Saturday's NBA playoff slate presents a pivotal turning point for teams looking to avoid dire circumstances.After each dropping two games on the road, the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers can't afford a Game 3 shortcoming. The Washington Wizards and Golden State Warriors comfortably controlled the previous pair of matchups, and no NBA team has ever rallied from down 3-0.The Toronto Raptors trail the Milwaukee Bucks, 2-1, following Game 3's 27-point road loss. The Memphis Grizzlies, meanwhile, cut the deficit to 2-1 with a home victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Each series enters Game 4 with a drastically contrasting complexion, but the stakes are equally high. Everyone wouldn't have overplayed 3-1 jokes if overcoming such a deficit was easy. After looking at Saturday's full schedule, let's highlight the two Game 4 showdowns.Young Bucks Rolling over RaptorsPlayoff experience was supposed to guide the Raptors past the youthful Bucks, but past struggles haven't led to current success.Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozanboth coming off All-Star campaignshave faltered with subpar scoring to start this series:It's a small sample size, but also one indicative of the backcourt's postseason history. Per Basketball-Reference.com, Lowry and DeRozan have effective field-goal playoff percentages of 44.3 and 40.0, respectively. DeRozan, who finished the season fifth in scoring average, didn't make a field goal in Game 3's 104-77 loss."I still think we can win the series," Lowry said following the blowout, per ESPN.com's J.A. Adande. "It's a terrible feeling, the way we got our ass beat. It's a terrible feeling. [But] our confidence is not changed. We'll be fine."Yet to salvage this series, the Eastern Conference's No. 3 seed must steal at least one victory at Milwaukee.As noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Thursday's loss continued Toronto's trend of poor performance away from Air Canada Centre:In order to even the score, they must contain a scorching-hot Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has dominated the series with 23.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on a 55.8 field-goal percentage.The Greek Freak didn't even need his hands to emphatically block Norman Powell:Years from now, fans may look back at this postseason as the moment he took his place among the league's top tier of superstars. Yet the Bucks aren't a one-man show. Khris Middleton has registered 20 points in back-to-back games. Greg Monroe is averaging 16.0 points and 8.7 rebounds. Michael Beasley even scored 13 points on Thursday night.Defensive strides could make the Bucks especially dangerous in this postseason and many to follow. In their two losses, the Raptors made 11 of their 45 three-point attempts over their lengthy opponents.Even without Jabari Parker, Milwaukee has demonstrated superior depth through three games. Toronto simply doesn't carry enough offensive weapons to succeed without Lowry andDeRozanwho combined to account for 46.5 percent of their offense in terms of points per gameshouldering the scoring load. If the duo doesn't flourish Saturday night, the Raptors are in trouble.Fizdale, Popovich Play Coaching Mind GamesFollowing David Fizdale's fiery postgame rant, the motivated Memphis Grizzlies snapped a 10-game playoff losing streak to the San Antonio Spurs. In front of an energetic FedEx Forum crowd, Mike Conley (24), Marc Gasol (21) and Zach Randolph (21) each exceeded 20 points in Game 3's105-94 win.San Antonio still earned more free-throw attempts after Fizdale's criticism, but the discrepancydeteriorated. Besides, Memphis made 18 of its 20 tries while San Antonio converted just 16 of 28 opportunities.In a pleasanter press conference, per ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright, Fizdale commended the fans for creating a raucousatmosphere Thursday night:Yeah, our fans were amazing tonight. Honestly, when I did what I did and said what I said, I did not do it to try to create this. I was trying to fight for my guys, and this is Memphis. Memphis gets behind you when you stand up for your brother, for your city, and that's all I was doing. I was just fighting for respect, and I think our guys really took it to heart that I stepped up for them, and they stepped back up for me. That's what it's all about.Don't overlook his tangible on-court adjustments. Randolph shined back in the starting lineup. Also added to the first unit, James Ennis offered a dozen points and tenacious defense over 20 minutes.Fizdale, who tinkered with lineup groupings all season, may have found the right permutation to challenge San Antonio.His sage contemporary, Gregg Popovich, also sent a loud message in his own way. After a sluggish start to the third quarter, the decorated head coach sat his starters. By the end of the period, Memphis expanded its lead from four to 18.Per Wright, he explained his unconventional decision:We turned it over twice to start the minute like we were out on a picnic some place. I don't know. Those two turnovers, and then the mistake defensively where Marc got the 3-pointer at the top, and all of a sudden, it was a nine-point game. I thought at that point, we lost a little bit of composure and a little bit of confidence, and the rest ensued.Only a five-time champion who has established a renowned team-first culture can get away with limiting Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to 30 minutes apiece in a playoff game. His maneuverdidn't work in Game 3, and a 61-win team who took the opening two games by a combined 43 points probably didn't need such harsh motivation.Per the Spurs' Twitter page, starting shooting guard Danny Green acknowledged the unit's need to play crisper Saturday night:If they bounce back and gain a commanding 3-1 lead, Popovich will get hailed as a master manipulator. In reality, the league's second-best defense dragging the Grizzlies back below triple digits would probably just represent a return to normalcy.
Click here to read full news..
