Spurs cave after 29-point lead

[Ruminator]

I know only a minuscule percent of the .net population has any interest in the NBA, and I hardly follow it myself, but I did turn the TV on for a moment to see how the Spurs-Knicks game was going. It happened to be around the time the Spurs had that huge 29-point cushion. I quickly turned the TV off thinking OK, the series is clearly going to even up at 2-2. But before retiring for the night I was stunned to learn that the Knicks somehow escaped with a win by one point.

Spurs points scored per quarter: 41-35-14-16

What the heck happened? Cocky and overconfident? Exposed? Overrated? Injury? Gave the game away on purpose? Just plain suck at winning big games? Last possibility seems most likely, and would be consistent with how they also lost Games 1 and 2. Or... maybe it's all rigged like many say it is.

Biggest contributors to the loss last night include: Six missed 3-point attempts in 3Q. Several brain-fart missplays in 4Q. And in the final seconds, Fox clumsily attempts to score an awkward lay-up under pressure with just a 1-point lead and basically gives the ball away.

I did watch about 10 minutes of the third game, and honestly, neither team seemed particularly impressive to me. Several teams of, say, the 80s/90s would have handled either team with ease. Such as Celtics and Lakers of the 80s, Pistons of late 80s/early 90s, and Bulls, Trailblazers, or Sonics of the 90s, among others.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

First time I've watched any NBA playoffs. They were up 20 plus, I turned it off, then saw the score and popped it back on.
Absolute choke job. There's no excuse for losing that lead. Wow.

Also, how in the world do you not just try to dribble out??? You can't try to score there, you have the ball with a 1 point lead.
NBA has been dead to me since the Sonics left, but if I was a Spurs fan, I would need therapy today.

 

[James in PA]

I was hate watching the Knicks. And boy did I hate what I saw. That shit almost seemed scripted. Gotta give all those celebs in attendance one for the ages. I agree with Chuck Barkley. The Spurs are "the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization."

 

[jammerhawk]

When the Spurs were up 25 I wanted to turn it off, but didn’t and was treated to a genuinely epic comeback.

There were a very large number of hard fouls from both teams that made you wonder if there wasn’t gong to be a hockey style rumble. The Spurs big player with the very long name is at times amazing, and at timing amazingly dirty. He sure can shoot though.

Happy to have hung in there and finished watching this almost incredible comeback. Makes me want to have the Sonics back.

 

[IndyHawk]

Don't care at all but I had to check the stupid 3-point attempts teams
do in this era, which I absolutely think has ruined the game.
So last night, here it is ...

40%(17-43) - Spurs

Three Point %

47%(15-32) - NY

As you can see, live or die by it, if the Spurs had just taken the easy two pointers,
they win easily.
They scored only 17 in 3rd and 16 in the 4th BTW.