BASE sa nakalipas na performance, malabong maging problema ang makakuha ng magandang opensa para sa alinmang koponan sa pagbisita ng Indiana Pacers sa Boston Celtics para sa Game 1 ng Eastern Conference finals sa Martes ng gabi (Miyerkoles sa Manila).
Nangunguna ang sixth-seeded Indiana sa NBA sa scoring sa regular season, kung saan may average ito na 123.3 points per game. Ang top-seeded Boston at may average na 120.6 points per contest sa regular season, na ranked No. 2
Ang Pacers ay bumuslo ng 67.1 percent mula sa field — isang NBA playoff record — nang talunin nila ang host New York Knicks, 130-109, sa Game 7 ng conference semifinals noong Linggo. Nanguna si Tyrese Haliburton na may 26-point performance.
“I’m just proud of this group,” wika ni Indiana’s Myles Turner. “This is the most special group I’ve been around since I’ve been here. We all play for each other. There’s no ego. When you have guys who can score 15-plus points every single night — seven, eight guys — there can be a lot of ego involved with that, and we were able to nip that in the bud a lot early in the season.
“And obviously having Pascal (Siakam) coming here midway through the season, adding his leadership and everything he’s able to provide for us offensively and defensively has been huge. … We’re not done yet.”
Si Haliburton ay may average na team-high 20.1 points per game sa regular season, subalit si Siakam ang leading scorer ng koponan sa playoffs (21.2). Ang Pacers ay umiskor ng hindi bababa sa 140 points ng 11 beses ngayong season.
“I think it’s just the old-school way of thinking that you can’t play this fast in the playoffs, but I think opportunistically you can do it,” sabi ni Haliburton. “I think if we’re able to get stops, of course we can.”
Sina Jayson Tatum at Jaylen Brown ang bumubuhat sa opensa ng Celtics. Sa 10 playoff games, si Tatum ay may average na 24.3 points at 10.4 rebounds. Si Brown ay may average na 23.1 points at 6.6 rebounds per game sa postseason.
“We understand what we can do individually,” ani Tatum. “Each night just kind of presents different challenges and being ready and up for the task to do whatever is needed because both of us are capable on the basketball court to do literally everything.”
Dinispatsa ng Indiana ang Milwaukee Bucks sa opening round bago sinibak ang New York. Umabante naman ang Boston makaraang pataubin ang Miami Heat sa first round at ang Cleveland Cavaliers sa conference semifinals. Ang bawat serye ay umabot ng limang laro.
Maglalaro ang Celtics na wala si center Kristaps Porzingis dahil sa calf injury. Si Porzingis ay na-injure sa Game 4 ng serye ng Boston kontra Miami. Ang Celtics ay may 5-1 record sa playoffs noong hindi naglaro si Porzingis.
“You know that he wants to play,” sabi ni Boston’s Jrue Holiday. “You know that he wants to get out there and play with his teammates, but then seeing him out there and seeing him working has been good. And honestly just hope that he recovers fast so that we can get him back out there.”
Ang Boston ay nanalo sa tatlo sa limang laro kontra Indiana sa regular season.
“Really excited to get back out there and play,” ayon kay Holiday. “Seems like we’ve been off for a while, so excited to get out there Game 1, kind of get it started.”
