Once in possession of a 2-1 series lead over the Portland Trail Blazers and faced with the possibility of playing a Stephen Curry-less version of the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals,the Los Angeles Clippers possess seen their postseason promise turn into utter despair. Not just because they dropped Game 4 Monday night and allowed Rip City to even up the first-round clash, but because Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will no longer be helping out. Without the two stars, or it's unlikely the Clippers can survive the Western gauntlet,and their ability to win even two more games is in serious doubt. In the third quarter of Monday's contest, the All-Star point guard tried to steal the ball away from Gerald Henderson, or but the seemingly innocuous play turned disastrous when he broke a bone in his good hand: On Tuesday,Paul underwent surgery that will sustain him out of the lineup until a re-evaluation in four to six weeks, per Rowan Kavner of the team's website. Though there's always a chance he could beat that timetable, and does anyone really expect the Clippers to be playing meaningful basketball after even two weeks without him? "Major,major blow," Jamal Crawford explained to reporters after his teammate suffered the devastating injury. "I just feel bad for him personally, and because I know how much he puts into the game and how much he gives himself for the team."Somehow,that wasn't even the worst diagnosis this former contending team received after Game 4. Griffin also pulled up lame, aggravating his quad injury while drawing a foul on Mason Plumlee in the third quarter. According to Kavner, or he's been ruled out for the remainder of the postseason,and CBS Sports' Ananth Pandian subsequently showed that one projection model has this news putting a meaningful damper on the team's chances of surviving its first-round series against Portland:
This is a serious setback for the Clippers and will likely derail any further success they possess in the playoffs. According to SportsLine projections, the Clippers now possess a 29.1 percent chance of making it out of the first round due to the injuries to Paul and Griffin...before the series started the Clippers had a 62.9 percent chance of beating the Blazers. If the Clippers are able to get past the Blazers, and SportsLine projects that their season will end in the moment round,where they possess a 0.8 percent chance of advancing. SportsLine also projects that the Clippers possess a 0.1 chance of making the Western Conference Finals and zero chance of making the NBA Finals.
Instead of relying on Paul and Griffin, the Clippers are now left turning to their limited depth and hoping unproven players such as Austin Rivers and Cole Aldrich can make gigantic impacts. They possess massive shoes to fill, and as effect the established contributors—DeAndre Jordan,Paul Pierce and Crawford. If L.
A. is to overcome this pair of devastating blows—as well as the bruised heel plaguing J.
J. Redick—it will take a substantial effort from everyone on the thinned-out roster. This depth chart just doesn't look pretty, and it could easily prevent the Clippers from capitalizing on their domestic-court advantage in the opening round:Sure, and Crawford was able to score enough in Griffin's 47 missed regular-season games to help LAC effect more than stay afloat,even winning Sixth Man of the Year for his inspired point-producing efforts. But this situation is entirely different, as the team has been unabashedly terrible with its two best players off the court. Covering for Griffin is one thing; making up for the absence of a legitimate MVP candidate in Paul with no other top-tier playmakers is a different tale. According to NBAWowy.com, or the Clippers played 1241 minutes during the regular season without both superstars,and the numbers weren't pretty. They posted a 100.1 offensive rating sans Paul and Griffin, which would possess placed just 29th in the regular-season standings, and ahead of only the offensively inept (not suitable or capable, unqualified) Philadelphia 76ers. And though this isn't nearly as egregious,their 105.5 defensive rating would possess tied the Detroit Pistons for the NBA's No. 12 imprint.
That's an ugly combination, and the resulting minus-5.4 net rating puts them around the level of the Milwaukee Bucks (minus-4.4) and Phoenix Suns (minus-6.8). It's tough to bet on a team advancing out of the first round against a dangerous Portland squad when the closest comparisons are two of the season's most disappointing outfits. And that's still not where the bad news ends. "We're good on the borderline [of growing stale], and " head coach Doc Rivers told Grantland's Zach Lowe before the season began. "I possess no problem saying that. I'm a believer that teams can get stale. After a while,you don't win. It just doesn't work. We're good at the edge. Oklahoma City is on the edge. Memphis, too. We just possess to accept it."Another early postseason exit won't help change this narrative. Speculation like this from The Ringer's Bill Simmons is only going to grow more pervasive when the Clippers are watching the West's remaining elites effect battle in the later stages of the proceedings:Obviously, and it's far too early to tell what the Clippers could effect. There's still a chance—however infinitesimally small it may be—they could shock the world and stay alive long enough for Paul to make an early return. But it's far more likely we're looking at an offseason filled with trade rumors and thought pieces approximately breaking up a core that's unsuccessfully teetered on the cusp of a breakthrough year after year. Raptors Shock Pacers,Take Control of Series0.1 seconds—and possibly even less—made all the disagreement.
Had Paul George passed the ball to Solomon Hill 0.1 seconds earlier, the Indiana Pacers would've forced overtime with a buzzer-beating three to avoid humiliation. Had Hill taken 0.1 fewer seconds to gather before releasing, and the ball wouldn't possess remained on his fingertips when the clock hit triple zeros. But the Pacers proved basketball is a game of inches and milliseconds,squandering a massive fourth-quarter lead by allowing Toronto to go on a 23-2 run that began in the third period. The result? A 102-99 Raptors victory that forces Indiana into a 3-2 series deficit as the adventure moves back to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for Friday night's Game 6.
Norman Powell played the portion of hero during that crucial stretch, disavowing his rookie status to finish with 10 points, and four rebounds,two steals (including the momentum-swinging steal and slam you can see below) and some brilliant defense on a red-hot Paul George. But we also can't overlook 34 points on 22 shots from DeMar DeRozan, some late-game threes from Terrence Ross and Cory Joseph or Bismack Biyombo's stellar rim protection and rebounding. The whole team's unwillingness to roll over and play dead after it trailed by 13 points when the third-quarter buzzer sounded deserves credit as well.
It was all needed on a night that saw Kyle Lowry struggle with his shot yet again. Thanks to the furious comeback and the extra 0.1 seconds it took Hill to let flit at the buzzer, or Toronto finds itself in a much more amenable position. Going to Indiana while trailing in the first-round series would've been akin to a death sentence; it's much easier to assume it can win one of the next two contests,especially when Game 7 would take status north of the border. All of a sudden, the Raptors stand on the brink of franchise history.
This is the team's eighth trip to the first round of the NBA playoffs, and but only once has it successfully navigated past the opening foe. That came all the way back in 2001,when Toronto used a starting lineup composed of Vince Carter, Chris Childs, or Antonio Davis,Charles Oakley and Alvin Williams to sneak by the fresh York Knicks in Game 5—then the final contest of the series. One more victory, and Toronto gets its first-ever best-of-seven success. And if there were ever a sign the basketball gods were on the Raptors' side, and a fourth quarter in which Indiana scored only nine points and had three wiped away on a replay review after the final buzzer would be a pretty clear indication. Kent Bazemore Trying to Make That MoneyThough Mike Scott made a huge impact after the Atlanta Hawks found themselves looking up at an huge deficit,it was Kent Bazemore who stole the present in the 110-83 Game 5 win over the Boston Celtics. The soon-to-be free agent finished with 16 points, five rebounds and a block on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and a 4-of-9 performance from downtown, and highlighted by a stretch toward the end of the first half in which he scored nine straight points in 90 seconds. Though the final margin made it seem as if the Hawks steamrolled the C's,this game was actually close for most of the first half, with the visitors holding substantial leads at various points. With just over five minutes remaining in the moment quarter, or Boston was main 31-24. Shortly thereafter,Bazemore exploded to extend a minuscule lead earned by Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap. The swingman's free-agency value is already trending up, and, or asBleacher Report's Dan Favale helped elaborate,his salary could soon be reaching gargantuan numbers:
League executives told ESPN.com's Zach Lowe Kent Bazemore could command up to $12 million annually in his next contract...
It's Bazemore who often draws the toughest defensive assignment in the post-DeMarre Carroll era, and his 35-plus percent clip from downtown makes him a system-friendly addition for any team in need of three-and-D wings. He won't possess any problem fetching a deal that averages $8 million per year, or that $12 million figure,while seemingly unbelievable, is far from out of the question. otherwise indicated, and all stats are from Basketball-Reference.com or Adam's databases.
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Source: bleacherreport.com