Brief 2017 NBA Playoff Recaps: Volume 1 (Opening Weekend)

Four games in each day, to launch the 2017 NBA Playoffs. One paragraph per game, that’s all time will allow.

Saturday, April 15

Cleveland Cavs 109, Indiana Pacers 108 (Miles To Go Before I Sleep…)

(CLE leads, 1–0)

LeBron very good, rest of Cavs looked rusty…Kyrie 1 of 9 from deep…Cleveland dodges bullet when C.J. Miles misses fade-away at buzzer. Paul George is mad at C.J. Miles for taking a good look. Too bad Sir Lance couldn’t steal one for Indiana, that would’ve made things dramatic. (Lance is bringing it back to 2013, by the way)…Kevin Seraphin got 16 playoff minutes! Don’t wake the monster…

Milwaukee Bucks 97, Toronto Raptors 83 (Sir Brogdon At Your Service…)

(MIL leads 1–0)

Giannis in attack mode, such a beautiful sight. Half court to the rim in 3 strides. 28 on 18 shots…President Malcolm Brogdon ain’t a rookie, he’s a savvy vet! What do you need? I got your defense, your timely shooting, your smart passing. Just tell me what you need…Khris Middleton is the only human on the planet who can shoot 4 of 15 and finish +27 on the night. Three blocks by Maker made me squeal with delight. Lowry 2 of 11 and 0 of 6 from deep. Wrist rust be a problem. Casey needs to get Valanciunas more than 5 shots. This is going 7.

Dwayne Casey needs to figure some things out before Game 2

 

San Antonio Spurs 111, Memphis Grizzlies 82 (Kawhi Can’t This be a Forfeit?)

(SA leads 1–0….soon to be 4–0)

When we heard Tony Allen was out for the series, we stopped holding out any hope that this would be competitive. The Spurs were ordered by Adam Silver to wait until the 2nd quarter to annihilate the Grizzlies, so they cooperated, ending the first with a 5 point deficit. Then San Antonio won the next three quarters by 34. When you want to watch every series, it helps to have one like this.

Utah Jazz 97, Los Angeles Clippers 95 (Win One for the Gobert!)

(UTAH leads 1–0)

17 seconds after tip and The Gentle Giant, Gobert the Great, was on the ground, crawling and shaking his head. It was a painful, deflating sight. Anyone who was rooting for the Jazz felt hollow inside. Quin Snyder’s expression was more than concerned. Not exactly panicked, though. He held himself together, and the Jazz held themselves together. Players like Joe Johnson, Joe Ingles, George Hill, and Derrick Favors…pulled this one out. What a wonderful game. The Clippers have all the talent and the Jazz have all the grit. The Clippers are an empty vessel, with a ferocious point guard at the helm. They are less than the sum of their parts, while the Jazz are more than just a couple of Joes. What sweet music, Game One brought us. Joe Johnson has been reborn. Joe Ingles is the best YMCA gym rat in the NBA.

Slow-Motion Joe Goes With the Flow

 

Sunday, April 16

Golden St Warriors 121, Portland Trail Blazers 109 (McCollum Merely One Man…)

(GS leads 1–0)

C.J. McCollum was Golden State’s Gollum, they were never sure which way he’d go. Dropping 41 points on 28 shots, McCollum and his pal Lillard kept the Blazers afloat until the 15–2 Warrior avalanche began the 4th. Defensive Draymond opened the gates and the unassuming Ian Clark chipped in 7 of those 15. The first 36 minutes of the series may be the closest, though it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Blazers backcourt pull one out in the Rose Quarter.

Washington Wizards 114, Atlanta Hawks 107 (Chief Markieff Offers Relief)

(WAS leads 1–0)

The Wizards are probably the better team, and certainly the more interesting one of the two, but with time slipping away at the end of the half, the Hawks led, 48–42, and Washington’s Markieff Morris missed a contested corner three. The ensuing review showed that Morris had been fouled as time expired on the shot. Three free-throws and the lead was cut to 3, as they strolled toward the locker rooms. After the half, Morris opened up by hitting a 3, and the game was tied. Sometimes a game swings when you least expect it. The Hawks have little margin for error. The Wizards bench came up completely empty (except for Mr. Oubre). A few Tim Hardaway threes (0 of 6) and the Hawks might have pulled it out. Instead, Washington still holds home court for now.

Chicago Bulls 106, Boston Celtics 102 (Tragic Turn for Cs but Baby Please…)

(CHI leads 1–0)

What an awful turn of events for Isaiah Thomas and the Celtics. A tragedy clouded what should have been an exuberant first round home game in Boston. Despite it all, Isaiah showed up and did what he always does: scored. 33 points on 18 shots, 10 of 12 from the line, and 3 from deep. Isaiah finished with a +12. So did Bobby Portis, the Bulls 22 year-old who came off the bench with a fury. Those ten minutes without Isaiah belonged to Portis, who scored 19 on 8 of 10, grabbing 9 boards, dishing 3 assists and blocking 2 shots. After the Bulls sent Gibson and McDermott packing, Portis has seen his minutes grow. Once he started knocking down threes at the end of the regular season, his confidence apparently grew as well. Boston’s 53-wins and home court advantage are in the rear-view now, as they fight off Jimmy Butler and Bobby Portis, looking to even things on Tuesday night. Bradley and Horford did their parts, along with Isaiah. Crowder, Smart, Olynyk, and Jaylen have to give more.

Houston Rockets 118, OKC Thunder 87 (Roll the Thunder, Hear Their Cry)

(HOU leads 1–0)

No more debates, no more MVP concerns, just throw the ball up and play. The better team won. The better team has Patrick Beverley, whose offensive contributions (21 points on 13 shots) pale in comparison to the impact of his Westbrook-hounding. Russell can rampage all over the regular season, but he won’t rampage all over Mr. Beverley, who has never known the concept of fear or intimidation. Westbrook’s 6 of 23 line, and 9 turnovers were a big part of the problem. His sidekick, Victor Oladipo, was a dreadful 1 of 12 from the field, misfiring on all 6 three-pointers. OKC’s only hope is to contain Houston’s relentless attack, in which James Harden dissects their defense and makes life simple and breezy for Clint Capela and Nene, who shot a combined 14 of 17, feasting on lay-ups and dunks. Either redirect Harden away from the paint, or Westbrook has to play three times as well as he did tonight and Oladipo needs to wake up. This could be over in 5.

***

If you enjoyed this, don’t be afraid to share it.

Will update on a weekly basis.

NBA Thoughts, Vol. 83 (Isaiah is an All-Star)

Celtics Thoughts

• Isaiah Thomas is clearly deserving of an All-Star spot. And so is Jae Crowder…except defense is never equally valued and is still very tough to quantify, despite RPM, on-off numbers, and all the Synergy sports numbers you can find. Regardless of who makes the team, Celtics fans should appreciate both Isaiah and Jae. It’s fun to have the shortest All-Star in the NBA on the team I love.
• Thomas takes 6.4 free-throws per game (and makes 5.7, 89%). As a team, the Celtics take 22.5 (t-16th). When Isaiah is out of the game, it becomes obvious how tough it is for Boston to create in the half-court.
• Chris Forsberg (ESPN Boston) wrote a short piece about how casual Boston sports fans should enjoy the next few months of Celtics basketball. These types of articles annoy the shit out of me. I understand that promoting the local sports team is important, but the people need to be cajoled into caring about the team are the same ones who will boo when the team doesn’t play well in the first half of a playoff game. Having to beg non-hoops fans to enjoy the final three months of the regular season, instead of the last couple of weeks in April, heading into the playoffs feels cheap and ugly.
• The Celtics are one of seven teams who will likely be fighting for The 5th through 8th playoff spots in the East. The other six: Miami, Detroit, Indiana, Washington, New York and Charlotte. It’s certainly possible Orlando could turn things back around, which would make it 8 teams for those 4 spots, but it doesn’t seem likely.
• Marcus Smart‘s knee injury (out from 11/20-12/27) not only kept him off the court, but affected his conditioning. As one would expect when dealing with a somewhat serious knee injury, Smart was not in basketball shape upon returning. Watching him in late December and early January, as Stevens gradually increased his minutes, you could see the energy was there, but the crisp movement wasn’t. You could also see it in his shooting. Three-pointers were short, and his rhythm wasn’t there. As shooting coaches will tell you, it’s all in the footwork and the legs. After going 1 of 12 in his first five games back, it didn’t get much better in the following six games he was 4 of 22. During the recent snow day (the Sixers game was postponed on Saturday due to Weezer’s song “My Name is Jonas”), Smart said he planned on shooting threes in the gym all afternoon. In the two games since, he has made 5 of 11 from deep. Celtics fans hope that continues.
• Kelly Olynyk (thanks, Eric) has been on a tear from deep since December. He’s up to 43.4% for the season. Olynyk provides much needed bench-scoring. In 44 games, Olynyk’s splits are noticeable.
  • 23 wins: 12.1 pts, 5.1 reb, 1.9 ast, 49.8 FG%, 45.3 3-PT%.
  • 21 losses: 7.8 pts, 3.6 reb, 1.2 ast, 41% FG, 41% 3-PT%
• Olynyk‘s three-point percentages by month:
  • October 20%
  • November 35.6%
  • December 46.3%
  • January 51.1%
• After experimenting with David Lee as a bench-unit facilitator early in the season, Stevens has given Jonas Jerebko and recently, Tyler Zeller, some minutes. In the last couple of weeks, Jerebko has found a groove (it seems like 15 minutes per game allows for getting into a flow, whereas 8-12 minutes per game doesn’t). Zeller, who shot 55% from the field last year, has made 10 of his last 16 shots.

 

Around the Association

• Injuries continue to mount and the 82-game season is rarely mentioned lately. It’s obvious that the season should be shortened. We’d take 76, even though 70 or 66 makes more sense.
• Tim Duncan not playing tonight in Oakland (sore knee that has been sore for all 44 games so far this year) is in keeping with Pop’s sourpuss, always-keep-your-hand-hidden philosophy of the regular season. Regardless of the outcome, Gregg Popovich can’t lose. If the Warriors win, the Spurs have an excuse. If the Spurs win, the Warriors have no excuse. In addition, the 7’3″ Serbian giant Boban Marjanovic and the well-rested David West get ample opportunities to audition.
• The Toronto Raptors might not appear much different on the surface. DeMarre Carroll in (before he went out with a knee injury, probably connected to last May’s knee injury in the playoffs), Amir Johnson out, some bench help added in Biyombo, Scola, and Joseph. They may not appear entirely different, but their core has improved individually.
  • DeMar DeRozan is a scoring machine impersonating McGrady with his in-between game and attacking the rim;
  • Kyle Lowry‘s conditioning and patience on the court have improved.
  • Despite averaging only 14.8 assists (27th), the Raptors have an Offensive rating of 105.2 (tied with Cleveland for 5th overall, and best in East).
  • With Jonas Valanciunas healthy and scoring at will in the paint, the Raptors have gone 18-9.
• Toronto has won 8 in a row, though they’ve had the luxury of mostly avoiding the top teams in that stretch (Celtics, Clippers without Griffin). If Toronto has truly taken a leap, they’ll need to show it against Chicago and Cleveland, who they face at the end of February.

Listen: The Vertical, new podcast with Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Woj).

• Toronto GM Masai Ujiri was on Woj’s podcast, The Vertical. I enjoyed hearing about how Ujiri became a GM, and Basketball without Borders, the NBA’s program in Africa.
• Brett Brown’s interview with Adrian Wojnarowski was enlightening and entertaining.
• The Philadelphia 76ers played the first 31 games of the year without an NBA point guard (sorry T.J. McConnell and Isiah Canaan). Record with Ishmael Smith, NBA journeyman: 5-9. Record before Ish arrived: 1-30.

No Defense for this Defenselessness

• The bottom half of the Western Conference can’t play any defense. Of the NBA’s worst 9 defenses, 7 come from the West. Here they are, in order from completely awful to bad:
  • Lakers (108.4 rating): We knew going in that Kobe should have retired. We know going in they were full of rookies. We knew going in that Lou Williams and Nick Young haven’t heard of defense. We knew going in that Byron Scott was the coach.
  • Pelicans & Suns (106.2 rating): The Pelicans were not supposed to be this awful defensively. Omer Asik’s early retirement (while still playing a few ugly minutes each game) has contributed. Injuries certainly contributed. The Suns were supposed to run up and down the court really fast and then Tyson Chandler was supposed to save them. Tyson can’t play defense for the other four guys with Suns jerseys, can’t run like that, and probably isn’t exactly fired up. Then Eric Bledsoe got hurt and the Suns went up in flames.
  • Nuggets & Blazers (105.9, 105.6 rating). Emmanual Mudiay hasn’t exactly gotten off to a tantalizing start. More Muddy than anything. The Nuggets have offense-first players (Gallinari, Faried, and the surprisingly lithe Will Barton). Sadly, defense hasn’t come second. The Blazers are terribly young, and C.J. McCollum, though he seems like a nice young gentleman, should probably be sparking the bench, rather than trying to defend taller shooting guards.
  • Rockets & Kings (105.5, 104.9). Both teams are too busy trying to score points to worry about defense. Kevin McHale is probably still wondering what happened. George Karl is afraid of getting his hopes up…he’s been around too long for that. But don’t look now, the Kings have won 8 of 11, and DeMarcus Cousins is the hottest big man in the game in January, averaging 32.5, 13.7 rebounds while shooting 50% overall and 47% from deep (!).

Halfway There: The Juicy Middle of the NBA at Midseason

We have arrived…sort of. Welcome to the halfway mark of the NBA season. 41 games. All 30 teams have played between 38 and 43 games, so we’re as close to the midpoint as we’ll get. The All-Star Break is a few weeks away. As always at this time of year teams are dealing with multiple injuries and only three (Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland) have anything resembling a firm grasp of their playoff situation. That leaves 27 teams jockeying for 13 other playoff spots. In reality, more like 20 teams for 13 spots, which is a few more than usual this year.

This stretch of the season (six weeks between New Year’s and the All-Star break) is by far the most grueling. In an ideal NBA-schedule-world (70-game season), these six weeks would include 3 games per week maximum; 18 total). Instead, many teams will play 22 and 23 games in this stretch. Not only is the product on the court worse, injury-risk becomes magnified. Players are usually battling through injuries at this time of year as is. Back-to-backs and 4-games-in-6 days stretches compound things. As the NBA moves fully into a faster-paced, ball-movement-focused game, and as coaches look toward maintaining the health of their stars and restricting playing time to 32-34 minutes per game, the mid-year January stretch becomes a test in endurance, depth and the luck of health.

Making this time of year even more difficult to examine is the parity that exists throughout the NBA. As of January 17th, 10 teams—1/3 of the Association—are within four games of the .500 mark. Seven of those 10 teams are in the East. With few teams in obvious selling position as the trade deadline nears, questions abound. We have one month for teams to figure out how likely they are to make the playoffs (and, in the East, how likely they are to make the top 7 in order to avoid Cleveland in the first round).

It’s time to take a stroll through the Association. We’ll go from the bottom to the top, splitting this into three parts. Here’s the juicy middle, by current win pace.

20. Charlotte Hornets (pace: 37 wins)

Al Jefferson does not deserve this fate. Big Al has played in 14 playoff games in his 12 year career. Seven of those came as a 20 year-old rookie in Boston over a decade ago. Jefferson is one of the last of a dying breed: the low-post pivot big man without the foot-speed to survive in the modern pick-and-roll, pace-and-space era. Jefferson helped lead Charlotte to the playoffs in 2014, and promptly went down with a foot injury. Now, Big Al is recovering from right knee surgery. At age 31, and with too many miles on his old tires, it’s highly unlikely Jefferson will receive much interest in the off-season…which is why I’m secretly hoping the Celtics offer Big Al a one-year deal, hoping he has just enough juice left in the tank to give their bench a jolt of offense. It’s nice to dream of things coming full circle with Big Al.  After all, he was the building block which enabled the Celtics to land Garnett in 2007. Meanwhile, Nicolas Batum has exploded in a primary role with Charlotte. As a key supporter in Portland, Batum’s decision making was rarely highlighted. With Jefferson out, Batum has emerged, averaging nearly 16 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 5.5 apg. Sadly, without the defensive wizardry of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (out for year after shoulder surgery) and the post-presence of Jefferson, the Hornets have run out of steam, losing 9 of 10.

19. Utah Jazz (pace: 37 wins)

Record with Rudy Gobert in the starting lineup: 11-8; record without Rudy Gobert in the starting lineup: 7-14. From here on out, record needed to get to 40 wins: 22-20. After losing Dante Exum before the year started and playing stretches without everyone except for swingman Gordon Hayward, the Jazz have been surprisingly resilient. As Brooklyn fans consider the mistakes that led to what is now likely the least optimistic future of the 30 franchises, despite the free agent magnetism of New York City, the emergence of 3rd overall pick Derrick Favors has to cause severe intestinal pain. Favors, much like departed Jazz power forward Paul Millsap, has worked himself into one of the top young bigs in the league. Jazz fans can’t wait to see what Favors and Gobert can do with an actual point guard, once Exum returns next year.

18. New York Knicks (pace: 39 wins)

Kristaps Porzingis is fun to watch. All arms and legs and with nimble feet, he is nearly impossible to box out, which often leads crowd-pleasing put-back slams. Carmelo has turned a new leaf, embracing the role of wise elder. The Knicks are an interesting amalgamation of veterans (Lopez, Afflalo, Lopez) and young fellas (Kristaps, Grant, Gallaway). Still, the Knicks have a relatively tough stretch over the next few weeks, which may dim their playoff hopes slightly as the deadline nears.

17. Washington Wizards (pace: 40 wins)

The Wizards without Bradley Beal (stress reaction in leg) and basically without Nene (one knee, 10-15 minutes per game) are just as volatile as the Pacers. The Wizards attack focuses on racing past defenses in order to beat them and playing small ball around Marcin Gortat. John Wall’s blinding speed is most effectively used that way. The trouble: sustaining that pace and reserving enough energy for defense. John Wall has improved his jumper considerably over the years, and his offensive aggression has taken on new levels of importance without Beal (newly returned, with limited minutes) and Nene, but the lack of balance makes them vulnerable. They don’t have enough energy at ends of games (and not enough Beal and Nene) to play the top-level defense that they have shown over the last two years. Beal is one of the more polished under-25 two-way players in the league, and shown the ability to raise his game in the playoffs. All of this makes his injuries that much more troublesome to the Wizards franchise.

16. Orlando Magic (pace: 42 wins)

The Magic are playing defense, thanks in part to Scott Skiles’ preaching the gospel of rotations and physical play. The Magic are young and uber-athletic. The Magic started 19-13, before dropping 6 of their last 7. Two of the six losses came to the Wizards, and the other four came to East teams with better than .500 records. The Magic have improved, but now they have to deal with the reality that the East is filled with decent teams. Orlando’s offense is the problem. They can’t get to the free-throw line (18 FTA per game is last in the league), and they don’t take as many threes (22 per game is 23rd in the league) as they need to. The Magic are hoping Elfrid Payton gradually develops into a decent shooter. In the meantime, Orlando will do its best to claw their way to a playoff berth in the crowded East.

15. Houston Rockets (pace: 43 wins)

After starting 5-10, the Rockets have slowly climbed back to above .500 at 22-20. This year’s Rockets remain a mystery after last year’s surge in April and May, surprising many with an improbable comeback in the West Semis against the Clippers, coming from 3-1 down. Those Rockets were propelled by Harden’s magicianship, and the versatility of everyone from the mercurial Josh Smith to the caffeinated Corey Brewer. Those Rockets finished 6th in defensive rating. This year, the Rockets defense is 21st. The return of point guard Patrick Beverley, after the firing of coach Kevin McHale has coincided with Houston’s upward climb. During a 10-game stretch without Beverley in the starting lineup, the Rockets were 3-7. These Rockets remain enigmatic. The chemistry that they found last spring doesn’t seem likely to return to the point where they have any hope of threatening Golden State or San Antonio.

14. Boston Celtics (pace: 44 wins)

Jae Crowder always seems to save these Celtics in the 4^th quarter. Crowder’s play has been instrumental in that stabilizing role (see: West, David and Nene, Nene). Last night, Crowder did it again by tipping out an offensive rebound with Boston up 111-110 and 45 seconds left, and then again with four seconds left on a beautifully executed pin-down pass from Marcus Smart, to put the Celtics over the top 119-117 on a wild finish in Washington. Crowder saved the Celtics almost single-handedly earlier in the season against the Sixers. There have been two or three other games that likely would have swung from wins to close losses were it not for Crowder. He simply rises to the occasion when the Celtics need him the most. Need evidence, Crowder is 7 of 10 from beyond the paint in the 4^th quarter with the Celtics down 6 points or less.

Though it’s easy to pick any sample and exaggerate its importance, there was a ragged stretch late in the recent Boston win over Indiana (four Celtics steals in the final two minutes) where the Pacers lack of a stabilizing force to replace their former-anchor/sage David West was so clearly evident. Paul George is running on fumes at the moment, with little help. The Pacers win represented the impact of defensive anchors, Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder. The problem with these Celtics is how hard it is to consistently suffocate the NBA’s best and most-balanced offenses.

13. Indiana Pacers (pace: 44 wins)

see above. Also, Paul George needs some help in Indiana, as the leg which he broke 18 months ago has been sore lately. The Pacers have managed to play stifling defense yet again (tied 4th in defensive efficiency at 99.1) by running teams off of the three-point line, and closing off passing lanes. George Hill and Paul George remain a fearsome defensive duo. The attention that Paul has to pay to both ends of the court is going to be the issue as the season wears on. Paul George’s 3-point percentage has slipped by the month: 49% in November, 36% in December, and only 31% so far in January. Not surprisingly, the Pacers have dropped 6 of their last 10. Frank Vogel can’t get to the All-Star Break soon enough.

12. Memphis Grizzlies (pace: 44 wins)

Mike Conley deserves better than this. The Achilles has been plaguing him this year after the facial fracture that took him out in the first round against Golden State in April. Zach Randolph is now coming off the bench, destroying reserve power forwards. Marc Gasol is occasionally able to torch opponents, but seems to have settled into a distributing role. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough shooters to distribute to. As has been the issue in Memphis for years, there isn’t enough space, and there’s rarely much pace. The defensive-minded Grizzlies are now officially grizzled vets. It’d be fun to see Memphis match up with Oklahoma City if only to watch Tony Allen’s playoff defense on Kevin Durant.

11. Detroit Pistons (pace: 45 wins)

Detroit wants to make the playoffs very badly this year. After a rough stretch for the franchise, the Pistons officially have a new identity, crafted by coach and GM Stan Van Gundy. Center Andre Drummond is a rebounding force, who is learning the post-up game. As has been documented, Van Gundy’s success in Orlando with Dwight Howard hinged on three-point shooting surrounding the Goliath in the middle. Shooting guru Dave Hopla has been added to help spur the development of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Reggie Jackson, and rookie Stanley Johnson. The Pistons run a Jackson-Drummond pick and roll nearly every time down the court, which makes them more than a little predictable on offense. The benefit of this strategy is allowing Drummond to roll toward the rim on a huge number of possessions. This has led to the Pistons leading the NBA in offensive rebounding, an endangered species in the NBA. The Pistons and the Celtics are both one excellent shooter away from being a very tough out in the East.