Brooklyn, Portland, San Antonio: Who has the best odds to tie it up in Game 2?
The NBA’s initial playoff weekend made a loser out of outfits from Brooklyn, Portland, and San Antonio. What odds should we give these spiraling crews as they attempt to even things up in Game 2 on Wednesday?
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Brooklyn vs. Atlanta
The Downfall
Brooklyn tried! They really did! Game 1 didn’t work out, but the Nets showed uncharacteristic mettle and pride on their way toward denying Atlanta’s attempts at a one-sided win.
For stretches during the team’s several mini-comebacks, Deron Williams genuinely looked like a star again. He only finished with 13 points and two assists in 33 minutes, numbers we’d be upset at his counterpart Jeff Teague for contributing even in a blowout, but the flashes were there. Both Thaddeus Young (15 points) and Brook Lopez (17 points on 6-8 shooting with 15 rebounds) scored off what appeared to be broken plays, and Lionel Hollins’ defense worked well to string stops together.
It wasn’t enough, obviously, as the Hawks overcame Paul Millsap’s 2-11 shooting performance to whip the ball around during its best stretches and locate the open man. Dennis Schroeder’s solid second year carried over to the postseason where he went at veteran Jarrett Jack to the tune of 13 points on nine shots with four turnovers (Jack managed 13 on eight shots with five turnovers, it was fun), while Kyle Korver nailed five threes.
The Redemption
Lionel Hollins, on Kyle Korver, via the New York Daily News:
“How many shots did he take yesterday and how many did he miss? See, if he’s that good, he’d make all of them.” Hollins said. “Everybody misses, man. He’s a good shooter, I acknowledge that, we acknowledge that as a team, we game plan for him because he is a great shooter. But until he starts shooting 100%, we’ve got to play and be in position to help, and then recover, and close out.
“It’s not like we’re talking (Stephen) Curry. Korver, he’s a great come-off-the-screen guy, he’s great with moving without the ball, but he rarely puts the ball on the floor like Curry and shakes you up.”
Eh, no.
Korver is now walking into three-point shots. He’s a legitimate triple-threat, eh, threat a la Reggie Miller in his post-lockout years. It’s very much true that even four hands in Korver’s face from 25 feet (where he shot 5-11 in Game 1) may not deter him from the twine, but it does mean you leave Millsap and DeMarre Carroll (both solid three-point shooters) alone in the corner if it means getting out to perhaps the greatest three-point shooter in this game’s history.
Saying Kyle Korver is no Stephen Curry is like reminding the media that Dennis Rodman was no John Stockton. It’s pointless, and please box Rodman out.
The Hawks did well to encourage the Nets to go away from Brook Lopez, and they managed to cling on despite Brooklyn’s expected offensive rebound barrage. Billy King, Hollins and these star-obsessed Nets have long made their medicore hay with 1990s-era orthodoxy – it’s time to embrace the two man game and start feeding the well-heeled in the post.
Odds of a Game 2 Victory
You ever try to tie a cherry stem together with your tongue?
Portland vs. Memphis
The Downfall
This was a whuppin’, and we probably should have expected it. Memphis mainstays Mike Conley and Tony Allen returned from an extended absence to hound the Blazers defensively and combine for 20 points on 14 shots, while Beno Udrih emerged as a second quarter game-changer on his way toward a team-high 20 points on 14 shots.
Udrih’s contribution wasn’t a game-high, as PDX big man LaMarcus Aldridge dropped 32 in the loss (alongside 14 rebounds and four blocks), but he also needed 34 shots to get there as Portland’s offense went limp for long stretches. Damian Lillard’s shooting (5-21) was just as disastrous (let’s not even get into his defense), as Portland’s already-feeble depth just could not recover from the absence of two sound swingmen in Wesley Matthews and Arron Afflalo, with C.J. McCollum missing seven of eight shots in his playoff starting debut.
The Redemption
Arron Afflalo should be back for Game 2, although he says he can’t shoot three-pointers. So there’s that.
Memphis is not the championship contender it once was, the team can still make it out of this Western bracket this spring but the group is not as healthy or as centered as the team we saw in December. With that in place, the Trail Blazers would have to play a near-perfect game against the Grizzlies to win. Portland is just too thin and banged up to come through with its typical effort, and it has to find a way to secure easy and quick hook looks for Robin Lopez (who missed both his shots in Game 1) and possible post-up gimmies for Afflalo and his bum shoulder.
From there, Aldridge needs to re-find the touch he showcased in the first round of last year’s series win over Houston. This isn’t a fair expectation for the man behind perhaps the most underrated star season of 2014-15, but this is just where the Blazers are at currently.
Odds of a Game 2 Victory
Your ability to walk properly after being seen keying one of Zach Randolph’s Challengers.
San Antonio vs. Los Angeles
The Downfall
This was a worrying blowout that few saw coming. San Antonio looked old and feeble and incomplete in a 107-92 Game 1 loss, missing shots from all over the court as the Clippers banged their way to a borderline-dominant win.
Chris Paul needed absolutely no space and only 20 shots to score a game-high 32 points, Blake Griffin posterized Aron Baynes twice, and Jamal Crawford made up for J.J. Redick’s rare off-night with a 7-10 mark off the Clipper bench. Los Angeles looked in control from stem to stern, in spite of terrible bench production beyond Crawford, and in spite of a hack-a-DeAndre Jordan flurry that saw the Clipper center miss seven of 12 free throws.
The Redemption
It comes as truncated and as succient as one of Gregg Popovich’s sideline interviews.
Get healthy. Be quick. Make shots. Close out better. Execute. Tony Parker, who missed seven of 11 shots in Game 1, has to be a factor offensively. The Spurs could even live with another 30-point night out of Paul, but Parker has to become the initial tilt behind San Antonio’s think-as-you-go offense. It very much is partly Parker’s fault that Tim Duncan and Danny Green combined to miss 15 of 21 shots – he is the initial space creator, and though Parker doesn’t have to turn in big scoring or assist numbers, he has to become a threat.
San Antonio falls in five games if he can’t become an All-Star level-terror, all over again. The team can’t miss 23 three-pointers and it can hit for just 14-26 at the free throw line, those are inexcusable marks but those digits should also shape up regardless of LAC’s intensity (Paul remains probably the most unheralded lead dog defender in this game). Rare do turnarounds come as simple as this: Tony Parker has to play better, or San Antonio goes down.
Odds of a Game 2 Victory
Have you ever counted San Antonio out before? How’d that go for you?
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
