I had previously stated that for the most part the NBA tournament pans out exactly like the rankings would predict that it is going to. The number 1's generally breeze through to the finals and that is what we end up with but every now and then things take a turn for the unexpected and it is kind of cool that we have already seen this happen twice with Minnesota eliminating the Lakers and now with Golden State taking out the number 2 ranked Houston Rockets.
Things are heating up in the conference semifinals though with there already being one really big upset and one minor one.
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The absence of Jimmy Butler on the part of the San Fran side had something to do with this going to game 7 to begin with, but that noise can all be put to rest because in game 7 where the Warriors basically dominated play, Butler was in the game and scored 20 points and 7 assists. That was enough to work him and Steph Curry through to a commanding 14-point victory.
Is Golden State good enough to advance even further? We'll find out in a just an hour or so because as I sit here writing this the OKC game is wrapping up with the Thunder up by 6 with just a few minutes to go.
The big news in the past few days though was Indiana pushing past Cleveland by 9.
If you look at this win-probability chart you will see that Cleveland was a heavy favorite going into this and stayed rather confident of victory until the very end of the game where they definitely were not favored. I always say that 90% of all NBA games are determined in the final 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, and that was definitely the case here.
I cant help but wonder if Cleveland is kind of sitting on their hands at the moment since they basically got given a "gimme" in their last series with the Miami Heat where you might recall, an NBA record of largest margin of victory EVER in an NBA tournament game was recorded and it could have been a much larger victory margin had Cleveland kept pushing to the final bell.
In other news the Celtics got edged out by the Knicks in game one by a mere 3 points in OT and if the following games continue down this path this could end up being the best series that the tournament has to offer. I will admit that I end up saying this every year though.
It is important to note that Indiana beat Cleveland in Cleveland and game 2 is also taking place in Cleveland. I'm a big believer in home court advantage so if they can go up 2-0 I'm basically certain that they are going to advance as the second 2 games are both in Indiana.
I enjoy it when the expected teams get eliminated unless I am a fan of the teams because otherwise it just all gets so predictable and what's the fun in that?
Who do you have in this tournament? Me? I have Boston vs OKC in the final, but after today, I need to admit that I may have allowed my heart, rather than my head, make that prediction for me.