The thought was a juicy one.
Could the Detroit Pistons, led by Reggie Jackson and a dude who can’t really shoot free throws, help the Pistons upset the defending Eastern Conference champions?
The answer wasn’t as juicy. It was just no. The Cavaliers closed out the sweep against the Pistons last night in Detroit, 100-98.
Kyrie Irving was the man, finishing with 31 points for Cleveland.
Andre Drummond was just 5-for-10 from the free-throw line, but when you consider he was 6-for-24 in the first three games, well, that’s pretty darn good.
The Pistons could have won last night and the Cavaliers would have probably won Game 5. Game 4 wasn’t a huge game since Cleveland was going to win the series regardless, right?
Well, not exactly.
The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks series (more on this soon) is going to go at least six games. This allows the Cavs a few extra days to rest up to take on a tired Atlanta or Boston squad.
LeBron James has played in like 508,847 basketball games in his life. A little rest doesn’t hurt.
The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies series made us wish that there was the option of a five-game series. You gotta think Dave Joerger and Memphis might have wanted that.
Give the Grizzlies credit, though. They fought to the last second and Joerger got emotional about it after. What a season. No Marc Gasol or Mike Conley down the stretch, his two best players. And then literally everyone else got hurt. Jordan Farmar was starting for the Grizzlies. I haven’t heard that name since 2012.
Love this emotion from Dave Joerger https://t.co/WpvGbOUQPN (via @NBATV)
We didn’t really learn anything new about the Spurs. This series was probably great for them since nobody super important on the team had to play big minutes. Heck, Andre Miller even got nine minutes yesterday. A well-rested Spurs team isn’t a fun team to play.
On one day of rest, the Spurs are 39-9. On two days? 11-2. On three or more days? 2-1. The loss came against the Los Angeles Clippers after the All-Star game and Kawhi Leonard didn’t play.
We’ve heard he’s pretty good.
These whole playoffs have kind of stunk, to be completely honest. We’ve already seen two sweeps and after the Celtics lost Avery Bradley, it looked like this series was going to end prematurely against the Hawks.
But wait.
Marcus Smart decided to put his superhero cape on and save the city of Boston in front of Rob Gronkowski last night.
Smart, a 25 percent 3-point shooter this season, was 3-for-8 from deep on Sunday, finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals off the bench. It felt, though, like he had 40 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
Marcus Smart = pic.twitter.com/Rdgf0DH4jv
In the fourth quarter and overtime, I was convinced there were four Marcus Smarts on the floor and then Jared Sullinger, who has been pretty horrible, was just there.
If you’re a Boston fan, there’s a love-hate relationship with Smart. There’s no such thing as an average play for him. It’s either, “OMG!” or “OMG WHAT IS HE DOING? STOP!”
Oh, by the way. Paul Millsap had 45 points and the Hawks didn’t win.
It’s like when a hockey team scores four goals and doesn’t win.
What? Too soon?
This series is knotted at 2-2 heading back to Atlanta. Give us a seven-game series, please.
You know by now.
The slip heard around the Twitter world.
At the final play of the second quarter, Steph Curry slipped on what looked to be a wet spot on the floor (something that probably shouldn’t be a thing) and took an awkward fall. He’ll have an MRI today and it’s currently being labeled a sprained knee.
Here is what caused Steph Curry to limp back to the locker room. Not good. https://t.co/yIdv0U0PDM
Yes, the Warriors won the game, 121-94. Nobody on the Rockets seems to like each other and James Harden was taking a nap in the fourth quarter, so there’s that.
Served without comment. pic.twitter.com/4zFdUpv9Ie
We’ll hear more about Curry’s injury today. Hopefully it only keeps him out a game or two. But if the Warriors don’t have Curry for round two against the Clippers, we could have a new NBA champion in 2016-17.
