No. 1: Wizards getting Game 7 experience tonight against Celtics — Tonight in
Boston, the Celtics will square off against the Washington Wizards in Game 7 of
their Eastern Conference semifinals series (8 ET, TNT). Including the regular
season, these two teams have played 10 times this season, with the home team
winning every game. Of course, playing in a Game 7 is unlike anything else. For
many of the Wizards, though, this will be their first experience in the crucible
of a Game 7 writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post:
In a behind-the-scenes video taped immediately following the Washington Wizards’
92-91 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, Coach Scott Brooks can be
seen addressing his players. His hands on his hips, Brooks calmly poses a
rhetoric question.
“What’s the two best words in playoff basketball?” he asks.
The correct response, as muttered by several players, would be “Game 7″ — the
dessert of this delectable Eastern Conference semifinal series between rivals
that happens Monday night inside TD Garden.
However, the “two best words in playoff basketball” could very well have been in
Latin for most of the players inside that locker room.
Starting center Marcin Gortat last appeared in a Game 7 during the 2009
playoffs; he played 9:53 as Dwight Howard’s backup when the Orlando Magic
defeated the Celtics on the road. Brandon Jennings has also played in one Game
7; he was a rookie starting point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks when they lost
to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round in 2010.
Almost every other Wizard — including John Wall and Bradley Beal — has never
sniffed a Game 7. Monday will be their first, as well as the first for
Washington since the 1979 Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics, however, as a
legendary franchise, have won more Game 7s (21) than 28 NBA teams have even
played.
They may be short on experience, but the Wizards do have one player with a Game
7 pedigree.
“Game 7s are fun and actually those games are … easier to prepare [for] because
you just got to go out there and give everything you have,” center Ian Mahinmi
said.
Mahinmi has appeared in three Game 7s, all with the Indiana Pacers. Last season,
Mahinmi, who also is the only Wizard with a championship ring (2011 Dallas
Mavericks), started for the Pacers when the team took the second-seeded Toronto
Raptors to the brink before eventually falling short. Mahinmi’s role has since
changed; now he plays behind Gortat and continues to work his way into form
after a left calf strain forced him to miss the start of the playoffs. Even so,
Mahinmi plans to share his wisdom with teammates before Monday’s game.
“It’s plain and simple. There is no ‘I’m going to save this for the fourth
quarter.’ Because if you lose, you go home,” Mahinmi said. “Mentally you just
relax and you just go out there and do what you’ve been doing all year. It’s
kind of a privilege to get to that point where one game is going to decide your
whole season, basically. I’m going to tell those guys, it’s nothing to
overthink. Just go out there and play hard. We’ve been playing hard, so more of
the same.”
* * *
No. 2: Spurs likely to play it safe with Leonard — The San Antonio Spurs built
up a 25-point lead during yesterday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference finals
against the Golden State Warriors. But after Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard exited
after tweaking an ankle injury in the third quarter, the Warriors waged an epic
comeback, eventually winning 113-111. Clearly, the Spurs are better with
Leonard. Leonard’s status for Game 2 is uncertain, but looking back at San
Antonio’s history addressing injuries, it would seem to suggest we won’t see
Leonard playing again until he’s well past any injury risk, writes Michael C.
Wright for ESPN.com:
Kawhi Leonard walked slowly and deliberately through the quiet loser’s locker
room. No limp, no brace, no tape covering the sprained left ankle that buckled
with 7 minutes, 53 seconds left in the third quarter of the San Antonio Spurs’
113-111 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western
Conference finals.
In fact, the All-Star forward never deviated from his normal, pigeon-toed gait
on his way to the athletic training room.
The only strangeness witnessed was the fact that the training staff sat Leonard
at a table and taped up the injured ankle after the game, before the forward
pulled on a Spurs sweat suit and strolled out to the team bus.
“I feel good,” Leonard said. “I’ll get back healthy. I have faith in my
teammates, and we’re going to see what happens [in] Game 2.”
That’s likely going to involve Leonard playing the role of spectator instead of
savior on Tuesday in what was already expected to be a lopsided series. It is
now tilted heavily in favor of the host Warriors.
A league source said that Leonard would undergo an MRI on Monday morning. When
the forward originally suffered the injury in Game 5 of the Western Conference
semifinals against the Houston Rockets, a source explained San Antonio’s
philosophy for dealing with injuries, which dates all the way back to the early
Tim Duncan years and provides something of a clue for how the Spurs might
proceed with Leonard throughout this series.
In the season after San Antonio’s first championship, Duncan tore the lateral
meniscus in his left knee on April 11, 2000, Game No. 78 of the season. That
forced him to miss the final four games. As the Spurs prepped for the
postseason, Duncan tried his best to show the staff that he could move well
enough to help his team win. The problem was that a bit of loose cartilage that
moved around remained in the knee and posed a risk Popovich didn’t want to take.
Popovich shut down Duncan for the postseason, and the Spurs lost an
opening-round series 3-1 to the Phoenix Suns.
Leonard’s injury isn’t as significant as Duncan’s. But the source said that
situation started a philosophy by Popovich of the team always striving to “do
what’s best for the player” when dealing with injuries, even if it means
faltering in the playoffs. In this case, it’s probably best for Leonard to sit,
considering that after Game 2 on Tuesday, these teams won’t clash again until
Saturday in San Antonio. That would give Leonard nearly a week to rest the sore
ankle.
“Of course, it’s going to be tough,” said power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who
led the Spurs with 28 points and eight rebounds. “He’s our leading scorer and
our go-to guy. But guys have to step up and try to take some of that load and
try to be better out there. It’s about defense right now: got to play better
defense, make [fewer] mistakes, and we’ll be good.”
* * *
No. 3: Pachulia says Leonard injury an accident — In the aftermath of Leonard’s
injury, a lot of watchers on social media suggested the play from Golden State’s
Zaza Pachulia, whose foot Leonard landed on, was meant to intentionally injure
Leonard. After the game, however, Pachulia took offense to any talk that he was
out to hurt Leonard, writes Monte Poole for CSN Bay Area:
“I just did what I was supposed to do and challenged his shot,” Pachulia said.
“And I turned around and there was a call. I didn’t notice that he was down
until I turned back. I didn’t see what happened there.”
Referee Marc Davis whistled a foul on Pachulia. Leonard made a pair of free
throws, after which he left the game for good.
There was immediate and incessant reaction on social media, where Spurs fans and
others blamed Pachulia for purposely trying to injury Leonard.
Asked if it was intentional, Leonard said he didn’t think so.
“He was contesting a shot,” he said. “The shot clock was coming down and . . .
I’ll have to see the play.”
Pachulia had harsh words for those who believed he was trying to hurt Leonard.
“That’s really stupid,” he said.
“I don’t think I should be making (any) comment,” he added. “I’m not that good
to be doing intentional stuff like that. I did my part. I had to challenge the
shot. It was a handoff situation and I saw that my teammate was behind the
screen. I had to challenge the shot. That’s what I did. And I turned around for
the rebound and that was it.
“I hate anybody going down like that with an injury. I’m an athlete, too, so I
know how it feels. I wish it’s nothing serious for him because we are colleagues
at the end of the day. So we’re going to move on.”
* * *
D’Antoni focused on ramping up Rockets’ defense — Coach Mike D’Antoni and
defense have never been associated much with each other. Critics of his coaching
style may point to that as a reason why none of his teams have ever reached a
conference final, let alone The Finals. In the wake of his Houston Rockets’
Western Conference semifinals loss, D’Antoni is vowing to improve his team’s
defense for 2017-18, writes Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:
“The offense starts off, we just had one layer in, and it was pretty good, but
we can add to that. Defensively is where we are going to make our most strides
and, again, we are talking about being a top 10 (defense). That is the key.
“I guarantee we will get better.”
D’Antoni said upgrading the defense is the “first step.” There is reason to
believe that can be done with the talent on hand. The Rockets had the
second-ranked defense in December, when they had their best stretch of the
season. Before their Game 6 flop, they were the third-ranked defense in the
playoffs and even in just the second round. The key, they said, is to become
more consistent.
“You are selling trust,” D’Antoni said. “We developed a bond between the players
and the coaching staff. (Assistant coach) Jeff Bzdelik has done an incredible
job. In case you hadn’t noticed, we aren’t a very defensive-minded team, but
Jeff is creating habits and that takes a while. That’s our next big step, and we
will get better at that next year.”
…
The next steps could be even more difficult than going from 41 to 55 wins, one
postseason win to six.
They had hoped to skip the steps it normally takes to go from a team that
slipped in to the playoffs on the last day to one expecting more than a
six-game, second-round exit. But before the season crashed, D’Antoni knew the
building project was not done.
“We took nice steps, but we didn’t take that big step we all wanted to, and we
have to make it part of the process,” he said. “We had a good group. We had good
guys. I thought we could do it. But if you look back at the normal process, you
go to the second round, the next year to the conference finals, and next year
you win it. You can also go back. It’s up to us to keep it going that way. We’re
going to dedicate everything we have to it.”
* * *
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala will have an
MRI on his left knee today … Breaking down some of the Cleveland Cavaliers’
signature handshake routines … According to a report, the Philadelphia 76ers
are interested in signing Robert Covington to a contract extension this summer
… Is Phil Jackson hurting Carmelo Anthony’s trade stock? … During the
pre-Draft combine, the prospects get asked some pretty weird questions …
ESPN’s Shelley Smith is doing well after suffering stroke symptoms in the Golden
State locker room following Game 1 against the Spurs
