical to keep or take homecourt advantage.
That does it for our Playoff Pulse. We'll be back tomorrow to check in on tonight's action! Bye for now...
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