Ongoing NBA elite eight

Howdy. The playoffs are great. They should extend each of these series to best-of nine, give everyone a few days off to get healthy.

Also I think three-point shooters should have to have a foot on the line for the three-pointer to count, like a base to touch, but that's not important now.

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NEW YORK 2, BOSTON 1

Nobody's here to tell anyone that the defending NBA champions aren't good at NBA basketball, the Celtics have a nice thing going but the Knicks, those Knicks have to do better.

Boston played for its life in Game 3, treated it like a Game 7, only packed one suit. Bunch of Celtics players in team gear lounging around the Big Apple on Sunday, unable to get into any of the fancy restaurants, the drawbacks of the single-minded approach.

It worked, but, Knicks biffed one. New York knew Boston would scrap and claw for its life in Game 3, that the Celtics would crush cliches and corner threes in equal amounts.

But, open corner threes in the half-court? After a Knick score? Come on, Knicks.

Jrue Holiday doing Mark McKinney's impersonation of Lorne Michaels, in Manhattan?

Three decades ago, Charles Oakley and Bob Smigel would trick Holiday into walking into the wrong alley, meeting the wrong power forward and his little writing friend (who sounded like an old Ukrainian woman), sending a message in the hours between playoff games. Who's gonna level Holiday in Game 4? Why did Lorne kill the 'Weekend Update' bit about Al Horford? He loves applause bait.

Tom Thibodeau kept his Knicks starters in Game 3 until three minutes remained, despite a 20-point deficit. Tom ain't changed, but maybe he's due to re-address his tone. New York had two hours to destroy Boston's season, a single Saturday afternoon to run all out and put the clamp on a series. A series that wasn't ever over, not even with three games to play at home and a 2-0 lead.

It is 2-1, now, Boston looks as capable of regaining home court advantage in Game 4 as it is capable of winning the series in Game 6. Boston was stern and serious in Game 3, exploring that darkness, whatever it takes for the fellas. The play-calling reflected it, Very Important clear-outs for Jayson Tatum at the triple-threat position, every Knick knows he's taking a two-pointer so who cares.

The Knicks were served the embarrassment they expected, and the embarrassment is that the Knicks expected it. There are fixable things on tape, hiccups which will inspire them to do better, be bigger. They'll require cleaning, those Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porziņģis lineups are awful tall.

Boston knew it had a long series ahead of it. The C's didn't see themselves dropping two games at home but the champs require room to stretch, a little pressure placed on them before they turn in the assignment.

New York should feel disappointed over Game 3's performance, and ashamed over the lost opportunity to put a great NBA team out of commission. The Knicks could take Game 4 by 32, wouldn't matter, Boston won't be on the ropes in this series. The Celtics either lose it, or win it.

What New York can create is pressure, make the champs feel a little rope on their heels in Game 5 inside a 3-1 deficit, New York earns that through mindful defense in Game 4.

Boston doesn't want too many Game 7s in a row, not even the champs can handle it, Boston wants simple basketball, slowly executed. The Knicks need to create exasperation, make martyrs out of the champs, let them feel as if nothing will ever go the Celtics' way.

Game 4 in New York at 7:30ish PM Eastern on ESPN

MINNESOTA 2, GOLDEN STATE 1

Is it nice when the players drop pretense and get to the Anthony Edwards of the situation?

That's it, that's the series. Everyone did the math before Stephen Curry was even ruled out for the rest of Game 1: Game 6 was it.

There is more, the patience of Mr. Edwards, the way he probes and slinks and never stands. Golden State took away one of the NBA's great threats: Anthony Edwards' ability to launch three-pointers while everyone else tries to find their mark. Ant responded by cutting, by ensuring his teammates had room to move comfortably into the space created by Golden State's attention to defensive detail.

Golden State won't let up on that, the Warriors would rather encourage several Timberwolves reacting and passing and tossing in two points than a single opponent walking into a three-pointer. Edwards had his MJ Numbers (31 points on 22 shots) with nine minutes to go in Game 3, a major accomplishment in any playoff game, let alone against GSW's defense.

Game 4 on Monday in San Francisco at 10:ooish PM Eastern on ESPN

INDIANA 3, CLEVELAND 1

Myles Turner rose up for yet another three and Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce had done his job. The ball wasn't in the air yet but it didn't matter, the Pacers were up by a billion, and the Pacers had triumphed over the zone. Cleveland's Evan Mobley-led zone, the first prominent NBA zone in decades helmed by a Defensive Player of the Year.

(This is the part where Phil Jackson complains about Gary Payton zoning up in 1996, or wherein Pat Riley whines about Ben Wallace.)

The Pacers moved the ball over the top of the zone, rendering the Cavs' line of a defense into less of a zone and more of a demarcation point to avoid. Turner lets loose, the three splashes in, Pierce abandons assistant coach decorum and slaps a few fives on the bench, holy cow were they earned.

The Pacers were ready for Cleveland in Game 4, ready to treat Evan Mobley like a broom Pierce lofts in the air during practice. Cleveland's carousel slicked one Pacer after another into their favorite spots behind the arc. Indiana splashed 80 points by halftime and none of it felt off, only what happens when a bunch of professionals are ready to play.

Against a zone.

It ain't a gimmick, but this is the NBA, zone defense is still closer to "ruse" than it is "rudimentary" in our dictionary. Cleveland wasn't slavish to it, men followed men, but the Pacers treated their guests like Indiana was still working through Game 3, passing and cutting off memories built from that embarrassing moment where the whole team had to sit and watch tape of Game 3.

Cleveland tired, it has been a long season and by the time Game 4 tipped, Game 3 felt like a sprint the Cavs hadn't recovered from. Rather than feeding from the growing rotation – Mobley and Darius Garland and DeAndre Hunter back, nobody on Cleveland's injury report – the Cavs ran and cut like a group containing few, not many. Cav after Cav checked into action, only to be left behind.

Indiana, opposite. Peeling fresh reserves from the pine in time to stick to the guards, to slump down onto Mobley and Jarrett Allen once the ball goes up, to find Cavaliers during the rare Cleveland fast break. And make visitors pay for transition slip-slaps when Indiana pushes the ball.

Cleveland wasn't satisfied with a split, Cleveland tried, Indiana kicked Cleveland's ass. The Cavs came out to tie a series in Game 4 and Indiana responded with an effort to put most Game 7s to shame, with execution to match. Persistent basketball, paired with ten different rotation participants all hopped up on team-building exercises, trust falls and reserve-only huddles led by James Johnson, now earning larger introductory applause in Indianapolis than T.J. McConnell.

This is why Obi Toppin ran circles around what was supposed to be a desperate Darius Garland, or why Ben Sheppard was attached to various Cavaliers like a sandwich board. Thomas Bryant breaks out so that Turner can reveal himself as an X-Factor, sprinting in to spell Bryant's bombast.

The Pacers created 10 Cavalier turnovers in the first 15 minutes of the contest in Game 4, 80 first half points. Numbers Indiana can rely on in Game 5 when Cleveland makes its own despondent drive to save a season. The Pacers know they are good enough to hang with Cleveland at Cavalier best, Game 1 is proof, and Indiana is aware it owns a firehose, Game 4's first half is evidence enough.

What the Pacers cannot allow is a series of Game 7s. Anything can happen in a Game 7, which means the Pacers can't let anything happen in Game 5, because anything can happen in a Game 6.

If Indiana lets the ball bounce on its own, the Cavaliers have a chance, one game at a time.

Game 5 on Tuesday in Cleveland at 7 PM Eastern on TNT

OKLAHOMA CITY 2, DENVER 2

Whether or not Mark Daigneault or David Adelman are great or even good coaches is up for time to decide but what is apparent is that each are great tacticians, with willing charges.

Sometimes this is far too apparent, like on national broadcast television on Mother's Day afternoon. Oklahoma City is a striking defensive team, there is nothing like the Thunder in the NBA, they are abrupt and upsetting to opponents and the viewer can immediately spot the difference between OKC and the rest of the teams in the playoff bracket. Denver has its problems defensively but it matches up well with the Thunder, the Nuggets always coalesce well within the confines of a playoff series.

These are not volume three-point shooting teams. Creating repeated launches from 25 feet, regardless of accuracy, is a skill. These two teams are skilled at everything but the relaxed form, many would argue insouciance, that only a Malik Beasley or Georges Niang or Stephen Jackson often furnish.

There is also the matter of the shot itself. Ten-foot goal, 25-feet away, it is not easy to do and every bit of interference can wreck a launch's trajectory, rotation.

Nikola Jokic can't hit long (6-28 on threes in the series) or short jumpers because he's shooting them in front of a long guy, or two long guys, jumping at the same time as him. He is tired, missing two clutch free throws late in Game 4, from trying to find seams within the Thunder's two-center lineup.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34-61 on twos, Jokic is 30-64) is nowhere near as inept but similarly addled by Christian Braun's needling jaw, Aaron Gordon acting the devil and angel hanging on either one of Shai's shoulders.

Jalen Williams might be the best player in this series, so Sunday's shots didn't go in, so what, Game 3 ended early Saturday morning and Game 4 tipped early Sunday afternoon. The NBA programmed a contest at three-quarter speed, and we enjoyed the resultant quarter-cut in efficiency.

Game 5 on Tuesday at 9:30 PM Eastern on TNT

WITCHI TAI TO

Apologies for ignoring the Cavaliers, I am working on a Cavalier column for another website and I promise we will talk all summer about the Cavaliers. Cleveland's season ain't over.

Thanks for reading!