Welcome To Game 3, Where Both The Nuggets And The Pacers Are Now Playing For Their Playoff Lives
One of, if not the most important aspects of any playoff game/series/run/etc is composure. More often than not, the team that finds a way to keep their composure and remain level-headed tends to win. At a time when every single possession matters, you have to remain solid no matter what happens. Not just in the moments where things aren't going your way, but also when they are. You can never get too high or too low, and the second your focus shifts to something other than executing on both ends of the floor at a high level, you're cooked.
Just look at both the DEN/MIN and IND/NYK series that resume tonight with the Nuggets and Pacers seasons on the line. In those two series, which teams would you say are staying composed? Which teams aren't getting thrown off their game by calls or missed calls or not staying focused even when things are going their way?
It's pretty obvious, it's the Wolves and Knicks.
Compare their mental focus and composure to what we've seen from the other guys
Meanwhile, what do we see from the Wolves/Knicks? They love the chaos. They embrace it and welcome the physicality. Without a doubt, they've both been a billion times better at keeping their composure and maintaining the right focus regardless of what happens on the court. Weird calls, guys out of the lineup, guys getting hurt during the games, it's all been extremely impressive and a huge reason why they both find themselves in fantastic positions to effectively end their series tonight.
What's interesting is that composure was such a strength when it came to the Nuggets title run. It's been a long time since we've seen a collective meltdown like what happened in Game 2, but guess what? The playoffs are hard. There are going to be moments that don't go your way and test your ability to play through the bullshit and still get the job done. If you don't, you get beat. It's really as simple as that.
The other reason composure is so important is because in a series, when your opponent knows you're not mentally locked in it's almost as if they can immediately smell blood in the water. You don't think the Wolves could sense what was happening as the Nuggets were melting down and it didn't give them an extra boost? You don't think the Knicks saw the Pacers crying left and right, putting more emphasis on the refs than execution and used it to their advantage? Of course they did!
So not only are you shooting yourself in the foot by losing focus which in turn hurts your execution, you're also giving your opponent an opening to deliver a death blow. As we continue to see in these playoffs, if you can't keep your composure nothing else really matters, especially when your opponent remains locked in.
That's partly what makes tonight's Game 3s so interesting. Sure there are basketball adjustments that will be made, but I really think both of these series simply come down to who can keep their composure and execute given what an important factor that was in the first two games. You're out of your mind if you don't think the league office is going to call IND/NYK differently after what the Pacers did, and that's why reports like this coming out from the Knicks side are not an accident
How the Knicks handle that whistle is going to be important. Already shorthanded, they can't allow themselves to get caught up in the bullshit. They are in the driver's seat and need to just stay the course. Let the Pacers play with all the pressure.
For the Nuggets, they are going to be entering an arena that is out for blood. Unfortunately for them, this will also be a Tony Brothers game so you KNOW there's going to be a heavy amount of bullshit. That's what Tony Brothers does. Their margin for error is much smaller than the Pacers given their situation of being at home and probably getting a more favorable whistle. The Nuggets don't have that luxury, so this is their chance to respond like we all expect a defending champ to do.
Given how even DEN and MIN appear to be from a basketball/talent standpoint, it's the extra stuff that matters and will ultimately be the difference maker. The first two games have shown us that in terms of a matchup, it's about as even as it gets whether the Wolves have Gobert or not. Both teams have elite top end talent, both teams have size, both teams have clutch players, so at the end of the day it really just comes down to who can keep their focus the best.
We all know the drill by now, teams down 0-3 are cooked. Your season is over. I think we're all a little surprised that the Nuggets find themselves in this position, but that's the thing about composure.
When you lose it, you become mortal. And when you become mortal, you can get beat on any given night by a hungrier, more locked in team that also has just as much talent.