Just back from the game. They were dead in the first half as was the crowd but you could see the defensive effort picking up immediately in the 2nd half. Also they got Atlanta into the bonus just 4 minutes into the 3Q and took advantage.
I thought it might be a struggle tonight. They had been playing really well, then had a clunker Sunday and sometimes that can carry over. It did in the first half - Atlanta had 65 pts at the half, but they turned the screws right out of the locker room in the 2nd half. For that reason I was pretty confident they were winning as soon as they got it even.
On the negative side, Nesmith was given a chance tonight and missed every single shot he took. You can't give him minutes in a playoff series. Pritchard only made one shot yet it was interesting that Ime played him over White for most of crunch time even though White was having a heck of a night.
Also Ime has an assistant who makes the calls on challenges. On Pritchard's foul he turned around immediately to ask, the assistant said yes, so he challenged. Didn't work.