2025 NBA Season

[Distinctin]

I wasn't expecting this series to become 2-0, led by the Mavs. ANT has not been consistent for how many games already. Although he is scoring in double digits, it's far from impressive considering he had a lot of field goal attempts. Tonight, he only made 5 out of 17. Also, KAT. One of the Wolves' problems is consistency in offense, unlike in Dallas, where they have Doncic.

The Wolves continue to frustrate their fans in this series. It looks like the Wolves players underestimated their opponent and were very irresponsible in the second half. Just look at the fact that the Wolves led by 18 points with 3 minutes left in the first half but still managed to lose by 1 point. That's an epic fail.

They are giving false hope to their fans since imagine that they are dominating on early quarter and they really show an impressive performance which leave some thoughts to their fans that they are winning. But they always come up short especially when it comes in late quarter. They allow Dallas to execute their plays and eat those big leads that's why they got choked and lose. Lucky they have Naz Reid always giving them some hope since he is so consistent on this series.

I wonder what Dallas feel on the last shot take by Reid since for sure they provably got nervous when he take that shot knowing that he is capable to knock that off especially that he is doing good on 3 pt area but he come up short with that. Game 3 I think it became more questionable to them since as we see right now that Dallas is already gaining a lot of confident for winning 2 consecutive games on the road. Luka is also hurt since he got a lot of injury but he still provide a solid performance to help his team to win on game two. His clutch 3 point is so solid and that secure Dallas to win this game.

Don't blame the Wolves here. As long as the game isn't over, no winner has been declared yet. It's not that they underestimated Dallas; the reality is Dallas is just the better team. But the series is far from over, so just chill out and wait for the next game.

If the Wolves want to come back, they need to win the next game, as no team has ever come back in the history of the NBA when down 0-3. It's been two games, and ANT is still not making his usual numbers. He could easily score 30 points in previous series, but here his shooting is very poor, and you can see he's struggling. The first half was great as the ball movement was good, however, when Dallas slowly trim their deficit, the Wolves panicked and tried to play isolation ball, especially ANT. That's why they lost, because Dallas played with good teamwork.

[wheelz1200]

Luka is carrying the Mavs the whole game and if the Wolves can't lock him down, I don't see a chance of them winning.

Wolves are mentally still at the previous series. They thought they could win it all after beating nuggets 

This series might just be lime the last where the road teams win.  Next game for the Wolves is pretty much like a game 7 because if they go down 3-0 it's a wrap.  I wasn't expecting the Wolves to go down 2-0 here but Luka is a straight savage.  Not gonna lie whoever doesn't think he is a top 3 player in the league is crazy.  Dude might not even be in his prime yet.  Enjoying the show that's for sure.

[bitgolden]

That was definitely a close game, and with just a minute left when Wolves was up 5 points I assumed the game was over and did not expected Wolves to miss that much.

Plus, we have seen Kyrie miss very important two crucial free throws so I thought that was definitely the end of the game. Then they came back with one Irving and one Doncic three and got the win, it is really magical how teams could make a great comeback. To be fair, at this point I think that both games has been very close because talent levels of these two teams are very close as well, I do not think that it would change much, it is going to be quite close for a long time.

I do understand that we are not going to see all that much change, but rest of the games will probably be close too.

[Viscore]

Luka is carrying the Mavs the whole game and if the Wolves can't lock him down, I don't see a chance of them winning.

Wolves are mentally still at the previous series. They thought they could win it all after beating nuggets 

This series might just be lime the last where the road teams win.  Next game for the Wolves is pretty much like a game 7 because if they go down 3-0 it's a wrap.  I wasn't expecting the Wolves to go down 2-0 here but Luka is a straight savage.  Not gonna lie whoever doesn't think he is a top 3 player in the league is crazy.  Dude might not even be in his prime yet.  Enjoying the show that's for sure.

They can't double Luka because that will open up a lot of shooters, and in case their outside shooters struggles, Irving will always come into the rescue to attack the paint with some alley oops to their big men. Dallas not only relying outside, but their ball movement is very much impressive that everyone is getting an opportunity to score. With Luka and Irving great at attacking the paint, it makes their bigs better and better in this game.

In fact, if we compare the production of Lively and Gafford, they could easily beat the production of KAT and Gobert.

That shot on the rib of Luka by Gobert was crazy, I wonder why the refs didn't review it and gave Gobert a flagrant foul.

[ingiltere]

The difference in experience showed in this match. Edwards may be a potential big star but with experience he wouldn't have made these mistakes at the end of the game. On the other side, Doncic scored a super match winner over DPOY Gobert. He won the game for his team with that stepback 3. Dallas took a huge advantage by winning 2 games in a row on the road. Even if they win only one of their home games, they will probably reach the finals.

[Fredomago]

Poor Timberwolves, got beaten twice.

Maybe they like to get their win on Mavs court.

Wolves are mentally still at the previous series. They thought they could win it all after beating nuggets 

They don't like that they do but this 2nd lost for the conference finals will definitely going to put some mental battle for each of them.

Almost got that good adjustments and snatch a win from Dallas homecourt, that last shot from Luka, it's an statement that he's really going to accept the challenge, this series really something that interest the fans, both young superstars are fighting for the new face of the league both ANT and Luka surely bring their respective name on top and whoever wins the conference finals will surely add more hypes to their names.

[OgNasty]

Woj is reporting that there will be no Tyrese Haliburton for game 3 with Indiana already down 0-2 in the series. That doesn’t inspire much confidence for them to make it out of this round. Looking like we are going to see Boston and Dallas in the Finals unless Minnesota or Indiana steps things up real fast.

[Yogee]

I wasn't expecting this series to become 2-0, led by the Mavs. ANT has not been consistent for how many games already. Although he is scoring in double digits, it's far from impressive considering he had a lot of field goal attempts. Tonight, he only made 5 out of 17. Also, KAT. One of the Wolves' problems is consistency in offense, unlike in Dallas, where they have Doncic.

The Wolves continue to frustrate their fans in this series. It looks like the Wolves players underestimated their opponent and were very irresponsible in the second half. Just look at the fact that the Wolves led by 18 points with 3 minutes left in the first half but still managed to lose by 1 point. That's an epic fail.

It's not about underestimating since we all know 18 points isn't that many in the NBA and a lot of teams came back from that. This is more like the coach not knowing what he's doing in the last three to four possessions or that ANT simply choked. He threw two bad passes which allowed the Mavs to score more points and take the lead.

[MK-74]

It was a very exciting game again, Luka Doncic won with a game winner.
It was a very very good game, I'm glad Dallas won, hopefully we will see them in the finals.

Game 3 of the Indiana Pacers - Boston Celtics series will start in half an hour.
My favorite again tonight is Boston Celtics, I think we will watch a good game again.

[Harkorede]

Game 3 of the Indiana Pacers - Boston Celtics series will start in half an hour.
My favorite again tonight is Boston Celtics, I think we will watch a good game again.

Well, The Indiana Pacer have started the game in an impressive manner and if they can keep this momentum in the 2nd half, they sure should get an easy win here, they were up by as many as 19 in the 2nd Quarter, but went into the break with a dozen lead.

Andrew Nembhad, TJ McConnell and Myles Turner all have exceed my expectations of the them, they've been crushing the Celtics inside the paint with some terrific midrange scoring, they put 69 points in the 1st half and only scored only 2 3-points field goals, that shows how effective they've been from close range. The Celtics doesn't seem to have a defensive response to this yet because it's all the Pacers guys making the right plays and getting involved with the ball rotation. The second half should be even more interesting, we'll see what adjustments Joe Mazzulla would implement to stop this bleeding.

[Baofeng]

Game 3 of the Indiana Pacers - Boston Celtics series will start in half an hour.
My favorite again tonight is Boston Celtics, I think we will watch a good game again.

Well, The Indiana Pacer have started the game in an impressive manner and if they can keep this momentum in the 2nd half, they sure should get an easy win here, they were up by as many as 19 in the 2nd Quarter, but went into the break with a dozen lead.

Andrew Nembhad, TJ McConnell and Myles Turner all have exceed my expectations of the them, they've been crushing the Celtics inside the paint with some terrific midrange scoring, they put 69 points in the 1st half and only scored only 2 3-points field goals, that shows how effective they've been from close range. The Celtics doesn't seem to have a defensive response to this yet because it's all the Pacers guys making the right plays and getting involved with the ball rotation. The second half should be even more interesting, we'll see what adjustments Joe Mazzulla would implement to stop this bleeding.

Exactly, they started hot and play good defense too that's why they are leading at the halftime. But hopefully they can sustain this run in the second half. We all know that Boston is a good second half team as well, so this game is still far from over even though the Pacers is leading by double digit.

So let's see what Mazzulla's up to in the second half, they need to score in a bunch and half some stops. They can't just give the Pacers open look, as what T. J. McConnell is doing or Andrew Nembhard which is the leading scorer of Pacers after two quarters.

[OgNasty]

A much closer game than expected, but Boston came through in the end. 1 game away from the Finals and possibly winning their first in the Tatum era.

[Harkorede]

A much closer game than expected, but Boston came through in the end. 1 game away from the Finals and possibly winning their first in the Tatum era.

Yeah, it was really a close game, and probably the Boston Celtics biggest come back in recent times, after being down by as much as 18 points in the 3rd Quarter, they just kept fight possession after possession, and Jrue Holiday after completing a 3 points play to help Celtics restore parity, he then had a very big defensive play in the succeeding possession with a clean strip of the ball from Andrew Nembhard, that was the game winning and play of the match in my opinion.


I'm glad the Celtics did make amends for my lost bet on the 1st half -2.5 handicap I had on them, while they down by 8 points towards the end of the 3rd the Odds for Celtics to win was at 3.50, so I tailed that with the hope that they would complete the comeback, and so they did 




-----------------------------

Can the Celtics complete the sweep now ? If Haliburton is available for game 4.

[Fredomago]

A much closer game than expected, but Boston came through in the end. 1 game away from the Finals and possibly winning their first in the Tatum era.

Yeah, it was really a close game, and probably the Boston Celtics biggest come back in recent times, after being down by as much as 18 points in the 3rd Quarter, they just kept fight possession after possession, and Jrue Holiday after completing a 3 points play to help Celtics restore parity, he then had a very big defensive play in the succeeding possession with a clean strip of the ball from Andrew Nembhard, that was the game winning and play of the match in my opinion.


I'm glad the Celtics did make amends for my lost bet on the 1st half -2.5 handicap I had on them, while they down by 8 points towards the end of the 3rd the Odds for Celtics to win was at 3.50, so I tailed that with the hope that they would complete the comeback, and so they did 




-----------------------------

Can the Celtics complete the sweep now ? If Haliburton is available for game 4.

Congrats for your win, that's really sweet from Boston not giving up and push everything to complete this snatch from Pacers homecourt, I like Holiday's effort as he keep his job and manage to make that big impact for this win, most of the fans and viewers might think that Pacers got this at home after that good lead from the that 1st half run, but like how you described it, Boston did not let the game to be a blow out but instead push it and complete that win.

Game 4 might be possible for Pacers as Boston might take this series in front of their crowd, just my opinion, if they allow Pacers to win and take the game 5 at home, that's really something to pay back for the support of their fans.

[danherbias07]

That could've been a big win for the Pacers without Haliburton.

They did great and that was what I was expecting for Myles Turner. Dominate the paint, he is the tallest guy on the floor and he must be the main scorer for the team. But there's just too many turnovers that happened. They had the lead for almost the whole game except the first quarter and they even put it to a 17-point lead if I remember correctly. All they need is to protect that lead but they are still playing fast ball at the end of the quarter which I think was not a wise thing to do. Plus that last possession, Coach Carlisle should've called for a timeout after Nembhard got it to the other side of the floor.

Nembhard stepped up his game, McConnell too, Siakam did his normal, and Turner did more, that's the recipe for a win but they were unable to protect it.
A bit sad for the Pacers but it's the strong Celtics so I guess it will be really difficult to win against them. This will crush their confidence, all that hard work for nothing.

[Shinpako09]

Woj is reporting that there will be no Tyrese Haliburton for game 3 with Indiana already down 0-2 in the series. That doesn’t inspire much confidence for them to make it out of this round. Looking like we are going to see Boston and Dallas in the Finals unless Minnesota or Indiana steps things up real fast.

"I would agree for Boston, but not for the Wolves right now. If the Mavs make it 3-0, then maybe I can say yes to this. I don't think the team that beat the Nuggets will just allow that to happen. If ANT still has a low field goal percentage in game 3, then it's not good for them since KAT is also not consistent. Also, I would put Reid or KAT on Luka instead of Gobert.

[Viscore]

Woj is reporting that there will be no Tyrese Haliburton for game 3 with Indiana already down 0-2 in the series. That doesn’t inspire much confidence for them to make it out of this round. Looking like we are going to see Boston and Dallas in the Finals unless Minnesota or Indiana steps things up real fast.

"I would agree for Boston, but not for the Wolves right now. If the Mavs make it 3-0, then maybe I can say yes to this. I don't think the team that beat the Nuggets will just allow that to happen. If ANT still has a low field goal percentage in game 3, then it's not good for them since KAT is also not consistent.

I hope it's a different Wolves that we will be witnessing in game 3 as it's a must win for them. They can't go down to 0-3 as that's automatic elimination due to the fact that no team has ever came back from that deficit. ANT was a major problem honestly, his shots aren't falling like its usual, so really need some big help and I guess improve his game as well, after all he is the best player of the team, if he'll struggle, we can't expect the team to win.

Also, I would put Reid or KAT on Luka instead of Gobert.

I'm not sure that would work, yes Reid and KAT are both taller than Luka, but the speed though, they can't cope up with Luka Magic for sure.

[Baofeng]

Woj is reporting that there will be no Tyrese Haliburton for game 3 with Indiana already down 0-2 in the series. That doesn’t inspire much confidence for them to make it out of this round. Looking like we are going to see Boston and Dallas in the Finals unless Minnesota or Indiana steps things up real fast.

"I would agree for Boston, but not for the Wolves right now. If the Mavs make it 3-0, then maybe I can say yes to this. I don't think the team that beat the Nuggets will just allow that to happen. If ANT still has a low field goal percentage in game 3, then it's not good for them since KAT is also not consistent. Also, I would put Reid or KAT on Luka instead of Gobert.

But matchup, I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you on putting Kat or Naz Reid on Luka. Doncic will just take advantage of that "mismatch" all night, taking outside shots like he did against Gobert, or going inside to bait for a foul.

Wolves are doing good, until that switch and Luka with his trade mark step back 3, and I think that is hard to guard as if you try to get close, he could illicit a foul on you or just pass and then get the ball back. Turnovers though will be the key for the Wolves to win in next game. They have to limit their turnovers and not just give up easy points inside.

[Wapfika]

But matchup, I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you on putting Kat or Naz Reid on Luka. Doncic will just take advantage of that "mismatch" all night, taking outside shots like he did against Gobert, or going inside to bait for a foul.

Wolves are doing good, until that switch and Luka with his trade mark step back 3, and I think that is hard to guard as if you try to get close, he could illicit a foul on you or just pass and then get the ball back. Turnovers though will be the key for the Wolves to win in next game. They have to limit their turnovers and not just give up easy points inside.

Totally agreed, those height advantage is only working for players that doesn’t have any accurate perimeter shots like Nuggets during their match against their Wolves that’s why Wolves looks like overwhelming strong against Nuggets because they can’t forced the paint points.

Now with Dallas line-up which Luca is a great outside shooter, any big man guard from Wolves is useless since he can always use screen, dribble or fadeaway shots just to avoid blocks from this slow big man. The way to defend Luca is to provide a defender that can match his speed or put him on double team which is not a good choice for Wolves because they have slow line-up while Dallas has a lot of shooters aside from Luca that can be another threat.

The WCF shows that having a big line-up can dominate basketball. 3 points accuracy and speed is still the best strategy which is being popularized by Warriors before.

[arwin100]

Woj is reporting that there will be no Tyrese Haliburton for game 3 with Indiana already down 0-2 in the series. That doesn’t inspire much confidence for them to make it out of this round. Looking like we are going to see Boston and Dallas in the Finals unless Minnesota or Indiana steps things up real fast.

"I would agree for Boston, but not for the Wolves right now. If the Mavs make it 3-0, then maybe I can say yes to this. I don't think the team that beat the Nuggets will just allow that to happen. If ANT still has a low field goal percentage in game 3, then it's not good for them since KAT is also not consistent.

I hope it's a different Wolves that we will be witnessing in game 3 as it's a must win for them. They can't go down to 0-3 as that's automatic elimination due to the fact that no team has ever came back from that deficit. ANT was a major problem honestly, his shots aren't falling like its usual, so really need some big help and I guess improve his game as well, after all he is the best player of the team, if he'll struggle, we can't expect the team to win.

They are so exhausted and losing two consecutive games in a row for sure drain their spirit especially if they see that both Kyrie and Doncic is doing good plus their Gafford,Lively and rest of the crew is doing so well. I don't know what adjustment will be made by Wolves since they really see that Ant can't guard Kyrie so that would really a problem for them especially for continue chasing him to defend will totally exhausting for the part of ANT. So maybe they should adjust and assigned other perimeter defender so ANT can do other thing and save up his energy so he can score more or work well inside the court.

They need to recover and get a win since if they fall again and let Dallas win then take a 0 - 3 advantage then maybe we could really agree that they are already done. I'm not expecting this result for wolves since they are really so good and have a lot of potential but they fall so bad on Mavs.