NBA-гийн финалд түрүүлэх гол өрсөлдөгч Тандер багтай танилц. Бусад багуудын боломж хэр вэ?

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There is a good chance Timothée Chalomet and Ben Stiller are apoplectic at Madison Square Garden tonight. Spike Lee might be morose. Anne Hathaway could be furious. Tracy Morgan and that one guy from “The Sopranos” might be sad. Tyrese Haliburton is actually doing what people thought Trae Young would be doing.

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NBA Finals Bound

Thunder clinch first finals berth since 2012

As with many of their games this season, the Thunder let very little drama seep into the proceedings. Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the Timberwolves was their chance to make the NBA Finals for the first time in over a decade. Their last real chance of getting there was in 2016, when they had the Warriors on the ropes with another 3-1 series lead. And, on the nine-year anniversary of Klay Thompson torching this Thunder organization in Game 6 of that historic series comeback, OKC made sure history had no chance of repeating itself.

The Thunder won the first quarter 26-9. They won the second period 39-23. They entered halftime with a bevy of dominant statistics to show the Wolves were about to be sent home in the next 24 minutes of game action:

• OKC had 28 points created off turnovers. Minnesota had 32 points total.
• Minnesota had 12 made shots and 14 turnovers. OKC had 12 assisted field goals.
• Remember Minnesota’s 32 first-half points? OKC had 30 points in the paint.

Pure domination. (This has been the Thunder’s model all year. They were the best first-, second- and third-quarter team in the NBA this season. They really fell off in the fourth quarters, ranking only fourth among all squads.) The Thunder won Game 5 124-94 to begin Minnesota’s offseason. The Wolves had a great postseason run, but never really knew what hit them in this series. Committing 87 turnovers with 55 of them being live-ball miscues in five games will do that to you.

The Thunder now move on to attempt to win their first title in franchise history. They don’t get to take the SuperSonics history with them, nor should they. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka reached the finals in 2012 and lost to the Miami Heat in five games. At the time, the tremendous talent and youth of the Thunder made everybody believe we’d be seeing them back on this stage for years to come.

Harden was traded months after. Durant would leave four years later. They never returned until emphatically punching their ticket last night. This Thunder team feels different in terms of expecting them to be here for a while. And they don’t have a LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh team on the other side for them. They await the finish of the Pacers trying to end the Knicks’ season, possibly tonight.

OKC should be here a long time with its talented youth, deep draft capital and MVP SGA looking impossible to defend. Then again, the league has been carving up rosters with second-apron luxury tax penalties in an effort to promote parity. It’s worked the last seven seasons, including this one, with seven different champions. Maybe the Thunder are too good to allow that to continue. Or maybe they’ll suffer the same fate as Denver and Boston.

Regardless, the Thunder are here now. They’re rested. They’re waiting. And, if this season has told us anything, they might not allow much drama to seep into this next outcome.

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The Last 24

We may bid farewell to “Inside the NBA” tonight

😢 Is this it? Tonight might be the final “NBA on TNT” presentation ever. Let’s appreciate this landmark in sports television. 

🏀 Narrowing it down. The Suns have a list of their final coaching candidates. New coach, who dis? 🏀 Rank it! The “No Dunks” crew ranked the flawless triple-double performances of Tyrese Haliburton. Watch them rank!

🏀 The little things. Eric Nehm breaks down the things Haliburton is doing to complement his gaudy stats.

💰 Money talks. Here is the latest on contract discussions between Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” debates whether too many trophies are being given out.

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A Weak Weapon?

Where did the Knicks’ PnR threat go?

The Knicks have a tall task ahead of them, starting tonight.

• Now that the Wolves have been eliminated after going down 3-1, the record for those teams has dropped to 13-284.
• We’re at a 4.3 percent success rate in trying to come back, as we discussed yesterday.

The Pacers have been dismantling teams left and right in this postseason, and while people have been trying to dismiss it due to injuries, it’s really just because they’ve come with a plan, stuck to it and been extremely calm in clutch situations. It’s allowed them to execute.

The Knicks have to find a way to crack the code against their defense without playing into their game. New York can’t run with Indiana. It’s a fool’s errand. When the Knicks have tried to do that, they’ve really played into the Pacers’ hands. The Knicks were one of the five slowest teams in the NBA this season, and the Pacers were one of the seven fastest. Indiana was the third-fastest team that made the postseason.

The problem for the Knicks is they need to score efficiently against the Pacers, and that might only be possible or likely in the open floor. The Knicks have 72 assists and 60 turnovers in this series. That’s nearly a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Juxtapose that with the Pacers’ 2.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (102 assists, 42 turnovers). The Knicks are having to work really hard for every bucket.

One reason might be their abandonment of the pick-and-roll with Karl-Anthony Towns. It’s been baffling to see them go away from it, especially in a series in which they have such a clear advantage with his scoring. First and foremost, Towns does struggle with setting good, proper screens. He needs to correct that, especially as someone who has been in the league for a decade. The reason is because the Knicks could be dominating the Pacers’ defense with the PnR.

This isn’t just an issue against the Pacers either. The Knicks just aren’t running pick-and-roll plays with Towns in the postseason like they did in the regular season.

In the regular season, 12.6 percent of Towns’ possessions on offense involved him being a PnR big man, where he either shot it, got fouled or turned it over as a roll or pop man. And he was good too. He scored 1.25 points per possession, which is excellent. He also had an effective field goal percentage of 61.3 percent.

All of that is gone in the postseason. Towns has dropped down to 5.5 percent of his possessions coming from the PnR situations. He’s scoring just 0.82 points per possession and has a 25.0 percent eFG. That’s pretty abysmal. And while some might think you shouldn’t run them if he’s not hitting shots or scoring as effectively, I would argue he might not be hitting shots and scoring as effectively because you’re not running them at the normal rate for his scoring rhythm.

Jalen Brunson’s pick-and-roll frequency has actually gone up from 39.4 percent of his possessions in the regular season to 41.8 percent. And his scoring has slightly increased from 1.04 to 1.05 points per possession. And his shooting percentage is up, but his frequency of getting to the free-throw line in these situations is down pretty dramatically. The Knicks are running these plays, they’re just not involving KAT, according to the numbers on NBA.com.

Towns has been really good offensively in this series, but he could be even deadlier and more consistent. Someone who makes a good Pacers defense feel helpless, all while helping the Knicks slow the pace. The pick-and-roll can speed up offensive actions in the halfcourt while avoiding running in the open court. With their backs against the wall, it might be a good idea for the Knicks to go back to their old tricks

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Pack It Up

Are the Wolves starting up or stuck?

With the Wolves being bounced from the Western Conference finals in five games for the second straight year, the conversation immediately surrounding them on the internet was whether or not they’ve hit their ceiling. They started drawing comparisons to Damian Lillard’s Trail Blazers, which is all very shortsighted. Despite two very frustrating playoff exits, the Wolves are in a very good position.

The Wolves made the conference finals after a radical change right before training camp. It was one that took months for them to figure out how to implement on the court, as Julius Randle’s replacement of Karl-Anthony Towns was a “square peg in a round hole” situation. I actually think making it back to the conference finals after that change – and the potential ruination of their team chemistry right before training camp started – was a massive step in the right direction.

However, the Wolves’ current roster was built to take down the Nuggets, which they did. And now the theory of the Thunder has become actualized. They need to adjust to that. The good news is they have good young talent, good wings and a 23-year-old superstar in Anthony Edwards, who is still going to get a lot better. Jaden McDaniels is really good, and they have a pretty deep team.

They have to figure out if size matters anymore … or more importantly, if their size matters in the future against this Thunder squad and what they might become. Edwards has run out of gas two straight postseasons, and they may need to find him some help creating offense that is more reliable than Towns was or Randle is.

Timberwolves (49-33, sixth in the West)

• Draft pick situation: Their pick (21st) belongs to Utah. However, they get Detroit’s pick (17th) which was eventually moved in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. They have the 31st pick (from Utah) and their second-round pick (51st) belongs to the Clippers.
• Upcoming free agents: Julius Randle ($30.9m player option), Naz Reid ($15m player option), Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza ($2.3m team option), Josh Minott ($2.1m team option).
• Main guys: Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle.
• Any cap room? Not in the slightest.
• Do they have to worry about any tax aprons? Currently projected barely under the first apron, but that’s eliminated (along with the second apron) based on Reid and Alexander-Walker’s free agency.
• What do they need this summer? Figuring out if this team is 1) capable of winning a title, 2) has the requisite offense around Edwards for the playoffs, and 3) they can even afford to keep it together in the first place.

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