The Sub Has Surfaced
Now the task of winning 4 out of 5 has been reduced to a task of winning 2 out of 3.
Or at least it's at periscope depth. If you're just reading this, the submarine metaphor is a nod to that Now the task of winning 4 out of 5 has been reduced to a task of winning 2 out of 3. And it's the same task Brooklyn needs to do in order to advance. The only difference is that Brooklyn still has the home-court advantage. It's entirely possible that advantage is more than mitigated by the recent addition of Kyrie Irving to the Nets' list of injured players. But it's hard to tell. The Bucks are still very clumsy and awful offensively. They seem to be punching above their weight defensively... ok, no that's not it. Hmm. No, the defense is definitely within their capabilities, I just worry how long they can sustain that sort of energy, focus, etc. to keep that up.
As for Kyrie's ankle turning: I don't like how he turned it landing on Giannis's foot. I think Giannis was just focused on the rebound and it was a bad accident and nobody's fault. But I don't expect everyone to see it that way. The moron team of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson compared it to those flagrants you see when defenders deny a jumpshooter a proper landing. Sure, but how often do you see that inside the restricted area, with the defender facing the basket. Then... Kyrie's shot basically goes straight down, so watching this, Giannis doesn't see a reason to jump for the rebound. If it rattled around the rim a bit, maybe he would've. Then Giannis would've jumped, Kyrie would've landed clean. I think it was just a really unlucky circumstance. And I agree with Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley in that I'm surprised that precise method of ankle-twisting doesn't happen more often with how congested it is in the paint in the NBA.
On to Tuesday.
