NBA Playoffs: The Unders Have Their Day
I hate to say I told you so, but....Last week I wrote about how defenses go wild, stepping it up in the NBA playoffs. The reasoning is obvious: The teams are the upper cream of the league and the games mean more, so defensive intensity is more likely from start to finish.
That's been the case, particularly in the West. The East has seen almost a 50/50 split on totals with respect to overs and unders, but the West has been all defense, starting 11-4 under the total. The first three games of the San Antonio/Denver series sailed under, which is no surprise as that's the Spurs' game. The under started 3-1 in the Jazz/Rockets series and that's no surprise as Houston, like San Antonio, is one of the top defensive teams in the league behind coach Jeff Van Gundy.
The biggest surprise, though, has been the Dallas/Golden State series. Two teams that, on paper, have young legs and like to run have also been able to step up and play some ferocious defense. Two teams that averaged 100 and 106 points during the regular season, yet the loser in the first four games failed to score 100, with mighty Dallas being held to 85 in Game 1 and 91 in Game 3.
In their first postseason game in 13 years, the Warriors stunned the top-seeded Mavericks 97-85 to steal Game 1 and home-court advantage in their first-round series. What was fascinating was the chess match between coaches Don Nelson and Avery Johnson. Johnson matched Nelson's small ball by sending out a starting lineup of Jason Terry, Devin Harris, Devean George, Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki.
The chess match continued with Nelson and Johnson matching substitutions for their big men almost all night, though Andris Biedrins started the third quarter for a foul-laden Al Harrington while the Mavericks went small. We might not think of the Warriors as a defensive team, but believe it: The Golden State DEFENSE held Dallas to 91 points in Game 3 and Game 4 was more of the same, with the Warriors coming from behind in a stunning 103-99 upset, rallying from an 88-81 deficit with seven minutes remaining.
What led the charge? Big D! The Mavs shot just 33 percent in the fourth quarter and scored only two points in one stretch of more than six minutes. Unless they run off a three-game winning streak, they'll go down as the first No. 1 seed ever to lose to an eighth seed in a best-of-seven series. Baron Davis has killed Dallas, finishing with 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting and had eight rebounds and four assists in Game 4.
One series that wasn't quite the defensive duel oddsmakers thought was Chicago's 4-game sweep of Miami. The first three games went over the total, mainly because both teams had so many strong offensive options. In particular, the Heat had no answer for Luol Deng or Ben Gordon. Though Miami outscored the Bulls 46-18 in the paint in Game 4, Gordon and Deng combined for 46 points and helped the Bulls outscore the Heat 48-31 in the second half.
But there was still defense to be had, as Game 4 went under the total. In addition, Miami had 17 turnovers, compared to five by the Bulls. After averaging 34.7 points in last year's Finals, Dwyane Wade had trouble with the defense and was bothered by his injury, averaging 23.5 points against the Bulls.
Defense is only going to get more intense as the playoffs go along. But before we bow to all the great defense, let's salute a couple of brilliant offensive performances, Baron Davis in Golden State, of course, and Jason Kidd of the Nets. Kidd is averaging 13.8 points, 13.5 assists and 11.3 rebounds, keeping him on pace to become the first player to average a triple-double for a playoff series since he did it against Boston in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. Yes, defenses have been stepping up, but let's see somebody stop those two sparkplugs!
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