NBA Preview: The Warriors are looking to become the first team in NBA history to start the postseason 12-0. Golden State has made a lot of history the past three seasons as they hope to clinch a spot in their third consecutive championship final.
#1 Golden State Warriors (78-15) at #2 San Antonio Spurs (69-28), Monday, 9 p.m. EST
Line: Warriors -11.5. Total 217.5.
Series: Warriors lead 3-0.
There will not be two 12-0 teams meeting in the NBA Finals starting on June 1 due to the Cavs loss Sunday night. The only question now is whether there will be one 12-0 team showing up for the championship finals.
Anything is possible now after Boston shocked the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night 111-108. Boston’s Avery Bradley hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Celtics to a stunning victory. Boston trailed by 21 points in the third quarter while reporters were writing their obituary for the series. There could not have been one person watching that game who could have predicted a Celtics win at that juncture. However, the Celtics rallied to outscore Cleveland by 24 points over the final 18 minutes for the win.
The Spurs are unlikely to believe they can come back to win this series with Golden State. Kawhi Leonard is doubtful tonight for San Antonio and the Vegas line indicates that Leonard will not play. It would be foolish for Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich to risk the future health of Leonard at this point of the series. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 series. In fact, only 9 teams have forced a Game 6 after trailing 3-0 and only three of those teams actually forced a Game 7 before losing.
Here is a chart of the teams who have accomplished these feats courtesy of nba.com:
#1 Golden State Warriors (78-15) at #2 San Antonio Spurs (69-28), Monday, 9 p.m. EST
Line: Warriors -11.5. Total 217.5.
Series: Warriors lead 3-0.
There will not be two 12-0 teams meeting in the NBA Finals starting on June 1 due to the Cavs loss Sunday night. The only question now is whether there will be one 12-0 team showing up for the championship finals.
Anything is possible now after Boston shocked the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night 111-108. Boston’s Avery Bradley hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Celtics to a stunning victory. Boston trailed by 21 points in the third quarter while reporters were writing their obituary for the series. There could not have been one person watching that game who could have predicted a Celtics win at that juncture. However, the Celtics rallied to outscore Cleveland by 24 points over the final 18 minutes for the win.
The Spurs are unlikely to believe they can come back to win this series with Golden State. Kawhi Leonard is doubtful tonight for San Antonio and the Vegas line indicates that Leonard will not play. It would be foolish for Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich to risk the future health of Leonard at this point of the series. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 series. In fact, only 9 teams have forced a Game 6 after trailing 3-0 and only three of those teams actually forced a Game 7 before losing.
Here is a chart of the teams who have accomplished these feats courtesy of nba.com:
Teams forcing Game 6 after losing first 3 games of a playoff series. |