The Perspective

- Bucks/Magic (4-1 MIL) 

- Rockets/Thunder (3-2 HOU) 

- Lakers/Trailblazers (4-1 LAL)

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- Pacers have fired Nate McMillian. This is extremely weird as the Pacers had reworked his contract for his final year to be this upcoming season with a team option for 21-22. - 

Celtics/Raptors preview 

This series has the potential to go seven games. Both of these teams have championship aspirations and it all begins here. Boston did win the regular season series, 3-1. Toronto has been the most impressive team in the bubble so far, but Boston is not too far behind them. These teams matchup quite well, so this series will ultimately come down to the game plans implemented my Nick Nurse and Brad Stevens. Where TOR May have a slight advantage is that their roster is healthy as the Celtics will be without Gordon Hayward. While the loss will hurt the Celtics, they have enough talent to overcome his injury. I want to take a look at each of the positional matchups - Kemba Walker vs. Kyle Lowry (TIE) - Marcus Smart vs. Fred VanVleet (VanVleet) - Jaylen Brown vs. OG Anunoby (Brown) - Jayson Tatum vs. Pascal Siakam (Tatum) - Daniel Theis vs. Marc Gasol (Gasol) - Boston Bench vs. Toronto Bench (TOR) Let’s take a look at what could be the deciding factors in this series: Is Kyle Lowry going to be 100% in this series? - The state of his ankle will be a huge concern until they are completely sure it is good to go. This can change the outlook of the series if he is unable to go for the first couple of games and Boston is able to get up early in the series. Unfortunately, this is not the first postseason where Lowry has been hampered with injuries. For the sake of the Raptors, they have performed well without Lowry in the lineup as they went 12-2 this season with him on the sidelines. Boston will enter this series with a lot of confidence - Will this be a mentality series? As I previously mentioned, the Celtics won the season series 3-1. What is even more impressive is that they won three games by an average of 14.7 points per game including a 22 point win during the seeding games. Toronto is going to need the best out of Siakam - Right now, the status of Kyle Lowry is uncertain. This adds more weight/pressure on Pascal Siakam. He has been up and down within the bubble so far. His play has definitely gotten better over the past few games and it looks like he is finding his rhythm. While not too far off, his numbers did take a dip vs. Boston as he average 22 PPG/5 RPG/1 APG and shot 43.2% from the field. He did shoot 50% from 3 though. It will interesting to see if Toronto is going to get All-Star Siakam or the one who has struggled against the Celtics in the past. Look for fastbreak points to be huge in the Boston/Toronto series: Fastbreak Points Scored per game: 1 TOR - 18.8 PPG 6 BOS - 15.2 PPG Fastbreak Points Allowed per game: 11 TOR - 12.7 PPG 16 BOS - 16.2 PPG In the playoffs, Toronto and Boston are 1-2 in fastbreak pts scored. BOS is #1 in fastbreak allowed at just 4.8 ppg allowed. TOR is #14 at 15.8 points allowed per game. But those are heavily influenced by opponent. PHI rarely ran, while BKN played track meets. So the question will be if Boston can slow down the Raptors need for speed? - The Raptors have been a terror for teams in transition as they average 24.2 transition possessions per game which is best in the league. What is even more outstanding is that the score 1.15 points per possession. This puts an emphasis on BOS to get back on defense and slow them down. What makes them so difficult to defend this aspect of their offense is how well the score off of live rebounds and with the ability Siakam has to initiate the offense, it creates more problems. I think an under appreciated part it is outlet ability of Gasol to the ball into the hands of Lowry/VanVleet to get out and run. But Boston is equipped to slow them down since they possess athletic wings such as Tatum & Brown as well as defensive stalwart, Marcus Smart.

Nikola Jokic tasked with spacing the floor and punishing Rudy Gobert for playing drop coverage defensively, Jokic shot the lights out. This was his moment to put a stamp on the series and did he. I don’t understand Denver shrinking to the nail so much when Ingles has the ball on the left wing. Is he beating his man middle to his weak hand? And they have gotten repeatedly beat by straight-line drives when Ingles swings it to the opposite wing over the course of the series. Actually, it is do to who is guarding Ingles - Jamal Murray. Murray has to do a better job defensively. He can't give up a middle drive so easily. Jokic going off, but I think Utah turning him into a scorer is a bit to their advantage. This takes away from his threat as a set up man for his teammates. 2 different times MPJ gave up too much room on the hedge against Mitchell who splits it. DEN are finally being aggressive in PnR coverage and trapping the ball handler. What a special 3Q from Jamal Murray! Donovan Mitchell vs. Jamal Murray matchup this series has been some of the purest, most surgical play & shot-making i've seen in a while during a single series. It has to make Denver feel much better for when his max contract discussion comes up. Salute to Michael Porter Jr. His defense hasn’t been perfect but it’s been solid here lately as far as what Utah has been trying to accomplish in the PnR. Credit Mike Malone for making an adjustment by having MPJ drop, but stay with Mitchell. Overall, he looked better as he was rotating to the correct spots and not getting caught out of position. Important because DEN needs him on the floor. They are a plus 25 with Murray/MPJ/Jokic on the floor together. Grant was solid against Mitchell. Not perfect, but rather than getting bumped off by a screen consistently, Grant stayed close to Mitchell & forced him into tougher shots than all series.

LAC are really trying to exploit DAL size. Pushing everything at the rim. They're still not closing out on shooters. LAC are showing a soft press to get the ball out of Doncic’s hands early in the shot clock. It will be important for the supporting cast to be ready to shoot. As TNT shows the stats about Doncic drives, he is doing that exact thing to start the game and is continuing to have success. Kawhi does such a great job of getting to his spots in the mid range and scoring. I’m a fan of what PG has done to start this game in being aggressive downhill. This game has taken a turn for the worse as LAC are on a 24-2 run. Maybe LA heard my last episode as they are trapping Luka off of ball screens. This is an important adjustment as the switching has not worked so far. Let’s see if DAL will take advantage of Harrell on Boban; he has scored at will against him. Dallas has to find ways to create tempo and space in the half court to get back in this game. We are now seeing PG get back into rhythm. But the ball is starting to stick for Clippers on offense. The one thing that surprised me in this series is how much the Clippers have struggled vs. Mavs’ reserves. In the previous game, Doc let his team play through the slump but tonight he calls a TO and they go on another run. You can really tell how much the ankle is bothering Luka tonight. One thing that is so impressive is how well he find space especially with the size he possess. This is the PG of IND when he is hitting shots like he did tonight. These become 2nd nature to him when he has his rhythm, when an offense flows through him, when he is attacking and leading. DAL needs Porzingis in that lineup. Unless Luka goes off they can't keep up.

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- Celtics/Sixers (4-0 BOS)

- Mavericks/Clippers (2-2 TIE)

- Raptors/Nets (4-0 TOR)

- Jazz/Nuggets (3-1 UTAH)

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- Moment of Silence for Kobe’s Birthday (24 Seconds) 

- Bucks/Magic (2-1 MIL) 

- Heat/Pacers (3-0 MIA) 

- Thunder/Rockets (2-1 HOU) 

- Lakers/Trailblazers (2-1 LAL)

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- Raptors/Nets 

- Jazz/Nuggets

- Celtics/Sixers 

- Clippers/Mavericks

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- Heat/Pacers 

- Rockets/Thunder 

- Bucks/Magic 

- Lakers/Trailblazers 

- NBA Draft Lottery

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- Raptors/Nets 

- Jazz/Nuggets 

- Celtics/Sixers 

- Mavericks/Clippers

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

- Magic/Bucks 

- Heat/Pacers 

- Rockets/Thunder 

- Trailblazers/Lakers

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