Real cowboys roll in pairs

Game 7 in New York, Game 7 in Denver

Dallas 117, Oklahoma City 116

Dallas wins series, 4-2

The math in Kyrie Irving’s mind, well, someone had to show their work. Luka Dončić was too busy moaning, Jason Kidd happy to conclude what could be his team’s second-to-last sling of the season as simply “a game of runs.” Someone had to mellow the mood, dampen the dry air, provide a little perspective.

Eighteen points in twenty-three minutes, do-able, a little back-and-forth and then, fifteen points in twenty minutes, no problem. Bucket here, bucket there, eleven in thirteen.

So Irving (ten points and two assists in the season-saving third quarter) settles everyone down, finds the guy who is most annoyed by the disrespect from the other side (in Dallas’ instance, Derrick Jones Jr.), launches the comeback. Keeps Dončić, the growling toddler, from destroying his own birthday party.

The Thunder did all it was supposed to do, only a few missed free throws, stupid free throws, a couple of those offensive rebounds gone the other way, bad close-out late on P.J. Washington, not enough timeouts remaining in the final minute to weather a lost challenge. Maybe the Thunder didn’t do all it was supposed to do, but it tried, remaining loose on the road, delivering Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the spacing the MVP candidate needed to make linguiça out of lengthier and lengthier defenders.

Height is a risky “advantage,” teams can’t help but help and Shai can’t help but deliver the right pass.

Until it was time to score. Third quarter, P.J. Washington, big but quick and smart forward covers Shai but Shai scores. Derrick Jones Jr., big but quick and smart forward covers Shai, score. Shai isn’t satisfied and screens Jones away, picks Daniel Gafford up, a center, scores. Whole frontcourt, scored upon.

Defensively, the Thunder remained tuned into Dallas’ lobs, fewer than the last time these teams were in Texas, and OKC cranked utter havoc in the first half, pushing toward a dozen Maverick turnovers in Game 6’s initial 24 minutes plus two more Maverick miscues in the first four minutes of the third.

Kyrie made his run, sure, but the Thunder answered in that third quarter, Jaylin and Jalen Williams and Lu Dort popping in for free throws, the Thunder keeping well ahead despite all the momentum, felt like Dallas shoulda been closer, as if ABC was adding points to the wrong side of the scoreboard.

But Kyrie pushed the roll and Derrick Jones Jr. busted his buns, Dereck Lively (12 points, 15 rebounds, four offensive boards, a block, a steal, three assists) lorded over Chet Holmgren. And Oklahoma City’s lead, once 17, drips to dirt.

Four minutes left in the season, score tied, ball in your hands, MVP votes in back pocket, where do we go?

Oklahoma City? Made the right play, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander skip pass to a backup center for a three-pointer in the corner. Jaylin Williams already hit one, missed this.

Dallas? Dump it into Luka Dončić, two points.

Kyrie kept the party going long enough for Luka to eat his cake:

Throughout the series I’ve been reminded of the time a reporter asked Kyrie Irving if LeBron James played a “parental role” on the Cavaliers.

The age difference between LeBron James and Irving and Irving and Luka Dončić is about the same, someone should ask Kyrie what he packs in Luka’s lunch.

Game 1 in Denver or Minnesota on Wednesday at 8:30 PM Eastern

DENVER 3 MINNESOTA 3

It didn’t take until Game 2’s win for the Timberwolves to remind us of the 1991-92 New York Knicks, that image came to mind the second the visitors started scrambling around Denver’s arena during Game 1.

This series is tied 3-3 with the hungry Timberwolves taking the initial two contests on the court of the defending champs, plus Game 6 in Minnesota. That’s the same scroll, the visiting Knicks won Game 1 and Game 2 in Chicago in 1992 before Patrick Ewing’s gutty performance delivered a Game 6 victory at Madison Square Garden.

Patrick sprained his left ankle after stepping on Bill Cartwright’s foot in the third quarter of Game 6 yet returned to close the contest, finishing with a team-high 27 points.

"As soon as it happened, the only thing I was thinking about was trying to get the pain to go away," Ewing said after the game. "It's still there now. I've sprained my ankle before, but never this bad."

Asked if he would play Sunday if it were not Game 7, Ewing said: "I really don't know. This is Game 7. I would've had all summer to recuperate."

Assessing Ewing's injury, the Knicks' team physician, Dr. Norman Scott, said: "He's got a moderate sprain, but I think he'll be fine for Sunday. It's hard to say if it was a regular-season game if he would miss it. But I never remember Patrick missing games because of a sprained ankle."

Asked if he believed when the series began that there would be a seventh game, Knicks Coach Pat Riley said: "Yes. You're talking to a man who believes."

Alright, Pat. Take it easy.

The NBA afforded Ewing and his ankle an extra day of rest before the clubs met in Chicago for Game 7, the final game of the teams’ third playoff meeting in four seasons. They’d meet again in three of the next four postseasons. It was familiar, Ewing would be ready:

"There are certain players who you don't have to say a word to before a game like this, because they're stars and because they'll perform that way, you just know it," Magic Johnson said at courtside before the game. "Patrick, too."

"I saw Michael lying on the table in the dressing room before the game with his eyes closed," said Jerry Krause, the general manager of the Bulls.

"I thought he was sleeping. I said quietly, 'Michael.' He opened an eye. I said, 'You know you have a game today.' He smiled and said, 'I do.' When he's that relaxed, I knew we were in pretty good shape."

If Calvin Booth and/or Josh Kroenke and Josh’s stupid trust-fund beard approach Nikola Jokic as Jokic’s rests with eyes closed on the training table before Game 7, I hope Nikola’s brothers are there to do what is appropriate.

The Bulls won Game 7. Jack Nicholson was there, promoting ‘Man Trouble’ with Ellen Barkin, the movie was the reason Jack had a mustache in the previous year’s Finals.

The Knicks took Chicago to six in 1993’s Eastern finals, but the setting differed. That pairing was expected, appropriate, brutal and legendary yet with none of the upstart intrigue of the 1992 series, when the Knicks walked into Chicago Stadium and walked out with a 2-0 lead.

Only survivorship bias makes this part of MJ’s legend, a chapter in the book, the edge Chicago needed in its trip through six titles in Jordan’s six final full seasons with the Bulls. As if it is normal to win four times in five tries against any NBA team, let alone one which just beat you twice in three days on your court. Four times in five tries with two road victories, against a team that took ya twice at home.

This is what Denver tries on Sunday, after already achieving the feat of tripping the Timberwolves twice in Target and regaining the edge at home in Game 5. Yet Denver defends its title with a bench resembling the VORP measure of Dennis Hopson:

The Nuggets cannot claim this unexpected, the league started chiseling its gravestone last July when it let Bruce Brown and Jeff Green loose. The Nuggies looked altogether hobbled in comparison to Western combatants boasting similar championship designs, outfits featuring actual bench contributors. Denver survived the regular season in spite of cutting financial corners, but Julian Strawther isn’t here to help them anymore. He is, but Michael Malone doesn’t want to play him, probably shouldn’t.

This isn’t to insist the starting five does its job, Jamal Murray required 102 attempts for 94 points in the first six games of this series and was lucky to be on the active roster for Game 3’s win. Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. need to do better than 18-59 (30 percent) from deep.

Weariness is what happens when you win 16 playoff games. A failed championship defense is what happens when teams aren’t financially creative enough to strengthen depth. Which outcome will the survivors wake to on Monday morning?

Game 7 likely returns to what wrankled the Wolves all season: Minnesota wearing itself out. Not the altitude, but what’s going on up there. Sweating through socks because the head won’t stop running, GAME7GAME7GAME7GAME7, exhausting oneself in attempts for perfection in the hours before halftime hits.

Minnesota is younger, its first Game 7, Denver still stings from a Game 7 defeat five years ago, and it was Nikola Jokic’s second Game 7 in consecutive series. He’d work two additional Game 7s in 2020. Sunday’s will be Jokic’s first in four years and first as a champ but, trust me, he’s been here.

How many of his teammates will be there?

Game 7 at 8:00 PM Eastern on TNT

NEW YORK 3 INDIANA 3

So OG Anunoby, possibly returning for the Knicks. What can we say about the rest of this team’s limbs?

Scheduling a Game 7 some 43 hours after Game 6 should be bad news for these Knicks. Between his rather active stints at NBA power forward, Josh Hart (“questionable” for Game 7) exhibited severe anguish on Friday evening, grasping his sides and chest, concerning two local policeman on Knick bench duty. Jalen Brunson isn’t turning on his toe as he used to, Isaiah Hartenstein’s top-two quadrants quake against one another, and those are the guys who can play.

Some of the Knicks can’t play, including the ones who play. No NBA player in database history sweated more for a 7.4 Game Score than Game 6’s Alec Burks. Of course, that’s in an Indianapolis night, where the steam of a thousand lost souls slip through their city’s sewer lids. All these Knicks need is two hours of afternoon accuracy on a 70-something Sunday spring day in Manhattan.

In a building I imagine will be lousy with handsome, wealthy men in pointy shoes, pointed suits, Chris Noth But Could Drive a Formula One Car, every woman looks like Jerry’s Girlfriend, not the high school student Jerry Seinfeld dated when he was at least twice her age but his character’s girlfriends from his celebrated TV show.

Patrick Ewing stands up to exhort Garden fans, Patrick McEnroe does a weird thing with his face when the camera swings by. Matthew Modine hasn’t stopped grinning since buying season tickets, every year they give you a hundred bucks at the team store, just for renewing!

This isn’t to claim Indianapolis incapable of curating the same atmosphere, the Knicks missed a lot of layups in Game 6 because Antonio and Dale Davis were in attendance, shadows looming large. But the Knicks are comfortable full of MSG, even if the Pacers had a passing glance at victories in Game 1 and 2. “Attrition” doesn’t have to act an insult and, look, they’ve got Alec Burks.

A 3:30 PM tip is perfect for Alec Burks, he’s been up since 5 AM anyway. Watched CBS Sunday Morning, great segment on Graham Nash, mostly finished the Times Crossword, cackled at ‘Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me’ over tea, green tea, nothing with too much caffeine, and he’s at his hungriest in late afternoon hours:

(Did Jerry just turn down time with his aging parents to read a comic book? Don’t pretend you’re back there watching ‘The Paper Chase,’ Jerry.)

I shouldn’t go on re-explaining the concept of home court advantage to myself, readers along for the chat, but it is a chore to ignore the setting, the Knicks should have an edge. Irrespective of how many participants New York enters, to colloquialize a Thibsism, dey got enuff.

Between extended postseason timeouts and call reviews and quarter exchanges, Tom Thibodeau spoke to his starters close to 40 minutes while on the court in Game 6. It woulda been more had there been a contest to counter, Thibs pulled his starters with 3:39 left in the game, an eternity for Tom, who probably feels as if he gave his group a week off.

So what if Thibs doesn’t substitute a single starter in Game 7, Sunday is a single game for everything, New York’s head coach feels that way about every game, he felt that way about Nov. 15, a Wednesday in Atlanta. The Knicks won that one. He didn’t feel that for Nov. 16 but only because there wasn’t a game scheduled, though Thibs wished there were.

There should be opposition, the Pacers absolutely have a road win in them.

It isn’t the whiff of burgeoning corn buds which inspire These Here Farmboys toward victory, this act can travel, the hoop is the same size at Madison Square’s Manhattan Fieldhouse as it is where the Pacers play. Also, Indiana wears the same color uniform in every playoff game.

The trick is outside shooting, and Pascal Siakam’s ability to finish. Siakam slurps up the post these days with Bilal Coulibaly’s words screaming through his cilia …

… 25 points on 21 shots in Game 6, parked 3-4 free throws and an array of free throw line jumpers. Pack those tough twos, make the Knick frontline work when New York is gaming for offensive rebounds and wobbling in defense of Josh Hart.

Tyrese Haliburton cannot dominate at the moment, check in after a few weeks rest, but he can yank attention while advancing the ball, freak the Knicks out without taking a shot. But Haliburton has to hit floaters, and those first half three-pointers. Those bombs aren’t bellwethers, but border the idea.

Worse, this is a physical series, referees don’t want to call anything yet the Pacers entered the penalty twice in Game 6. Indiana rather sloppy in its defensive approach, to the point where the refs could not ignore calls even with a Game 7 in New York to confirm.

The key as always is Myles Turner, champing to help, eager to please, can he discover pockets to move off the ball? Will his rainmaking jumper burrow brief and breezy home in the middle of the net?

The Pacers were built to outlast, the front office recognized the club’s quickest way toward credibility and pounced upon guard play, sustaining Andrew Nembhard’s role, accepting Aaron Nesmith into the batter’s fold, delivering rookie responsibility (and a professional playbook) to Ben Sheppard’s apartment’s tiny mailbox on Day One. This team isn’t merely deep in comparison to New York’s Black Knight routine, but deeper than soybean root in September.

Yet, Indiana can only field five of these Farmboys at a time. New York has a hot five to counter, clear the cages, let’s start pushing.

Game 7 on ABC at 3:30 PM Eastern

CAN’T HIDE LOVE

If John Starks tilt-wheeled a coal-fired Weber grille onto the baseline of Game 7, turning over dogs and burgers for anyone who wanted to line up, would you be surprised?

Thanks for reading!