Bucks and Thunder Close out “Hosts and Under” Weekend
Home Teams Win All Eight NBA Openers, 6 of 8 Stay Under
Such a weird weekend in the NBA Playoffs!
No, it’s not weird that home teams are winning games. But, home teams aren’t supposed to win EVERY SINGLE GAME, particularly when two of them were underdogs and a few others were laying only five points or less. This was supposed to be a wild and wacky weekend where anything could happen.
Instead, it was a weekend that featured six double-digit straight up victories by home teams, seven point spread covers from home teams, and six Unders that largely featured slower than expected tempos and lousy three-point shooting.
It was assumed entering the first round that Boston and Denver were the teams to beat in their respected conferences. They were on the list of home favorites winning comfortably. No changes there. If anything, they now seem MORE likely to advance to the finals because a few potential Cinderellas couldn’t even find the closet to get dressed.
We’ve already run key numbers from the first six games played Saturday and Sunday. Let’s wrap up it up with final two from Sunday evening.
Milwaukee (+1) 109, Indiana 94
2-point Pct: Indiana 54%, Milwaukee 54%
3-pointers: Indiana 8/39 (21%), Milwaukee 14/37 (38%)
Free Throws: Indiana 14/21, Milwaukee 13/13
Rebounds: Indiana 50, Milwaukee 47
Turnovers: Indiana 12, Milwaukee 10
Estimated Pace: 98 possessions
Bucks led 69-42 at halftime. Extended garbage time to say the least. Final numbers make it look like it was all three pointers. Bucks were doing better in the other categories while building that big lead. Most notable things to me were the 98 possessions, which is well below what Indiana prefers. Combine that with shooting 8 of 39 on treys…and it starts to look like the Pacers will be in trouble in halfcourt, playoff-style basketball. They need to score out of transition, and that means nailing the open looks that come from kick-outs in transition. Pacers were a sluggish mess until garbage time.