It’s no secret that we haven’t had the best conference finals in the NBA this season. What is usually a very competitive and exciting affair on both sides has fallen flat for the most part. I thought this was the NBA! I thought these were supposed to be the best two teams battling out in tough, hard-fought games that go to a minimum of six games.
The Minnesota Timberwolves managed to grab a win on the road against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night 105-100 to make it a 3-1 series. While it is not a sweep like the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers, it is still far less competitive than fans hoped.
Close But No Cigar For The Pacers
Reggie Miller doing the choke sign to Spike Lee after scoring 39 in Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. pic.twitter.com/EZuQFGZBMu
— Nico is King (@Boofy_McGee) May 19, 2016
The Celtics and Pacers played multiple close games but all three ended with the Celtics mounting a comeback and winning the game. While the Pacers did not get steamrolled, they couldn’t manage to get a game and lost 4-0.
The Pacers, while they were missing their best player in Tyrese Haliburton due to injury, were up 18 points at one point in Game 3. It’s rough to blow that lead, especially since the Celtics were only the sixth team since the 1997-1998 season to come back in a playoff game while being down 18 points or more in the second half.
After beating the New York Knicks in the conference semifinals, the popular second option to win the East, the Indiana Pacers chose the wrong time to choke, and choke multiple times. It’s like that famous Reggie Miller picture but it’s happening to his team instead of to the Knicks in 1994.
However, even with the Pacers having their chances to win more games in this conference finals series, Tyrese Haliburton not being out there was a big factor. He is the leader of this team and one of the highest scorers along with Pascal Siakam. Haliburton not being out there was a big reason this conference finals wasn’t more competitive.
Even with Haliburton sidelined, the Pacers were a tough team to beat and their fast style of play was difficult to stop. Players like Andrew Nembhard stepped up big for Indiana in Haliburton’s absence. The dude was playing like prime Curry in Game 3, scoring 32 points on 12-21 shooting.
The Boston Celtics definitely got away with an easy one playing a banged-up Pacers team.
The Timberwolves Have Little Howl
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On the other side, the Minnesota Timberwolves have fallen into a similar situation with the Indiana Pacers. They have played close games with their opponent but in the end, they can’t close it out and take the victory. They’ve got one but they have had multiple chances to win other games but couldn’t do so.
It is strange to see that after the Timberwolves beat the defending champion Denver Nuggets in seven games, they have fallen off so sharply. Give credit to the Dallas Mavericks because they’re a great team and Luka Doncic is one of the best players of this generation. Yet still, this team is not like the one we saw going toe to toe with the Nuggets and winning.
The things that are going wrong for the Timberwolves are that Anthony Edwards shot only 28% from the field in the first three games. In Game 4, he knocked down 44% of his shots. Secondly, Minnesota is 7-1 in the playoffs when Karl Anthony-Towns scores 18 points or more. They are 2-5 when he scores fewer than 18. In addition to Edwards having a good game, KAT must put up good scoring numbers for the T-Wolves to win.
Lastly, over the first three games of this series, The Timberwolves’ kryptonite has been closing out the fourth quarter. They have generated an offensive rating of 114.3. But, in the fourth quarter of those games, the Timberwolves’ offensive rating plummeted to 95.5. If Minnesota wants to extend this series, they will have to be clutch in crunch time.
Are Blowout Conference Finals Becoming A Trend?
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Not only are this season’s conference finals series lopsided, but it was a similar situation last season where both series started 3-0. The Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The Miami Heat (with Jimmy Butler) jumped out to a 3-0 lead against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, Jayson Tatum and company came all the way back to tie it at three games a piece….and then lost Game 7 at home in crushing fashion.
At least, while one of last season’s conference finals started badly, it got more exciting as the East series went on.
Could the Timberwolves pull off the same thing as the Celtics and tie up this series to make this conference finals round more interesting? In theory, yes, but it seems unlikely. Out of the 155 teams in NBA history that have fallen to a 3-0 deficit, only four of them have forced a Game 7. No NBA team has won a playoff series after being down 3-0.
I would be more convinced that the Timberwolves could come back if they won by more in Game 4. I am saying this because the Celtics won by 17 in Game 4 when they tied the series up last season with the Heat. That was a decisive win that let the NBA world know that they weren’t going to go down without a fight. The Timberwolves just barely got by with the win last game, winning by five. It was not a decisive victory by any means.
Hopefully, the conference finals series next season will be more competitive. Additionally, we can only hope that all the key players for both teams are healthy so it’s a more even matchup.
One good thing for the NBA is these conference finals series do not make it seem like the league is scripted, as many fans in comment sections have claimed in the past. So, if Adam Silver takes one good thing away from this playoffs, is that he is beating the “NBA is rigged” allegations.
About The Author
Cooper Sherman is an avid NFL fan and enjoys watching and covering it the most. The NFL is king. He previously wrote and was a podcaster for the online publications Pro Sports Fanatics and Jersey Column. He is also an NBA fan and watches it occasionally, more when the NFL season ends. Tennis is also an underrated sport to watch. His teams are the Patriots and Celtics, as tough as it is to be a Patriots fan right now. He is optimistic that Jerod Mayo will turn this team in the right direction! Follow him on Instagram and Threads @coopstershermy456, and X/Twitter @justcoopthings.
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