Well, the playoffs resumed yesterday for both the NHL and the NBA. Quite a few games in the NHL, which is still only in the first round for each series, while for the NBA began the first games of the second round series. Here's what happened:
NBA
The Oklahoma City Thunder struggled, but held on to win at home in the series opener against the Memphis Grizzlies, 93-91, for an early, 1-0 series lead.
In New York's Madison Square Garden, a classic playoff rivalry began to be renewed, as the Indiana Pacers took on the New York Knicks. The Knicks did not really look very good, dropping the decision, 102-95. Indiana managed to capture the first game on the road, which effectively eliminates New York's home court advantage in the series (at least for now).
I still cannot reiterate how cool it is that these two teams, the Pacers and the Knicks, are meeting once again in the playoffs. Up to the mid-nineties, I liked basketball, except that it always seemed to follow the script. In my lifetime, it always had seemed to be either the Lakers or the Celtics.
When other teams finally began to catch up, they did so slowly, and took solid control. The "Bad Boys", the Detroit Pistons were first, qualifying for the NBA Finals three consecutive seasons, and winning the latter two. Then, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls finally caught up to them, and qualified for the NBA Finals. They would win six of the next eight titles. The two years that they did not win, the Houston Rockets
Another Texas team would win the season following the Chicago Bulls dynasty ended, and they would add three more titles in the first decade of the 2000's, to follow up that tremendous promise they showed in 1999. In the meantime, for three long years in a row, the Lakers were, once again, a dynasty.
So, you can see that the teams that won championships from the early eighties to the mid to late 2000's were, with very few exceptions, multiple championship winners. That tends to give the impression that change, upsets, and all of that can be rare indeed.
But in 1994, all of that seemed to change. With the Bulls missing MJ, the title seemed wide open. The New York Knicks were the heir apparent, at least in the East. In the West, it seemed that the Seattle Supersonics emerged as the powerhouse team, with an NBA best, 63-19 record during the regular season.
Early on in the playoffs, everything seemed to follow the scrip. The favorite were winning, including Seattle, who owned a 2-0 series lead against the upstart Denver Nuggets in their best of five series. History was on their side, because no eight seed had ever before defeated a number one seed. Plus, one more win, and they would move on to the next round.
But Denver won both of their home games, forcing a decisive Game 5, which the Nuggets eked out, becoming the first eight seed to upset the top seed, and one of the few to have overcome a 2-0 deficit in a series to win in five.
The Nuggets looked like the potential Cinderella team, but Utah was determined to put a stop to that. They won the first two games at home in Utah, and then took Game 3 in Denver. It looked like it would be sweep city.
Denver got at least one home win in, taking Game 4, but the series shifted back to Utah, where the Jazz rarely lost. Funny thing, thought: somebody forgot to tell the Nuggets, who pulled the win out, forcing Game 6 in Denver. When the Nuggets won that one, they became the first NBA team to come back from an 0-3 deficit to force a Game 7.
The Jazz held on to win, but the excitement and unpredictability were not over.
In the next round came the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. New York was heavily favored, and after solid wins in the first two home games in New York, everything seemed to be following the script.
But the Pacers won Game 3, and then pulled out Game 4, to even the series, which shifted back to Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks wanted to make a statement, and they came out on fire, having their way with the Pacers, and building a 17-2 lead early on. It looked like it was going to be a blowout.
The Pacers tried to battle back, but the Knicks seemed to have all the answers, and appeared well on their way to a comfortable win.
That was when a strange thing happened. One man got hot and turned the game around. Reggie Miller, perhaps the greatest three-point artist and clutch shot maker in history, had the famous (or infamous, if you're a Knicks fan) quarter, where he hit shots at all different angles, including five three pointers. In the process, he pushed the Indiana Pacers past the Knicks, turning what had seemed an inevitable New York win into a shocking win for Indiana, and a 3-2 series lead, as the series shifted back to Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
The Knicks dictated most of Game 6 (I thought they were going to get blown away, after the devastating home loss in Game 5). But once again, in the fourth quarter, they began to collapse, and Indiana overcame another large deficit to tie it up. It looked like the series belonged to the Pacers, that they were headed to the Finals. But then the Knicks showed their stuff, finally answering and holding the Pacers off (just barely), to force the decisive Game 7.
Game 7 was very tight, and went to the final shot in the waning seconds, which Patrick Ewing finger rolled in, securing their first NBA Finals appearance in almost two decades. They would go on to lose in seven.
The Knicks and Pacers would meet numerous other times in the playoffs in the future, and each time, you just knew it was going to be intense, physical, and unpredictable. Both teams were solid, and matched up well with one another. These contests became more like chess matches, although Reggie Miller's hot hand would always be the wild card. That was the case in Game 1 in 1995, when he famously scored eight points in less than ten seconds, turning what had seemed solidly to be a Knicks win in Game 1 into another Indiana shocker. Reggie Miller was incredible, and his greatest highlights always seemed to come against the Knicks. The Pacers would look strong in that 1995 series, racing to a 3-1 series lead, before the Knicks once again showed their character and resilience, winning two consecutive games to force a Game 7. This time, the Pacers hung on in a close one to advance.
These two teams met again in 1998, 1999, and 2000. There was another Miller moment in 1998, with him sinking a three with little time remaining, in yet another game that the Knicks had seemed to have clinched, only to have Miller pop the air out of their tire and derail them. The Pacers would win that series in five.
But the Knicks would get the better of the Pacers once again in 1999, during their amazing run. they joined the 1994 Denver Nuggets as the only two eight seeds (at the time) to have beaten the number one seed (the Knicks knocked off the Miami Heat), and then ran all the way to the Eastern Conference Championship, beating the Pacers for those honors, for the second time in six seasons.
In 2000, however, it was a different story, as the Pacers upended the Knicks, securing the win at Madison Square Garden as an extra insult to the injury.
Such evenly matched teams, and they defined playoff intensity, even if neither team actually would hoist an NBA championship trophy or earn their championship rings during those eras. They truly brought out the best in one another.
The New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.
That was playoff basketball to me. So glad they are meeting this postseason, as well.
Let's go Pacers!
NHL
The Ottawa Senators really are physically beating up on the Montreal Canadiens, who had been hot during the regular season to earn the second seed in the East, but are looking out of sorts so far in these playoffs. Ottawa buried Montreal, 6-1, in a game filled with fights and rough and physical play. The home win gave Ottawa a 2-1 series lead.
At Uniondale, the Pittsburgh Penguins avenged their shocking Game 2 home loss by winning a tight one in overtime on the road, 5-4, over the hosts, the Islanders. Pittsburgh leads the series, 2-1.
In Minnesota, the Wild finally defeated the Blackhawks in OT, 3-2. They Blackhawks still lead the series, 2-1.
In San Jose, the Sharks handed the reeling Canucks yet another defeat, 5-2. This one was not even close. For the second year in a row, the Canucks dropped the first three games in their opening series. Last year, they did manage to win Game 4, and force a Game 5 back in Vancouver (which they lost). Right now, let's just see if Vancouver can even pull out one win. It makes you wonder what the hell happened to this team, that seemed like one of the Stanley Cup favorites just a couple of seasons ago, but have been God-awful in the playoffs since losing the Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 in 2011.
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