Twolves clean up their act, win game 2, and Draymond is mad about being labeled mad.

Oilers top Knights 5-4 in OT. We are so, so close to dedicated NHL content.

The Boys go low at Philly Cricket. Keith Mitchell paces the pack. Limited field leaderboard stacked with exciting names. No Charles Howells to be found.

Dominica plays Barbados to a nil-nil draw in an international friendly. Dominica is an island nation of approximately 75k people, english is the official language, and it’s home to reigning women’s triple jump gold medal winner Thea LaFond.

Is basketball now baseball? Yep, it’s a Big Brain Friday from KMARK. The Analyst Conclave of the NBA is stupefied over these darn playoff series. Why are the Celtics down 0-2? The Thunder lose game 1, but win by a zillion in game 2. What the heck happened to the Cavs? Let’s unpack the parallels between two sports, the gripes, the narratives, the numbers, and what it could mean.

Gripe: The NBA playoffs are nothing like the regular season.

This is an entirely true position. We’ve known this for decades. The game slows down, defense gets more physical, and players give a shit. Usually this translates to less scoring. The Celtics scored 90 or fewer points one time during the 82 game regular season, yet we just watched them put up 90 and lose on Wednesday. Scoring isn’t necessarily depressed, but the MLB suffers from the same gripe. Postseason baseball is entirely controlled by run prevention. Relievers can enter the game at any time. Playoff bullpen usage looks nothing like the regular season. The root causes are different. In the NBA, officiating fundementally changes while in baseball scheduling (rest for the pen) plays a more deciding difference.

Gripe: The Celtics are shooting too many threes.

Hello? Mathematics, is that you? Let’s start from the top…Moneyball was a popular Jonah Hill film….

We can skip some parts, but the analytic gap between baseball and basketball is shrinking. The volume of threes shot by a normal NBA team this season would have placed them near the top of the league even 4 or 5 years ago. The Celtics just set the record for most threes attempted in a season. Why? Numericals bro. Threes and layups. Originally championed by Daryl Morey in Houston, threes and layups have eaten any concept of a midrange shot. This isn’t entirely different than homers and K’s. The two most valuable conclusions of an at-bat (for either the pitcher or batter). Teams prioritize threes more than ever before, but do regular season threes translate to postseason success? In the MLB, we’ve seen postseason offenses optimize for putting the ball in play instead of power. The Dodgers just won the title watching the Yankees kick the ball all over the yard.

Observation (not really a gripe): Playoff success seems more random than ever before.

Two parts to go deep on. “Seems more random” is a reflection that the regular season is divorced from anything that happens in the playoffs. No need to explain this to Dodger fans! Cleveland is learning the hard way. “Ever before” is the second element that’s important. The NBA is defined by a few teams winning multiple championships (often consecutively). Here’s all the teams that have mattered for 50 years:

- 80’s: Lakers, Celtics, Pistons

- 90’s: Bulls

- 2000’s: Lakers, Spurs

- 2010’s: Heat, Spurs, Warriors

That’s it! Sure, sure sprinkle in the 2011 Mavs. They matter to Dirk and Cubes.

Quiz time: list the last 6 title winners in the NBA. Answer: Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics. This is unprecedented “parity”. This is crazier than EVER BEFORE. Baseball is less dynastic, but the MLB hasn’t seen a repeat winner since the Yankees won a third straight title in 2000. It’s hard to look at a list of MLB World Series winners and not describe it as feeling random.

Okay. Okay. Come up for air. What does this mean? Bigger Brains than mine should figure it out, but here’s my final interpretation. Within the limits of roster construction (Second Apron), teams and coaches will develop specialized roles (Bruce Bowen), break the game into smaller segments, and aim to optimize 48 minutes of playoff basketball in the same way that MLB teams squeeze every out of postseason innings. This could show up as more distinct plays instead of offensive systems. The Celtics system is trash right now. Run a play. This could be more liberal use of early game timeouts to get specific substitutions. Expect to see more hybrid zones that teams don’t need to employ in the regular season because the Wizards can’t score anyway. IDK. I’m Phil Jackson now, boys!

There’s a ton more to hypothesize. This postseason feels like basketball’s breaking point. Coaches and teams across the league won’t stand for this playoff ineptitude. Big changes coming (next year).