Win Or Go Home: The NBA’s March Madness
The two best words spoken in sports: GAME 7! Game 7 turns a professional series into March Madness for a night. It’s either win and advance or lose and go home. Anything can happen when it only takes one game to advance closer to the ultimate goal. Ladies and gentlemen, there will be two such games tonight and tomorrow.
The Eastern Conference Finals and the Western Conference Finals have both reached its pinnacle. Two Game 7s to determine who goes to the Finals and who goes on an early vacation.
Recapping Game 6s
Friday night LeBron James had a near triple-double with 46 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. He did get contribution from Larry Nance Jr., Jeff Green, George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, and Kyle Korver as the Cavs defended home-court to force Game 7 with the Boston Celtics. The Cavaliers did lose All-Star Forward, Kevin Love in the early in the Game 6 victory.
Last night the Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson drowned the Rockets in the a 2nd half barrage to force a Game 7. The Splash Brothers outscored the Rockets 37-25 in the 2nd half that was a part of the Warriors 64-25 blitz against the Rockets in the 2nd half. In the 2nd half only Splash Brothers defeated the Rockets by 2 who led by 10 points at halftime despite not having Chris Paul due to a right hamstring strain. Instead, the Golden State Warriors won by 29.
Game 7 in History
The stage has been set for two Game 7s to determine the Finals. This is the first time in 39 years that the both conference finals have reached Game 7. According to cbssport.com, the last time was in 1979 where the Washington Bullets and the San Antonio Spurs in the East and the Seattle Supersonics and the Phoenix Suns in the West. That year the Bullets and Sonics advance to the Finals for the second consecutive time. This history could be good for the Warriors and Cavs.
Vegasinsider.com has Game 7 facts of the NBA that might put the home teams, Boston and Houston, as the ones to advance to the Finals. According to Vegas Insider, there have been 130 Game 7s in NBA history. Of the 130, the home teams are 104-26. That is equivalent to 80%. 8 out of 10 home teams win Game 7. Go back to the first round of these playoffs, the Boston Celtics won Game 7 at home over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Cleveland Cavaliers also won a Game 7 at home over the Indiana Pacers. The Utah Jazz in last year’s playoffs was the last time that a road team won a Game 7 and they it against the Los Angeles Clippers led by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. The last a road team won a Game 7 with this much on the line was the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors.
Tonight’s East Finals
Tonight LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers walk into TD Garden where the Boston Celtics have never lost in this playoffs. Not only has Boston been unbeaten at home, but LeBron James in lone attempt has not beaten Boston in Boston in Game 7. James fell short back in 2008 to Boston in Boston. That was the year where the Celtics led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Head Coach Doc Rivers won the NBA Title over the Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games. Kevin Love will be out for tonight’s Winner-Take-All Game 7. Jeff Green will get the start in the absence of Love but it will take a collective effort from the supporting cast along with King James to go back to the Finals in a hostile environment like Boston.
What about Boston thou? Boston has been proving everybody since the playoffs started. The world did not believe Boston who in even be in the conference finals after they had lost Kyrie Irving late in the regular season for good after losing Gordon Hayward 5 minutes into the season. These young Celtics led by Head Coach Brad Stevens defeated Milwaukee in 7 games and their Celtic Pride took out the Process of the Philadelphia 76ers in a surprising 5 games. The Celtics are 10-0 in TD Garden and best believe that they will do everything possible to go an important 11-0 to reach the Finals.
Tomorrow’s West Finals
Now, tomorrow’s West Finals finds itself back in Houston and the Toyota Center. The Houston Rockets were the best team this season just for this moment tomorrow night. Home-court advantage against the defending NBA Champion, the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets did not have Chris Paul as mention earlier in Game 6 last night from a right hamstring strain suffered in Houston’s Game 5 victory. Houston showed in the 1st half last night that they have the fire-power to go at Golden State. The 2nd half, however, showed that they could not sustain that fire-power once Golden State started the blitz attack. There have been no word on Chris Paul’s status for Game 7 tomorrow night. Some believe that he will find a way to play and others believe that the hamstring will keep him out of this all important game.
With all the array of shot making that took place from Golden State in Game 6, they only starved off elimination for that night. The Warriors will have to something that this team has never done under Steve Kerr, win a Game 7 on the road. Golden State had already defeated Houston in Houston back in Game 1 but Golden State has never been the position of having to defend their crowd on the road in a Winner-Take-All game. Through out Golden State’s run since Steve Kerr take over, the Warriors had always had home-court advantage until now.
How will these Game 7s play out?
Who’s going to the NBA Finals?
Tonight: Cleveland at Boston 8:30PM ESPN
Tomorrow Night: Golden State at Houston 9PM TNT
NBA Finals: Thursday May 31 9PM: Cleveland/Boston at Golden State/Houston
