After 2: NBA semifinals

GOLDEN STATE 1, MINNESOTA 1

The Warriors tried to make it Jimmy Butler's night. The Timberwolves put Jaden McDaniels on him.

The Warriors tried to make Pat Spencer a thing. The Timberwolves tried to put Jaden McDaniels.

The Warriors tried a line shift, five reserves entering at once, the Timberwolves laughed and played regular basketball with their regular basketball players.

Trayce Jackson-Davis tried to ruin Anthony Edwards' ankle but Anthony Edwards is 23, bullets bounce off him,

Golden State? We're watching the old Knicks, the old, old Knicks, the end of the 1970s champion Knicks. Pass a lot, eschew pound-foolish plays, play defense, don't score. And Stephen Curry's hamstring was just traded to Cleveland for Jim Cleamons. Golden State proved in Game 2 that the Warriors are wary though also unbowed over just how the heck they're expected to put together 98 points per game. There are sparks, but too much breeze.

Curry's absence is the largest drag. This is what he was up to seconds before the pull:

Borderline disrespectful.

It isn't Steph's turn to be irreverent anymore, that's his younger counterpart's growing role. Anthony Edwards realized once he sees his opponents' hips out of place, he can swing an advantage and a call.

I'm already giving Edwards credit for not overplaying this edge in Game 3 and Game 4. Driving into traffic, switching his Euro-pivots, leaving the bunny on the board and begging for a call as Golden State pulls the rebound to run toward its latest miss.

ROBERT EVANS BIT

Can Golden State win in San Francisco? Twice. Would Minnesota let us down, dipping into a 3-1 deficit? Nah, the Warriors can defend, basketball takes turns, sometimes good shots don't go down.

But the Wolves watched several good shots go south in Minnesota, Chris Finch's team may be due for a spell in the Splash Zone. Unlikely on the road, perhaps, but that sort of sensibility changes once a scorer swishes a few free throws for sense memory. Julius Randle's marvelous, ear-ringing, Game 2 won't be his best in this series.

The Warriors will see spots in that tape, but the Wolves will too, along with a resurrected Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

(Bob Evans saying "Nickeil Alexander-Walker.")

Game 3 on Saturday at 8:30 PM Eastern on ABC

HIRE THIS MAN

Most NBA players I wish a happy, healthy retirement to. This is why I hope most of them leave the NBA, get out of this mess, go find some real life to fall in love with.

Not Mike Conley. Stay in the NBA, please. Become a coach. Actually, forget that, too much work. Go on TV and push for an executive job. Get that executive job.

It is true, this is unfair to NBA executives, Mike Conley has no experience in the realm and it would be wild to think a novice could stroll into the office without a long and fitful learning process.

But I'm a Bulls fan, and I'm convinced this bottle of Diet Coke which says 'Kayla' on it could do a better job at running the Bulls.

Transactions would be the same, but the press conferences would be far less infuriating.

NEW YORK 2, BOSTON 0

Days away from the fun and novelty of the Boston Celtics playing a 75-year rival and blowing another big lead at home, was the realization.

Holy shit. Defending champions are down 0-2.

We warned all season of just how tough it is to repeat, how it really helps to have Michael Jordan. The Bulls blew Game 2 at home against the Knicks in Chicago's first bid to repeat in 1992, an Eastern semifinals matchup just as Boston's. MJ's Bulls dropped the first two games of the Eastern finals in New York in 1993, prevailing both years.

Can Boston win four straight over New York? Four out of five? Four out of six? They're not allowed to win four out of six.

We shamed them out of threes, the C's, Boston only took 40 in Game 2, down 20 attempts from Game 1, making 10. Boston's missed 75 attempts in 100 tries in this series, 75 chances for the Knicks to grab a long rebound and run, pass, pull up and clang New York's way toward that sparkling 102 points per 100 possessions average in the semifinals.

It's been defensive. New York's alertness is supreme, as strong as it looked all year, Tom Thibodeau's eyes somehow looking kinder, almost surprised inside his huddle. Having a dynamic, curious personalities at the role player positions is key: Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson are too clever to compartmentalize. Less a factor so far is Cameron Payne, the man who programmed his video game self with near-perfect rating, but Mr. '99' is due.

New York created this, don't divert credit.

But Boston is tired, defending a championship is tough. Legs leave you and outta nowhere decisions look like they came from the brain of a person who has been up for 36 hours. Boston isn't hapless, Boston isn't missing free throws or whiffing on defense, the player Boston worried about the most (Jrue Holiday) scores at will, the team isn't turning it over or losing it on the boards.

They're just, losing. Which has no guarantee to even out, though I'd just like to watch them try. We can either watch a defending champion claw back for an all-time comeback, or a well-run group of longtime teammates band together to play their best at the right time.

It will have to be perfect, for Boston, and Boston is capable of perfect. Real annoying, one-possession at a time nonsense. Two-pointers and ain't-that-clever Joe Mazzulla make-'em-ups. New York established itself as a 48-minute team, no lead is safe, Boston knows how to outlast this.

What Boston doesn't know how to do is give up. They will figure out how to give up, every distressed team does and it's a real easy choice. Boston will face that option in Madison Square Garden. Do they want to keep playing basketball this season?

I think so, we've seen champions that want to meet summer and the C's aren't one of them. Whether or not that does anything for Boston's ability to conjure the legs for 25-footers is up for the team dietician to decide.

A New York semifinal loss shouldn't mean the Knicks are chokers, incapable, even if the Celtics aren't exactly whole (Sam Hauser is out, Kristaps Porziņģis unavailable).

Meanwhile, Boston just blew two at home but in both instances I clicked away thinking only of New York, thinking, damn, Knicks gettin' better.

I can't stop making excuses for either side after two close games. Sunny out, 70-something degrees, what can I say?

Game 3 on Saturday in New York at 3:30 PM Eastern on ABC

INDIANA 2, CLEVELAND 0

Two things to take from the thing I wrote about the Pacers: Homer Stonebraker, and 5-6.

Pacers beat the Cavs five outta six times so far this season. The Cavaliers lost 18 times in the regular campaign, only the Pacers beat them thrice. Double-overtime matinee game in Indiana with zero regular starters playing more than a minute and Johnny Furphy and Emoni Bates trading 42-minute performances? Still counts.

The Pacers were even with Cleveland in Cleveland until several Cavs went down with injury. That's proof enough for me and will remain that way even if the Cavaliers roar back to pull this series out, something the Cleveland Cavaliers' diminished Game 2 rotation is quite capable of executing. The Cavs lost some close ones, they win some close ones too.

Outside of sitting Ty Jerome to settle his nerves (but not too much, you're gonna want those nerves), the Cavs needn't switch much to survive. If Darius Garland shoots himself up and plays on a shredded toe in Indianapolis, cool, the Cavs have enough to win with or without him. Even if these Pacers boast something few other competitors can: Indiana's endless array of defensive-minded, Donovan Mitchell-sized guards.

Which apparently means nothing: Donovan averages 40 a game, his True Shooting at 55 percent despite clanging 16-18 threes in the series. He hasn't slowed in the fourth quarters, he hasn't cost Cleveland a thing. The Pacers are swiping, Cleveland has enough in the can to swipe right back, without Mitchell scoring 40, without the Cavs introducing a starter with a limp.

Game 3 on Friday in Indianapolis at 7:30 PM Eastern on ESPN

DENVER 1, OKLAHOMA CITY 1

The Thunder dispelled us of any notions immediately in Game 2, scurrying up an early lead, ahead by as many as 49, winning by 43, fielding so many deep reserves that you'd think it was a regular season NBA game on TNT.

That was a so-so at best joke about the NBA resting its superstars, written by someone who is not a professional comedian. The distance between normies and professional comedians is the same distance between those chumps who think they can hang with Brian Scalabrine on a basketball court.

C.J. Sullivan is a professional comic and host and subscriber since the beginning and if you don't already, please subscribe to all his socials, especially Instagram, holy cow is that IG of his funny. I was on his show before Game 2 and had some fun:

Do you want me to set a light up for you? That's what my wife asked me. I said no, told her the 4 PM sun would be perfect. Instead if reflected off all the old Upper Deck holograms taped to my desk.

My worries over the Thunder are few. The team should continue to play two big men, but Chet Holmgren is still learning power forward, and his rebounding has never been great. Isaiah Hartenstein's rebounding is nearly always great, except in Game 1, and OKC lost.

The Thunder foul, a lot, sometimes it is called and sometimes the fouls are not called. It should not be an outrage that Nikola Jokic, game's best offensive player, was able to roll to the hoop and earn fouls from the team that slaps a lot.

Oklahoma City's quick exit on Wednesday will go a long way toward keeping the legs tidy, and the Thunder have better depth than most, but the whirlwind of two very loud games in Denver should prove some obstacle for the NBA's best team. Defending Denver requires patience and the Thunder's timing is improving as the series moves along.

One very loose performance from the Thunder on Friday should go a long way, pull up for threes like they aren't anything and OKC will have home-court back in a snap. Pull that off and Denver is under enormous pressure in Game 4. Teams can take chances against the Nuggets, Denver won't pull out to too strong a lead due to its trouble with volume three-point shooting.

Take your time on defense, toss everyone at Jokic and wait. And don't take any time at all on offense.

Denver? Denver requires taking both games to keep home-court advantage and that's a big ask, the Thunder are great. However, rookie coach and game tape and Nikola Jokic. The new coach will have ideas, players will eagerly listen after viewing that tape. And Nikola Jokic.

Helpers will have to help, the defense must show up, but exacting performances from Jokic and Jamal Murray keeps Denver in the contest. They're capable of near-precision, they just need some time to think, first.

Game 3 on Friday in Denver at 10'ish PM because it is on ESPN

GOOD TIME RIDE

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