Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Abbey in the Oakwood, Caspar David Friedrich

Luka Doncic recently bemoaned the NBA’s new play-in tournament, arguing that it’s unfortunate that you could play a 72-game season well enough to earn a top-8 seed but not get the opportunity to participate in a playoff series if you lose two straight in the play-in. Mark Cuban followed up Luka’s comments by claiming that approving the play-in tournament was an enormous mistake. Here’s Cuban’s rationale, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon:

“The worst part of this approach is that it doubles the stress of the compressed schedule. Rather than playing for a playoff spot and being able to rest players as the standings become clearer, teams have to approach every game as a playoff game to either get into or stay in the top 6 since the consequences, as Luka said, are enormous. So players are playing more games and more minutes in fewer days.”

In news related to both Luka and Cuban’s arguments, the Mavericks currently sit No. 7 in the West, one game in the loss column behind No. 6 Portland. Dallas is on track to be the best team in either conference forced to participate in the play-in tournament.

As MacMahon notes, Cuban voted to approve the play-in tournament knowing what it meant: the league’s Board of Governors voted 30-0 for the play-in. It would not be particularly surprising if a few votes flipped purely off self-interest going forward. It would also not be surprising if Dallas won their first play-in game, made the postseason and never complained about this again.

There are a few things I want to point out here.

First, it’s not as if teams have no path to avoiding the play-in, that it is a curse to be borne by the Mavericks no matter what they do. The Jazz, Suns, Clippers, Nuggets and now Lakers are at no or very little risk of being forced into a play-in tournament. The Mavericks could be in the same situation simply by being better. Luka as the team’s best player and Cuban as the team’s ultimate boss both have material impacts on the quality of the Mavericks. Instead of complaining about the impacts of where you fall in the standings, do something about it. Win more games and this won’t be a concern.

Second, the compressed schedule and added stress Cuban laments has much more to do with the fact that the NBA pressed 72 games into a season two months shorter than normal than it does with 1-2 potential games for eight teams at the end of the regular season. A normal NBA season has 82 games stretched over six months, or about 13.7 games per month per team. This NBA season has 72 games stretched over five months, or about 14.4 games per month per team. That has been exacerbated by the fact that lots of games in the first couple of months of the season were postponed because the RAGING PANDEMIC knocked players and teams out of commission. The Mavericks know this all too well given they were one of the teams most impacted by key players going out for long stretches while fighting COVID-19. When you talk about the cumulative stress of the season, it’s much more about those 72 games than the 1-2 at the end.

Third, Cuban points out that the stakes of the play-in tournament force teams to avoid rest for key players down the stretch of the season as the standings become clear. Basically, new stakes for teams in the 5-8 range means regular season games count for more, which prevents teams from taking the home stretch of the regular season less seriously. You see the issue here, right? The play-in tournament was created in part provide some additional stakes BECAUSE the home stretch of the regular season is meaningless for many teams and boring to the audience. If Dallas fighting to climb out of No. 7 means Dallas takes a higher percentage of its late regular season games seriously by playing its stars and trying to win every night, that’s good for the NBA. If that happens, the play-in is working as intended. Cuban is presenting this as a problem.

The problem is that the regular season is way too long. I’m a fairly recent convert to this position, but it’s becoming more clear every season that no matter the supreme talent level of the league and opportunity for mindblowing displays of athletic genius on a night-to-night basis, STAKES build excitement. The NBA can continue to raise the stakes by shrinking the regular season, expanding single- or double-elimination opportunities without risking the tenet that high-performing teams win real advantages and focusing on the audience.

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Fragility

Jamal Murray tore his ACL. Odds are he’ll miss all of the 2021-22 season in addition to the rest of this one. Just another cruel, ill-timed and devastating injury in the NBA. This has enormous ramifications for the Nuggets, whose chances of going on another deep playoff run and perhaps winning the title take a huge hit given Murray’s production level and importance to the team.

The next shoe to drop is what Denver does in the offseason. By trading for Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets used a couple of key chips that could have been used to help the backcourt in the wake of Murray’s loss. The Nuggets have a lot of salary committed, so without some creative accounting, a major shake-up or a great bargain, it’s going to be hard to land someone who can step into a starting role and provide something close to what Murray would have for next season. Names like Kyle Lowry, Victor Oladipo and Norman Powell will pop up. All will likely be too expensive.

More likely, Denver will have to settle for a low-tier starter or elevate Monte Morris next season and add bench support. More pressure on Nikola Jokic, who can’t possibly get more productive, can he? More pressure on Michael Porter, Jr. and Aaron Gordon and Will Barton to score and generate offense when Jokic is off the court or hounded. More pressure on Tim Connelly to stretch the cap. More pressure on Michael Malone to find rotations that work.

Injuries like this are a sad reality for the NBA. I’d argue this couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Nuggets, who made a play for the championship tier and won’t be able to realize it for likely this season or next. Every gambit is subject to the fragility of tendons and ligaments. It’s a cruel league.

Scores

Nets 127, Timberwolves 97 — This was the game postponed from Monday, rescheduled last minute for Tuesday afternoon. Kevin Durant, who is unfair, scored 31 on 11/15 shooting in 27 minutes. Joe Harris shot 8/12 from the floor.

Clippers 126, Pacers 115 — Masterful performance for Paul George with Kawhi Leonard out: 36 points on 13/25 shooting, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals. Fourth straight 30-point game.

Hawks 108, Raptors 103 — Not as close as it looks. Good shorthanded win for the Hawks, who are starting to look a bit destined for a first-round series against Boston or Miami. Malachi Flynn went Reggie Miller in the last 70-something seconds to make the Raptors’ box score looks a little better. Is Kyle Lowry going to play again this season? Is this is a quasi-tank for Toronto?

Lakers 101, Hornets 93

Thunder 96, Jazz 106 — Can I interest you in Theo Maledon and Isaiah Roby running screen sets for Lu Dort, who takes advantages to drop a career high 42 points? Dortworld.

Heat 86, Suns 106 — Phoenix got a combined 17 points and 12 assists from their All-Star backcourt, a combined five points and two assists from two other starters (Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder) … and beat the defending East champ by 20, with most of their key players (excluding Victor Oladipo) active? Must be a Suns bench thing! Cam Payne, Cam Johnson, Dario Saric and Torrey Craig played starter minutes and blew their Miami counterparts out of the water.

Celtics 116, Blazers 115 — Very close game, great win for Boston behind Jayson Tatum and a strong effort for Kemba Walker. Nice throwback effort from Carmelo Anthony — there are few players from his generation more delightful to watch when they are on. This was a rather classic Marcus Smart game, too.

Lakers Panic Room

The good news: L.A. moves to 6-7 since LeBron got injured. That’s kept them in the No. 5 slot, just a half-game out of No. 4, 2.5 games up on No. 6 and a full four games up on No. 7. It’s a pretty major achievement.

The bad news: the next five games are against the Celtics, Jazz, Jazz, Mavericks and Mavericks. This can flip pretty quickly. But the Lakers’ supplemental pieces have done their jobs and more in the absence of Anthony Davis and LeBron so far. What’s success in this next stretch of five games, one win? Two?

Schedule

Busy 12-game schedule with an attractive ESPN doubleheader. All times Eastern. League Pass Cup games denoted with a 🏆.

Bucks at Timberwolves, 4:30 — The league moved this start time up
Cavaliers at Hornets, 7 🏆
Nets at Sixers, 7, ESPN
Spurs at Raptors, 7:30
Clippers at Pistons, 8
Magic at Bulls, 8 🏆
Knicks at Pelicans, 8
Pacers at Rockets, 9
Warriors at Thunder, 9
Mavericks at Grizzlies, 9:30, ESPN
Heat at Nuggets, 10
Wizards at Kings, 10 🏆

Links

Rest in peace, Slick Leonard. The all-timer Mr. Basketball of Indiana and one of the kings of the ABA.

A brief reminder that death isn’t the only impact of COVID-19. Even beyond the staggering and tragic death toll, the health ramifications of this virus and the global response to the pandemic will linger for a long, long time.

Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA

Jayson Tatum says he takes an inhaler now before games after COVID. He never did before.

April 14th 2021

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The WNBA schedule is out! The season begins May 14. But May 15 features Storm vs. Aces and Sky vs. Mystics. Whew. No television schedule announced yet, that’s still to come. Mechelle Voepel shares the 12 must-see games.

The Storm named a new general manager, Talisa Rhea, two days before the WNBA Draft. Pretty curious! But it’s an internal promotion and the person Rhea is replacing, Alisha Valavanis, is remaining with the team in a president role. You wonder if another team was trying to poach Rhea away and the Storm needed to make a move to retain her? Another potential explanation is that this had been worked out for some time and the Storm just waited to announce it.

Charli Collier profile on ESPN.

Love this Blake Murphy piece in The Athletic on Freddie Gillespie’s path from Division III to the Raptors. ($)

Another piece in The Athletic, this one from Seth Partnow on the pitfalls of using metrics in deciding the Defensive Player of the Year race and more. Reading Partnow makes me feel smarter every time. ($)

Rohan Nadkarni in SI on the trade that may have saved Caris LeVert’s life.

Fascinating piece on NBA franchise owners’ go-to headhunter.

Kelly Dwyer with the rationales for each of the nine NBA title contenders. ($)

Kevin Pelton’s take on ESPN Insider on Jamal Murray’s injury and what it means for the Nuggets. ($)

A double-feature from Dan Devine: on the biggest surprises and disappointments this deep into the NBA season and on what the loss of Jamal Murray means to the Nuggets.

And finally: in which Anthony Edwards adjusts his hair while answering a question about potential new Wolves franchise co-owner Alex Rodriguez by explaining that he doesn’t know who Alex Rodriguez is. I love this vibe.

Master @MasterTes

The video is somehow even better

April 14th 2021

924 Retweets7,407 Likes

Be excellent to each other.