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5 thrilling first round NBA playoff series, ranked

Regardless of what happens in the play-in, we have some good series on the way.

Apr 11

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Before the Race, Edgar Degas, 1882-84

The play-in table is set for this week and we have match-ups for four of the eight NBA playoff series locked in. That means it’s time to look ahead and get excited about exactly five of these series. In reverse order.

5. Celtics vs. Cavaliers OR Heat vs. Cavaliers/Hawks/Hornets

Weird entry here, sure. But we will get one of these match-ups, and it has a good chance to be fun. Hey, these lower-seeded teams finished closer to the Heat in the East standings than Golden State finished compared to Phoenix. That’s mostly a signal of the Suns’ dominance in the West. But it’s a reminder that the East is relatively tight: no one over 53 wins, everyone in the playoffs will have had at least 43 regular season wins. If the Cavaliers win the 7-8 game and face Boston, maybe the Celtics sweep or maybe it’s a competitive series. Same if the Nets win the 7-8 and Miami has to face the survivor of the play-in bracket. All three of those teams are pretty good! Miami is really good. But the other teams are pretty good. You can get a good series out of that.

4. Mavericks vs. Jazz

Two ways this can go: the Mavericks run the Jazz out of the gym which leads to an existential crisis for Utah, which would really be something worth watching; or, we get a good series. I think the first option is much more likely than the second but Utah had a substantially stronger margin of victory on the season. (Scoring margin has the Jazz as the third best team in the West, just behind Memphis and just ahead of Golden State.)

This is all presuming Luka Doncic will be fine after a calf injury suffered Sunday night. If Luka is fine, I think the odds of the Jazz running away with the series are very low.

3. Warriors vs. Nuggets

The Nuggets are bringing the presumptive two-time reigning MVP plus Bay Area native Aaron Gordon and a whole motley crew of supporting players up against a team that looked like a title favorite before Christmas. Draymond Green looks like himself again — facilitating, defending better than anyone on the planet. Klay Thompson has yet to look like himself, but that’s fine. Stephen Curry hasn’t played for a minute but every indication is that he’ll be as close to 100% as he can be once the playoffs start in a week. Jordan Poole, DeMarcus Cousins, Will Barton, Jonathan Kuminga, Michael Malone (who was prominently on Mark Jackson’s staff prior to Steve Kerr!), Steve Kerr. There’s a lot here to chew on. The Warriors should win if Steph is legitimately healthy. But Nikola Jokic is the best player in this series, and usually the team with the best player has a strong chance to win.

2. Celtics OR Heat vs. Nets (maybe!)

Brooklyn has to win one of their two potential play-in games to get here. But look: it’s the Brooklyn Nets. More importantly, it’s Kevin Durant. Ignore the Kyrie and James Harden and Ben Simmons stuff for a second: the Nets went 35-19 this season when Durant played. That’s a 53-win pace over 82 games. The Heat won 53 games. The C’s won 51. I’m just saying. Look, the Milwaukee Bucks WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP last season … and spent Sunday dodging Kevin Durant in the first round, after beating the Nets last spring. And the Bucks aren’t stupid.

1. Sixers vs. Raptors

Philadelphia has the most dominant center alive and one of the 10 greatest scorers of this millennium. Philadelphia does not have their best perimeter defender for road games in this series. The Raptors have no one in serious All-NBA consideration but a troupe of fun-loving vampires eager to devour your halfcourt sets, many of which are three years removed from an NBA championship.

This is a toss-up. This is going to be mania.

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Scores

FRIDAY

Bucks 131, Pistons 101

Knicks 114, Wizards 92

Cavaliers 107, Nets 118 — Brilliant effort from Darius Garland, but the Nets have Kevin Durant, and that’s a pretty big deal.

Rockets 115, Raptors 117 — Houston got its lead up to 24 in the first half, but Toronto has been doing this lately: getting into the flow of the game slowly and then trucking their opponents late. Scottie Barnes with 12 on 6/7 shooting in the fourth. Gary Trent Jr. with 19 in the second half, including the game-winner.

NBA @NBA

GARY TRENT JR. WINS IT FOR THE @Raptors, WHO TRAILED BY 24!

Hawks 109, Heat 113 — Sixth straight win for Miami to clinch No. 1.

Hornets 133, Bulls 117 — The Bulls are just sad now. Straight-up sad. Meanwhile, LaMelo Ball became the first player 20 years old or younger to hit 200 threes in a season. He’s at 38% on high volume for the season. Good sign for his superstar future.

Blazers 78, Mavericks 128 — Blazers, Blazers, Blazers. Luka Doncic got called for a tech at halftime, which was his 16th of the season, meriting a suspension for Sunday’s finale. But the NBA rescinded the tech on Saturday. The count resets for the playoffs.

Suns 111, Jazz 105 — Phoenix really has nothing to play for but franchise records and staying sharp for the playoffs. The Jazz needed a win to get the edge for No. 5. And the Jazz led by 17 to start the fourth. You figure Phoenix would lay down, right? Let Utah close it out? Rest Devin Booker and Chris Paul?

LMAO. Nope. 22-4 run in the fourth. Absolutely crushing loss for Utah. Nail in the coffin for their season, maybe.

Thunder 101, Lakers 120

SATURDAY

Pacers 120, Sixers 133 — A cool 41-20 from Joel Embiid to keep hopes for the No. 3 seed alive another day.

Pelicans 114, Grizzlies 141 — There have been murmurs of worry about Ja Morant, a player whose greatest skill is explosive athleticism, sitting out a couple weeks with knee issues right before the playoffs. Folks, it appears that Ja Morant’s knee is fine.

Plenty of explosion, good change of direction. Grizzlies are a problem.

Warriors 100, Spurs 94 — Golden State quietly wins its fourth straight and keeps the lead for No. 3 here.

Kings 98, Clippers 117

Ben Simmons 5, Invisible Defenders 0 — Maybe the biggest highlights from Saturday. That’s right, it’s another Ben Simmons workout video. Except without an update from the Nets, or even acknowledgement in the text that went with the video that Ben Simmons is a big part of the video.

Brooklyn Nets @BrooklynNets

Working on the weekend.

SUNDAY

Pacers 126, Nets 134 — Brooklyn clinches home court in the 7-8 play-in. The Nets finished 12-5 over their last 17 games.

Wizards 108, Hornets 124

Bucks 115, Cavaliers 133 — If Milwaukee weren’t the defending champs, I would be calling all sorts of Basketball Pantheon heresy on them for this obvious seeding-inspired tank job. A loss here and a Boston win gave the Celtics the No. 7 seed and a more-likely-than-not Round 1 series with the Nets, assuming the Nets can beat the Cavaliers in the play-in. Falling to No. 3 meant drawing the crumbling Bulls. So the Bucks … dressed the minimum eight players, started Jrue Holiday but intentionally fouled immediately after the tip to sub Holiday out and gave these players 39-plus minutes: Jordan Nwora, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Lindell Wigginton and Rayjon Tucker. Jevon Carter was the only other Buck who played (33 minutes, 1/11 shooting).

Again, if Milwaukee weren’t the defending champs … this would all sorts of future troll material. Unethical rotation.

Hawks 130, Rockets 114 — No roster nonsense from Houston, who earned the league’s worst record by playing their best young players lots of minutes. This was an ethical tank job.

Celtics 139, Grizzlies 110 — Boston will have home court against the Bucks in Round 2 … should both teams get there. But their prize for a stirring season rebound and actually playing their stars on Sunday to try to win the No. 2 seed … is a potential match-up against the Nets in Round 1. Fun.

Raptors 94, Knicks 105 — Toronto sat Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet having locked up No. 5, but did give OG Anunoby 25 minutes of run, which is important because he hadn’t played since April 1. It looks like the Raptors will be at full-strength for the Sixers.

Heat 111, Magic 125

Pistons 106, Sixers 118 — Joel Embiid didn’t play, but neither did Giannis Antetokounmpo, so Embiid becomes the first center since Shaq in 2000 and the first international-born player to ever win it.

Meanwhile, BBall Paul Reed had a career game and when asked, Doc Rivers said this:

Austin Krell @NBAKrell

Doc Rivers on Paul Reed potentially getting the backup center minutes in the playoffs: “We’re not going on a Paul Reed victory tour. We’re trying to win a world championship, man.”

Bulls 124, Timberwolves 120

Thunder 88, Clippers 138 — Extremely unethical tactics from OKC. I don’t want to quote my own tweet but even more I don’t want to retype this so:

Tom Ziller @teamziller

Two straight games to end the season, Thunder played only these six players: Vit Krejci (min contract) Jaylen Hoard (10-day) Georgios Kalaitzakis (10-day) Zavier Simpson (10-day) Melvin Frazier (10-day) Isaiah Roby (making $1.5M, but has only played 14-18 min in these 2 games)

Tom Ziller @teamziller

THE THUNDER ONLY PLAYED SIX GUYS?

Spurs 120, Mavericks 130

Warriors 128, Pelicans 107 — Golden State claims No. 3! It definitely looked like they were destined to lose it there over the past month. Draymond Green and Jordan Poole saved it.

Kings 116, Suns 109

Jazz 111, Blazers 80 — Despicable tanking from Portland over the past six weeks, as well. May the Basketball Gods curse them and OKC alike.

Lakers 146, Nuggets 141 (OT) — LMAO Austin Reaves must really enjoy having been a part of the most hated Lakers team in memory because he did this to force those poor Lakers fans to watch OVERTIME in Game 82.

Los Angeles Lakers @Lakers

Austin Reaves steals it, goes behind his back twice and forces overtime 🤯

Earlier in the game, Facundo Campazzo shoved Wayne Ellington from behind after a no-call on Mac McClung that sent Facu flying out of bounds.

Jordi Colomé Batlle @JordiColomeB

Nit de suplents. I de cervellets tocats. Com li ha anat a Facundo Campazzo avui que ha tornat a tenir minuts? Doncs... expulsat per agressió! Remugava no sé què d'una falta a Sanli...

Campazzo was ejected. I think he might pick up a suspension for Game 1 against the Warriors. I guess he should also avoid Wayne Ellington.

Wayne Ellington @WayneEllington

When I see you I’m putting my hands on you. @facucampazzo

Links

Matisse Thybulle took one dose of one of the two-dose vaccines last summer during the playoffs, but did that hesitantly after, he claims, being raised in a naturopathic household. (His mother, who died of leukemia in 2015, was a licensed naturopath.) Thybulle elected to not get the second dose due to his belief that the vaccine did not offer protection from spreading the virus to others. For the record, the vaccine does reduce transmission in addition to reducing infection and serious symptoms. Unless he gets the second dose, it appears Thybulle will be ineligible to travel to Toronto for Games 3, 4 and 6 (if necessary).

Woj reports that Frank Vogel will be fired by the Lakers on Monday. No surprise here. Vogel lasted 22 months after winning a championship. For what it’s worth, Tyronn Lue was with the Cavaliers for just 28 months after winning the championship there before getting fired. Vogel ended up with 154 more regular season games after the ring; Lue got just 170.

It’s Brevin Knight icing out broadcast partner Pete Pranica before a Grizzlies game. The vibes are unstoppable in Memphis.

NBA @NBA

ICY❄ Brevin Knight ices out Pete Pranica in honor of Ja Morant's return. Ja and the @memgrizz are live on @NBATV