The Perspective

- Grizzlies hire MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) women’s coach, Sonia Raman, as assistant coach. Raman’s tenure also produced two NCAA Tournament berths for the program, while the Engineers compiled a 91-45 record (.669) in her final five seasons. Following her first season in 2008-09, MIT’s record improved in each of the next five seasons. The Engineers enjoyed unprecedented success under Raman, winning the program’s first two New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championships (2018, 2019) and reaching the championship game in 2020. This marks the franchise second women’s hire for the coaching staff. She replaces Niele Ivey who left for the head coach position at Norte Dame.

- Breakdown of Game 5 - Clippers/Nuggets

- Breakdown of Game 7 - Celtics/Raptors

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Lakers/Rockets

1Q

2Q

3Q

4Q

End of Game Stats:

The Rockets trail the Lakers by 19 in the 4th quarter. They became the first team with 0 fast-break points and 0 second-chance points through 3 quarters of any playoff game in the play-by-play era (since 1997).

Lakers win - two LA basketball wins away from Lakers-Clippers.

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- Breakdown of Game 6 of the Toronto Raptors/Boston Celtics series

- Breakdown of Game 4 of the Los Angeles Clippers/Denver Nuggets series

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Celtics/Raptors Early tweak from Brad Stevens: Marcus Smart is defending Kyle Lowry to start the game. Lowry has been getting going early in each game. Smart guarding Lowry has two advantages for Boston. Celtics defense has focused on stopping Lowry penetration. I expect Brad Stevens to try and match Kemba Walker's minutes tonight to Marc Gasol's. That way the Celtics can bleed as much out of pick and roll against Gasol's drop coverage as possible. Boston was more ready for Toronto's zone than any point in this series. Celtics are playing against the zone with purpose tonight. No hesitation driving the gaps and getting the ball moving. The Celtics are really engaged defensively. Communication on switches, switch-backs and jump-switches is on-point early. If I was Stevens, I'd consider playing Williams more against Gasol and Theis against Ibaka. Williams is having trouble recovering back to Ibaka on the pick and pop. Not as much of a worry with Gasol in the game. Celtics straight switched that Raptors PnR. Subtle little tweak. When Toronto went super small, Stevens went to the three-guard lineup with Walker/Smart/Wanamaker. That allows Boston to counter Toronto's ballhandlers better, without fear of getting beat up inside on switches. This is some of the best defense the Celtics have played all year. Raptors look a step slow and Boston is way too quick for that. Maybe the minutes-load is catching up with Toronto? Raptors came out pretty desperate to start the second half. The Celtics look a little content. Raptors went small. 2-2-1 press from Toronto. Nurse waved the white flag. It's about time for Stevens to pull his starters now too. It's getting increasingly ragged. No reason to keep them out there. Celtics made the extra effort plays tonight, knowing they had to match or exceed Toronto's effort. Nuggets/Clippers Looks like Zubac had a mandate to be more physical with Jokic. That's now 4 fouls on the Clippers trying to pressure Jokic on the perimeter. Denver running some sets for him to dribble himself into postups, Clips probably are going to have to double. Looks like Harrell is going to look to slip that PnR early with Jokic coming up hard. That enables an easier pass to him and he's at the rim before the help. Kawhi had three assists in the first quarter, a reflection of the way he's found shooters to keep the ball from sticking. As gifted as MPJ is offensively, man he has room to grow in terms of shot selection. Clippers not being able to guard Jokic and getting smoked with him off the court seems like a rough equation for them. Harrell has absolutely killed the Clippers in this stint, as he has basically all playoffs. It’s time that Doc decides to go in a different direction to win games. Paul George has been really good so far - playing with a lot of rhythm. Clippers finally showed life on defense with that 12-2 run to close the half. Jokic will make a few great plays, but the Clippers simply need better effort on defense. Too much ball watching, lazy rotations, standing around when the ball hits the rim. But those 3 minutes of ball hawking is a big reason they’re within 2. Nikola Jokic’s weight loss dropped his strength and he can’t bang you down on the block as well, but he is a great shooter. With the performance of PG, it will be detrimental for the Clippers to lose this one. This is the adjustment to the rotation I wanted to see from Doc, Beverley with the 2nd unit. He totally blew up the Nuggets' first play. Once again, Denver stretches the lead with the second unit. This series after the last series shows the highs and lows of Jamal Murray. There’s still ton of work to be done to become a superstar. If Green is able to return then he should be getting Montrez’s minutes. If the scheme is to get Jokic up near the ball on PnR, Nuggets guards have to force handler to use the screen.

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- Steve Nash hired as Nets’ Head Coach

- Ja Morant wins Kia NBA ROY (17.8 PPG/3.9 RPG/7.3 APG) - 34-39 Record - One vote away from unanimous

- Montrez Harrell wins Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year (18.6 PPG/7.1 RPG/1.7 APG) - Surprised this wasn’t Schroeder - It will be interesting to see the voting breakdown.

- Raptors/Celtics (2-1 TOR)

- Clippers/Nuggets (1-0 LAC) 

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- Popovich selling his SA home 

- Utah Jazz and Donovan Mitchell will finalize a 5 year/$170 million max contract when free agency opens in the middle of October. - By the time the Lakers/Thunder or Rockets play Game 1, the ECSF will be into Game 3 already. What sense does this make? 

- Heat/Bucks (2-0 MIA) 

- Rockets/Thunder (4-3 HOU) 

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- Is Mike D’Antoni job on the line if Houston loses Game 7 tonight? Is Billy Donovan in the same situation?  

- Can Milwaukee bounce back from Game 1 tonight?  

- Celtics/Raptors (2-0 BOS) 

- Nuggets/Jazz (4-3 DEN) 

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George Hill to start in place of Eric Bledsoe. Possessions that can hurt the Heat are ones where the Bucks get the ball to Giannis on one side then there’s quick ball movement to the weak side. Rim protection and Bucks’ IQ on defense presents some problems that need adjustments from Miami. First 6 min of the 2nd Q hurt the Bucks when they kept turning the ball over and Miami closed the gap. The Heat's initial defense is so great. Where they have been able to take away scoring opportunities from the Bucks is stopping penetration and limiting paint touches. They are walling off Giannis in transition so well. I love watching Bam Adebayo. The possibilities are almost endless when he has the ball. Sees passing angles that only Nikola Jokic sees among current centers. I have a feeling in year 5 or 6, he's going to have that range extended to the arc too. Every time when Middleton got into isolation then the Heat would guard it in the same essence of TJ Warren as they try to turn him into a passer. This Goran Dragic bubble/playoff run has been something else. He has been a completely different player in the bubble compared to the rest of the season. The big shots hit down the stretch are why you go get a guy like Jimmy Butler. One thing that left me thinking for Milwaukee is when Miami went to the lineup of Crowder/Butler/Bam with Herro/Dragic that they aren’t constantly putting those two guards in multiple actions. Tonight was the least amount of threes (12) Miami has hit vs. Milwaukee all year and they won. Another interesting stat from this game is the 28 isolation possessions from Milwaukee which the second highest this season. I understand that Bledsoe was our, but some of the lineups inserted by Budenholzer were downright awful.

Where I think the Rockets do well on defense is activity that is great but smart. Dort has lost all respect on the offensive side of the floor and has become a liability for this team when he’s on the floor because he’s only contributing on defense and with rebounding. OKC tried to go with Ferguson, but he was not any good either. It’s time for him to walk once his contract is up. Where the Thunder’s offense has struggled is making the Rockets’ defense move as they are easily switching a lot of the actions ran. Westbrook’s passing has been off as he tries to regain his rhythm on the floor and this has led to a few too many turnovers. Chris Pail has made it known that he is not ready to go home yet with his performance in the 3Q as he got into his back of tricks outside of the pull up game. Schroeder has not had a good offensive game, but his defense has been great. When Houston is moving the ball the crispness PF some of these possession then it is a thing of beauty and very hard to guard. The ball and player movement in this game from Oklahoma City has been much better than in previous games. On top of that, they have hit perimeter shots to open the floor. CP3/Schroeder/SGA have made the most of isolation possessions. This has been their bread & butter to penetrate and force rotation. PJ Tucker has helped negate some of this with his ability to help. Darius Bazley has made a few big plays in this 4th quarter. James Harden is commanding OKC’s full attention as they are placing focus on loading the his side of the floor. Everything been ran through CP3 as he looks to hunt mismatches. Where OKC fails far too often is in transition and it almost hurt them late. Thunder ice the game at the free throw line after a couple of Westbrook errors.

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- John Thompson 

- Celtics/Raptors (1-0 BOS) 

- Clippers/Mavericks (4-2 LAC) 

- Nuggets/Jazz (3-3 TIE)

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