NBA Playoffs: Killer Instinct

Friday, April 24, 2009
By Roz Juarbe

Intensity and effort are so important in the NBA playoffs, at all levels of athletic play, really. The more talented group doesn't always win. The hungrier team working harder, doing the grunt work, usually triumphs. In the NBA playoffs, execution is the part of the game you work on all season: Knowing your teammates, cutting without the ball, boxing out, passing to the open man. The second part is about effort, crashing the boards, hustle, diving for loose balls, playing aggressive defense. Those things a team can't always give 100% during the regular season. That's because guys would get burnt out or be more susceptible to injuries. It's OK to ease up at times, especially when a game is out of reach.

But in the playoffs, a coach wants to see INTENSITY and EFFORT all the time. Utah coach Jerry Sloan was ripping his players after losing the first two games in LA. He was particularly upset with the team's lack of effort in each of the first halves, when they fell way behind, using the words "pretty bleak" and "nasty team" comments after a Game 1 loss.

Game 3, a different Utah bunch showed up, one with fire and defense, holding the Lakers to just 86 points. Carlos Boozer scored 23 points and grabbed a franchise playoff record 22 rebounds. It really was a different team, one that played with exceptional defensive intensity. Why can't they play like that every game? "I'm happy for anybody if they come and play like that every night," coach Sloan said. "That's a thrill to watch those things happen."

It makes you wonder about the killer instinct of a team like the Lakers. They let 20+ leads slip away in the first two games, then a Game 3 13-point, third-quarter lead the Lakers had was ripped apart by the Jazz. LA blew a huge lead in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to Boston last June, a collapse that cost them a shot at a title. Champions need a killer instinct.

Boston played soft defense in the first two games of their series with Chicago, but showed a killer instinct in Game 3. The Bulls, who averaged 110 points in the first two games, never led in Game 3. They also shot 37.5 percent and committed 22 turnovers. Bulls captain Kirk Hinrich said, "It was like one team was in the playoffs and one team was in the preseason. I don't know what exactly the reason was for it. They were good. We were soft." Soft teams do not stay alive long.

Paul Pierce said he studied video during the two days between games to figure how the Bulls contained him. Chicago coach Vinnie Del said, "We got picked apart. 'We lost a lot of confidence, especially our younger guys."

San Antonio has had a killer instinct during their champion runs. It was interesting that with 7:53 still to play in the third quarter, Gregg Popovich pulled Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Roger Mason and Matt Bonner from the game, most of their starting lineup. The idea was to conserve some energy for Saturday's Game 4, Popovich explained. "It's a short turnaround for us, and I didn't see where we were going to get back in that one," he said. "They kicked our butt every way but loose."

Dallas lacked a killer instinct in the 2006 NBA Finals, blowing a 2-0 series lead and a double digit lead late in Game 3. We will see if they've learned (or remember) from that this weekend.