NBA Conference Finals Recap

The NBA playoffs have been exciting so far with a lot of underdog teams getting some great wins and moving on in the playoffs. These 4 teams left in the playoffs a lot of people weren’t thinking they would be there. 

Here’s how the four remaining teams got here.

The number one seed in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder who had a great regular season, carried it into the playoffs by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 4-0 and having a tough series against Denver and won the series 4-3. The other Western Conference team is the sixth seed Minnesota Timberwolves who had a good regular season and went through the first two rounds with ease by beating two tough teams in five games: the LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors. 

The Eastern Conference is a bit different for teams this year by having the four seed Indiana Pacers and three seed New York Knicks which have had great post season runs so far. The Pacers beat two good teams by defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in five games and beating the number one seed Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. The Knicks beat the Pistons in six games which was a tough series and beat the defending champions Boston Celtics in six games.

Now let’s look at the two conference finals series and see how the teams are doing:

Eastern Conference Finals

#3 New York Knicks vs #4 Indiana Pacers IND won 4-2

In game one it looked like the Knicks were going to pull away with a win after being up 14 points with three minutes left in the game, but no they didn’t win even after the efforts of Aaron Nesmith who scored 9 points in a span of 30 seconds. Then Tyrese Haliburton hit a buzzer-beater to send the game into OT. It was a back and forth game in OT but the Pacers ended up with a win in Game One with both Haliburton and Nesmith having 30 plus points. Game Two was a very close game the whole time,  but the Pacers won game two and took both games in New York with Pascal Siakam leading the way with 39 points. In Game Three it looked like the Pacers were going to go up 3-0 in the series after being up 20 in the third quarter but the Knicks fought back to win game three with Karl-Anthony Towns securing this win with 24 points. Game Four was another back and forth game and Brunson’s 31 points weren’t enough to seal the deal and the Pacers took game four with Haliburton scoring 32 points and having a triple double. Game Five was back in New York and the Knicks were one loss away from elimination and they held their ground and didn’t give the Pacers a chance. Brunson had 32 for the Knicks and now the Knicks are down 3-2 in the series. In Game Six the first half was close, but in the second half the Pacers pulled away and won 125-108 and will now advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years. The Indiana Pacers will now face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals

Western Conference Finals

#1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves OKC won 4-1

In Game One it was close after halftime until the Thunder outscored the Timberwolves 32-18 in the 3rd quarter and the Thunder won by 26 behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points. In Game Two the first half was close again until the Thunder went on a run in the third quarter and won this game by 15 with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander having another great game with 38 points. Game Three wasn’t even close with the Timberwolves controlling this game the whole way and shot 50% from the three point line. The Timberwolves won game three by 42 points and Anthony Edwards had 30 points. Game Four was the closest game all series and was back and forth but the Thunder won by 2 points and Shai showed why he is the MVP and scored 40 points. Game Five wasn’t even close with the Thunder playing amazing defense. The Timberwolves couldn’t get anything going on offense and lost by 30 to the Thunder. Shai had 34 points to close the series out and now the Thunder will move on to the Finals for the first time since 2012 and will play the Indiana Pacers.

The NBA Finals will be between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers and it starts this Thursday on June 5th and Game One will be in Oklahoma City.