NBA Playoff Takeaways: Round 3
Photo by Christian Petersen from Getty Images
A war in the West.
A cakewalk in the East.
We are now into the NBA Finals, and someone is going to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy in a few weeks.
But only one of the teams heads into the finals rested and ready.
Here is what we learned from Round 3.
Knicks defeat Cavaliers 4-0
Kenny Atkinson said the Cavs were analytically better.
James Harden said the Cavs were the better team.
That’s all well and good, but what people saw with their eyeballs was a Cavs team that quit after a horrendous game 1 loss, and a Knicks team that is currently on the best 10 game stretch in the history of basketball.
Congratulations to the Knicks for making it back to the Finals for the first time since 1999, and for doing it in such dominant fashion.
Even if Atkinson and Harden don’t think so, you were clearly the best team in the East.
Spurs defeat Thunder 4-3
I said this would be a battle when the series was confirmed, and boy did it not let us down.
This was an amazing series. One of the best non Finals series since the 2016 Thunder/Warriors.
And when you’re in a battle like this, you need your superstars to show up.
Victor Wembanyama did, winning Western Conference Final MVP and having at least 20 points and 1 block in each game of the series.
Wemby was the backbone of this series for the Spurs.
The Thunder’s superstars…not so much.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a minus when on the court for the whole series. He also had the lowest FG% by an MVP in a Western Conference Finals with 40.9%.
And even his best game of the series statistically, which was game 7 when he had 35 points, he only had 4 in the 4th quarter when they needed him most.
And then there’s Chet Holmgren, who didn’t even ATTEMPT a shot in the final 3 quarters of game 7.
The Thunder had two players they relied on all year, and in the biggest series of the year, both fell short of expectations.
That’s why they won’t be back to back champs.
NBA Finals Prediction
We’re in for another treat, I believe.
The Spurs are maybe the best team, but the Knicks are playing the best basketball by far.
I could see this one going seven games again.
But this mysterious Mitchell Robinson injury for the Knicks is sticking in my brain.
He is the Knicks best defender, and a great way to get Wemby to not be as effective as he has been.
With him hurt, I’m not sure the Knicks will be able to stop him, no matter how prolific their offense is.
Plus, the Knicks winning a title just doesn’t compute in my brain.
The San Antonio Spurs Win the NBA Finals.
