Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
The Mavericks and Lakers are trying to avoid the play-in series.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Miron/USA Today..)
I had been saying in recent weeks that the Mavericks and Blazers were blowing a golden opportunity to catch the shorthanded Lakers. Well, the Mavs certainly made up for it by beating the Lakers in back-to-back games. They got within 1 1/2 games of the Lakers for the 5th spot and are running away from the pitfalls of having to play in the play-in series.
The play-in series is not the end of the world but it’s practically an extra round for teams to acquire the 7th and 8th spots. I don’t like the current set-up for it because they already go through a marathon as is. Anyway, it goes like this: the 7th and 8th seeds go against each other and the winner gets the #7 seed outright and plays the #2 in the real first round of the postseason. In the other bracket, the 9th and 10th seeds play a game and the winner advances for the right to play for the 8th seed against the loser of the 7/8 match-up. The loser of the 9/10 game is eliminated.
So the two remaining teams: the loser of the 7/8 game against the winner of the 9/10 game play one more time and the winner gets the real 8th seed in the postseason. Basically, the battle for the 7th seed only needs to win one game while the battle for the 8th seed needs to win two.
For a supposed “top” team, this would be quite a slip. Especially if they fall all the way down to the 9th or 10th spot. Either way, just a couple of bad days could seal the fate of a team. They don’t have a 7-game series to deal with; they pretty much only have one or two games. And then they won’t have as much energy because they played one or two extra games. That could certainly come into play.
So imagine if the Lakers fall all the way to the 7th spot and have a bad day? Then they lose and have to go against the winner of that 9/10 game, who has some momentum coming into the winner-takes-8th seed game. That’s just dangerous.
This is why Mark Cuban and the Mavericks suddenly don’t like this. And that’s why they have extra motivation to get away from the 7th-10th spots.
For right now, Portland, Memphis, San Antonio, and Golden State occupy those slots in the West. Would you want to go against a Damian Lillard that is licking his chops to eliminate a top team? Would a team want to go against a scorching Stephen Curry, who is arguably having the best stretch of his career? Those two individuals can carry their respective teams to a SERIES win. And we’ve seen them do that.
Luckily for the Lakers, they have LeBron James coming back soon. They already have Anthony Davis back. Meanwhile, Dallas is going on Luka Doncic‘s back. They should honestly be better than where they are but they’re still a formidable team, nonetheless.
I’m not saying the Lakers and Mavs would falter should either or both fall to that 7 through 10 territory. But there is a chance that they could and, sometimes, that’s all the other teams need.
The last three weeks of the regular season are going to be huge.
Bullet Passes
It’s odd that Utah has lost only 4 home games all season and two of those are to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sometimes, powerful entities have weird weaknesses.
No Joel Embiid and no Ben Simmons so the Bucks pounced the heck out of the Sixers. Milwaukee is still only 2.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets for the #1 seed.
It’s just amazing what the New York Knicks are doing. They’ve won 9 straight games and it’s just such a feelgood story in the league. I personally didn’t care much for the Knicks other than Linsanity and here I am, rooting for them to do well.
I’m sure this is the Michael Porter, Jr. Denver wants to see. 39 points in their win over Houston.
We’re sort of overlooking how great of a season DeMar DeRozan is having. His scoring is still pretty good at 21.2 points per but the one that stands out? 7.2 assists per game. He’s become such an excellent playmaker late in his career.
The Bulls had a chance to cut into the lead with a minute left. And Denzel Valentine did this:
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
The Bulls announcers sounded horrified.
NBA Scoreboard
Apr. 24, 2021
Watch This Play
OUTSTANDING touchdown heave by Nikola Jokic to PJ Dozier.
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
Those full court passes really impress me so much.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.