The Paycom Center floor had no NBA Finals decals for Games 1 and 2.
The Paycom Center floor had no NBA Finals decals for Games 1 and 2.Joshua Gateley/Getty
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Welcome back to Court Sense ☘️ A newsletter that might be getting a little nostalgic today
The NBA Finals are off and running, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers tied with the series shifting to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Wednesday.
But does it really feel like the Finals?
I don’t mean because of the small-market teams — I’ll rest the slander of the midwest for today — or perceived lack of star power. But when you tune into the broadcasts on ABC or ESPN, it all feels a little ... flat?
The league and its broadcaster have come under some criticism for the underwhelming presentation for the NBA’s showpiece series, with some suggesting the games haven’t really felt any different from a Wednesday night in January.
Much of that criticism has been directed toward the court designs, with the floor at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center lacking a single Finals-related decal for Game 1. It was a far cry from the NBA Finals of yesteryear, when a massive Larry O’Brien trophy was often at center court with other Finals logos scattered around the floor.
The NBA apparently heard this criticism after Game 1 and acted swiftly. Viewers were treated to a pair of pretty low-res digital decals (they were not on the actual court, just digitally inserted into the broadcast) of the Larry O’Brien trophy which were later swapped out for the script NBA Finals logo (presented by YouTube TV, of course).
It’s all just so underwhelming. You’d only really know you were watching the NBA Finals from the little logo in the corner of the scorebug (or if you have a vague sense of the basketball calendar, I suppose).
Tyrese Haliburton, man.
Tyrese Haliburton, man.Julio Cortez/Associated Press
As for the actual basketball, each team has notched a win typical of their respective playoff runs. The Thunder suffocated the Pacers in the first half to dominate Game 2, a few days after Indiana continued its absurd run of impossible playoff comebacks, rallying from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to steal Game 1 in the final second.
And that’s final second, singular, with Tyrese Haliburton hitting his 126th (don’t check me on that) clutch shot of the season, a go-ahead jumper with three-tenths of a second to play. It was the first game-winning shot in the final second of a Finals game since Michael Jordan’s game-winner over Bryon Russell in 1997.
(Not the Finals game-winner over Bryon Russell you’re thinking of; the other Finals game-winner over Bryon Russell. Michael Jordan was not kind to Bryon Russell.)
By the way, those three-tenths of a second that remained after Haliburton’s shot accounted for all of the time that the Pacers led in Game 1. Incredible.
I have never seen anything quite like this Pacers run of clutch comebacks (five rallies of 15 points or more this postseason) or this Haliburton run of clutch shots. This stat seems almost unbelievable: on game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final two minutes this season, Haliburton is shooting 13 of 15 (86.7 percent!!) from the floor.
A Haliburton shot in crunch time this year has been more likely to go in than a Payton Pritchard free throw. I need to go sit down.
Let’s get into it.
ICYMI 🗞️
Do not touch the Buffalo!
Do not touch the Buffalo!Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
In what is sure to be a painful offseason, there’s one thing the Celtics absolutely cannot do
By Chad Finn
Recent eye-catching headline on Boston.com: Celtics have reportedly ‘rebuffed’ other teams’ attempts at trading for Derrick White.
My ire-raising reaction upon considering said eye-catching headline: “Keep rebuffing, Brad. Rebuff every offer, from insulting” (Which most of them will be.) “to thought-provoking.” (If any happen to be, which is doubtful.) “Rebuff and rebuff some more. Rebuff them into oblivion.”
Because in this potentially — probably? — seismic offseason for the Celtics, trading Derrick White is the one move that cannot be tolerated.
Continue reading
Other top stories we’re watching ...
A picture is worth a thousand words, and the defining image of the Celtics’ season — and the team’s near future — was a painful one. Globe photographer Danielle Parhizkaran broke down how she captured the moment the franchise’s fate may have turned.
From Larry Bird to Sam Presti, there are plenty of local connections in this year’s NBA Finals. Khari Thompson runs through nine of them.
Tom Thibodeau, who was stunningly fired by the Knicks last week, has seemingly been unfairly branded — and it’s a tough label to shake. Gary Washburn has that and more in this week’s Sunday Basketball Notes.
Trivia Tuesday 🧠
Each week, we’ll be asking a piece of Celtics trivia to test your knowledge on the 18-time champions.
Congratulations to Greg Herr of Byfield, the first person to correctly answer last week’s question. As a refresher, we asked you to name the Celtic who shot a perfect 3 for 3 in the 1986 NBA Finals (with the hint that he’s got some pretty important basketball games coming up).
The answer is Rick Carlisle, who played three seasons for Boston in the 1980s. Now in his second stint as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Carlisle is looking to win his second NBA title as a coach (the first came with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011).
Rick Carlisle (center left) wasn't quite as pivotal to the Celtics 1986 as Danny Ainge (left), Larry Bird (center right), or Bill Walton (right), but we haven't forgotten him.
Rick Carlisle (center left) wasn't quite as pivotal to the Celtics 1986 as Danny Ainge (left), Larry Bird (center right), or Bill Walton (right), but we haven't forgotten him.Greene, Bill Globe Staff
Here’s this week’s question: Which former Celtic is the only player in NBA history to win NBA Finals MVP and not later be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame?
(Excluding currently active players or yet to be eligible for the Hall of Fame.)Know the answer? Send us an email at courtsense@globe.com, and the first person to write in with the correct answer will get a shoutout when the answer is revealed in next week’s newsletter. Good luck!
This week in basketball 🏀
Congratulations to ESPN’s Richard Jefferson, a first-time winner of the Joe Mazzulla Quote of the Week.
Jefferson and ex-Celtic Kendrick Perkins have long provided some comic relief to ESPN’s otherwise lackluster NBA coverage — this one mocking Jefferson’s follicular difficulties is of my favorites— and Jefferson landed a solid barb on his hefty fellow analyst after Game 2 while talking about Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton.
“[Haliburton] had 5 [points] going into the fourth, and then he gets those 12 points, but the game’s out of reach,”Jefferson said.“Those are empty calories. Perk knows about those.”
No hesitation, fully deadpanned, excellent delivery. That’s 10s all-around for RJ!
This story first appeared in Court Sense, a biweekly Celtics newsletter from Boston Globe Sports.Click here to join the fun.
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.