Ryen Russillo

Those closing stages that I've referenced a lot, as I try to, as I'm sure you do if you're really into it, and you're like, all right, who's been better since the All-Star break? What have you looked like your last 20 games? Is this stuff real? Is it fake? What are they doing as far as their schedule? Are they playing all tanking teams?

Is it a nice close in the East against 80% of the teams that don't want to win games for those last weird stretches of the regular season? Can I be fooled by some of this stuff? Well, I'll get to Minnesota here in a second because we know that they close at 17-4. They close on the 17-4 run, and there's some really good stats in there as well. Well, the Clippers are 18-5 with a No.

Is it a nice close in the East against 80% of the teams that don't want to win games for those last weird stretches of the regular season? Can I be fooled by some of this stuff? Well, I'll get to Minnesota here in a second because we know that they close at 17-4. They close on the 17-4 run, and there's some really good stats in there as well. Well, the Clippers are 18-5 with a No.

Is it a nice close in the East against 80% of the teams that don't want to win games for those last weird stretches of the regular season? Can I be fooled by some of this stuff? Well, I'll get to Minnesota here in a second because we know that they close at 17-4. They close on the 17-4 run, and there's some really good stats in there as well. Well, the Clippers are 18-5 with a No.

2 net rating in the NBA behind only OKC. And when you have that kind of run for a team that feels like it's kind of stuck in neutral for months, you wonder, is there anything specific that's different about this team? Or is the same group of 7-8 guys just playing that much better? Or, again... Is it the schedule? Stupid. But with the Clippers, there was a real definitive thing you could point to.

2 net rating in the NBA behind only OKC. And when you have that kind of run for a team that feels like it's kind of stuck in neutral for months, you wonder, is there anything specific that's different about this team? Or is the same group of 7-8 guys just playing that much better? Or, again... Is it the schedule? Stupid. But with the Clippers, there was a real definitive thing you could point to.

2 net rating in the NBA behind only OKC. And when you have that kind of run for a team that feels like it's kind of stuck in neutral for months, you wonder, is there anything specific that's different about this team? Or is the same group of 7-8 guys just playing that much better? Or, again... Is it the schedule? Stupid. But with the Clippers, there was a real definitive thing you could point to.

Kawhi Leonard was back, and he was back playing much bigger minutes. Now, he returned February 2nd, but March was more minutes and far more production. It looked real. That Cleveland regular season win for the Clippers, you're like, all right, and guess what? Out in the first round. The Pacers finished 17-7.

Kawhi Leonard was back, and he was back playing much bigger minutes. Now, he returned February 2nd, but March was more minutes and far more production. It looked real. That Cleveland regular season win for the Clippers, you're like, all right, and guess what? Out in the first round. The Pacers finished 17-7.

Kawhi Leonard was back, and he was back playing much bigger minutes. Now, he returned February 2nd, but March was more minutes and far more production. It looked real. That Cleveland regular season win for the Clippers, you're like, all right, and guess what? Out in the first round. The Pacers finished 17-7.

But I think the most important part of it, this is a defense last year for Indiana that finished 18th after the All-Star break. So it wasn't just bad all year. It was bad in the second half where you can try to see if something's getting a little bit better because that is the example that we saw with the Pacers this year. They were eighth on defense after the All-Star break.

But I think the most important part of it, this is a defense last year for Indiana that finished 18th after the All-Star break. So it wasn't just bad all year. It was bad in the second half where you can try to see if something's getting a little bit better because that is the example that we saw with the Pacers this year. They were eighth on defense after the All-Star break.

But I think the most important part of it, this is a defense last year for Indiana that finished 18th after the All-Star break. So it wasn't just bad all year. It was bad in the second half where you can try to see if something's getting a little bit better because that is the example that we saw with the Pacers this year. They were eighth on defense after the All-Star break.

They had a really nice record. The East was different because you had teams that felt like they didn't want to win. I don't even know that Toronto wanted to win, and they just played too good a defense the second half of the season to lose as many games as they need to to move up in the lottery.

They had a really nice record. The East was different because you had teams that felt like they didn't want to win. I don't even know that Toronto wanted to win, and they just played too good a defense the second half of the season to lose as many games as they need to to move up in the lottery.

They had a really nice record. The East was different because you had teams that felt like they didn't want to win. I don't even know that Toronto wanted to win, and they just played too good a defense the second half of the season to lose as many games as they need to to move up in the lottery.

Probably one of the most impressive things that I've seen from the Pacers, at least in these playoffs, is the fact that they would close out Cleveland at their place, get down big early, and you're thinking, is Cleveland going to finally get this right and be competitive in these games? And yes, that was a very competitive game, but for the Pacers to outlast them once again and on the road,

Probably one of the most impressive things that I've seen from the Pacers, at least in these playoffs, is the fact that they would close out Cleveland at their place, get down big early, and you're thinking, is Cleveland going to finally get this right and be competitive in these games? And yes, that was a very competitive game, but for the Pacers to outlast them once again and on the road,

Probably one of the most impressive things that I've seen from the Pacers, at least in these playoffs, is the fact that they would close out Cleveland at their place, get down big early, and you're thinking, is Cleveland going to finally get this right and be competitive in these games? And yes, that was a very competitive game, but for the Pacers to outlast them once again and on the road,

After being down big, I don't know that it's scary stuff for the rest of the playoff field, but that shows you something. That shows you something where a lot of teams in that spot are like, look, we're still up, commanding lead. They're a little banged up. We're good. We're in their heads. We'll just go back and get this one at home, and let's not try hard tonight.