Both number one seeds from the Western and Eastern conferences; Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat, were able to gain the upper hand and gain a 2-0 lead over their opponents, the Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.
Whilst game three of those series continues on Friday, game three of the Memphis Grizzlies vs Golden State Warriors, and Boston Celtics vs Milwaukee Bucks series don’t commence until Saturday night.
CBS Sports HQ took advantage of the break between games to analyse both aforementioned series, starting with the Celtics Bucks game three in Milwaukee.
CBS Sports insider Bill Reiter broke down how he believes game three will pan out and what are some of the key matchups.
“What I saw in game two for Boston is a reality, which is a really dominant team that’s going to bring the best versions of themselves,” commented Reiter.
“This is a great Boston defense, first game notwithstanding, we saw what they did to the Nets. I like the under at 213.”
CBS Sports’ Larry Hartstein echoes Reiter’s sentiment on Boston and marvels at their defense, which has potential to be an all-time great postseason defense if the Celtics can move on to win the NBA Championship.
“The Celtics defense has played great in both games,” remarks Hartstein.
“They adjusted, they made 20 three-pointers and that’s what the Bucks do, the Bucks give up three-pointers, they try to stop you at the rim. The Celtics are one of the best teams in the league in terms of not just making three-pointers but how many they pull off.”
Heading over to San Francisco where the Warriors will host the Grizzlies in games three and four with the series tied 1-1.
It has been an extremely physical series so far as two ejections for flagrant fouls have already been handed to Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks, with the latter causing discussion whether his foul on Gary Payton II was a dirty play, something Warriors coach Steve Kerr agrees with.
“These teams don’t like each other, it’s been physical, I think it’s going to be an absolute battle between these teams,” states Reiter.
“This game is going to go down to the wire. Home Court advantage has not meant that much in this NBA playoffs if you look at the spreads and where they’ve closed. I think this game is a toss-up and I think it’s a seven game series,” commented Hartstein.
