The NBA has two Game 7s on Sunday, with all four teams — the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Knicks, and Pacers — having experienced both big wins and losses in their exciting semifinal series.
In the East, Indiana won Game 4 by 32 points, but New York answered with a 30-point win in Game 5.
Out West, the Timberwolves had a 26-point victory over Denver in Game 2, only to lose Game 3 by 27 points. In Game 6, the Timberwolves avoided elimination with a 45-point win against the Nuggets. How can a series with such evenly-matched teams have so many one-sided games?
“Good question,” Malone said Saturday. “In the regular season, it was 2-2, and in the playoffs, it’s 3-3. If we played that team 100 times, it would be 50-50. You just have two really talented teams. Depending on the day, who gets hot and who’s making shots is the one that prevails.”
The Timberwolves’ 115-70 win in Game 6 is a prime example. “But as far as the three blowouts in six games, that’s a tough one to explain,” Malone said. “But I do not expect that to happen tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a tremendous Game 7.”
No Western Conference team was better at home than the Nuggets, who had a 33-8 regular season record, but the Wolves won the first two games of the series in Denver.
Maybe home court won’t matter much on Sunday. “I’d rather play at home than on the road,” Malone said. The Knicks feel the same way.
Like the Nuggets, New York played all its regulars at the end of the regular season to secure home court at least through Round 2.
“It’s definitely something we fought for, to have home-court advantage for as long as we can throughout the playoffs,” said Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson. Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton is embracing the villain role at Madison Square Garden.
“Now it’s a one-game series and it’s for all the marbles, and where better to have a Game 7 than the Garden?” Haliburton said. “So I’m really excited about it, our group is excited to get the opportunity to compete.
We haven’t won a game there yet, no team has won a game on the road in this series, so we’ve got to be ready to go from start to finish for 48 minutes.”
