NBA Playoffs 2014: Predicting Results of Saturday's Game 7's
Had you told most NBA fans the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers would be embroiled in a seven-game series prior to the start of the playoffs, it wouldn't have come as a shock to anyone.
But not many predicted the seventh-seeded Memphis Grizzlies would push the second-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder or the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks would extend the top-seeded Indiana Pacers to their limits.
In fact, the Thunder and Pacers had to win pressure-packed Game 6s just to get to Game 7.
Suddenly, the NBA playoffs are beginning to look a lot like the NCAA tournament.
Who wins the decisive game in each of these three series? Check out the predictions.
The Clippers Will Overcome
Amidst all the controversy created by Donald Sterling's comments, the Clippers players have had to overcome distractions and a pesky bunch of Warriors.
The latter was an expected obstacle, the former was not. To the team's credit, it has handled things admirably.
Point guard Chris Paul gave head coach Doc Rivers a lot of the credit. Per Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times, Paul said:
"I couldn't imagine having another coach who was there to communicate with us and ask us how we were feeling and not just tell us, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. He actually listened to us throughout this entire thing and it was pretty special.
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In Game 6, the Clippers squandered a huge opportunity to put Golden State away. In Game 7, Doc Rivers will get his troops together and pull out a big win to move on to the Western Conference quarterfinals.
The key for the Clippers is taking better care of the ball. The starting backcourt of Chris Paul and J.J. Redick had seven turnovers in the Clippers' 100-99 Game 6 loss.
The Warriors were uncharacteristically careful with the ball. They had just eight turnovers as a team. In a game decided by one point, that could easily be the difference between winning and losing.
Look for Paul to run his team like a maestro in the pick-and-roll and to play aggressively as a scorer for stretches.
DeAndre Jordan has been phenomenal all series. He's averaging 11.7 points, 14.7 rebounds, 4.2 blocked shots, has made 71 percent of his shots from the field and even raised his free-throw shooting to 51 percent.
Count on another strong game from him in a must-win situation.
Indiana Will Find a Way to Win
You can't take anything away from the Atlanta Hawks—they have scrapped their way to this situation with a smart plan of attack. But the Pacers have played like anything but a team looking to play for a championship.
Throughout the series, the Pacers have had issues playing defense without fouling.
In Atlanta's three wins, the team has shot 33 free throws per game.
Jeff Teague's dribble penetration and Paul Millsap's ability to draw contact have been the Pacers' undoing. To win Game 7, the Pacers must keep Atlanta off the free-throw line.
Forcing them to make shots from the field will be key. It represents more opportunities for Indiana to get out and run on missed shots and keeps Atlanta out of its comfort zone.
Game 7s are a different animal. As well as the Hawks have played in this series, the lack of deep playoff experience for most of their roster showed late in Game 6.
It's likely to show even earlier in Game 7. The Pacers will escape, for now.
Count on Mr. Unreliable
Kevin Durant absorbed the unfair criticism levied on him by The Oklahoman. He went out and dropped 36 points and 10 rebounds on the Grizzlies to help guide his team to a necessary win in Game 6.
NBA on TNT showed Durant some much-deserved love after his big game:
Durant was called "Mr. Unreliable" by the local paper, but the publication has since apologized, per Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated.
The Chesapeake Arena will be rocking for Game 7 as the Thunder try to stave off what would be an embarrassing first-round elimination. Zach Randolph has been suspended for Game 7 for punching the Thunder's Steven Adams in the jaw, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com). The road to a shocking upset just got a lot tougher for the Grizzlies.
In Game 6, Durant did go off for a big game, but the biggest difference was the Thunder's lockdown defense.
OKC held the Grizzlies to 84 points on 37.3 percent shooting from the field.
In the three games the Thunder have won, the Grizzlies haven't shot the ball well. In fact, Game 6's total was Memphis' best shooting night in a loss in the series.
With the crowd up in arms and with no Randolph in the post, the Thunder will bring the intensity on defense and shut down the Grizzlies in a rout.
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