Throughout the NBA play-offs, The National's resident NBA dudes Jonathan Raymond and Kevin Jeffers will be breaking down the key talking points of the night before. Below, the takeaways from Sunday night's action in the 2016 post-season.
• Read more: 2016 NBA play-offs: Previews, predictions and what we learnt day-by-day
Sunday’s scores
• Boson 105, Atlanta 85 OT | Series tied at 2
• San Antonio 116, Memphis 95 | Spurs win series in 4
• Golden State 121, Houston 94 | Warriors lead series 3-1
• Cleveland 100, Detroit 98 | Cavaliers win series in 4
Another Texas tango?
LeBron James, with both Cleveland and Miami, has faced the San Antonio Spurs in three of his six Finals appearances. The first was as a 22-year-old in 2007 that turned out to be a sweep at the hands of a much better San Antonio team. The second was a classic in 2013 won by Miami in seven, LeBron’s second straight title with the Heat. And the third was another Spurs championship the next season, in what proved to be LeBron’s last Miami campaign.
A fourth Finals showdown between the two sides might be in the offing.
Both the Cavaliers and the Spurs swept their opponents out of the play-offs on Sunday, the only two teams to sweep the first round. Combined with the uncertainty surrounding the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry's injury issues, the Spurs and Cavaliers might be the two favourites right now.
It would be an astounding sixth straight Eastern Conference title and seventh overall for James, but he only has two NBA titles to show for it. He could have four titles and an even higher place in the all-time pantheon if not for Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli, a group that themselves are seeking a sixth NBA title together. When the book is written on LeBron James, it could be the Spurs that proved to be his greatest foil.
If these play-offs are indeed turning into something other than a coronation of the 73-win Warriors, and another LeBron v Spurs title tilt awaits us, he has the chance to rewrite the Spurs chapter of his legacy by evening the series.
Oh, and give Cleveland that first championship at the same time.
Uh oh.
As for the Warriors, they still managed to easily shake off the Rockets in the second half following Curry’s injury. He will have an MRI on Monday and might be fine for the rest of the play-offs, but getting hurt two times in two games is not a great sign.
It would be a heart-breaking turn for a team that seemed destined for greatness all year. Curry’s season was one of the best of all-time and deserves to be decided without incident. Let’s hope the results are positive, because the league is just more fun with that guy doing his thing.
Working-class blues
The beaten-up Memphis Grizzlies played a mind-boggling (especially for a play-off team) 26 players during the regular season. They could have played all 26 at once and not had a chance against the Spurs, but their fight is over. It has been a great run for the Marc Gasol-Zach Randolph-Mike Conley era, one that will likely end without a Finals appearance. Randolph and Conley are questionable to be back, and the team might be looking to start anew.
As for Detroit, the future is brighter. Stan Van Gundy has worked wonders with a young roster still in progress, and they have a star in place in Andre Drummond. Adding some more shooting and perhaps another star player could make them players in the East for a while. They gave the Cavs more trouble than the sweep will show, and under SVG they will always be a tough team to play, one worthy of the working-class city they call home.
Luck of the Irish
The most entertaining first-round series drew even at 2-2 in Boston as the Celtics held off the Hawks in overtime.
These teams really, really dislike each other, and at times Atlanta have looked to be the far superior team, including runs in Sunday night’s back-and-forth game. Paul Millsap was incredible, with a play-off-high 47 points. But Celtics coach Brad Stevens deserves credit for stopping the bleeding there, by switching the smaller, more athletic Marcus Smart on Millsap to limit his heroics down the stretch.
It worked, and Smart provided some heroics of his own on the other end with several big shots to put Boston up. Jeff Teague hit two huge threes of his own and Atlanta had a final-minute lead, but Boston ultimately tied it and prevailed with a dominant overtime period.
The series goes back to Atlanta now, and a raucous Boston crowd will get another home game in Game 6. This is a fight, and the beaten-up team that prevails gets rewarded with a refreshed LeBron James and Cleveland in Round 2. Good luck with that.
Tonight’s games
• Miami at Charlotte Game 4, 3am | Heat lead series 2-1
• Dallas at Oklahoma City Game 5, 4am | Thunder lead series 3-1
• L.A. Clippers at Portland Game 4, 6.30am | Clippers lead series 2-1
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