Tune-In Tidbits: ESPN/ABC Friday, May 28, 2021

Game 3: Knicks at Hawks
7 p.m. ET, ESPN | Series tied 1-1

• Down 0-1 in the series and trailing by 13 at the half (57-44) in Game 2, the Knicks rallied in the second half, outscoring the Hawks 57-35 in front of a raucous Madison Square Garden crowd to even the series at 1-1. Derrick Rose was inserted into the starting lineup for the second half and responded with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in the second half, and finished with a team-high 26 points – his first 25+ point playoff game since 2015 against the Cavs.

• Rose leads the Knicks with 21.5 points through the first two games as New York’s bench players have outscored Atlanta’s bench players by 33 points per game. New York’s bench players, led by Rose and Alec Burks (19.0 ppg), have averaged a playoff-high 59.5 points per game, which accounts for 57.8% of New York’s 103.0 points per game.

• Danilo Gallinari has averaged just 6.5 points on 23.8% shooting off the Hawks bench, but has been the primary defender on Julius Randle for a team-high 8:55 of matchup time through the first two games and held Randle to two points on 1-10 shooting. Randle – New York’s leading scorer during the regular season at 24.1 ppg – has averaged just 15 points on 28.2% shooting from the field and 30.8% from 3-point range in the series so far.

• The Knicks and Hawks not only finished with matching overall records during the regular season, they also matched in splits between home (25-11) and road (16-20). The Hawks won Game 1 at Madison Square Garden to steal home-court advantage from the Knicks. Can the Knicks respond with a win of their own in Atlanta? The Hawks closed the regular season on an 11-game home win streak; their last loss at home came on April 15. During the 11-game home win streak, the Hawks averaged 120.1 points and outscored opponents by an average of 14.5 points.

• Trae Young has opened his playoff career with back-to-back 30-point games. Between the regular season and playoffs, Young has 24 games with 30 points or more this season. The Hawks are 18-6 in those games.

 

Game 3: Nets at Celtics
8:30 p.m. ET, ABC | Nets lead 2-0

• Each member of the Brooklyn Big 3 has averaged over 20 points per game in this series – Kevin Durant (29.0), Kyrie Irving (22.0) and James Harden (20.5) – for a combined total of 71.5 ppg. However, the team’s leader in plus/minus at plus-25.5 ppg has been Joe Harris, who is averaging 17.5 points on 56.3% shooting from 3-point range. Harris led the league in 3-point percentage on wide open 3-pointers (56.3%) and open 3-pointers (48.4%) among players who had at least 150 attempts throughout the regular season. So far this series, Harris has shot 2-5 (40%) on tight 3’s, 3-5 (60%) on open 3’s and 4-6 (66.7%) on wide open 3’s.

• By comparison, the Celtics do not have a single 20 ppg scorer as Marcus Smart has led Boston at 18.0 ppg, followed by Kemba Walker (16.0) and Jayson Tatum (15.5). Tatum – Boston’s leading scorer during the regular season (26.4 ppg, 10th in NBA) – has been held to 28.1% shooting from the field and 28.6% from 3-point range. Kevin Durant has been the primary defender on Tatum for a team-high 9:52 over the first two games and has held Tatum to six total points on 1-5 shooting in that time. On the other hand, Durant has scored 13 points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line in 8:43 while being defended by Tatum.

• Brooklyn has averaged 22.0 points off turnovers (most in playoffs), taking advantage of Boston’s 14.5 turnovers per game (fourth most in playoffs). Kevin Durant (6.5) and James Harden (5.5) have accounted for half of Brooklyn’s points off turnovers.

• Between the regular season and playoffs, the Nets are 5-0 against the Celtics this season, holding the Celtics to an average of 101.8 points per game. During the regular season, the Celtics ranked 28th in scoring against Brooklyn (102.7 ppg) and in the playoffs that has dropped to 100.5 ppg. The Nets allowed an average of 114.1 ppg during the regular season – the 10th most of any team and fourth most of any playoff team.

• As a team, Brooklyn shot 52.3% from the field, 44.7% from 3-point range and 95.5% from the free throw line in Game 2. How good of a shooting performance is that? Since 1984, the have only been 10 other instances when a team has shot 52-44-95 in a game, most recently in Game 3 of the 2019 NBA Finals by the Toronto Raptors. During the 2020-21 regular season, only four teams hit those marks in a game.

 

Game 3: Clippers at Mavericks
9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN | Mavericks lead 2-0

• The Mavericks lineup of Tim Hardaway Jr., Kristaps Porzingis, Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Luka Doncic has posted an offensive rating of 140.0 in 39 minutes together over the first two games of this series. That lineup has outscored LA by 23 points over those 39 minutes.

• Through the first two games of the series, Tim Hardaway Jr. has been on fire, averaging 24.5 points on 63% shooting form the field and 64.7% (11-17) from 3-point range. Of the 60 players that have attempted at least 20 shots in the playoffs, Hardaway Jr. has the highest effective field goal percentage at 83.3%.

• Kawhi Leonard is coming off a 41-point performance in Game 2; it is tied for the third-highest scoring playoff game of his career and highest as a Clipper. Six different Mavericks defended at least one Kawhi shot attempt; he shot 60% of better against all defenders except Luka Doncic, who allowed seven points on 2-4 shooting from the field, 1-2 from 3-point and 2-2 from the free throw line in 1:30 of matchup time.

• Kawhi Leonard is averaging a playoff-high 23.5 points in the first half, while shooting 62.5% from the filed, 66.7% from 3-point range and 92.9% from the free throw line. In the second half, Kawhi is tied for 26th in scoring at 10.0 points, with his shooting percentages dropping to 42.1% from the field, 14.3% from 3-point and 60% from on free throws.

• Luka Doncic is averaging a playoff-high 22.0 points per game on pull-up shots; he is shooting 17-35 from the field, and 10-21 from 3-point range for an effective field goal percentage of 62.9%. Doncic also led all players in pull-up scoring during the regular season, but at 12.2 ppg with an eFG% of 52.5%.