Unlikely Heroes Stepping Up In Playoffs So Far

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The NBA Playoffs are a time for guys to become household names through making bigtime shots and defensive stops. Through the first 3 games of this postseason some of the lesser known talents in the league have stepped up to save their teams season. Enter Mike Dunleavy and Troy Daniels of the Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets. Both teams came into game 3 down by two games with their season on the line. One guy had the game of his 11 year NBA career, the other hit the shot of his life to save the Rockets season after being in the D-league just weeks ago.

The Chicago Bulls are a team that has a lot of pride and will not go down without a fight. While the matchups do favor the Washington Wizards offensively lets not forget that this Chicago Bulls squad was the best defense in the NBA this season allowing only 92.1 points per game. Defense was never an issue for the Bulls but where would the offense come from? Well last night it came in the form of 11-year veteran sharpshooter Mike Dunleavy. “White America” as he is affectionatly called by his teammates had 35 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and made eight 3-pointers. His previous career high was 36 points and that was in the regular season, this is the NBA playoffs and the Bulls season was on the line. I guess you could say Dunleavy was unconscious from beyond the arc last night.

This season Dunleavy was signed to a 2-year/$6 millon deal as a guy who could add some perimeter shooting to a team that desperately needed it. He averaged only 11.2 points per game for the Bulls in the regular season but shot above 40% from the 3-point line but he was just supposed to be a guy who by the words of Bill Simmons ” will hit 1-2 three-pointers a game and then sit on the bench and give his teammates some high fives”. He had the greatest shooting performance of these NBA playoffs so far and gave his team the 100-97 win and a renewed sense of hope for the Bulls fan base heading into game 4.

Troy Daniels is a guy I’m very familiar with as a basketball player. In fact just 3 months ago I had just started covering the NBA D-League in Dallas, Texas. The team that I covered was the Texas Legends who just so happened to be the affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks. They were in the midst of playing the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 3 of their next 4 games. The Vipers were the Rockets affiliate led by D-League all-star and 3-point record holder Troy Daniels. I talked to Troy a couple of occasions and he was a very hardworking, humble guy just doing whatever he could to get a spot in the NBA. Night after night I watched him light up the competition and 2 months ago I had a chance to interview him (click here for interview) and tried to tell the world about how good he was but nobody listened.

Last night in-game 3 the world found out who Troy Daniels was. Tied up at 116 in overtime with their season on the line the Houston Rockets needed someone to drain a big shot. The play broke down and the ball found its way to Troy Daniels hands. BANG! He hit the game winning shot on national television to save the Rockets season and give them their 1st win (119-116 in OT) of the NBA playoffs bringing the series to 2-1. In my interview with him I asked Troy what has allowed him to shoot the ball so well, he said “Mindset, coach gives me the green light to shoot and I take it” well Mr. Daniels the world now knows that your are a cold-blooded shooter.

So what have we learned in the first 3 games of the NBA playoffs? We learned that it doesn’t matter where you came from or where your now at in this stage of your career that you can make an impact. You can be an 11-year veteran or a young kid who was just playing in the D-League a few weeks ago, this is why we watch the NBA playoffs because the guys you don’t pay attention to reading the programs are the ones who decide the outcome of the games sometimes.