NSL Playoff Reviews: 11/08/2021

San Antonio V Detroit

The Finals were finally here and we had an epic showdown planned between arguably the best trader/mover all year in Nels and the Spurs, and the 2k coach and sneaky good mover of the year, and #1 seed in the East, Sheed and the Pistons. These two high powered teams are driven by their guard scoring and both possess solid inside abilities to back that up while having all round team defense based teams also, so it billed as a barn burner.

Game 1 saw the Spurs open the series exactly how they had blown through the Blazers roster changes where Lillard was on back to back 60 point games at point guard. The Pistons ever changing line up went big with Thompson getting a starting nod and Bam stepping down to SF. Line ups: Drummond, Noel, Holiday, Butler, Lillard V Gobert, Thompson, Adebayo, Lowry, Irving.
Detroit came out with the same BANG they showed the entire Bulls series. They took a 9 point lead into the � break, then extended that to 12 at the half and really had watchers thinking, Sheed did his homework! But the 3^rd erased that entirely, with the Spurs dropping 52 and being up 4 heading into the 4^th before claiming game 1 by 7 points. Lillard on a tear again with a playoff high 69 points and 12 assists, while Holiday pitched in 23. Lowry dropped 53 and Irving 26 on the flip side but it wasn�t enough. 1-0 Spurs.

Game 2 and despite the formula, the Spurs made a subtle change anticipating maybe a Detroit change down low as he swapped Drummond and Noel. The Pistons did the exact same thing though, swapping Gobert and Thompson so they all ended up matching each other again. The guards changed places in Detroit to put Lowry on the scorching Lillard. Line ups: Noel, Drummond, Holiday, Butler, Lillard V Thompson, Gobert, Adebayo, Irving, Lowry.
The Pistons came out harder than the Spurs again, but this time by only 1 heading into the � break. This game was going to be tight all the way you got the feel. The Spurs won the 2^nd by 6, to take a 5 point lead into the half and that was enough to cling on to as the Pistons won the 3^rd quarter by 1, and the last 2, but still came up 2 points short. Win 3 quarters and lose the game! Irving did all he could scoring 53 with Lowry going for 31, each with 8 assists, and both teams had exactly the same number of FGs and 3PTM/3PTA, the Spurs were just a higher percentage. Lillard top scored again with 57 and the Spurs now have a commanding 2-0 lead.

Game 3, make or break? The Pistons didn�t make one change. They liked the look of the previous game despite the loss. The Spurs, likewise. Line ups: Noel, Drummond, Holiday, Butler, Lillard V Thompson, Gobert, Adebayo, Irving, Lowry.
This one saw the Pistons playing catch up the entire way, which is not where you want to be down 2 games. The Spurs dropped 40 in the 1^st to lead by 17 at the �. The Pistons fought back to be down 7 at the half, and finally down 4 at � time, but the Lillard effect stepped in and the final quarter went back to the Spurs as they came away victors by 7. Lillard again crushed the Pistons scoring 59 and 9 assists as the rest of the team had 5 more double figure scorers, all in the teens. Irving again dropped 54 and Lowry 32 and Carmelo played an 18 point bench cameo, but the Pistons just keep falling short playing the same game as the Spurs. This time, FTs did it. 3-0 to the Spurs

Game 4, win or go home, and the Pistons made the big change to play Bam on Lillard at PG and shift Kyrie up to SF, while the Spurs stuck to their guns with the commanding series lead. Line ups: Noel, Drummond, Holiday, Butler, Lillard V Thompson, Gobert, Irving, Lowry, Adebayo.
The first quarter was tight like the first 2 games again, with the Spurs taking only a 3 point lead out of it. However, it went south from there. They were up 24 at the half and when they started piling it on in the 3^rd again, the benches started to clear out. 39 at � time and finally 50 was the final margin with no starter playing more than 29 minutes. Lillard scored his series low of 39 in 25 minutes, but still top scored for the game. Butler had 28, Jackson 20 and for the Pistons, Irving had 30. The Spurs are NSL champions!

Congratulations to Nels and Sheed for making it all the way to the Finals but commiserations to Sheed for the sweep which didn�t allow him to have much of a dream.

Damian Lillard is the player of the series averaging 56 points in 4 games!

Congratulations to the new NSL champion Spurs and their fearless leader Nelson who traded his way into the eventual unstoppable monster that we saw dominate the playoffs after taking the 2^nd best record in the land, and now cementing their story in NSL history!

- NSL Insider News.