Celtics are than happy with Bam Adebayo taking fallaway jump shots off the catch. Three paint touches, Boston gets a corner three. That's what Stevens wants. Multiple paint touches on each trip. Boston's defense has done a good job taking away Miami's back-cuts. It comes at the expense of opening up shooters on occasion. Heat are going without a real center right now, so Time Lord is guarding Iguodala. Couple of early tweaks to the sub patterns from both teams. Kemba Walker has been really active so far. You can tell the days off has really benefited him. Boston isn’t doing much to contest Iguodala’s perimeter shots and he is hitting them. I would they are going to live him shooting compared to Dragic/Robinson. Heat lead 24-23 after one.

Jayson Tatum hasn't looked like himself at all. Looks a step slow on offense and all out of sorts. Quite the start from Tyler Herro as everything is going his way. Stevens has been begging for them to run to not have to play against set defense all series. The Celtics best offense has been going directly at Duncan Robinson with whoever he is guarding. Boston were getting great looks against the zone so far. They were not making the shots. With Smart having three fouls, no "Best Five" lineup for Boston to close this first half. Heat lead 50-44 at the half. As messy as that first half was, Boston is fortunate to be down just 6 points at the half with 11 turnovers.

If the Celtics were ever going to reverse their third quarter woes, this would be the game to do so. Like a lot of the first half, the second half begins with a turnover for Boston. Adebayo-Robinson DHO game is borderline unstoppable. I’m not sure how Boston can get the offense going, but it's not going to be with Marcus Smart shooting. Marcus Smart is up to 9 assists. 5 of them have come in the third quarter. Smart is doing a good job of driving the zone and finding shooters. Tatum was able to shake off that first half on his way to 16 points in the third quarter. Heat lead 77-76 after three.

Wonder if Tatum will go the rest of the way here? It was going to be hard to take him out. The Celtics really needed to put Marcus Smart on Tyler Herro at this point. It took too many possessions, but in the halfcourt, Boston has Kemba Walker hiding on Andre Iguodala now. Marcus Smart is on Goran Dragic and Jaylen Brown has Tyler Herro. Tyler Herro's shot-making has been the difference in the game. He was ridiculously good. Celtics needed to try attacking from the baseline more against the zone, especially when Miami has Dragic and Herro as the low corner guys. Offensive rebounds continued to haunt Boston throughout the night. Goran Dragic with the dagger off of a terrible decision to trap Andre Iguodala. The Celtics should be embarrassed with how they closed this game. Miami didn't even shoot well. They just played harder and took care of the ball. I hate to see the injury to Bam Adebayo- hope he can recover quickly for Game 5. Heat win 112-109. Lead series 3-1.

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

Lakers/Nuggets

1Q: Lakers have come out locked in like a team 2 wins away from the Finals. Denver has to take the punch and hang on. Physical game so far, with Jokic being very aggressive moving the Lakers around inside; we’ll see how that goes when Dwight Howard gets on him. Howard hasn’t typically played in 1st Q’s, but Jokic also hasn’t been this aggressive in 1st Q’s. Jokic's footwork is simply incredible underneath the rim. Baffling to me how it's Game 3 and the Lakers are still occasionally doubling off of Murray, who is the one perimeter guy you can't double off of. Think Denver is finding something with the early handoffs before the Lakers can load up. LAL trail 29-27 after 1, with Jokic scoring 11 points for DEN. LAL allowed 12 of 20 FG’s from the Nuggets, including 9 of 10 in the paint, where they usually force a much lower percentage. LAL were also out-rebounded 10-7. LAL shot well too, hitting 11 of 20 FG’s.

2Q: I never understand the point of going small and deciding not to switch. The Nuggets starters are going to play A LOT based on the rotations we're seeing. Last game Murray subbed out in the first quarter and the Lakers went on an 11-1 run. Now Murray and Jokic haven't subbed out at all. LAL’s bench has been really good all postseason, but they’ve struggled so far tonight. Uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns continue for LA. This game hasn’t been about lineups or personell; Denver is simply playing harder, with more desperation so far. Too many turnovers really hurt LA and allowed for Denver to score early in their offense and mostly against a not set Lakers defense. The Lakers offense in this stretch: Anthony Davis. The margin is 63-53 after a lackluster 1st half from the Lakers. They picked things up late in the 2nd Q to close the gap, but allowed 56.4% FG’s to DEN, and were outrebounded 23-11, a staggering gap on the glass for this big Lakers team, allowing 7 offensive boards. Monte Morris was huge in the first half. Jokic set the tone but he, Grant and Porter Jr contributing offensively changes things. Those guys have to be threats. And the thing Jamal Murray has proven in these playoffs, once he gets going, the task gets a lot harder.

3Q: Dwight starts the 2nd half, as he did Game 1. It was the small ball group that hurt LAL in the first half. They’re +2 in McGee’s minutes and + 6 in Howard’s. Dwight's defense has more value in this series than his role as an enforcer. He's got to realize that and not pick up some of the cheap ones. Jerami Grant was the main reason Denver was able to extend their lead. His offense has been critical. If Denver doesn't have anything on the first option they keep playing. And it's not just passing and screening anymore they are looking to attack the Lakers off the dribble and play out of that. Denver has mixed up the pops and rolls from Jokic in P&R and it's throwing the Lakers off. Lakers were settling for too many jump shots even though they got positive results every time they got paint touches. LAL were outscored by 8 for a 2nd straight quarter, and trail 93-75 heading into the 4th Q. They continue to struggle on the glass, trailing 33-18, and are 5 for 18 from 3. They've looked complacent on offense, confused on defense, and frustration has been adding up.

4Q: Jamal Murray with the huge dunk that seems like the dagger in this game, but not the case as the Lakers transition game really turned it up as they cut into the lead. LAL finally getting something positive going with better defense. Defense leading to transition offense here. Lakers zone has taken Denver all the way out of their rhythm. Tempo and flow is gone from Denver vs. the zone. Jamal Murray with a couple of huge threes from deep to shut down a Lakers comeback. Very impressive final effort by the Lakers, but the middle quarters did them in. Nuggets win 114, Lakers 106.

1Q: This should be concerning for Laker fans, Green hesitates on the first open look he had, then misses one in the corner. If he's going to get gun shy from three, that is a serious problem. Aggressive early from LeBron … he’s 3 for 4, and the rest of the team 0 for 8, including a couple missed tap ins inside from Davis. Game is being called differently inside. Tight whistles in Game 1, more loose here in Game 2. Lakers have to adjust and play through it. The Nuggets got to think about sending a double when Davis is facing up on Jokic. Make him into a passer, can't leave Jokic on an island.

2Q: LAL’s defense has dropped of without AD on the court … Nuggets scored only 21 in the 1st Q (AD played 12 minutes). They already have 15 points at the 7:20 mark of the 2nd Q. Great cut from Kuzma with LeBron in the mid post and Grant loading up. Murray isn't staying connected to James. This is the value of playing Rondo with James, it turns James into a cutting option for the Lakers with the trust that Rondo will get him the rock. Dwight's been consistent all season, struggled at the start of the bubble but he's been big defensively for the Lakers in this series. Doing his job. Denver has to attack the switches better. These two games are the best the Lakers have looked on both ends in the playoffs. Nuggets were not able to capitalize on the minutes that LeBron spent on the bench as the Lakers lead expanded.

3Q: Denver’s done a better job of keeping LAL out of the paint of late, but AD’s now starting to rain in mid-range J’s. Lakers haven’t been getting into Denver’s lane much at all, doing a lot of settling for jumpers against a packed paint. When the Lakers have AD at the 5 and Jokic defends him, it’s similar to the Portland series for AD, when he could get a wide-open look at a mid-range jumper whenever he wanted against Nurkic or Whiteside. Jokic has to be aggressively posting up on these switches. LA has to double but coming from first pass away is always a bad idea. Too easy of a pass to make, especially for Jokic. Lots of uncharacteristic mistakes and breakdowns from the Lakers in the 3rd Q, and Denver took advantage.

4Q: Mike Malone stressed Denver’s transition defense above everything else, and the Nuggets have done a much better job getting back tonight. LAL had 6 fastbreak points in the 1st half, and only 2 in this 2nd half. LAL had 54 points in the paint in Game 1. They have just 34 tonight. This is due to the adjustment made by the Nuggets to pack the paint in and force the Lakers to beat them from the perimeter. It resembled the pack line defense. The Lakers got to get into their actions much earlier and be more deliberate with what they want to do. It is like they are just trying to figure it out on the fly. Hard back in from Jokic, who scores over Davis. That’s 11 straight from the Serbian center, and DEN’s lead is 1 with 20.8 left. But Anthony Davis answers with the game winner from 3 as the Nuggets make a huge mistake communicating on a switch which shouldn’t of took place anyways. Defensive sub Plumlee just completely blew that coverage. Wasn't even screened and just pointed for Grant to switch off LeBron.

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

- Giannis Antetokoumpo named Kia NBA MVP. This is solely a regular season award and you can sit there to try justifying why Giannis won the award. He was not the “MOST VALUABLE PLAYER” in the league. His team would not be as worse as if the Lakers were without a LeBron. Bucks were a +2.4 without a Giannis compared to -1.9 for the Lakers without LeBron. That’s almost a five point difference. NUMBERS DONT LIE! NOT EVERYTHING IS WATCHING THE GAME. WHY DO YOU THINK ANALYTICS ARE APART OF THE GAME.

- A complete breakdown of the 1st and 2nd Half of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets.

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

- In this episode, I go through quarter by quarter talking about different aspects of Game 2. This includes what worked well for Miami and Boston, but also where improvement must be made by Boston to get back into this series as they find themselves down 2-0.

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

Los Angeles Lakers are officially facing the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. LeBron James and Anthony Davis now prepare for an opponent they had very few issues with during the regular season. The Lakers defeated the Nuggets in three of four meetings during the regular season, with the only loss coming in a game where James did not play. Their most recent matchup came in the bubble, where the Lakers won off of a game-winning 3-pointer by Kyle Kuzma. But the Nuggets are feeding off confidence as they have made two 3-1 comebacks in a row in the first two rounds. I do not know if they can dig theirselves out of a hole again if they get down to LeBron James and the Lake Show.

Matchups:

LeBron James vs. Jamal Murray (Lakers)

Danny Green vs. Gary Harris (Nuggets)

KCP vs. Jerami Grant (Lakers)

Markieff Morris vs. Paul Millsap (Nuggets)

Anthony Davis vs. Nikola Jokic (Lakers)

Lakers Bench: Rondo/Caruso/Kuzma/McGee/Howard

Nuggets Bench: Morris/Craig/MPJ/Plumlee

(Lakers)

Things to watch in the series:

How much will the Lakers put pressure on Jokic in the PnR?

The play of Nikola Jokic vs. Lakers’ bigs.

Cutting aspect of the Nuggets' offense

How will the Lakers guard Jamal Murray?

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

NBA announces that the official date for the NBA Draft is Nov. 18.

All-NBA First Team:

Luka Doncic (2nd Season)

James Harden

LeBron James (NBA Record 16th Selection)

Giannis Antetokoumpo

Anthony Davis

All-NBA Second Team:

Chris Paul

Damian Lillard

Kawhi Leonard

Pascal Siakam

Nikola Jokic

All-NBA Third Team:

Russell Westbrook

Ben Simmons

Jayson Tatum

Jimmy Butler

Rudy Gobert

Biggest omissions:

Joel Embiid

Bam Adebayo

Bradley Beal

NBA All-Rookie First Team:

Ja Morant

Kendrick Nunn

Zion Williamson

Brandon Clarke

Eric Paschall

NBA All-Rookie Second Team:

Coby White 

Tyler Herro

Terence Davis II

PJ Washington

Rui Hachimura

Biggest Omission:

RJ Barrett

Celtics/Heat - Game 1 Breakdown

Clipper/Nuggets - Game 7 Breakdown

In the 2009 Playoffs, Kobe:

- Beat the Rockets in the 2nd round

- Beat the Nuggets in Conf Finals

- Won his 4th ring in Orlando

In the 2020 Playoffs, LeBron:

- Beat the Rockets in the 2nd round

- Facing the Nuggets in Conf Finals

- Trying to win his...4th ring in Orlando

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4

1Q

2Q

3Q

4Q

- Celtics/Heat Preview

To become a monthly supporter of the Back Em' Down podcast, click this link: anchor.fm/cody-johnson4