The two sets of 2-0 series both ushered in a 2-1 ending today, at least let the suspense of the series continue. Although they all came back from two games behind, the Pacers' situation is still a little different from the Nuggets' situation.
After the second game, the Pacers found 78 controversial penalties and appealed to the league, but the appeal was of course a failure, and head coach Carlisle was fined $35,000, but the effect was significant.
At least back on the home court of the Pacers, the referees were biased in favor of the Pacers for several key free throws in the final quarter. However, the Pacers' win today was not due to the referees, but to the intensity of the game that they have not been able to improve in the first two games.
This was especially evident in the second game, when the Knicks were injured like that, and the Pacers were still playing softly and would not play after being reversed. Today, the Pacers withstood several waves of counterattacks from the Knicks, Haliburton shot 14 of 26, 6 of 16 three-pointers, scored 35 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers, with a plus/minus of +16.
Haliburton, who was in good form in the second game, finally regained his form at the beginning of the season today. And the Wonder player Nembhard hit a quasi-shootout three-pointer, which was the furthest he has ever scored in his career, and he also beat the Lakers last season.
Brunson's hand today was average, and the Pacers sent Nesmith to the defense, giving Brunson a lot of defensive pressure. In addition, OG couldn't play due to injury, and the offensive pressure on the Knicks fell on DiVincenzo's side.
Devine once again withstood the pressure, hitting seven three-pointers to score 35 points, including 17 points in the third quarter, just like Curry. DiVincenzo had 11 career three-pointers in the regular season, but obviously hitting seven three-pointers in the playoffs was a much stronger of that.
However, after hitting seven three-pointers in the final quarter, DiVincenzo's fitness reached the limit and he was never able to continue shooting. He played 44 minutes today, one more than Hart, and Thibodeau was kind enough to give Hart a long rest today.
Not only Devine, but the entire Knicks team has reached its limit. They rotated seven men today, but the sixth and seventh men only played for about 21 minutes, and the remaining five men were full.
The Knicks scored only 16 points in the fourth quarter, and I counted the four field goals that the Knicks scored in the fourth quarter, with McBride a three-pointer, DiVincenzo a three-pointer, and Brunson a mid-range shot and a three-pointer. Heading into the final half of the quarter, there was only one Brunson left on the team to score.
Even so, they held the Pacers to a last-minute draw, and if it weren't for Nembhard's three-pointer, the Knicks would probably have had to bite the bullet in the game.
After three games of physical intensity, the Knicks finally reached their limit in the final quarter of the day, and to be honest, they should have lost one game as well, otherwise it would seem that the Pacers did have a bit of a dish. Although the Pacers are still one game behind, facing the Knicks, who have hollowed themselves out, the Pacers are not much behind in this group of matchups.
In their first game in Minnesota, the Nuggets walked away. They led by 20 points in the second quarter and led by 34 points in the final quarter. Prior to today, the Timberwolves had not trailed by more than 30 points all season, and today was arguably their worst loss of the season.
Throughout the game, except for the fast-break score leading the Nuggets, all other statistics were blown up by the Nuggets. Eight rebounds were lost, four more turnovers were made, and the mid-range and three-point grasp were a big difference.
If the Nuggets beat the Lakers is a small fire and a slow simmer to collect the juice, then this game beat the Timberwolves, and the Nuggets can be said to be hot from the beginning of the game, and they can be out of the pot in the third quarter.
The Nuggets extended the playing time of the starter, and Murray was replaced when he was close to full play in the first quarter, which finally allowed him to regain his touch. Murray, who shot just 9-of-32 from the field in the first two games of the series, scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting in the first half today.
Watching Murray score in the first half, Gordon scored three three-pointers in the second half (does he have to split three in every series), Jokic 13+3+3 in 5 of 6 in a single quarter, the Nuggets beat the Timberwolves home audience silently, which can be regarded as getting the last game back.
Of course, since we talk about this ball, we can't avoid mentioning the issue of blowing penalty scale. I watched the ball in the first half and a little bit in the second half, because it was so hypnotic, although the number of free throws was still small, the whistle was so dense that I had to be stopped almost every two rounds.
The tightened penalty scale was set from the start, and the Timberwolves made five fouls in the opening six minutes, resulting in their entire game failing to play with the defensive intensity they did in the previous game. The two games have completely different penalty scales, which has also caused the Timberwolves to be afraid on the defensive end.
Of course, this game is on the offensive end, and the Timberwolves are also completely blown up, and it is unrealistic to attribute the responsibility for losing to blowing penalties. It's just that if the scale is a little more relaxed, this game will be a little more exciting.
In the middle of the season, after the referee adjusted the blowing scale, it felt that they did not have a clear standard now. If the blow is loose today, it will tighten up in the next game, which has led to a noticeable increase in the percentage of wrong-handed judgments after the start of the playoffs, and no team is completely satisfied with the blow.
Fortunately, the whole Timberwolves team did not show much negativity after a big loss, and they must know that the Nuggets will not give up easily and are ready for difficulties. If you lose today, you will have to play back in the next game.
After the final whistle blew, Edwards walked up to his teammates and said, "It's a series, bro, we're good." ”