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What are the most important things to watch in the two games on Sunday 7 of the NBA playoffs?
The Portland Trail Blazers facing the Denver Nuggets (3:30 pm Eastern Time, ABC) and the Philadelphia 76ers getting closer to the Toronto Raptors (7:00 pm, TNT) once again, our experts answer the big questions who will decide each series.
Who are the players to watch? Who is most at stake with a trip to the conference finals on the line?
We break it down and predict the results.
1. What was the biggest surprise in both series?
Jorge Sedano: Ben Simmons needs six games to make his mark on the series. I think Simmons is just scratching the surface of his talent. The sixth game was probably the best and most important game of his career. Can he duplicate that in Game 7?
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Kevin Pelton: The ineffectiveness of Monte Morris (Denver) and Fred VanVleet (Toronto), two of the league's best backup leaders, is part of this series. Morris shot 6 of the 27 players on the field and missed his five 3-point attempts, while VanVleet is 1-of-12 out of 3 and 3 out of 19. The two under-sized players seem to have been bothered by the size and length of their opponents who do not use the traditional backup guards were able to launch them.
Tim Bontemps: Toronto's inability to make open pit throws. During the season, Toronto scored 41.4% of its 3 uncontested points, making it seventh in the league per second. In this series, the Raptors draw 32.5% on these looks. If the Raptors had made their 3 open, this series would already be over. If they qualify for the seventh game, they will qualify for the Eastern Conference finals. But the fact that they did not do it left this team in a much more precarious position than it should be.
André Snellings: The domination of the young duo Nuggets. Last week, I wrote that Nikola Jokic (24) and Jamal Murray (22) were better building blocks than Damian Lillard (28) and CJ McCollum (27), largely because of the potential and rarity of Jokic's game. But Jokic was the best player in the West and Murray averaged 25 points, six rebounds and five assists in six games. The future is now.
Bobby Marks: Jimmy Butler and Zach Collins, for different reasons. The 76ers' guard went from a third option in the regular season to a player who proved he could carry a team (25.7 points and over-16.7 in all three wins). Meanwhile, Portland really sees the potential of Collins. He has been a team record of over-4.5 in all six games, and he is the most consistent player who comes off the bench (9.0 points per game on 53.8 percent field shot).
2. What do you look most closely in Blazers-Nuggets?
Shouts: Will Lillard have another closing game "Lady Time"? He is the most electric player in the series, and although he has had good games, he has the ability to go further in his bag and get a 50-point, double-digit, 3-point performance. for ages. The Nuggets have posted the best home record of the NBA this season and are organizing the seventh game. So it looks like a lady classic is the best chance to progress Trail Blazers.
Pelton: How many minutes does Jokic play. All series, Portland had the upper hand on the stretches that Jokic and Lillard had on the bench. The simplest solution for Denver coach Michael Malone is to extend Jokic's minutes, as he did in the seventh game against San Antonio and again in the third game of this series, when Jokic has played all the second half and almost four extra times.
Marks: The officiant. We will probably see three new officials who have not worked together on this series. The way the referees allow each team to play in the first five minutes will set the tone for the rest of the game.
Sedano: Which superstar has the biggest impact on the game and leads his team to cross the finish line. Jokic had a triple-double in the fence against the Spurs. We all know that Lady hailed by-bye to Russ. What counts on Sunday is the most important thing for me.
Good time: The level of energy of Lillard. Lillard carries a senseless charge in these playoffs as Portland continues to survive without Jusuf Nurkic. As this series continued, Lillard (naturally) began to look tired. But in game 6, he has regained his usual status. If the Blazers want to go to Denver and win a game 7 on the road, they need "Lillard Logo" to work at full efficiency.
3. What do you watch most at 76ers-Raptors?
Marks: The two main coaches. It's water unknown for Nick Nurse and Brett Brown. After playing the first round in five games, the two players are now in a position they never face: a seventh game to qualify for the finals of the conference. The way each trainer handles the minutes will be examined. Get ready for a total mindset, with players such as Kawhi Leonard and Butler could play the 48 minutes.
Find everything you need to know about the playoffs here.
Shouts: I want to see if Joel Embiid is healthy enough to present another MVP caliber performance. Embiid lost 33 points in 18 attempts to lead the 76ers to a win in Game 3. Since then, he has accumulated only 13.7 points on average on 38.7% of shots while he was visibly afflicted with many health problems. The Raptors are organizing the seventh game, which should bode well for their players and make things more difficult for the non-stars 76ers. Embiid must be at the highest level to give his team a chance to win.
Good time: Will the Raptors, other than Leonard, kick? We know that Leonard will show up; he has undoubtedly been the best playoff player so far. Pascal Siakam will probably do it too. The way this game will run will depend on how the rest of their teammates – especially Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Danny Green and Serge Ibaka – play. If they get shots like at Games 1 and 5, Toronto will probably take it comfortably. If not? Things could become terribly interesting.
Sedano: Can Gasol continue its impressive effort against Embiid? Gasol is a veteran of the playoff battles. He has been a huge X factor on both sides for the Raptors, initiating the offensive from the top position and doing a great defensive job on Embiid. Nobody has limited Embiid offensively in the last three seasons, just as Gasol did during their clashes.
Pelton: 3 point shot from Toronto. The Raptors, sixth in the NBA with a percentage of 3 points in the regular season at 36.6%, scarcely score 30.8% of their 3 in this series. According to the spectrum per second, Toronto achieved the highest quality of fire, measured by qSP (Quantified Firing Probability), which takes into account the location and type of fire, as well as the distance of nearby defenders and the Shooter's ability), in all six games of the series. The three points missed by the Raptors are one of the main reasons why they achieved the best percentage of goals over only three of the six games, all won in Toronto.
4. Which player or team is most in play on Sunday?
Pelton: The 76ers. Winner or loser, the future of the Raptors is in the hands of Leonard this summer. Philadelphia, by contrast, has more choices to come. The Sixers have to decide if they stay with Brett Brown as head coach and how much to offer unrestricted free agents to Butler (who, like Leonard, has a player option he will definitely refuse), and Tobias Harris. Should these decisions be made on the basis of a single game? Of course not, but given the high expectations of the Philadelphia property after loading Butler and Harris, this could prove the case.
Marks: Portland. Despite the fact that Lillard and McCollum are under contract for the next two seasons – perhaps more if they accept extra time – Match 7 is an opportunity they may not have in the future. Due to future financial restrictions, it could be a radically different team next year without Al-Farouq Aminu, Enes Kanter, Seth Curry and Rodney Hood. There is no guarantee that the Blazers are coming back here.
Good time: We will cheat and tell both teams to the east. With a huge list of players coming this summer, the clock starts immediately for the loser – and this team will lose the chance to qualify for the final, which could also influence their decisions.
Shouts: The pressure is all the way, especially in Philadelphia. Butler and Harris could both leave as autonomous agents, and the playoffs made issues regarding Embiid's health and Simmons' lack of shooting more worrying. The 76ers have made consistent moves this season with a team leaving to win. Another defeat in the second round could potentially bring about changes at the organizational level, with no coach or player being guaranteed to return next season.
Sedano: I'll go out of the picture and say Brett Brown. I find silly the rumors about his allegedly uncertain job status. However, rumors exist. I think he's done a good job and deserves to continue as a head coach. A win in the seventh game can do a lot to consolidate that.
5. Who wins each game 7?
Good time: Portland will win in Denver because I'm used to thinking that Lillard will become very popular on such occasions. He proved it over and over again. Meanwhile, the Raptors will win because they have the best player (Leonard) and the advantage of the field. But most importantly, let's hope we have two excellent Game 7s, which are always the best things in the sport.
Shouts: I take the Raptors in the east of the match. They have been the best team all season, they have the advantage of the field and they have experience in these times. The West is essentially a game of chance, but the Nuggets are hard to beat at home, especially with the quality of the game played by Jokic. Add the big advantage of the Nuggets, and they should be favorites to advance.
Sedano: Raptors and blazers. The Raptors have court at home, Leonard has been incredibly good and, as I already mentioned, Gasol did a great job in this series. In the West, Dame and CJ can carry the score charge for Portland. Hood lit the Blazers' bench with an average of 16 points on 60% of his shots. In addition, Collins was a jewel of the bench. The Blazers outclassed the Nuggets by 22 points in 113 minutes. Hood and Collins are paired with the ground.
Pelton: Since 1984, the average advantage of the home match in the seventh match is 6.3 points, the home team should almost always have the preference to win less than a major injury (as was the case last year, when the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets without Chris Paul in the seventh game of the road). I do not see any compelling reason to choose home teams here.
Marks: Home teams. On paper, the best composition is Philadelphia, not Toronto. However, do we know which team of 76ers will actually run for a seventh match? Will we have an MVP level Embiid? In Denver, we've seen the moment has never been so big for this young Nugget team. The victory of the match 7 against the San Antonio Spurs proved it.
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