Home Team Friday - I Like all 4 home teams.
Knicks/Celtics
--Jason Terry has gotten it going since OT in game 4 and that has been a big boost to Celtics offense. Let's not forget, Knicks haven't exactly lit up the scoreboard in this series. Melo has gone ice cold and JR Smith was of no help either in Game 5. Melo has won ONE first round in his career, he is not a great closer. All the pressure on Knicks, yet the game is in enemy territory. I trust the Celtics will find enough offense to win the game. Only chance Knicks have is to shoot well, and I just don't see it.
Hawks/Pacers
--You would think Pacers want to close it out in 6, but they have to be thinking they got Game 7 in hand because they have dominated in this series at home. ATL has been here before, they went 7 with Celtics not too long ago, with home team winning all 7. Expect full force effort from ATL early and for them to continue to ride their home win streak of the Pacers. Hawks win at home, Home team wins all 7 games.
Grizz/Clips
--Clips have looked like dog doo doo in last 4 games as Randolph and Marc Gasol have taken over inside. At home, Memphis will ride the home crowd for emotion and should cruise, especially with Clips all banged up. Memphis won the first two home games by 12 and 21, holding the Clips to 82-83 points. I don't see much changing. I think Grizz close it out rather easily, their defense at home in this series has been suffocating and if Blake doesn't play, I don't think the Star Angle applies here because the Clips have really only had scoring from CP3/Blake/Crawford. Grizz have been tested last couple years, going 7 with Clips last year (losing at home, so nice revenge to win big tonight at home) and also knocking off Spurs a couple years ago and going toe-to-toe with Thunder. Clips got 35 from CP3 last game and still couldn't win, I don't think they have much fight left tonight.
Rockets/Thunder
--First off, lets not forget that this series completely changed with Westbrook being knocked out, yet, they still continue to make the lines as if he's there (-8 in OKC and -2 for OKC in HOU). When Westbrook was playing and Lin was playing hurt, the Rockets were making runs against Thunder. Now, we have Westbrook out, hopefully Lin out (because he was weighing down the team) and a Thunder team that is not used to playing without RW. Yes, Durant can lead his team, but these teams were already even with RW, its shifted to Rox and they have shown it winning 2 in a row and now hosting Game 6 at home. Harden has a ton of motivation to beat his former team after they wouldn't pay him and the Rox have scored seemingly at will, while playing the better defense and forcing Durant to give up the rock. OKC just isn't used to this position, they don't have a key cog (RW), and its going to be hard for them to close out the Rockets. I like the home team here.
