Nobody predicted that Indiana, a team with 32 losses on the books this season, would eliminate a team with only 18 losses that on paper, is not just one of the best teams in the league now, but one of the best teams in the past decade or so.
I guess this just goes to show how important team cohesion is because the Cleveland side simply couldn't figure out the secret to getting past Indiana, who basically nobody predicted would make it this far in the Eastern conference.
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While i am sure Indiana would have preferred to do this in front of a home crowd, getting it done is just 5 games instead of 6 or 7, puts a stamp on how dangerous this team actually is, and also gives them a bit more rest as we wait to see the results of New York vs Boston, who will have at least one more game in their series.
When you look at the Pacers team and their numbers, it becomes clear to me that they are a playing as a team because ven though Tyrese Haliburton is a star most games, is 31 points in game 5 wasn't miles ahead of the other players who started with 21, 13, 10, and 18 points each. Tyrese also has the most turnovers of anyone on the team, so maybe he got rattled a little bit when he was perhaps being a ball hog. It's hard to tell in such fast paced action.
However, when we look over at Cleveland on the other hand, nearly half of their points were scored by just two players and one of the forwards, Max Strus (who I can't believe was still on the floor) had an absolutely terrible night: 0 points 0-9 on shots and 0-6 on 3 pointers. At 26 minutes the coach had seen enough and that swap, had it happened earlier, might have made a huge difference in the outcome. Max is probably very worried about his future right now because that is 2 games in a row that he has completely failed on the court.
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Despite the past few games being rather Indiana-centric, the bookies still had Cleveland as heavy favorites to winand they didn't change their minds until near the end of the 3rd quarter.
To be fair Cleveland game out of the gates sprinting, going to 31-19 in the first quarter much to the delight of the home fans. But here's the thing folks. Cleveland has kind of had a history as of late to go all in early, and then fade away. This is exactly what ended up happening as they were outscore by 8 in the 2nd quarter, and then outscored by 13 points in the 3rd. This is just bad defense and when they got their S*T together in the 4th, it was too late. They lost by 9 and get to head back to Ohio to think things over for a few months.
On the other side of things the OKC vs Denver match took an opposite turn. In the first half Jokic was absolutely on fire, and things did not look good for the presumed future world champion Thunder.
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he was calm, he was methodical, he was all over the place and this leads back to what I have said so often about Nikola. How do you guard a near 7 foot tall center that moves like a shooting guard and has the dribbling skills to match it? The short answer is "you can't."
However, in the end OKC is more than one man and their pressure and team play, especially in the crucial 4th quarter, lead to them pulling off a comeback that had the home crowd on their feet. I suppose in a way this was kind of vengeance for when Denver made up an 11 point deficit to emerge victorious just 2 games ago. In that game, OKC was ahead by 30 points at one point, and somehow managed to lose.
The "point spread" across all players is actually better with OKC, and that is what makes them so dangerous. Every started was in double digits and this means that every single person on the offense is capable and a potential shot taking target. This also, is very difficult to guard. Honestly, if it wasn't for Jokic being the absolute beast that he is, the Nuggest would be an average team at best.
The next game, which could very well be the last one in this series takes place on Thursday evening. It will all boil down to Jokic being able to get hot, and stay hot IMO. The game takes place in Denver and I believe this could be one of the best, if not THE best game of the entire season. If Denver wins, the last game will also take place in Denver.