I find nothing more predictable and tedious in sports than the fans of the losing team blaming the officials after a playoff loss. It's lazy scapegoating and never explains why a team actually lost the game.

Jalen Brunson has as many turnovers (13) in this series as assists (13) And 82 points on 81 shots (37% FGs)

Not exactly prophetic, but I'll give myself a gentle pat on the back.

Knicks next please

When the Thunder don't hit their 3s they don't really have a change-up to go to. Live by the 3 die by the 3. Am I doing this right?

I think I get more frustrated as a Celtics fan watching the Cavs than I do watching the Celtics. What a maddening waste of talent.

SGA is on a super team!!

when do the sixers raise their "we finally beat the celtics!" banner? opening night?

Cavs 0/11 from 3 in the 4th, national media is gonna have a field day with them! Live by the three die by the three!

Really well done Ryan. Puts a whole lot more thought and reasoning behind the 3pt volume than my typical retort of “If you think you hate 3s, wait til you see Sam Hauser ISO and try to get downhill!”

At what point are we going to talk about Paul George playing his best basketball in yrs after taking PEDs?

Pretty funny nearly everyone knew Embiid coming back would hurt Philly in this matchup and yet they still rushed it.

Starting to be a pretty bad look for these Jokic-led Nuggets. Assuming they can't comeback from 3-1 here, that will be 3 total playoff series wins against teams on a 50+ win pace - 50, 50*, 55* - in 8 yrs since he became a perennial MVP candidate in 2018-19.

Holy shit get Curt Schilling off my TV.

I understand the consternation over the 65 game rule given the Cade news... but certainly there is a number of games players need to play to be considered one of the 5 best (or the MVP)? So what is it? I think the best suggestion I've seen is that 65 games is just for MVP and 1st team all-NBA.

Bam getting 43 free throws on a night Jaylen got tossed cause he just wanted 1 is certainly something.

Crazy how there are all these complaints about "too many 3s" but they aren't at the expense of paint shots. 3s just replaced long/bad 2s.

24 that I’ve actually left the airport and done some kind of activity (meal, sporting event, saw a friend, etc.) 27 if airport stops count.

Gotta check with the Miami media to see if Joe Cronin still got ripped off

Jrue + Dame on the Blazers only after Jrue wins a ring w/ Boston and Dame costs the Bucks $100M+. A+ stuff.

Need more of this, doesn’t feel like we’re far off from tipping the scales.

The MLB pitch clock is one of the most effective rule changes in modern sports history

Can someone smarter than me tell us all when the OKC core gets inevitably broken up cause of the CBA with these new contracts?

Thank you Luke! Get that bag man, you deserve it.

Love what the Nuggets have done... instantly makes them a serious challenger in the West IMO. Build as deep a roster around Jokic/Murray as you can of athletic wings who can push pace, defend/switch and hit an open corner 3.

Walton: 90 regular season games, 28 playoffs. (In ‘87, he played 10 reg. season and 12 playoff games). KP: 99 regular season, 18 playoffs. Walton 118, KP 117.

Thank you Jrue! Just an awesome backcourt pairing to root for with dWhite. Long live the #stockexchange

What's the last team to win a title where the general consensus was they were not set up to repeat? Not saying OKC can't, obviously they can and should be favored, but winning a title requires so much injury luck (on top of being the best team) that just seems rarer and rarer.

I really thought OKC was on a different level than this. I’m certainly being a hater but as someone who deep down thought they’d beat my Cs I have not been impressed. Their halfcourt offense is atrocious, their rebounding is average, pressure them and they start throwing the ball around.

I love how the playoffs and the finals especially put a players complete game under a microscope.

Happy 617 day ☘️

I really thought OKC was on a different level than this. I’m certainly being a hater but as someone who deep down thought they’d beat my Cs I have not been impressed. Their halfcourt offense is atrocious, their rebounding is average, pressure them and they start throwing the ball around.

Almost that time to snuggle up on the couch and turn on the Nielsen ratings to monitor whether or not this NBA Finals game is any good.

The lack of NBA basketball the last few days has reminded me how much I love NBA basketball, and that the offseason is rapidly approaching.

OKC in 5. OKC, OKC, IND, OKC, OKC

I wish Inside the NBA was actually going away.

Here’s an idea SVG, how about professional basketball players should be good enough at shooting FTs that the “hack-a” strategy wouldn’t be a thing?

Jaylen is even better. He's 33 wins and three Conference Finals before 24 and that's in four seasons because his rookie season was "age 20" and his birthday is late in the year. His rookie year he started the playoffs as a bit player but his role grew as the playoffs went on.

Tatum is 27 wins and two Conference Finals BUT Ant is in five seasons because his birthday is August and Tatum's is March and the playoffs fall in between. Tatum is 41 wins and three Conf Finals (and one NBA Finals) if you count through is "age 23" fifth season.

This praise of the OKC defense while the Twolves miss open shot after open shot is a bit much.

here are the wolves regular season statistics for games reffed by tonight's crew: James Capers Jr. (1-0, +41.0 per 48) Ben Taylor (2-0, +11.5 per 48) Marc Davis (5-0, +11.4 per 48)

I almost feel bad for NYK fans who genuinely thought they took a leap b/c they beat a depleted Celtics team. Imagine if the Knicks had KAT on a torn meniscus, got less than 16mpg/5ppg from Bridges, and Brunson tore his Achilles at the end of gm 4. How do we think that series would have gone?

If you're going up for a shot and your primary intention isn't to score a field goal but it is instead to draw a foul, you are making the product worse. I've watched nearly every playoff game, I love NBA basketball, and I still very much feel this way. Average viewers absolutely feel this way.

Tim Legler’s takedown of the Wolves is going to be brutal tomorrow. 15/51 on 3s! Over 60% of their FGA from beyond the arc! Donte 3-12 Reid 0-7 NAW 2-9 An insult to the game of basketball to be sure.

Pretty disappointing level of effort from the Celtics tonight, pains me to say.

Went straight from Andor finale to Rouge One and the pacing change was jarring. Think we were on 4 different planets within 10 minutes of the movie starting. Love Rogue One by the way, but I was so wrapped-up in Andor I did forget just how much it took its time with things.

No idea how Hunter isn't also ejected. Instigated or not a dead ball two-handed shove to the chest of a guy who is just standing there seems like the sort of thing you want to discourage players from doing.

Tim Legler’s takedown of the Nuggets is going to be brutal tomorrow. 11/45 on 3s! More than half of their FGs from behind the arc! Jokic 2-8 (2/18 over the last 2 games) Westbrook 2-9 MPJ 0-5 An insult to the game of basketball to be sure.

Surely the discourse around SGA, a guy who is only 6 months younger than Tatum, is likely to win MVP, and has never been out of the 2nd round will be as negative and reactionary as the coverage of Tatum the last few days… right?