It’s another Zaza Pachulia Day as we’re going to Game 7, baby! Game 7 The NBA actually flipped the usual schedule of going with the Western Conference game first to get Game 7 into the nightcap spot. Forgive the hyperbole, but Game 6 of Raptors vs. Celtics was one of the best games I’ve seen in a while. Can’t wait for tonight.
Denver Nuggets vs. LA Clippers (-8.5), 6:30 pm ET
Team totals: Nuggets 103.8, Clippers 112.3
Injury News: Will Barton (knee) and Vlatko Cancar (foot) remain out.
Clippers Expected Starters: Patrick Beverley, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Marcus Morris, Ivica Zubac
Nuggets Expected Starters: Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Jerami Grant, Paul Millsap, Nikola Jokic
Nuggets Rotation Notes: Paul Millsap was benched for the final 18 minutes (17 minutes in first half, too), Gary Harris was subbed in late in the second half.
Clippers Rotation Notes: Montrezl Harrell up to 10 second-half minutes, Lou Williams 17.1 second-half minutes, Patrick Beverley 12.8 first-half minutes.
Doc Quotes: Said the Clippers missed a lot of great shots, said he wants to balance his defense-first players with some of the offensive guys. He sounded pretty comfortable with the rotation he had in Game 4. He said he liked the look of PG out there with the second-unit guys while Kawhi sits.
Malone Quotes: He said the Clippers are “dogging and hounding” Jamal Murray everywhere and Malone has to scheme up better looks for him. He said he was pleased with final three of third quarter. He said he has to find more open looks for Michael Porter Jr. but the Clippers have defended him well.
*You probably heard the Michael Porter Jr. quote by now (here it is if not). He certainly has a point, and even coach Mike Malone had mentioned it before MPJ went to the podium (side note: he obviously shouldn’t have said that in public). Malone has talked about how the Clippers are targeting MPJ on defense before, and he does talk about how the ball doesn’t move as much on offense. He has just two assists in this series and only three potential assists. Still, Malone finally knows that he needs more offense than what Paul Millsap is giving him.
*Paul George is just locking Jamal Murray down with Murray making just 4-of-16 from the field (three threes, two free throws) in 62.2 partial possessions in this series. The Clippers also have so many more defenders to throw at him other than Royce O’Neale like the Jazz did. Murray actually got some decent looks in Game 4, but he was just 4-of-11 on uncontested shots (2-of-4 contested). Murray said the looks are there, but he’s just not getting them to drop. As Malone has said all series, the Nuggets have to defend better to prevent the Clippers from setting their defense after a make. Even if the Nuggets do indeed scheme up more ways for Murray, it won’t be easy.
*We know Kawhi is a beast and people have compared him to a robot with nicknames like Kawhitron 2000, but coach Doc Rivers had a great quote about Kawhi. “Surgical is a good word. Robotic is not a good word. He has a system to what he’s doing. He has a belief in what he’s doing and he sticks to it.” Kawhi absolutely torched the Dallas interior D, but he’s only at 52.5% in the paint after hanging in the 70s in the Dallas series. He’s still shooting great on drives (63.3%) in this series, and even with the strong Jerami Grant defense he’s at 23.8 points per game in this series. It’s a closeout game, and don’t forget what coach Doc Rivers said in the last closeout game. “You could tell he was the one guy that’s used to closing out a series,” Rivers said about Leonard.
*Jokic is going to get his here and he’s coming off back-to-back 30-plus usage rate games for the first time since February. Malone has consistently talked about how he has to lean on Murray and Jokic throughout the playoffs, and he’s also recently said how tough it’s been on Jamal Murray.
Matchup Helps: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Nikola Jokic, Jerami Grant
Matchup Hurts: Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap
Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics (-2.5), 9:00 pm ET
Team totals: Celtics 103.3, Raptors 100.8
Injury News: Gordon Hayward and Javonte Green remain without a target date, Vincent Poirier (personal) is out, Oshae Brissett and Patrick McCaw are out.
Raptors Expected Starters: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, O.G. Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol
Celtics Expected Starters: Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis
Raptors Rotation Notes: Kyle Lowry had a 43-minute stint, Pascal Siakam had a 40-minute stint, Norman Powell played the final 25 minutes.
Celtics Rotation Notes: Stevens didn’t make a single sub for the fourth and OTs (starters).
Nurse Quotes: He said that his zone D is to address some of the current style for offenses. Nurse said Norm’s decisions were good and he “liked the opportunities” for Norm a lot, and he thinks he’s been able to identify spots on how to get in a good position on offense. He said Norm was “solid” and just executed the scheme as a “huge difference in the game both ways.” He said O.G. has become a rim protector now even though it’s “not really his thing.” Nurse said he loves Marc as a passing big and can space the floor, but “nothing good has happened for the guy” until he hit the 3-pointer. Nurse said the small-ball lineup was “three games in the making,” it “gives them a better chance to guard [the Celtics]” and it’s tough to guard Kemba with bigs because they have to be up to prevent his jumpers. He said “there’s a possibility” Pascal could turn it around in Game 7 after his struggles for so long (was kind of a leading question).
Stevens Quotes: He said he kept Daniel Theis in as a threat at the rim on offense to get him looks. He didn’t really say much else, to be honest.
*The Raptors’ defense really locked in to limit Kemba Walker, putting up some box-and-one looks against him. Kemba has shot it great for most of the series, especially in the paint at 16-of-26 (61.5%), which is way up from the 46.5% on the season. Prioritizing Kemba on defense should continue to make it tough on him. On the other side, Kemba continues to defend FVV extremely well at 10-of-36 from the field in this series on 158 partial possessions. That should help guys like Jaylen Brown a bit, too.
*As mentioned above, Nurse really leaned on the Lowry, FVV, Norm, O.G. and Pascal lineup. He only used it for two minutes in the regular season and 10 minutes in the playoffs before Game 6, but he went to it for 18 minutes. You’ve got to expect a decent amount of it today after Norm Day.
*Daniel Theis played 47 minutes after topping out at 30 in previous playoff games. Late in the game, it was very clear the Celtics were using Theis for easy buckets up high with five dunks on Wednesday with all of them coming off an assist (three alley-oop dunks). That figures to be the counter to the Raps’ small lineup.
*Kyle Lowry was just insane, and he had some extremely difficult looks with just 1-of-3 at the rim. He had an 86.7 eFG% on his jumpers with only 40% of his makes coming off an assist. That efficiency almost doubled his 44.2 eFG% on his jumpers in the first five games, and Marcus Smart did make it really tough on him. It’s going to be a tall order for him again, but it could be another Kyle Lowry Over Everything day.
*As mentioned above, Nurse seemed pretty sold on how O.G. became a rim protector. The proximity to the rim helped him get seven boards to Pascal’s zero in the 18 minutes. We don’t have much of a sample on the five-man group, but we do have a 149-minute sample of an O.G.-Pascal frontcourt in the regular season. In that time, O.G. put up a per-36 line of 17/8/2 while Pascal was at 20/7/4. O.G. should be in a great spot.
*Oh, Pascal. It feels like it’s been two months of Pascal struggling, and every week there’s a column about it (great one here from The Athletic) and you can just sense Nurse is so sick of talking about it. “Everybody has been wanting this to be piled on him for some reason, and I don’t really understand why,” Nurse said. “They’ve been trying to pile it on him.” Nurse added he wants Siakam to have a great game “so he can give himself an opportunity to show who he is again for the umpteenth time.”
*Norm was just unreal in the small-ball lineup, scoring 15 points in the 18 minutes Nurse went to that group (Lowry second at 12, O.G. a distant third at five). He was also a productive scorer the O.G.-Pascal sample (87 minutes), and Nurse has been wanting someone to step up off the bench for basically the whole series.
*Jayson Tatum actually got some decent looks in Game 7 with 15 uncontested shots and just six contested. If the Raptors do focus on Kemba and go smaller, it should help Tatum.
Matchup Helps: O.G. Anunoby, Norman Powell, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown
Matchup Hurts: Kemba Walker, Marc Gasol, Fred VanVleet
