NBA: Boston reaches Eastern Conference finals
Leonard out of the game and helped Golden State’s huge rally in Game 1 of the series is one the NBA started cracking down on four seasons ago in an effort to protect jump shooters.
And more protection is the last thing shooters need, Cleveland guard Iman Shumpert said.
“Trust me, we don’t need the league putting in any more fouls and advantages for offensive players. We don’t need it. That’s something I think, if you take a contest out of the game, come on,” he said.
But with long-distance shots playing such a heavy role in offenses these days, the risk of injury isn’t going away.
“We see this quite often in the NBA where that defender, they just go a little too far and you’re not allowed to take the landing area away from the jump shooter,” Joe Borgia, the NBA’s senior vice president of replay and referee operations, said Sunday while discussing the foul that was called on Pachulia on his “Making the Call” video segment on NBA.com.
“Obviously a very dangerous situation for players, and the referee luckily stayed on that play all the way until the shooter landed and the foul was called on the play.”
That wasn’t enough for ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who argued that Pachulia should have been called for a flagrant one for intentionally sliding under Leonard, which both players denied.
“Did he step under it? Like on purpose? No,” Leonard said afterward. “He was contesting a shot. The shot clock was coming down. I’ll have to see the play.”
Leonard is respected for the way he defends without fouling, but opponents hated the way former Spurs defensive ace Bruce Bowen crowded too closely on their jumpers.
Pachulia said he was just trying to contest the shot and seemed surprised at first that a foul was even called, though many observers on social media thought the play looked suspect.
“Zaza’s not a dirty player. You’ve got to time that perfectly if you want to hurt somebody,” teammate Kevin Durant said. “We’re not that type of team. Kawhi’s an unbelievable player. We’ve got nothing but respect for him. We wish that he gets healthy. ... I wish it didn’t happen, but I don’t think it was intentional.
“You can’t listen to people on Twitter, they’re irrational.”
But they aren’t the only ones lately wondering if one of those fouls was intentional. Markieff Morris did the same after the Washington forward landed on Al Horford’s foot in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal, knocking him out of a game the Celtics rallied to win.
Realizing the potential for ankle injuries – a problem for Warriors star Stephen Curry earlier in his career – the NBA made the play one of its points of emphasis for officials before the 2013-14 season , stressing that shooters had to be given the freedom to land. But in a series like the West finals, matching the Warriors’ lethal outside shooters against a Spurs team that led the league in 3-point percentage during the regular season, neither team is going to want to allow too much space. That’s all Pachulia had in mind. “I really feel bad for the guy,” he said, “I wish it didn’t happen and it had a different result.”
Celtics 115, Wizards 105 Isaiah Thomas said he didn’t feel any pressure entering the first Game 7 of his career.
His play backed up his confidence and with the help of Kelly Olynyk and the Boston Celtics bench, Thomas earned the biggest win of his career.
Thomas scored 29 points and had 12 assists, Olynyk scored a careerplayoff high 26 points and the Celtics used a big fourth quarter to outlast the Washington Wizards 115105 in Game 7 of the Eastern Confer- ence semifinals Monday night.
“I knew it would be a big time game tonight. I knew it wouldn’t be easy at all,” Thomas said. “And we came out on top.”
Led by Olynyk the Celtics got a huge lift from their bench, outscoring their Wizards’ counterparts 48-5. Boston also connected on 11 3-pointers, including 8 of 13 in the second half.
“We needed it,” Olynyk said. “That’s a tough team that we played seven tough games against and they can score. We needed to help out the starters, help out Isaiah.”
Boston advances to the Eastern Conference finals, where it will host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Wednesday. It’s the Celtics first appearance in the conference finals since 2012.
“What a special opportunity to get a chance to compete against them,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said.
For Thomas it serves as the ultimate validation for a team that many felt was unworthy of the conference’s top seed. It also marked the latest big performance by Thomas, in a playoff run that began in the haze of his younger sister’s death in a car accident. The 28-yearold All-Star has called the basketball court his sanctuary, and he continues to credit his teammates for giving him the strength to perform at a high level.