Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
LeBron James returned on Saturday but after those day’s games, we still don’t know much about the playoff positions.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Doug McSchooler/AP.)
As of this writing, games will be played in the last day of the regular season. Every team is playing. And we can finally solve the playoff field. We already know all the teams that have qualified for the playoffs and the play-in games.
But somehow, only three spots out of 20 are locked in. It’s amazing. Every other team is still fighting for position. Or maybe in some cases, they’re not because they’re trying to avoid certain opponents (Lakers) early.
First off, check out the East:
Only two teams are locked in. The Sixers clinched the #1 seed a couple of nights ago. The only other team that has a guaranteed position? The disappointing Celtics are #7. They await the mess that’s going on below them. As you can see, #8-10 are tied. I’m not going to go through the tiebreakers and whatnot. But as fate would have it, the Wizards and Hornets are playing each other.
I feel like Boston would rest their guys against the Knicks, who control their own destiny for the fourth spot. The Nets and the Bucks are going after #2. They both have opponents who are not very good teams, though, so unless they’re resting, it should be the Nets at 2.
Now the West:
The only spot that’s locked in? San Antonio at 10.
The Blazers control their destiny for a postseason berth. But they have the Nuggets as their opponents; they may or may not try so hard to get the 3rd spot. The Clippers are #4. They might want to draw the Mavericks at #5. But the Nuggets letting the Blazers have their way means putting the Lakers in the play-in, who would face either the Warriors or the Grizzlies. And again, as fate would have it, G. State and Memphis play each other.
The top spot is still up for grabs between the Jazz and the Suns. Who would’ve thought, right?
So the last day of the regular season is going to be chaos. We’ll all know what’s up after Sunday.
The play-in games begin on Tuesday.
Bullet Passes
Another thing that’s up for grabs is the scoring title. Stephen Curry (31.8 PPG) has the slight lead over Bradley Beal (31.4). The Wizards play first so Curry will have an idea of how many points to score should he want that.
As mentioned, LeBron James returned on Saturday. He looked fantastic, to be honest (24-7-8).
Welcome back @KingJames. 😳🔨 pic.twitter.com/2Xq1XHFEtT
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) May 15, 2021
But it’ll still take some time to gel.
I mean, let’s be real; it all comes down to the two stars with the Lakers. Everything should fall into place.
The Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 had their enshrinement speeches yesterday. But what a class it was. Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Tamika Catchings, and Rudy Tomjanovich. And of course, Vanessa Bryant gave the speech for her late, great husband. You can watch them all here.
The 2021 Class was revealed earlier today.
On the NBA side, they all really deserve to be in it. Paul Pierce gets made fun of a lot but he was a hell of a player and a Celtics mainstay. Chris Bosh was a fantastic #1 option for Toronto and sacrificed a lot to get two rings with Miami. Chris Webber was a member of the famed Fab Five and did so much in his NBA career. He helped revolutionize the power forward position. And some will say that Ben Wallace didn’t deserve to be in there but did you see him dominate defensively? And lead the underdog Pistons to the championship? First undrafted NBA player to make the Hall. Incredible.
Toni Kukoc was one of the first players to enter the league from Europe and was a huge contributor to the second threepeat of the Bulls. If you ask me, he was long overdue to be in this Hall.
As for the WNBA players, Yolanda Griffith was part of the Sacramento Monarchs team that won it all in 2005. And Lauren Jackson spent her entire WNBA career in Seattle, where she won three MVP awards, had 7 all-star berths, and led the team (along with Sue Bird) to two WNBA titles.
Jay Wright has had a phenomenal coaching career at Villanova as well as Hofstra. He led the WIldcats to national titles in 2016 and 2018. Rick Adelman had a storied coaching career in the NBA where he led the Portland TrailBlazers to two NBA Finals (1990 and 1992) and turned the Sacramento Kings into a Western Conference powerhouse. And Bill Russell enters as a coach. He’s the first African-American NBA coach in history and led the Celtics (while he was still playing!) to two NBA titles in 1968 and 1969.
Congrats to all the inductees!
NBA Scoreboard
May 15, 2021
Watch This Play
Jake Layman takes off from afar to dump one on Tacko Fall!
JAKE LAYMAN OVER TACKO FALL 😳 pic.twitter.com/nf4e2gWDuk
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 15, 2021
That is some power and gusto from Layman.
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.