Thunder near NBA Finals, but stupid rule rears its head again as playoff drama grows

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On this date one year ago, the great Bill Walton passed away. Let’s remember the legend by watching this compilation of his funniest basketball announcing moments.

One Win Away

OKC’s big three puts Thunder on brink of finals

All season long, the Thunder’s dominance has been hesitantly accepted because of their youth. Could this young core step up under the brightest lights and on the biggest stage? After the Timberwolves showed big-time signs of life with a 42-point win in Game 3 of this series, the Thunder had a chance to put their opponents back in peril by taking Game 4 at the Target Center. But they would need more than just Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drawing a bunch of fouls and scoring a lot of points.

SGA dropped 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in another game with a lot of free throws and a lot of jump shots the Wolves couldn’t guard. But it was Jalen Williams scoring 14 of his 34 points and Chet Holmgren scoring nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to bring home the 128-126 victory. The Thunder now head home with a 3-1 series lead. It was a phenomenal answer back from a complete dud the previous game, getting a taste of their own blowout medicine.

The Thunder didn’t play the same shutdown defense we expected. They allowed 41 points in the fourth quarter, and Minnesota outscored them in both the third and fourth periods. The Wolves also hit over 40 percent of their 3-pointers for the second straight game, and actually found their way to the free-throw line (we’ll get to that in a minute) more often than the Thunder did. But the Thunder did still keep forcing turnovers with 14 of Minnesota’s 23 turnovers coming on live-ball miscues.

While the Thunder absolutely earned their win, the ending of the game was once again devoid of drama thanks to the NBA’s embracing of games decided by accounting errors and spreadsheets, rather than basketball. We’ve talked about this time and time again in this space, and we’ll continue to bang this drum until the NBA fixes the stupid rule: Teams should not be allowed to foul up by three (or do a hack-a strategy).

The Wolves had two possessions in the final eight seconds of a three-point game with a chance to tie with a 3-pointer … except, because the NBA allows intentional fouls – even though they ruled transition take fouls to be illegal without a shred of consistency to this concept on intentional fouls – the end of this game is robbed of a potential game-tying attempt. The Thunder operated within the current dumb rule. They fouled up three. The Wolves shot two free throws. And eventually, the spreadsheet approach overcame the basketball.

It was a fun game and finish up until that point. And the viewers weren’t respected enough once again to be given a chance to see an exciting shot. I don’t know why the NBA thinks this should be allowed or the hack-a strategy is good for business. Intentional fouls are illegal until they’re not, as long as they have the proper branding (transition take fouls). Maybe if we call them “TV ratings prevention fouls” then the NBA will try to give us more finishes that don’t feel like someone “yada yada yada’d” at the end of the game.

OKC can close out and move on to the NBA Finals Wednesday night. You can watch on ESPN or stream on Fubo for free! (Despite what I just said, basketball is usually fun to watch.)

The Last 24

Mavericks want to time travel with Cooper Flagg

🏀 Time hopping. The Mavs are going to take Cooper Flagg first overall. It’ll give them a two-timeline approach. 

🏀 Homecoming. Holmgren learned his game in Minneapolis. He’s showing off there now.

💺 He’s back. Our long national crisis is over: Tyrese Haliburton’s dad is attending Pacers games again.

🏀 Dedication. Karl-Anthony Towns had a big game this weekend. He dedicated it to his mom.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” examines whether the Thunder’s current big three is the best in franchise history.

Big KAT Comeback

Knicks’ season saved by star big man

The Knicks still have a lot of work to do in order to feel good about the Eastern Conference finals. They enter tonight’s Game 4 in Indianapolis still in desperate need of a victory. They can’t go down 3-1 to the Pacers. It wouldn’t be quite as dire as the Wolves’ situation above with OKC having home-court advantage. The Knicks would potentially have two of the last three games at home. But the 3-1 comeback is something that happens about a quarter of the time.

The reason the Knicks are in a position to even the series at 2-2 is because Towns saved their season in Game 3. It was more than just him, but KAT was the main reason on a night New York found itself down by 20 points in the second quarter and struggling through a tough Jalen Brunson scoring effort. To his credit, Tom Thibodeau made some adjustments to try to ignite some things.

He inserted Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup for Josh Hart. He played Landry Shamet and Delon Wright off the bench. He trusted Deuce McBride with key minutes. But the biggest thing that rang true is that Towns, who struggled through the first three quarters, remembered one very important thing: Myles Turner and the Pacers can’t guard him. They never have been able to. He has torched the Pacers his entire career.

Through the first three quarters, he had four points on 2-of-8 shooting (0-of-3 from deep), seven rebounds, four turnovers and four fouls. Yeesh. In the fourth quarter, it all changed. The 29-year-old played all but 36 seconds in the final period and matched the Pacers in scoring output.

He had 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 3-of-4 from deep and 5-of-6 from the line. He also had eight rebounds. It was big because Brunson played fewer than three minutes in the final period due to foul trouble. The Knicks relied on their defensive effort and Towns’ scoring. Now, they’ll need him to keep doing it because the Pacers don’t have answers.

The Knicks, in turn, have to find a way to slow down the Pacers’ attack again. Indiana had an uncharacteristically low assist-to-turnover ratio (21:12) and shot just 5-of-25 from downtown. Is that something the Knicks can expect to happen again on the road? We’ll see if the Pacers can restore their dominant identity in Game 4.

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All-NBA Roundup

Award SZN ended with fantastic vibes

On Friday, the final component of NBA awards season dropped when the league announced the All-NBA teams. As a completionist, I feel the need to do a section on arguably the biggest award given out aside from MVP, even though it happened four days ago. That’s the All-NBA honors. I don’t feel the need to give you my entire résumé as a completionist to prove that this is just how I operate. Just know that I watched every episode of “Ballers.”

These are the All-NBA teams. I’ll also drop some things I found interesting below:

First Team

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder – Third selection (all First Team)
• Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers – Second selection (first First Team)
• Jayson Tatum, Celtics – Fifth selection (fourth First Team)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks – Ninth selection (seventh First Team)
• Nikola Jokić, Nuggets – Seventh selection (fifth First Team)

Second Team

• Steph Curry, Warriors – Eleventh selection (fifth Second Team)
• Jalen Brunson, Knicks – Second selection (second Second Team)
• LeBron James, Lakers – Twenty-first selection (fourth Second Team)
• Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves – Second selection (second Second Team)
• Evan Mobley, Cavaliers – First selection

Third Team

• Cade Cunningham, Pistons – First selection
• Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers – Second selection (second Third Team)
• James Harden, Clippers – Eighth selection (second Third Team)
• Jalen Williams, Thunder – First selection
• Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks – Third selection (third Third Team)

It’s always cool to see guys get their first All-NBA selections. I know the number of All-Star selections is usually the highest honor thrown around for players, but All-NBA is a far more prestigious accolade. One recognizes you’re either popular or having a great start to the season. The other acknowledges you were one of the 15 best players for that entire season. It should be talked about far more than All-Star selections as accolades.

The First Team was pretty obvious because with the positionless voting now, it should always be what the final MVP ballot ended up as. That’s what happened here. For the Second Team, I don’t really have any surprises. It wasn’t quite my ballot, but we can get into that in a little bit. For me, the Third Team had one curious inclusion. With that, let’s jump into All-NBA Snubs!

Snubbery!

• The Rockets’ Alperen Şengün was a massive snub. I went so far as to include him on my All-NBA Second Team. I thought he was brilliant this season on a great regular-season team. I was surprised he didn’t at least make the Third Team. He finished 10 voting points behind Harden for the last spot on the Third Team.
• Jaren Jackson Jr. seemed like a lock to make it at one point this season, but the Grizzlies’ season … took a turn, and he ended up missing out on the honor. He was 13 voting points behind Harden.

Those are the only real snubs I have there. Nobody else came close in the voting. Harden is the inclusion I am shocked made it. He was good this season, but I didn’t think he was one of the 15 players in the league. I didn’t even think he was an All-Star over teammate Norm Powell or the best Clipper for the entire season over Ivica Zubac. That’s not any shade at Harden. I’m just surprised his shooting inefficiency and turnover issues didn’t knock him down.

Financial implications for the selections and snubs

There are some interesting financial implications with these awards and snubs! Some of the max extension bumps are tied to All-NBA honors, so here’s what to know about those:

• Cunningham and Mobley both get the bump in their contract extensions from $224 million over five years to $269 million over that span. Great for them, but expensive for the salary cap management.
• JJJ in Memphis will not be eligible for the supermax contract because he missed out on the All-NBA selection. I’m not sure the Grizzlies would’ve given it to him, but now there is no option for it.
• Williams will not be eligible for the extension bump with OKC … yet. He’s in only his third season, which makes the honor even more remarkable. But he’ll need to make it again next season to trigger the same salary bump Cunningham and Mobley will get.
• Trae Young not getting All-NBA honors means he is not eligible for the supermax.

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