STUMP STORY OF THE DAY
The Stars Are Aligning…But For What Exactly? 🏀
Just 6 days ago the Conference Finals were starting. We had the “Juggernaut” Boston Celtics taking on the fiery Indiana Pacers. The Pacers won a grueling 7 game series against the Knicks. Coming into this matchup against the Celtics, the Pacers were given just a small shot. Maybe they could steal a game or two, Tyrese Haliburton could go nuclear for a game, but unfortunately, that has not been the case.
Three games in and despite showing some fight, the Pacers have gotten themselves in a 3-0 hole in a hurry. After their All-star in the aforementioned Tyrese Haliburton got hurt in game 2, it was a an uphill battle for sure. Nembhard, Siakam, and Stump GLUE GUY T.J. McConnell have given the fans in Indiana short stints to cheer for, but they have run into an Eastern buzzsaw in the Celtics. With game 4 tonight, for the Pacers’ sake (and for the sake of New York and Milwaukee fans as well who feel like the Pacers suck, hopefully, they can get one tonight.)
But if not, the Celtics find themselves in their second NBA Finals with this core and redemption at the loss at the hands of the Warriors. The Celtics are looking good right now, and it seems like this is as good a shot as any to get title number 18!
And now. We move onto the West. What the heck is happening over there? The series is in the exact same shape at 3-0 but it is about as shocking as we have seen in quite some time. After sweeping the Suns and then coming back a historic 20 points in game 7 against the defending champs, the Minnesota Timberwolves seemed to be the team of destiny this year.
At just 22 years old people started throwing around Anthony Edwards-MJ comparisons before even making it to an NBA Finals. This series was supposed to a dogfight that ended with a Minnesota win but man oh man has it been anything but.
Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the entire Mavs roster seem to be a team on an absolute mission. In the first two games in Minnesota, they seemed to lead for a total of just a few minutes but those were when it counted.
One word to describe them and their two stars. CLOSERS. When the going gets tough they get tougher. Luka and Kyrie seem to alternate clutch shots with under 3 minutes to go in the game and have put daggers into the hearts of the Minnesota faithful three games in a row.
If you look closely you actually see Luka laugh anytime 4x Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert is even in the same vicinity as him.
I’ll end with the dilemma I'm in. As a Nuggets fan, I refuse to believe that this team I saw look like one of the best defensive teams I have ever seen is going to just roll over and die. No way. But after watching these first three games I have seen absolutely ZERO to say that KAT is going to show up and that they have any answer for the CLOSERS in Dallas.
If everything holds, it looks like we are in for a Celtics-Mavs Finals, and the storylines there would be storybook. But then again when does anything ever hold?
A lot of basketball left. Let’s see what happens.
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