The fierce battles in the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Finals were events that were hard to ignore. The Golden State Warriors showed everyone that they still got it while the Dallas Mavericks still have some learning to do. The Miami Heat were almost there but the Boston Celtics got in the way. Now it’s on to the final round, but before we go there, we have to look at those who stood out in a good and bad way. Here are some of last round’s studs and duds.
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Stud: Jimmy Butler in Game 6
Scoring 47 points while handing out eight assists, grabbing nine rebounds, and getting four steals will definitely put you in the spotlight. Butler did all that on his way to getting another 40-point performance in this year’s Playoffs. He added four three-pointers in that game and made all 11 free throw attempts. The Heat were playing in Boston so everyone thought that the Celtics would have this game in hand but Butler had other plans and successfully forced a Game 7.
Duds: Miami’s Starters in Game 4
This will quickly fill up the record books in a bad way. Miami had one of the worst starts to a game ever. Where do we start? First, they needed more than eight minutes to make their first field goal of the game. Second, they only scored 11 points in the first quarter. Third, the starting five combined to score a grand total of 18 points for the entire game. The Heat had no chance at all in this game and have only themselves to blame.
Stud: Kevon Looney in Game 2
Looney scored 21 points and if you are wondering why that is a big deal, it is because that is his career-high. After seven years in the league, Looney can finally say that he scored 20 plus points in a game. You have to give the big man some praise. He was probably the last resort when it comes to scoring in Golden State’s game plan but here he was shooting at the basket 14 times which resulted in 10 field goals.
Duds: Reggie Bullock & Maxi Kleber in Game 3
This right here is an example of what not to do in the playoffs, especially against the Warriors. Bullock and Kleber combined to shoot a miserable 0-15 from the field. Maybe it was all in the head. The pressure of having to shoot well against a team that shoots really well messed up their mental vibes. They were mortified as soon as all the misses, especially from three-point land, started piling up.
Stud: Ime Udoka
Boston’s leader has turned heads, in his first year as a coach, with a lot of impressive wins. The quick-thinking coach seems to know what he is doing so far. His team has never lost two games in a row in these Playoffs. Every loss is somehow a learning lesson for him and any adjustment he makes will always end up as a win in the following game. All those years working as an assistant for the great Gregg Popovich are paying off.
Dud: Max Strus in Game 4 & 5
Making zero field goals in seven attempts and following it up by having zero field goals again in nine attempts will make you stand out in the boxscore. That’s what Strus did in consecutive games against the Celtics. Having one bad game would have been acceptable but having two in a row had consequences. The Heat lost both games where Strus fired blanks and a win in any of those games could have altered the outcome of the series.
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Main Image Credit: via SI.com
