The Grip - FRI 5.25.18

What a wonderful world

May 25, 2018

5.25.18

Written while listening to ODB's Shimmy Shimmy Ya [Spotify] [Apple Music]

No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Golden State

Game 1: Warriors 119, Rockets 106Game 2: Rockets 127, Warriors 105Game 3: Warriors 126, Rockets 85Game 4: Rockets 95, Warriors 92 Game 5: Rockets 98, Warriors 94 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 6: Rockets @ Warriors, Tomorrow, 9 PM EST, TNT

Injury aside, this was the good stuff

This one was for Winston-Salem. And West Forsyth High School. And Wake Forest. And for New Orleans, David West, and 2008’s game seven loss. For Oklahoma when Katrina hit. And almost for the Lakers. And for the Clippers. And for the second round. And for the meltdown in 2014, for the 3-1 lead against Houston in 2015. And the injuries -- the hamstring that robbed him of the final minutes of game five, and will keep him out of game six, the shoddy legs, the broken knees, the bad back and the feathery feet.

This one was for his pops, for Oscar from State Farm, for Trevor Ariza and the Backstreet Boys, for Cliff, who, if you’ve noticed, isn’t even on TV anymore.

This one was definitely for Sante Fe. For himself, for Chris Paul. For the shimmy heard ‘round the world.

Animated GIF

For 13 years of yeah, he’s great, but….

In a career that will parachute Chris Paul somewhere between the best point guard ever and the fifth best point guard ever, we finally, wholly and truly, saw Chris Paul’s iconic moment.

Steph Curry, step aside. Ayesha’s waiting. Actually she might be on a cookbook tour, but still. Props to Steph, though, for a beautiful and self-aware postgame answer about the gif above.

If we all lived our life with that mantra, maybe the world outside of the NBA would be a better place and the vice president wouldn’t gloat about on Twitter taking away freedom of protest. Sorry. Anyways, enough Steph praise. How do you spell big time backwards?

C-H-R-I-S P-A-U-L.

(And Eric Gordon helped, too.)

With Hakeem and Elvin Hayes sitting courtside, Paul had a gut-check game for the ages, recovering from a bad first two quarters for 18 second half points and several Curry-esque three-pointers when James Harden was James Harden’ing all over the game. The MVP scored 19 points on 21 shots and has missed his last 20 three-point shot attempts, though he did dish to Eric Gordon late in the game for a clutch three to push the lead to four.

The Warriors looked like a nervous up-and-comer -- not a team that’s averaged 66.25 regular season wins over four years and has four future Hall of Famers and the three greatest shooters ever.

The Rockets, inexplicably and largely without the help of their best player who continues to tune down the clutch level in high-pressure moments, are blossoming before our eyes. And Chris Paul knows it -- that this is his time.

While an optimist looking for a new NBA Finals matchup would be filling their glass, a realist with a keen memory of the 2016 Western Conference Finals would be shaking his head.

Either way, Houston has house money in game six and a chance to close out at home in game seven. All thanks to the Point God.

Enjoy this win while we have it by listening to Sam Cooke’s beautiful What a Wonderful World.

Eastern Conference

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 4 Cleveland

Game 1: Celtics 108, Cavaliers 83Game 2: Celtics 107, Cavaliers 94Game 3: Cavaliers 116, Celtics 86Game 4: Cavaliers 111, Celtics 102 Game 5: Celtics 96, Cavaliers 83 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 6: Celtics @ Cavaliers Tonight, 8:30 PM EST, ESPN

And so goes another dry, ugly game in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics shot 36.5 percent from the field and still beat the Cavaliers by 13 points.

The hubbub after the game came when a reporter asked Ty Lue why he didn’t insert Kyle Korver into the game earlier. He had a completely ludicrous answer, from ESPN:

Because Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens kept Semi Ojeleye on the bench, and that's "been kind of Kyle's matchup," so with no Ojeleye in there, "it kind of threw us for a loop."

The NBA world erupted, and rightly so, because you cannot dictate your lineup around Semi Ojeleye.

So, whose fault is it this time?

LeBron had an “off” night (26 points, ten rebounds, five assists, six turnovers) but more importantly, as is usually the case when they lose, all the other Cavaliers couldn’t seem to get their shit together. Starter J.R. Smith recorded two points and five fouls in 26 minutes of play. Tristan Thompson had just one point and six rebounds. Kevin Love was the only other Cavalier to reach double digits in scoring but was still a team low minus-23 while on the floor.

Will the Celtics actually pull it off?

Every game in this series has been a home team blow out. Swell. But flash back to ten years ago when the 2007-08 title Celtics were in a similar position, having only won one road game in the playoffs. They stole game six in Detroit and ended an era -- something very possible tonight. But beating LeBron in an elimination game in Cleveland seems near-impossible -- even Golden State hasn’t been able to do it the last two years. This series seems destined for a game seven in Boston, which will be one the rowdier crowds of all-time.

Coaching news

2017-18’s All-NBA teams

Here’s the first team, the five best players at each respective position this season, as voted on by the media. Stats via NBA.com:

  • Anthony Davis: (28.1 ppg | 11.1 rpg | 2.57 bpg | 53.4 FG%): Davis led the NBA in blocks per game, ranked second in scoring average and fifth in rebounding average.  He became the first player to have at least 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 150 blocks and 100 steals in a season since David Robinson in 1995-96.

  • Kevin Durant

  • James Harden

  • LeBron James  

  • Damian Lillard

  • Second team: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Russell Westbrook, Joel Embiid, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan.

  • Third team: Stephen Curry, Victor Oladipo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, Paul George.

2017-18’s elite defenders

Most notable missing name is Kawhi Leonard (RIP). Stats via NBA.com:

  • Robert Covington: The 76ers’ defensive rating, which ranked third in the NBA, was 99.0 when Covington was on the court and 107.4 when he was off the court.

  • Anthony Davis

  • Rudy Gobert

  • Jrue Holiday

  • Victor Oladipo

  • Second team: Joel Embiid, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Dejounte Murray, Jimmy Butler.

What else happened?

Pat vs. The House

May 25, 2018

Pat’s Pick Record: 5-1

To recap Game 5 of the Warriors Rockets series, I am not going to reveal what team I bet on.  That being said, I will leave you with this hypothetical scenario. If someone were to bet on the best team in the NBA, and said team is down by 2 points with 6 seconds left, and that same team does not get a shot off in those six seconds because Draymond Green cannot catch a simple chest pass…that someone would be tempted to skydive attached to a fridge.  Now, let’s just move on to the weekend games, please.

Boston Celtics (+6.5) at Cleveland Cavaliers (-6.5) -- [Over/Under 202] Eastern Conference Finals - Game 6 – May 25 – 8:35 PM ET

Upset alert. The Boston Celtics are heavy underdogs (+275) in game six.  I'm not suggesting that you bet your mortgage on the Celtics ending the series tonight, but I think it's possible.  I will be wagering a mood-altering amount of money on the Celtics to win outright, but that is only because I believe life is too short to spend your money on things like food, rent, or income taxes.  The Cavaliers won handily in the first two games in Cleveland. That being said, let me make my case for the Big Mean Green Machine at least covering the spread tonight. Celtics advantages are as follows:

  • Gambler's Statistics

    • As of now, just 41 percent of the bets that have been made by the general public have been placed on the Celtics. However, 56 percent of the actual dollars that have been wagered have been placed on the Celtics. That gives the Celtics a "Smart Money Percentage" of 15 percent.  Smart Money Percentage is a good indicator of how much confidence the general public has in a team. The combination of less bets and more money wagered on the Celtics shows us that the public is making their "smart" bets on the Celtics.

  • Referees

    • Scott Foster will not be officiating the game tonight. For those of you who don't know, the Celtics have not fared well against the spread (ATS) in games with Scott Foster officiating.  Strange coincidence.

    • Celtics with Scott Foster officiating:

      • Last 3 seasons: 8-10 ATS

      • This season: 1-4 ATS

  • Head Coach

    • Brad Stevens brought a team with an average player age of 24.71 to game six of the Eastern Conference Finals, holding a 3-2 series lead.

    • Tyronn Lue constantly looks like a guy who showed up to the SATs without a pencil.

Pat’s Pick --> CELTICS +6.5

Golden State Warriors (-10.5) at Houston Rockets (+10.5) -- [Over/Under 213.5] Western Conference Finals - Game 6 – May 26 – 9:05 PM ET

Golden State is draining my bank account faster than Amazon’s “Buy-Now with one-click” button. Show me someone who thought Golden State would lose two games in a row, and I will show you a liar. The Warriors still have four all-stars, but the red hot Rockets seem to have figured out how to disrupt the high-powered Warriors offense, which makes it difficult to pick a winner in game six. Speaking hypothetically, if someone were to bet on the Warriors in game six, and again in game six, the natural conclusion would be to stop betting on them. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That being said, Einstein was overrated.

Pat’s Pick --> WARRIORS -10.5

If you have bet all of Pat’s $20 Parlays, you would now have: $18

Pat’s $20 ParlayCeltics +245Rockets vs Warriors – over 213.5 pointsWINS $123