Everyone is mad about the West play-in now. That's how you know it's working
The Lakers, Blazers and Mavericks are all knotted up with eight games to go. One of them is going to the play-in tournament.
May 3 |
The Race to Avoid the Play-in is on! The playoffs are just weeks away! Sign up for the paid version of Good Morning It’s Basketball to get five issues per week. $5 per month or $50 per year. Everyone is mad about the West play-in now. That's how you know it's workingThe Lakers, Blazers and Mavericks are all knotted up with eight games to go. One of them is going to the play-in tournament.
Good morning. Let’s basketball. The Fighting Temeraire Tugged To Her Last Berth To Be Broken Up, J.M.W. Turner Look, this season hasn’t been easy for the Lakers. LeBron James missed 20 games with an ankle injury. Anthony Davis missed 30 games with an Achilles injury. Just as the two returned to the lineup for the stretch run, Dennis Schroder — the team’s clear third best player this season — went out due to COVID-19 protocols. Andre Drummond has not meshed well — he’s been one of the league’s least impactful buyout signings. Montrezl Harrell’s fit has been a disappointment. All that said and acknowledged, this is an absolutely hilarious statement after L.A. lost to the lowly Kings and injury-depleted Raptors over the weekend to fall into a three-way tie for the No. 5 seed with the Mavericks and Blazers. This is the same flavor of whinging Mark Cuban and the Mavericks presented when they seemed destined for the play-in tournament. That’s right, the play-in sounds like a great idea unless you’re in line to participate. Then the chance for pre-playoff elimination by a hot, lesser team sounds awful. C’est la vie, my friends. C’est la freaking vie. LeBron left the Raptors’ loss midway through the fourth due to ankle soreness. It’s not clear whether he aggravated his injury; the Lakers didn’t really look like they were going to win that game anyway, so it could have been precautionary. It remains to be seen whether he’ll play in a crucial game and potential first-round preview Monday against the Nuggets on national TV. As you’ll see below, the Lakers need as many hands on deck as possible for the next two weeks. But really, the Lakers have only themselves to blame. There is never an excuse to lose to the Kings without De’Aaron Fox, as they did on Friday with Tyrese Haliburton and Richaun Holmes lighting them up. In fairness to the Lakers, the Kings did the same thing to the Mavericks on Sunday to keep L.A. and Dallas tied. Except on Sunday it wasn’t Hali and Holmes, it was Marvin Bagley and Delon Wright. Dallas has now lost thrice to the Kings in the last 15 days. The Mavs are 6-0 in that stretch against everyone else (including two wins over the Lakers). And the Kings beat them three times. You might find a way to be more sympathetic to the Lakers and Mavericks’ annoyance at the play-in if they’d do their jobs and beat bad teams in the closing weeks of the season. Alas. Here’s the situation for these three teams — Mavericks, Lakers and the Blazers, who had a SPECTACULAR weekend beating the Nets and Celtics to make this a three-way dance, sorry for highlighting the other teams’ failures instead of reading from the Book of Dame — with eight games left.
Without the play-in, these games would matter … in a way, depending on which match-up this teams wanted in the first-round, though it’d be hard to orchestrate that given that none of these three teams are good enough to orchestrate much of anything right now and the Clippers — who the team you’d presume these teams most want to avoid — are now the No. 4 seed. With the play-in, these games are incredibly important and it’s going to be a blast to follow this through. Whoever came up with that s—t should get a raise. ScoresFridaySpurs 140, Celtics 143 — One of the greatest individual performances in the NBA over the last several years. Boston trailed by as many as 32 and got booed going into halftime by the few thousand fans allowed into the arena. Jayson Tatum had it going in the first half, but the rest of the C’s didn’t. But they sure as hell got it going, and Tatum exploded for a new career high 60 points — 31 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime. Jazz 100, Suns 121 — Utah was without Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, so it’s same story we’ve been telling of late: the Phoenix Suns can only face the players that line up across from them, and they keep beating them over and over. Mikal Bridges was especially good in this one to help Phoenix take over the No. 1 seed. This crossover had me out of my seat when I watched it in real-time. SaturdayPistons 94, Hornets 107 — LaMelo Ball is back! Grizzlies 111, Magic 112 — Cole Anthony called game. Again. Pelicans 140, Timberwolves 136 — Minnesota doesn’t exactly have much rim protection, but Zion Williamson going to the rim over and over and over again is just so delightful and effective. Pacers 152, Thunder 95 — Worst home loss in NBA history. Moses Brown shot 7/9; the rest of the Thunder starting five shot 10/49. Doug McDermott with 31-1-1, like a true hero. Wizards 124, Mavericks 125 — Luka Doncic’s 20th assist. Dorian Finney-Smith is so important to Dallas. Nuggets 110, Clippers 104 — Really good game with Kawhi Leonard back in action. Denver showed some amazing resilience down the stretch despite Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins rekindling some old magic. The Nuggets are the hottest team in the league without Jamal Murray, Monte Morris or Will Barton. I can’t get this Nikola Jokic pass out of my head. SundayNets 114, Bucks 117 — Helluva game. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant brought their flamethrowers. Khris Middleton had a great fourth quarter. Kyrie Irving didn’t really have it, but still had some jaw-dropping plays. Bryn Forbes, Landry Shamet, good and spicy on both counts. Blake Griffin prying open the jaws of Father Time. Kings 111, Mavericks 99 — Marvin Bagley! Sixers 113, Spurs 111 — Ben Simmons game winner to take over the No. 1 seed. TWIST! It was a tip-in. Raptors 121, Lakers 114 — Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam both had 30-point double-doubles. Adding injury to insult, LeBron left with ankle soreness midway through the fourth. Brutal weekend for the Lakers given LeBron’s return. League Pass CupdateThe Hornets won their weekend game to stay alive. Charlotte has three more games this week: they need to sweep them to stay alive. ScheduleEight games, including the Warriors-Pelicans Marvel broadcast on ESPN2. It’s so weird that this is on a Monday night. The Warriors are good for ratings. Zion Williamson is someone the NBA wants everyone to love and watch. Warriors vs. Pelicans happens to be a Monday. I get it. But this is nothing like the hype the NFL built for their Nickelodeon game. Magic at Pistons, 7 🏆 We’re running up against the email size limit, so we’ll have some links tomorrow. Be excellent to each other. You’re on the free list for Good Morning It's Basketball. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. |
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Under the radar, the Thunder have lost 14 straight games with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Al Horford out.
Monday, April 19, 2021
The addition of the play-in tournament could lead to bad draws for top seeds. Fix that and add some more stakes by letting the best teams draft first-round opponents.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Dallas is lashing out at the decision to have a play-in tournament when the problem is both the length of the regular season and the team's own failure to be better.
Monday, April 5, 2021
Extending Jrue Holiday essentially locks in what Milwaukee will look like over the course of Giannis Antetokounmpo's next contract, or at least the first part of it. Is the core good enough?
Monday, March 22, 2021
Are megamarket teams and superstar empowerment ruining the league's competitive balance?
Monday, March 10, 2025
Open this on your phone and click the button below: Add to podcast app
Monday, March 10, 2025
Cleveland, Boston and OKC are heads above everyone else. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Monday, March 10, 2025
Pressure, meet diamond
Monday, March 10, 2025
Buzzer-Beaters & Conference Champs. NFL Free-For-All. The Jokic Game. Cricket, Tennis & More...
Friday, March 7, 2025
Explaining why I really don't like Golden State these days. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Friday, March 7, 2025
NCAA Tourney Takeoff, NBA Rewind, NFL Moves, NHL Trades, Tennis, Golf & The Weekend...
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
The Mavericks shortened their runway with the Luka trade. The cliff is coming up quicker than ever. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
There's no business like showbusiness
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
LeBron's Newest Milestone. NFL Roster Moves. No. 1 Auburn Falls. Soccer, NHL, TGL & More...
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
This is to say that there is still a *lot* at stake. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏