20 Second Timeout

Heat Bludgeon Bulls and Mavericks Topple Kings to Stay Alive in the NBA Play-In Tournament

Perhaps the NBA's media partners feel obligated to rave about how great the NBA Play-In Tournament is, but I said it in 2021 during the first NBA Play-In Tournament and I will say it again now: Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball. In the pre-Adam Silver NBA, after the regular season ended we were spared from watching sub-.500 teams battle to claim the eighth seed; a team could only earn a playoff spot by playing as hard as possible during the season to finish in the top eight, without the safety net of having a second chance to "play in" to the playoffs.

The problem with having the ninth and tenth best teams face off in high profile games is that teams with losing records did not stack up losses by accident; they are flawed squads, and when you shine a national spotlight on those squads their flaws are glaringly obvious. Instead of creating gimmicks like the NBA Cup and the Play-In Tournament to try to discourage tanking and convince teams to play hard throughout the season, the NBA should have adopted the relegation system while also not allowing the worst teams to get the top draft picks; if the worst teams each season were dropped to a lower, less prestigious, and less lucrative league instead of being rewarded with the opportunity to draft the best young players, teams would not only stop losing on purpose but they would do their best to at least win enough to avoid relegation.

In the first game of Wednesday's ESPN doubleheader of uninspired basketball, the 37-45 Miami Heat tamed the 39-43 Chicago Bulls, 109-90. I erred by picking the Bulls--who went 15-5 in their last 20 games--to not only win this game but to win on Friday night to earn the eighth seed. The Bulls clearly preferred getting an early start on their summer vacation versus fighting to get into the playoffs; the Bulls never led, trailed by as many as 17 points in the first quarter, and allowed the anemic Heat offense to shoot 41-83 (.494) from the field as boos echoed throughout the United Center. Tyler Herro scored a game-high 38 points on 13-19 field goal shooting, while Josh Giddey paced the Bulls with 25 points on 9-21 field goal shooting. The Heat led 71-47 at halftime, and they led by at least 13 points the rest of the way. I thought that the Bulls would prove to be the better team, but the reality is that neither of these teams is very good, so in a one game winner take all showdown anything can happen--anything other than competitive and entertaining basketball.

The second game of the doubleheader was no better, with the home team again looking lethargic and offering little defensive resistance as the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks--who went 7-13 in their last 20 games--blasted the 40-42 Sacramento Kings, 120-106. It is fair to say that firing Coach Mike Brown and then trading De'Aaron Fox did not make the Kings better; the Kings went 6-9 down the stretch before rolling over and playing dead at home in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Even without the services of injured All-Star Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks made light work of the Kings, leading 71-48 at halftime (nearly matching the halftime margin of the Miami-Chicago fiasco) and maintaining at least a 16 point cushion throughout the second half until Terence Davis hit a meaningless three pointer with 19.9 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Anthony Davis led the Mavericks in scoring and rebounding (27 points, nine rebounds), Klay Thompson had a flashback shooting performance (23 points on 8-11 field goal shooting), Brandon Williams contributed 17 points and five assists in 18 minutes off of the bench, and P.J. Washington scored 17 points while tying Davis for team-high honors with nine rebounds. For the deposed Kings, DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 33 points, Zach LaVine added 20 points on 8-19 field goal shooting along with nine assists and a game-high tying five turnovers, and Domantas Sabonis had 11 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers.

Since the NBA began the Play-In Tournament in 2021, no 10th seeded team has claimed the eighth seed in either conference; that will change on Friday night if Miami beats Atlanta or if Dallas beats Memphis.

Labels: Anthony Davis, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, DeMar DeRozan, Josh Giddey, Klay Thompson, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Tyler Herro

posted by David Friedman @ 1:53 AM

2 comments

Thoughts and Predictions About the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament

In a tradition unlike any other--and not in a good way--the NBA Play-In Tournament is the unappetizing appetizer before the NBA playoffs begin on April 19. Two of the four Western Conference Play-In teams have losing records, but the Eastern Conference tops that with three out of four Play-In teams having losing records (and the fourth, Orlando, is 41-41). When losing teams face each other for the opportunity to get stomped in the first round of the playoffs, fans are treated to incredible basketball. In the scintillating 2021 NBA Play-In Tournament, the Indiana Pacers silenced the Charlotte Hornets, 144-117. To give you an idea of how great that 2021 Pacers team was, in their next game they bowed out of the Play-In Tournament after losing 142-115 to the Washington Wizards, who were promptly dispatched in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-1. In more recent captivating Play-In Tournament action, last year the 39-43 Chicago Bulls beat the 36-46 Atlanta Hawks 131-116 before losing 116-91 to the 46-36 Miami Heat, who then got drubbed 4-1 by the Boston Celtics in the first round. 

The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament starts tomorrow night with the 41-41 Orlando Magic hosting the 40-42 Atlanta Hawks to earn the Eastern Conference's seventh seed and a first round matchup versus the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics. Then, the 48-34 Golden State Warriors host the 48-34 Memphis Grizzlies in a battle for the Western Conference's seventh seed and a first round matchup versus the Houston Rockets. The Warriors are perhaps the Play-In Tournament team that is most highly regarded; they improved a lot after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat but--as I predicted right after that trade happened--the Warriors are fighting just to get in the playoffs, so any notion about them making a deep playoff run seems far-fetched. The Warriors could have qualified for the playoffs outright by beating the L.A. Clippers in their season finale, but instead the Warriors lost 124-119 in overtime while getting outrebounded 42-25 and letting the Clippers shoot .558 from the field.

The eighth seeds in each conference will be determined after the 39-43 Chicago Bulls host the 37-45 Miami Heat and the 40-42 Sacramento Kings host the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. The losers of those games will be eliminated, while the winners will face the losers of the Orlando-Atlanta and Golden State-Memphis games respectively to claim the final playoff spots.

Last season, the Magic looked like a young team on the rise, posting a 47-35 record to finish fifth in the Eastern Conference before losing 4-3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. This season, the Magic suffered a lot of injuries to key players, and they limped--literally and figuratively--to a 41-41 record. They struggle to score, but they keep the pace down and thus rank first in the league in points allowed. 

The Hawks are the stylistic opposite of the Magic, ranking fifth in points scored and 27th in points allowed, and they rely heavily on the inefficient Trae Young (24.2 ppg, league-leading 11.6 apg, .411 FG%) to score and to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. The Hawks went 8-7 down the stretch, and they split the season series with the Magic, including a Hawks season finale win with both teams sitting many of their key players. The Magic went 10-5 in their last 15 games, including the meaningless last game loss to the Hawks. 

In a battle of two mediocre teams fighting to be first round fodder, I pick the Magic to beat the Hawks.

This season, the Warriors ranked seventh in rebounding, eighth in points allowed, and 11th in defensive field goal percentage; those rankings are very strong, but not quite as good as the team's rankings in 2022 (seventh, third, and second respectively) when they won their most recent NBA title. The Warriors started the season 25-26 and then went 23-8 after the Butler trade, but the Warriors went just 9-6 in the last 15 games, including the aforementioned loss to the Clippers that forced them to participate in the Play-In Tournament. Few championship teams are formed on the fly, and there is little reason to believe that--even if one accepts the proposition that this is a championship caliber team--this team will be the exception. 

The Grizzlies ranked second in scoring, fourth in defensive field goal percentage, and eighth in field goal percentage. Those are championship caliber rankings, but the Grizzlies went just 6-9 down the stretch, including 4-5 after replacing Coach Taylor Jenkins with interim Coach Tuomas lisalo. Ja Morant led the Grizzlies in scoring (23.2 ppg) and assists (7.3 apg) this season after playing just nine games last season--but even this season he only played 50 games and his numbers across the board were not at the same level as his 2022 and 2023 statistics. Throughout his career, Morant has been fined and suspended multiple times for actions that are immature or worse, and this season he was fined $75,000 by the NBA for a finger gun celebration. One might think that squandering more money than many people make in a year would cause him to rethink his behavior, but instead Morant doubled down by switching to a hand grenade celebration. What is next? A howitzer? Meanwhile, what idiotic things will Draymond Green say or do while Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler do the heavy lifting required to win this game? On the one hand, it would be hilarious if Butler and Green don't even make it to the first round of the playoffs after all of their talking and posturing, but on the other hand as soon as the Warriors are eliminated we will likely be subjected to Green polluting the airwaves with bizarre commentary for TNT--so fans face a lose-lose proposition with this game. 

Both of these teams pose as championship contenders without appearing to have what it takes to win a championship this season (if ever), but in this game I am picking the Warriors to win a close, hard fought game over the Grizzlies.

The losers of the above games will play the winners of the 9-10 matchups in their respective conferences. The Miami Heat were not particularly good this season with or without Butler, though they did go 8-7 in their last 15 games. The Heat defend reasonably well--ranking seventh in points allowed, ninth in defensive rebounds, and 12th in defensive field goal percentage--but they struggle offensively, ranking 18th in field goal percentage and 24th in scoring. 

The Chicago Bulls rank sixth in scoring but 28th in points allowed. The Bulls shipped leading scorer Zach LaVine to Sacramento in a three team midseason deal. They turned the offense over to Coby White, who averaged 20.4 ppg overall, including 24.5 ppg after the All-Star Game. The Bulls went 11-4 in the final 15 games to move up to the ninth spot and earn the right to host one Play-In Tournament game.

I am picking the Bulls to score at least 115 points and beat the Heat, and then I am picking the Bulls to beat the Hawks to claim the eighth seed.

After reaching the NBA Finals last season for the first time since winning the 2011 NBA title, the Dallas Mavericks made an era-defining in-season trade by sending franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic to the L.A. Lakers for Anthony Davis. To put it mildly, the trade has not worked out well for the Mavericks so far; the team's fans are outraged, and the Mavericks struggled to absorb the loss of Doncic plus injuries to all of their key big men (including Davis, who is now back), and the season-ending torn ACL suffered by Kyrie Irving shortly after the fateful trade happened. The Mavericks went 6-9 down the stretch, and for portions of this season they barely could pull together the required eight healthy bodies just to avoid forfeiting a game. We will have to wait until at least next season to find out how good the Mavericks can be with Davis, Irving, and the Daniel Gafford-Dereck Lively II big man tandem.

The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown after a 13-18 start to the season. They enjoyed a brief honeymoon period under interim Coach Doug Christie, and then they finished the season by going 6-9 in the last 15 games to slide to ninth; if the season had lasted a week longer, they easily could have fallen into the Draft Lottery.

I am picking the Kings to beat the Mavericks, and then I am picking the Grizzlies to beat the Kings.

If my predictions are correct, the Magic and Warriors will claim the seventh seeds in their respective conferences, and the eighth seeded teams will be the Bulls and Grizzlies. 

We can hope that this year's Play-In Tournament provides at least a few interesting and competitive games.

Previous Play-In Tournament Articles:

2024

76ers Cool off Heat to Clinch East's Seventh Seed, Heat Will Host Bulls to Determine East's Eighth Seed (April 18, 2024)

Lakers Clinch West's Seventh Seed, Pelicans Will Host Kings to Determine West's Eighth Seed (April 17, 2024)

The NBA Play-In Tournament Gives Mediocre Teams an Opportunity to Salvage Their Disappointing Seasons  (April 15, 2024)

2023

Zion Williamson's Refusal to Play Despite Being Healthy Embodies What is Wrong With Today's NBA (April 13, 2023)

L.A. Lakers Need Overtime to Dispatch Shorthanded Minnesota Timberwolves in Play-In Tournament (April 12, 2023)

The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament: Grab Your Popcorn and Savor the Mediocrity! (April 10, 2023)

2022

Notes on the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament (April 14, 2022)

Nets Clinch Seventh Seed After Outlasting Cavaliers, 115-108 (April 12, 2022)

The NBA is (Usually) Fantastic (Except When Teams Bench Their Starters for the Season's Last Game) (April 11, 2022)

2021

Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball (May 20, 2021)

Thoughts on the NBA's Play-In Tournament (May 17, 2021)

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Play-In Tournament, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 10:56 PM

0 comments

How Good Will the Wembanyama-Fox Duo Be?

The San Antonio Spurs have paired second year wunderkind Victor Wembanyama with De'Aaron Fox to form what they hope will be a championship-winning duo. The Spurs acquired Fox--who earned one All-Star selection in seven and a half seasons with the Sacramento Kings--in a three team deal that sent two-time All-Star Zach LaVine from Chicago to Sacramento along with Sidy Cissoko, three first round draft picks, and three second round draft picks. Jordan McLaughlin will join Fox in San Antonio, and Chicago will receive Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, and their own 2025 first round draft pick that they had previously traded.

As I noted in my articles about the Jimmy Butler trade and the blockbuster Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, the general rule of thumb when evaluating an NBA trade is that the team that received the best player "won," although size matters in the NBA, and age is also a factor worth considering. 

Fox is the best player in this deal; he is a 27 year old 6-3 point guard with career averages of 21.5 ppg, 6.1 apg, 3.9 rpg, and 1.4 spg. He led the NBA in steals last season (2.0 spg), and he ranks eighth in steals (1.6 spg) this season. He has ranked in the top 10 in assists twice (eighth in 2019, ninth in 2021), and he has ranked in the top 10 in scoring once (eighth in 2024 with a career-high 26.6 ppg). Fox has averaged at least 23.2 ppg each season since 2021-22, including 24.9 ppg this season. Fox has made the All-NBA Team once (Third Team selection in 2023). He is a very good player, but he is not a great player; he is not a perennial All-Star, he has never come close to making the All-NBA First Team, and he has an 0-1 career playoff series record that demonstrates that he has yet to lift his team to high level postseason success.

LaVine is an often injured 6-5 swingman who will soon turn 30 years old, and who last made the All-Star team in 2022. His career averages are 20.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 4.3 apg. He is not a good defensive player and, like Fox, he has an 0-1 career playoff series record. 

The other players in this deal, like the other players in the Butler trade and the Doncic-Davis trade, were included to facilitate the deal more so than for the direct impact they are expected to have on the court. The multiple draft picks are like stock futures: they may prove to be extremely valuable, and they may prove to be worthless. Much like a smart investor maintains a diverse portfolio, a smart team does not rely too heavily on just the draft, just free agency, or just trades, but instead keeps open as many options as possible to improve the roster in terms of talent, depth, and salary cap flexibility.

Will Wembanyama and Fox win at least one championship together in San Antonio? There are many reasons to be skeptical. 

The Spurs tanked to acquire the draft rights to Wembanyama, even though it has been proven over a long period of time and a large sample size that tanking does not work. "Stat guru" executives and delusional writers have made a lot of money touting the notion that the Philadelphia 76ers "tanked to the top" despite the fact that the much-praised "Process" has not yielded more than a string of second round losses--and this season, despite having a "Big Three" featuring Joel "The Process" Embiid, Paul "Playoff P" George, and promising young guard Tyrese Maxey, the 76ers are struggling just to qualify for the playoffs. Tanking teams tend to not ever win big for a variety of reasons, including the fact that tanking promotes bad habits and creates a culture where losing is acceptable (or even desirable); bad habits and a negative culture are a lot more difficult to change than "stat gurus" are willing to admit. Embiid has been in the NBA since 2014, and he still has not developed proper training habits off of the court or a winning mentality on the court, demonstrated every time we see his out of shape body lumbering back on defense. As Jeff Van Gundy used to say during his TV commentating days: horses trot, players run. 

The Spurs went 22-60 in their tanking season and then, after drafting Wembanyama, they went 22-60 in his rookie season. They added veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes prior to this season, and they are currently 22-27--a significant improvement, but hardly even close to championship contention. Building a championship team is not like microwaving a packaged meal; "stat gurus" keep acting as if they can just throw talent together to win instantly and they keep being slapped in the face by the hard reality that great teams are not built that way. Great teams are built from the ground up by developing chemistry and by inculcating the right habits. Wembanyama is a highly productive young player who does not have a clue what it takes to win at the NBA level. Fox is a productive player entering his prime who has yet to win at the NBA level. Why should we believe that throwing those two players together is going to produce anything other that some regular season wins followed by, at best, early playoff exits? Wembanyama may be the best defensive player in the NBA, but the Spurs rank 13th in defensive field goal percentage and 19th in points allowed. It takes a well put together team to win at a high level, not just a bunch of individually talented players. 

Fox may be talented enough to push the Spurs above .500 this season, but it will be very surprising if the Spurs win a playoff series in 2025, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes for Wembanyama to notch his first playoff series win. Embiid missed his first two seasons due to injury, and did not win a playoff series until four years after he was drafted. He has reached the second round just five times, and he is 0-5 in those series.

This is not a bad trade for the Spurs. The Spurs clearly "won" this trade and they are better now than they were before. The point is that it will take more than one good trade to undo the damage done by tanking. It is interesting to contrast Pat Riley's Miami Heat--a team that refuses to tank--with the Spurs (and other tanking teams). Since LeBron James left the Heat in 2014, the Heat have reached the NBA Finals twice, participated in the playoffs in seven out of 10 seasons, and had a losing record just twice. After Tim Duncan retired in 2016, the Spurs reached the Western Conference Finals once, lost in the second round twice, and have not participated in the playoffs since 2020. The Spurs have had a losing record in each of the past five seasons, and will have to scramble to not have a losing record this season. They may not have been losing on purpose that whole time, but they also did not build a foundation for success; they just hoped to hit the Draft Lottery jackpot--and even after "winning" the Draft Lottery they are still a losing team. Gregg Popovich used to quip that he had nothing to do with the Spurs' success and that he was just lucky to have had Tim Duncan for so long, but that joke probably seems less funny to Spurs' fans now than it did during their championship-winning glory days. Which fan base has had more fun and received more value in the past decade or so--Miami or San Antonio? Tanking is just awful for the league, for its fans, and for its media partners. At any give time, it seems that at least five or six of the NBA's 30 teams are losing on purpose, and that makes the product almost unwatchable. It was hilarious to hear J.J. Redick lambasting Charles Barkley for telling the truth that is plain for anyone to see: the NBA has a lot of bad teams playing bad basketball.

The other two teams in this trade seem to be adrift, at best. Mike Brown brought some stability to the Kings--leading the team to the playoffs in 2023, their first postseason appearance since 2006--but now that the Kings fired him and traded their leading scorer (Fox) they seem to be heading back toward their comfort zone of dysfunction. The Kings enjoyed a brief 11-4 honeymoon under new Coach Doug Christie before losing four of their last five games. LaVine has never been part of an NBA team that won at a high level, and that is unlikely to change now.

As for the Bulls, it is not clear if they are intentionally tanking or just perpetually clueless, but they have reached the playoffs just once since 2017 and they have not won a playoff series since 2015. Unloading LaVine's burdensome contract is good from a salary cap flexibility standpoint, but in the short run (and for the foreseeable future) they have less talent and will have to scrap and claw just to get into the Play-In Tournament.

Labels: Chicago Bulls, De'Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin, Kevin Huerter, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Sidy Cissoko, tanking, Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Zach LaVine

posted by David Friedman @ 12:56 PM

4 comments

Remembering Bob "Butterbean" Love, Stalwart Forward for the 1970s Chicago Bulls

In an era when the accomplishments of even some of the elite basketball players of the past are derided--if not forgotten--it is very important to pay tribute to players who helped build the NBA into the multi-billion dollar business that it is today. Long before Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in an eight year span in the 1990s, Bob Love--who passed away yesterday at the age of 81--was the leading scorer for Chicago Bulls teams that put pro basketball on the map in the Windy City. 

Bob Love and Chet Walker were the starting forwards for Chicago squads that made six straight playoff appearances, a run of excellence that began just three years after the franchise was founded. The Bulls reached the Western Conference Finals in 1974 and 1975 only to fall first to the powerful Milwaukee Bucks led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and then to the soon to be NBA champion Golden State Warriors led by Rick Barry. Prior to that, the Bulls lost in the playoffs three years in a row to an L.A. Lakers team featuring Pantheon members Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. Dick Motta, who later guided the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA championship, coached the Bulls from 1968-76, and the backcourt was manned by Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan, a great rebounding guard and defensive player who became a Hall of Fame coach.

In a 2015 20 Second Timeout article, I selected Love as one of the four best players in the Bulls' franchise history: "Love was the best player for some strong Chicago teams in the early 1970s, a top notch scorer who was also an excellent defensive player. As a Bull, Love made the All-NBA Second Team twice (1971, 1972) and the All-Defensive Second Team three times (1972, 1974-75). Love holds the franchise single season record for minutes played (3482) and he ranks third on the franchise's career scoring list behind Jordan and Pippen."

Love was a workhouse who averaged at least 37 mpg for seven straight seasons while playing in all 82 games three times, playing in 81 games once, and playing in 79 game once. He averaged at least 43.3 mpg in seven of his eight playoff series, and he was productive during those postseason minutes (22.9 ppg, 7.5 rpg). Love ranks fourth in ABA-NBA history in playoff mpg (43.9). In that era, there was no "load management"; players just figured out how to manage the work load.

Love was raised by his grandmother Ella Hunter during a difficult childhood in Louisiana. He is one of several NBA All-Stars who developed his game at a historically Black college, a group that includes Earl Monroe, Willis Reed, Dick Barnett, and Bob Dandridge. Love played sparingly for two seasons with the Cincinnati Royals and then spent just 14 games with the Milwaukee Bucks before finding his NBA home in Chicago in 1968. He averaged at least 19.9 ppg in each of his first six seasons with the Bulls.

A back injury ended Love's playing career in 1977. He briefly fell on hard times after leaving the NBA, and he took a job cleaning tables and washing dishes at Nordstrom. While working at Nordstrom, Love, who was nicknamed "Butterbean" as a child because of his love for butter beans, overcame a serious stuttering problem that caused him to shun interviews during his NBA career. He not only became Nordstrom's manager for health and sanitation, but he became an accomplished public speaker. Last year during a podcast interview, Love described his life after playing pro basketball as "a story of overcoming, of never playing the victim."

Sam Smith, who covered the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune before becoming a writer for Bulls.com, knows as much about the Bulls as anyone, and he penned a must-read tribute to Love, focusing not only on Love's playing career but also on his inner strength and his determined resolve to better himself after retiring from the NBA: "He'd often reflect in later years if he was going to be a dishwasher, he'd be an all-star dishwasher like he was in college and the NBA. John Nordstrom noticed the hard working former NBA star and arranged for speech therapy. Having failed in programs before, Bob was reluctant. But with a nudge from Nordstrom, Bob found a patient partner, learned the mechanics of speech, practiced, and tried to figure out how it all happened. He said as a kid he used to mimic a relative who stuttered."

Love's perseverance and work ethic should always be remembered.

Labels: Bob Love, Chet Walker, Chicago Bulls, Dick Motta, Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier

posted by David Friedman @ 3:23 AM

0 comments

Chet Walker Made a Significant Impact on and off the Court

Chet Walker--a key member of Philadelphia's 1967 NBA championship team that set a since-broken record for regular season wins (68)--passed away on Saturday at the age of 84 after a long illness. Sam Smith, who now works for Bulls.com after making his name covering the team for the Chicago Tribune and writing the best selling book The Jordan Rules, penned a must-read tribute to Walker, tracing the arc of Walker's life from childhood in Mississippi and Michigan to leading Bradley University to the 1960 NIT title to a great NBA career highlighted by seven All-Star selections, an 18.2 ppg career scoring average, and tremendous durability (he played at least 76 games in each of his 13 NBA seasons). Walker played seven seasons for the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers before playing six seasons for the Chicago Bulls. Walker averaged at least 21.5 ppg in each of his first three seasons with the Bulls, and he set a franchise single game regular season scoring record (56 points) that stood from 1972 until Michael Jordan scored 58 points in a 1987 game.

Walker was one of the "NBA 14" who paved the way for the huge contracts that today's players enjoy, but Walker's activism came at a price: his career ended abruptly when no team would sign Walker after a 1975 season during which he averaged 19.2 ppg in 76 games, and he had to wait a long time before being inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that he belatedly received in 2012. Walker chose Billy Cunningham, Adrian Dantley, Earl Monroe, and Isiah Thomas as his presenters, and those four legends represent a cross section of Walker's impressive life on and off the basketball court: Cunnningham was his teammate, Dantley incorporated Walker's moves into his Hall of Fame caliber arsenal, Monroe played against Walker in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, and Thomas shares Chicago roots with Walker. Walker produced "A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story," a movie about Isiah Thomas' mother that won an Emmy.

Years ago, I asked Cunningham--a teammate of Walker's on Philadelphia's 1967 championship team who later coached the incomparable Julius Erving on Philadelphia's 1983 championship team--to compare those two legendary squads, and he told me, "Dr. J would match up against Chet Walker. Julius was obviously better in the open court offensively than Chet and a better shot blocker. Chet was a better one-on-one player offensively and would probably try to post up Julius and do things like that." I asked Cunningham to elaborate about the Erving-Walker comparison, and he replied, "Julius was the greatest open court player who ever played. Chet Walker was a better jump shooter and he had, I think, a little bit more of an arsenal in the set offense. But by no means am I taking anything away from Julius Erving."

There is statistical evidence supporting Cunningham's description of Walker's offensive arsenal. Walker finished in the top 20 in field goal percentage six times--including sixth during Philadelphia's 1967 championship season--and he ranked in the top 10 in free throw percentage six times, including leading the NBA in that category in 1970-71. Walker ranked in the top 10 in free throws made seven times. Walker was a dependable third scoring option (19.3 ppg) behind Wilt Chamberlain (24.1 ppg) and Hal Greer (22.1 ppg) on the 1967 championship team, and when the Bulls needed a clutch basket during the early 1970s they usually relied on Walker.

Jaylen Brown would not be a $300 million player without Walker's sacrifices. A role player like J.J. Redick who shamelessly mocks the basketball stars from the past would not be a famous multi-millionaire without Walker's sacrifices that helped transform the NBA into a multi-billion dollar business. It would be great if Brown, Redick, and everyone else who benefits from the NBA's huge pot of gold acknowledged their debt to Walker and the other members of the "NBA 14."

Labels: Adrian Dantley, Billy Cunningham, Chet Walker, Chicago Bulls, Earl Monroe, Isiah Thomas, Philadelphia 76ers, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 10:27 AM

0 comments

76ers Cool off Heat to Clinch East's Seventh Seed, Heat Will Host Bulls to Determine East's Eighth Seed

The Philadelphia 76ers do not have vintage Joel Embiid as the 2023 regular season MVP works his way into form after having knee surgery, but good enough Joel Embiid was sufficient for them to beat the Miami Heat, 105-104. The 76ers earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and the opportunity to face the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs. Embiid scored a team-high 23 points, grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, and dished for five assists, but he shot just 6-17 from the field and did not block a shot. His game lacks explosiveness and force, although he still is able to use his size and strength to make plays against smaller defenders. Nicolas Batum provided a huge lift off of the bench with 20 points while shooting 7-12 from the field, including 6-10 from three point range. Tyrese Maxey added 19 points and a team-high six assists, while Kelly Oubre Jr. was the only other 76er who scored in double figures (11 points, plus eight rebounds). 

Tyler Herro scored a game-high 25 points (including 16 in the fourth quarter) and passed for a game-high nine assists, but he shot just 9-27 from the field. Jimmy Butler slipped in the first quarter and suffered a right knee injury that caused him to limp for the rest of the game. He finished with 19 points on 5-18 field goal shooting in 40 minutes, but it has been reported that Butler will have an MRI and may be out indefinitely after his knee tightened up as the game progressed. All-Star center Bam Adebayo hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds, but he scored just 10 points while looking undersized and overmatched despite Embiid's obvious current limitations. 

The Heat led 23-22 after the first quarter, and the Philadelphia boo birds emerged in full force as the 76ers sleepwalked through the second quarter. The Heat were up by as many as 14 points before settling for a 51-39 halftime advantage. Batum drilled three treys in the third quarter as the 76ers won that stanza 30-23 to narrow the deficit to 74-69 entering the fourth quarter. Embiid had 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists as the 76ers outscored the Heat 36-30 in the fourth quarter. The score was tied 96-96 with just 36 seconds remaining when Embiid dished to Oubre for a layup that became a three point play after Butler fouled Oubre. The 76ers led the rest of the way, closing out the game by hitting their last seven free throws (including the free throw from Oubre's three point play).

The up and down Heat have reached the NBA Finals in two of the past four seasons but have also relegated themselves to the Play-In Tournament for two consecutive years. They will play the Chicago Bulls on Friday night to determine the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls gained the right to play the Heat by beating the Atlanta Hawks, 131-116.

Coby White scored a game-high 42 points on 15-21 field goal shooting, outshining both of Atlanta's more celebrated guards. Nicola Vucevic added 24 points and a team-high 12 rebounds, while DeMar DeRozan had 22 points plus a team-high nine assists. Dejounte Murray scored 30 points and passed for six assists for the Hawks, while his backcourt mate Trae Young had 22 points on 4-12 field goal shooting, 10 assists, six turnovers, and a game-worst -27 plus/minus number. Young's first quarter performance was historically bad: one point, five turnovers, and a -18 plus/minus number while playing all 12 minutes. I understand that Young is recovering from a hand injury, but those numbers would be awful even if he played blindfolded with one arm tied behind his back, and ESPN's Richard Jefferson correctly pointed out that bad decision making was a much bigger issue than Young's hand.

The Chicago-Atlanta matchup was everything that I expected/feared would happen when the moveable object meets the resistable force: the Bulls raced out to a 40-22 first quarter lead, but only had a 73-67 halftime advantage. If Hubie Brown had done the color commentary for this game, he might have set a personal record for saying "Will you please...?" followed by "play defense," "pay attention to the cutters," "stop turning the ball over," "stop taking low percentage shots," and so forth. 

The Bulls reasserted control by winning the third quarter much the same way that they dominated the first quarter; this time, the margin was 37-25. The teams traded baskets in the fourth quarter until Young hit a meaningless three pointer at the 24.8 second mark; in the old CBA that shot would have mattered because it enabled the Hawks to "win" the fourth quarter 24-21, but here it just provided a fitting end to the Hawks' season with Young drilling a logo three to wrap a game that his team still lost by 15 points. 

Under normal circumstances, I would not give the Bulls much of a chance to beat the Heat in Miami in an elimination game, but if Butler is out of action then it may be tough for the anemic Heat offense to generate enough points--and the Heat would also miss Butler's leadership and defense, even though they went 13-9 without him during the regular season. Butler is a tough guy--I can think of several current players who are considered big name stars who would not have gutted out Wednesday night's game the way that he did--but once the next day swelling sets in and the MRI results are known the team may have no responsible choice other than shutting him down.

Although the Heat eliminated the Boston Celtics in last year's playoffs, that outcome seems highly unlikely even if Butler's knee is OK and the Heat send the Bulls packing; this Heat team is not as deep as last year's Heat, and this season's Celtics are much more talented than last year's Celtics while also appearing to be tougher and more focused.

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Coby White, Dejounte Murray, DeMar DeRozan, Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Trae Young, Tyrese Maxey

posted by David Friedman @ 12:56 AM

1 comments

The NBA Play-In Tournament Gives Mediocre Teams an Opportunity to Salvage Their Disappointing Seasons

The NBA's public relations spin is that the Play-In Tournament added excitement to the final days of the 2024 regular season because most of the playoff seeding remained undetermined until the very end; the reality is that the Play-In Tournament diminished the importance of the regular season because a team can muddle through 82 games, win one or two Play-In Tournament games and have the same opportunity to advance in the playoffs as the teams that took the regular season seriously. It is sad that despite their huge guaranteed salaries the modern NBA players need so many extra incentives/gimmicks like the NBA Cup, the Player Participation Policy, and the Play-In Tournament to play hard, and it is disgraceful that when they are not provided extra incentives they produce travesties like the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.

This year's Play-In Tournament includes Miami visiting Philadelphia to determine the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, and the L.A. Lakers visiting New Orleans to determine the seventh seed in the Western Conference. The eighth seeds in each conference will be determined after Atlanta visits Chicago, and Golden State visits Sacramento, with the winners of those games facing the losers of Philadelphia-Miami and New Orleans-L.A. respectively to lock up the final playoff spot in each conference.

It has become popular to view the Philadelphia 76ers as a legitimate threat to not only survive the Play-In Tournament but to then make a deep playoff run. That is a very optimistic view of a team that has a proven track record of playoff failures.

The 76ers solved a major problem by trading disgruntled playoff underachiever James Harden to the L.A. Clippers, but the advantage that they gained from getting rid of Harden was nullified because 2023 regular season MVP Joel Embiid missed 43 games, with most of his absences caused by a left knee injury that required surgery. The 76ers posted a 31-8 record when Embiid played, and a 16-27 record when he did not play. Unfortunately for the 76ers, Embiid has a history of (1) missing a lot of games due to injury and (2) not performing up to par in the playoffs. It should be emphasized that Harden's playoff choking is not the only reason that Embiid has never seen the Eastern Conference Finals without buying a ticket or watching on TV: Embiid has a 5-6 playoff series record, and he shot worse than .500 from the field in eight of those series. Not coincidentally, the 76ers won all three playoff series during which Embiid shot better than .500 from the field. Embiid's career playoff numbers (24.0 ppg, 10.9 rpg, .461 FG%, 2.8 apg, 1.8 bpg) do not look bad, but they are worse than his career regular season numbers (27.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg, .504 FG%, 3.6 apg, 1.7 bpg).

The 76ers' team statistical rankings this season are almost meaningless because they played more than half of the season without Embiid. They are a very good team with Embiid, and a mediocre team (at best) without him. The 76ers are 7-0 since Embiid returned to action--and they even won the two games that he sat out--with Embiid averaging 30.4 ppg in his five appearances. However, Embiid has never been in top physical condition during his career, and he is far from being in top physical condition now. 

Side note: I am baffled by how often Embiid crashes to the floor despite being such a gifted athlete; I have played basketball for most of my life, and I would say that Embiid probably falls down more in one playoff series than I have fallen down in decades of playing competitive basketball. I am not sure if Embiid is flopping to draw fouls or just moving awkwardly, but he would be well advised to keep his huge body upright in order to avoid getting injured again.

The Miami Heat have been a baffling team for the past several years. They reached the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023 in addition to reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022, when they posted the Eastern Conference's best regular season record--but this is the second year in a row that they finished outside of the top six and thus fell into the Play-In Tournament. It does not seem as if Jimmy Butler and the Heat take the regular season very seriously--which contradicts all of the Heat's self-promotion about their unique "Heat culture"--but few teams have matched their recent postseason success. The Heat are anemic offensively (ranking 26th in scoring and 22nd in field goal percentage) and they get killed on the boards because they are undersized (ranking 26th in rebounding)

I predict that Embiid will lead the 76ers past the Heat in a home Play-In Tournament game, but it is unlikely that the 76ers will make much noise in the playoffs.

The Atlanta Hawks have lost six games in a row and seven of their last 10 games. They are awful defensively--ranking 28th in points allowed and 28th in defensive field goal percentage--and they have not accomplished much of note since their fluky run to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals. Teams that are led by undersized guards who are averse to playing defense tend to not make much postseason noise. The Hawks led by Trae Young are very similar to the Portland teams led by Damian Lillard; Lillard's Trail Blazers made a fluky run to the 2019 Western Conference Finals but the Trail Blazers have won just three playoff games since 2019--and after being traded from Portland to Milwaukee, Lillard has helped destroy Milwaukee's once stout defense. The Hawks will endure a playoff drought similar to Portland's until the Hawks either trade Young or else surround him with a deep supporting cast of defensive-minded players.

The Chicago Bulls did not have a great season, but they finished three games ahead of the Hawks and the Bulls went 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Bulls started the season 5-14, but played better after former All-Star Zach LaVine suffered a season-ending ankle injury. DeMar DeRozan averaged a team-high 24.0 ppg while leading the league in minutes played per game (37.8).

When the moveable object meets the resistible force, anything can happen, but I predict that the Bulls will beat the Hawks.

The L.A. Lakers feature two members of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, yet they failed to finish in the top six in the Western Conference for the fourth straight season. Keep in mind that Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to the playoffs twice with Kwame Brown as his starting center, Smush Parker as his starting point guard, and the talented but inconsistent--to put it mildly--Lamar Odom as the Lakers' second best player. If not for the 2020 "bubble" NBA title, James' L.A. tenure would have to be viewed as a monumental failure from the standpoint of team success regardless of his high individual performance level--but the "bubble" title is a historical fact, and there are many great players who did not lead their teams to even one championship. The Lakers would be well served to remember and emulate how they won that title: they attacked the paint on offense, defended the paint on defense, and used their size to their advantage.

Much has been made of James' late career emergence as a high percentage three point shooter. While James deserves credit for improving this facet of his game, the Lakers are at their best when--to borrow a concept from chess--the threat of James shooting a three pointer is stronger than the execution. In other words, now that James has legit three point range opposing defenses have to guard him beyond the arc--but instead of settling for three pointers he should still attack the paint not only to take high percentage close range shots but also to draw fouls and to create easier shots for his teammates.

Davis is perhaps Embiid's top rival in the category of "regularly falling down hard for no apparent reason." Not coincidentally, Davis also is similar to Embiid in terms of missing a lot of games due to injury, although Davis broke form by playing in a career-high 76 games this season.

The New Orleans Pelicans are a solid team, and they have benefited tremendously from Zion Williamson playing in a career-high 70 games this season, but it would speak volumes about James and Davis if they fail to lead the Lakers past a team that no one should seriously consider to be a championship contender. I predict that the Lakers will beat the Pelicans, but not match last season's fluky run to the Western Conference Finals--and we know that the run was fluky because we have seen that over the course of a full season the vaunted "new look" Lakers sans scapegoats Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel had to fight to finish eighth even with James and Davis avoiding injuries and eschewing load management.

The Golden State Warriors have at least three future Hall of Famers (Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Klay Thompson) on their roster--and probably four, as Draymond Green will likely be voted in unless he does something so egregious before the end of his career that he becomes persona non grata--but the 2022 NBA champions finished 10th in the 15 team Western Conference. However, the Warriors closed the season strongly by winning eight of their last 10 games to earn a rematch with their opponent from the first round of the 2023 playoffs--but the rematch is in the Play-In Tournament, not the playoffs.

The Sacramento Kings finished only two games worse this season (46-36) than last season (48-34), but in the deep Western Conference they fell from all the way from the third seed last season to the ninth seed this season. They were terrible defensively last season (ranking 25th in points allowed and 29th in defensive field goal percentage), and not very good defensively this season (ranking 17th in points allowed and 21st in defensive field goal percentage). The Kings have dropped in the standings since Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk suffered a knee injury that will keep him out until the end of April, which means that he will not return this season unless the Kings make an extended playoff run. 

The Warriors needed a 50 point game seven masterpiece from Stephen Curry to eliminate the Kings from the 2023 playoffs, but such heroics will not be required for the Warriors to beat the Kings in the 2024 Play-In Tournament.

If my predictions are correct then Miami will host Chicago and New Orleans will host Golden State in the last chance segment of the Play-In Tournament. I expect Miami to defeat Chicago, and Golden State to beat New Orleans.

The NBA is happy because the Play-In Tournament adds six games to the schedule, with the corresponding bump in TV revenue and ticket sales. Let's hope that the games come even close to living up to the relentless hype provided by the league and its media partners. Chicago versus Atlanta is not a game that anyone would ask for (other than fans of those teams), but we can hope that the Bulls and Hawks will make it a game worth remembering and talking about, and we can likewise hope that all of the Play-In Tournament games feature playoff caliber basketball.

Previous Play-In Tournament Articles:

2023

Zion Williamson's Refusal to Play Despite Being Healthy Embodies What is Wrong With Today's NBA (April 13, 2023)

L.A. Lakers Need Overtime to Dispatch Shorthanded Minnesota Timberwolves in Play-In Tournament (April 12, 2023)

The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament: Grab Your Popcorn and Savor the Mediocrity! (April 10, 2023)

2022

Notes on the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament (April 14, 2022)

Nets Clinch Seventh Seed After Outlasting Cavaliers, 115-108 (April 12, 2022)

The NBA is (Usually) Fantastic (Except When Teams Bench Their Starters for the Season's Last Game) (April 11, 2022)

2021

Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball (May 20, 2021)

Thoughts on the NBA's Play-In Tournament (May 17, 2021)

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, L.A. Lakers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 10:19 PM

5 comments

Roland Lazenby Details Magic Johnson's Triumphs and Tribulations

Magic Johnson starred at Michigan State, leading the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA title in a famous showdown with Larry Bird's Indiana State Seminoles. Johnson then won five NBA titles (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-88) with the L.A. Lakers while earning three regular season MVPs (1987, 1989-90) and three NBA Finals MVPs (1980, 1982, 1987). Johnson broke Oscar Robertson's NBA record for career regular season assists, and Johnson currently ranks seventh on the all-time regular season assists list in addition to holding the record for career playoff assists. Johnson led the NBA in regular season assists four times (1983-84, 1986-87) while also leading the league in steals twice (1981-82) and free throw percentage once (1989).

Johnson suddenly retired from the NBA in November 1991 after being diagnosed as HIV positive, but Commissioner David Stern permitted Johnson to play in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, and Johnson won the 1992 All-Star Game MVP. Johnson coached the Lakers for the final 16 games of the 1994 season, but did not return to the bench after the Lakers went 5-11 with him at the helm. Johnson came back to the NBA as a player for 32 regular season games and four playoff games in 1996 before retiring for the final time. Johnson's lucrative endorsements and savvy business deals enabled him to amass a net worth of more than $1 billion.

Roland Lazenby's Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Celadon Books, 813 pages, $40.00) provides a detailed, engaging account of Johnson's ascension from high school phenomenon to NCAA champion to all-time NBA great. Lazenby has written biographies of several all-time great basketball players, including Jerry West, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. Lazenby's Magic Johnson biography is divided into three parts: Part I is titled "Lansing," Part II is titled "Hollywood," and Part III is titled "Across The Great Divide." 

Lansing

Part I is the longest section of the book (338 pages), and some reviewers have criticized Lazenby for focusing so much attention not only on Johnson's early days but also on Johnson's family history dating back to the 1800s. Lazenby has stated that his intention was to not just tell the story of Johnson's basketball life but to place Johnson's entire life in the larger context of American history. Lazenby may not have written the book that some other people think that he should have written, but it is only fair to evaluate Lazenby's book based on what he wrote and what he tried to accomplish--not on what other people think that he should have written or tried to accomplish. 

It is interesting to learn about Johnson's family history, and it is also interesting to consider the different ways that family history can be interpreted and understood. Some of Johnson's ancestors were slaves, so should we focus on the persecution they suffered, or should we focus on how in America it is possible for a descendant of slaves to become a world-famous sports legend who earned generational wealth? Acknowledging the opportunities that America provides does not in any way diminish the horrors of slavery and racism. Reading about Johnson's family history reminds us that America is a flawed country with a troubling past but also a great country that, in the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is striving to live up to its great, foundational principles: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

Labels: Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Philadelphia 76ers, Wilt Chamberlain

posted by David Friedman @ 10:53 PM

9 comments

Classless Chicago Fans Tarnish Bulls' Inaugural Ring of Honor Ceremony by Booing Jerry Krause

On Friday night, the Chicago Bulls held their inaugural Ring of Honor ceremony, inducting Artis Gilmore, Johnny "Red" Kerr, Dick Klein (the team's first owner and general manager), Bob "Butterbean" Love, Jerry Sloan, Chet "The Jet" Walker, Jerry Krause, Tex Winter, Phil Jackson, Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, and Michael Jordan. What should have been an event brimming with joyful nostalgia was tarnished when Chicago fans booed lustily after Krause's name was announced. Krause's widow Thelma, in attendance to accept the honor, cried at the disrespect, and was immediately comforted by other honorees and retired Bulls players. 

There is a proper time and place to express displeasure regarding Krause's role in ending the Bulls' dynasty, but a ceremony honoring him for his significant contributions to building the Bulls' dynasty is not that time or place, particularly considering that Krause died several years ago and thus his widow felt the brunt of the fans' senseless hatred. I don't want to hear excuses about fans being too young to remember Krause, or fans booing without knowing why just because other fans booed. If other people jumped off of a cliff would you follow them, or would you assess the situation and draw conclusions? Of course, that question presumes that the people who booed have functioning brains, which is far from certain. 

When your team honors the people who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to make your team great, you cheer. This is not complicated.

I have written about Krause many times. I am not his biggest fan, but I respect what he accomplished--and anyone who has any knowledge of basketball history respects what he accomplished. An objective, detached take on Krause's legacy is that he deserves a lot of credit for building the Bulls' dynasty, and a lot of blame for breaking up the Bulls' dynasty, as I explained in my obituary for Krause:  

In 1998, I was furious at Krause for destroying something so beautifully artistic and so competitively fierce.

Nearly 20 years later, I am still puzzled and saddened by what Krause did but I also appreciate what he accomplished--not just with the Bulls but over the span of his life. Those who knew him well say that he was a loyal friend with a good heart. Ultimately, that is how he should be remembered--and, despite his gruff demeanor at times and despite his mistake in breaking up the Bulls, there is no doubt that Krause belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame. It is a shame that if he ever is inducted he will not be around to enjoy that most deserved honor.

After Krause was inducted posthumously in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, I assessed his legacy: 

I was as baffled and upset as anyone by Krause's haste and glee to break up the Bulls so that he could try to build another championship team from scratch but Krause deserves a lot of credit for hiring Phil Jackson as coach and for acquiring key players Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, B.J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Toni Kukoc, Ron Harper and Dennis Rodman. An NBA executive's job is to win games and championships; by that standard, Krause is one of the most accomplished executives in pro basketball history.

"The Last Dance" told the story of the Chicago Bulls' dynasty from Michael Jordan's perspective, and to a large extent made Krause a villain for a generation of fans too young to remember the 1990s. Krause resigned from the Bulls in 2003 after his post-dynasty plan failed woefully, but it should never be diminished or forgotten that Krause's Chicago teams won six NBA titles (1991-93, 1996-98). Jordan did not win a playoff series as a player before Krause arrived in Chicago, and Jordan did not win a playoff series in his two years playing for the Washington Wizards; in 18 years as an owner/executive, Jordan's teams only made the playoffs three times, and did not win a single series. Jordan's 2011-12 Hornets went 7-59, setting the NBA record for worst single season winning percentage. Obviously, being a successful NBA executive is not quite as easy as Jordan thought when he mocked Krause during the Bulls' glory years. Krause's critics say that anyone could have built a championship team around Jordan, but Jordan himself proved for nearly two decades that he was neither capable of finding a great player nor capable of even putting together a team that consistently qualified for the playoffs.

The Bulls' classless fans should be ashamed of booing Krause and tarnishing what should have been a great moment.

Labels: Artis Gilmore, Bob Love, Chet Walker, Chicago Bulls, Dennis Rodman, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Jerry Sloan, Johnny "Red" Kerr, Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Tex Winter, Toni Kukoc

posted by David Friedman @ 11:17 PM

9 comments

George Gervin: An Appreciation

George "Iceman" Gervin may be one of the most underrated great players in pro basketball history. Gervin is overlooked for several reasons: he began his career in the ABA, he did not win a championship, and his prime years happened just before national/international coverage of pro basketball exploded. Gervin should be appreciated for being that rare player who is both a great shooter and a great scorer. During his career, Gervin shot. 504 from the field and .841 from the free throw line. He not only led the league in scoring four times (1978-80, 1982) but he also ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage twice (1977-78), and he ranked in the top 10 in free throw percentage five times (1975-76, 1982-83, 1986). Gervin showed off his soft shooting touch with his deadly jump shot, his uncannily accurate bank shot, and his legendary finger roll, but he also excelled at drawing contact, ranking in the top 10 in free throws made for 11 straight seasons. 

"Stat gurus" tout "advanced basketball statistics" and proclaim that today's NBA players are so smart and efficient because they focus on only shooting layups/dunks and three pointers, but Gervin is a model of true basketball efficiency, as demonstrated by his shooting percentages and by his low turnover rate (3.0 tpg for his career, never averaging more than 3.8 tpg in a season) despite having the ball in his hands so much. Jacking up three pointers without regard to time/score/game situation is a high variance approach to basketball that is neither efficient nor fun to watch. I would rather watch George Gervin than James Harden, and any true basketball fan who has seen both players feels the same way.

For the first 43 years of NBA history (including the ABA's nine seasons as well), only two players won at least four scoring titles: Wilt Chamberlain (seven) and George Gervin (four). Michael Jordan now holds the record (10), and Allen Iverson and Kevin Durant won four scoring titles each. Julius Erving holds the ABA record with three scoring titles. Gervin ranks 12th in ABA/NBA career regular season scoring average (25.1 ppg), just ahead of Karl Malone (25.0 ppg) and Kobe Bryant (25.0 ppg), and just behind Oscar Robertson (25.7 ppg) and Damian Lillard (25.2 ppg). He also ranks 14th in ABA/NBA career playoff scoring average (26.5 ppg), just behind Stephen Curry (27.0 ppg) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (26.7 ppg). Gervin averaged at least 30 ppg in five different playoff series, and he led the league in playoff scoring average six times (1975 in the ABA, and then 1978-82 in the NBA).

Gervin's scoring prowess is impressive, but he was more than just a sharp shooting prolific scorer. He was an excellent rebounder and shotblocker from the guard position, and he led the Spurs to 10 straight playoff appearances. Gervin logged five 100-100 seasons during which he had at least 100 steals and at least 100 blocked shots; the 6-8 Gervin first played forward, but he spent most of his pro career at guard, and he is the only guard who had at least four 100-100 seasons. In recognition of Gervin's all-around game, he finished second in MVP voting in 1978 and 1979, and he also ranked in the top five in MVP voting in 1980 (third) and 1981 (fifth). Gervin earned five consecutive All-NBA First Team selections (1978-82), four All-ABA or All-NBA Second Team selections (1975-77, 1983), and 12 straight All-Star selections (1974-85).

Gervin twice won the Seagram's Seven Crowns of Sports award for basketball player of the year. That award is all but forgotten now, but it was a big deal in the 1970s and 1980s. The Seagram's awards were determined based on a computer formula that compared players at the same position in terms of scoring, shooting accuracy, free throw percentage, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. Since players were only compared to players at the same position, it would seem that an award should have been given to the top finishers at each position and not just to the player with the top overall score. I have done a lot of archival research and used a variety of sources to piece together at least a partial list of Seagram's winners. The first public reference to the Seagram's awards that I found happened in 1974, but it is not clear if awards were given out at that time or if the rankings were just released to publicize the concept. Subsequent reports refer to the 1975 awards as the inaugural Seagram's awards. For the record, the top three basketball players in Seagram's 1974 rankings were Julius Erving, Bob McAdoo, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Here are the Seagram's basketball winners that I found, with runner-up information listed if available.

1975: 1) Bob McAdoo 2) George McGinnis 3) Julius Erving

1976: 1) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 2) Julius Erving 3) Bob McAdoo

1977: 1) Bobby Jones 2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

1978: 1) George Gervin 2) Paul Westphal 3) David Thompson

1979: 1) George Gervin 2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 3) Paul Westphal

1980: 1) Julius Erving 2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 3) George Gervin

1981: 1) Julius Erving 2) Adrian Dantley 3) Moses Malone

1982: 1) Magic Johnson 2) Julius Erving 3) Adrian Dantley

1983: 1) Larry Bird

1984: 1) Larry Bird 2) Isiah Thomas 3) Magic Johnson

1985: 1) Michael Jordan

1986: 1) Larry Bird

1987: 1) Michael Jordan

"Iceman: A George Gervin Story" traces Gervin's life path from humble beginnings in Detroit to becoming an all-time great basketball player. By the end of the documentary, what shines through is not just Gervin's indisputable basketball greatness but also his kindness and his commitment to helping other people, embodied in the George Gervin Academy charter school program that he founded in San Antonio. Steve Smith and David Robinson--who are both well known for their extraordinary philanthropic efforts--credit Gervin as the inspiration for their community service work. Gervin said that his legacy will be defined not by what he did on the court, but by the people he has helped off of the court, declaring, "That's my trophy." Gervin delivers the same message, in more detail, in his autobiography Ice: Why I Was Born to Score.

The story of how Gervin signed with the ABA's Virginia Squires is remarkable. In 1972, Gervin was playing in the CBA after being expelled from Eastern Michigan University because he punched an opposing player (Jay Piccola, who later became President of Puma North America, and who appeared in "Iceman," describing the apology letter that Gervin wrote to him, a letter that Piccola has kept). The ABA paid Sonny Vaccaro to find talented players, and Vaccaro arranged for Gervin to have a tryout with the Squires. Squires owner Earl Foreman asked Gervin to go on the court and shoot. Gervin, wearing street clothes, put on such a tremendous shooting exhibition that Foreman signed him on the spot--according to Vaccaro, the deal was signed on a napkin! Vaccaro insists that Gervin made 50 straight shots from all over the court. Gervin, with his trademark laugh and smile, says that he does not remember making 50 shots, "but I don't remember missing any, either!" 

Gervin joined the Squires in the middle of the 1972-73 season, teaming up with fellow future Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Erving established himself as a superstar as a rookie in 1971-72, averaging 27.3 ppg and 15.7 rpg in the regular season before leading the league in playoff scoring (33.4 ppg) and playoff rebounding (20.4 rpg). When Gervin became a Squire, Erving was on his way to winning the first of his three scoring titles. Erving insisted to Gervin that they play one on one after practice, something that Erving picked up from his brief time as Pistol Pete Maravich's teammate with the Atlanta Hawks, as Erving told me: "It really was one of the joys of my life to play with Pete, to be in training camp with him. We used to stay after practice and play one-on-one. We would play for dinner after practice. I did the same thing with George Gervin once he became my teammate [in Virginia]--I pretty much learned that from Pete. If this guy is going to be your teammate, you really need to stay after practice and get to understand his game and know his likes and his dislikes--where he likes the ball and that kind of stuff. The best way to do that is to just play--go play each other one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three. Play away from the coaches, away from the whole team practicing in unison." In "Iceman," Erving added that he liked to challenge his teammates so that they would not become lazy, and he said that he is proud of how great Gervin became.

The cash-strapped Squires traded Erving to the New York Nets prior to the 1973-74 season, and then they sold Gervin to the San Antonio Spurs during the 1973-74 season. Erving led the Nets to two ABA championships (1974, 1976), and Gervin emerged as one of pro basketball's top scorers while lifting the Spurs into becoming perennial contenders. Erving and Gervin faced each other in two memorable playoff series, with Erving's Nets beating Gervin's Spurs in the 1976 ABA playoffs en route to claiming the final ABA title, and then Gervin's Spurs defeating Erving's Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the 1979 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Erving averaged 32.1 ppg, 11.3 rpg, and 4.6 apg with shooting splits of .488/.222/.824 in the 1976 series as the Nets won in seven games, while Gervin averaged 27.1 ppg, 9.1 rpg, and 2.7 apg with shooting splits of .523/.000/.812. The three point shot was not a major weapon at that time, as Erving only attempted nine and Gervin only attempted three during that series. Erving was the leading scorer in five of the seven games, including a series-high 41 points that were not quite enough to prevent the Spurs from winning game six in San Antonio, 106-105. In the 1979 series, Erving averaged 26.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and 6.0 apg with shooting splits of .542/.755, while Gervin averaged 26.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 2.6 apg with shooting splits of .550/.820; three point shooting is not included in the shooting splits because the NBA did not start using the three point shot until the next season. I provided game summaries of the 1976 series in Julius Erving's Playoff Career, Part II: Two Championships in Three Years with the Nets, and I provided game summaries of the 1979 series in Julius Erving's Playoff Career, Part III: Consistency, Frustration and then a Glorious Championship Run.  

What stands out about Erving and Gervin is not just the wins and the points, but their artistry, a facet of Gervin's game that Erving poetically described in a 1986 interview with Bob Sakamoto: "He personifies being at one with certain elements in the universe that, at least theoretically, are supposed to have a certain effect. When I see him play, sometimes it makes me think about the psychic side of the sport, abstract things that can be introduced to the sport and explained through his motion. It really is a tribute to him that he can trigger this in me, because I've seen a lot of players come and go, and he's probably my favorite." Of course, everything that Erving said about Gervin is true of Erving as well.

After beating Erving's 76ers, the Spurs lost 4-3 to the defending NBA champion Washington Bullets in the 1979 Eastern Conference Finals. The Spurs shifted to the Western Conference in 1981, and Gervin led them to the 1982 Western Conference Finals, but the eventual NBA champion L.A. Lakers swept them 4-0. The Spurs acquired Hall of Fame center Artis Gilmore before the 1982-83 season, and the Gervin-Gilmore duo led the Spurs back to the Western Conference Finals, but the Lakers prevailed again, 4-2. 

The Spurs traded Gervin to the Chicago Bulls before the 1985-86 season. Gervin backed up second year sensation Michael Jordan before Jordan suffered a foot injury that caused him to miss 64 games. Gervin started 75 games and played all 82 games, averaging 16.2 ppg in his final NBA season.

After his NBA career ended, Gervin played a season in Italy. He credits that time in Europe for helping him to refocus his life priorities and attain greater balance; near the end of Gervin's NBA career he struggled with drug addiction, and that battle almost cost him his family. Gervin is candid about this period, saying that he suffered from a "malfunction" in his brain. John Lucas, the number one overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft, lost his NBA career to drug addiction, but he has spent much of his post-playing life helping others battle substance abuse. Gervin sought out Lucas, and Lucas played a key role in Gervin's recovery. 

Gervin feels that his most powerful legacy is his family and his community service work. He has said that he never sought fame, and that he played basketball because he loved to hoop. His journey is so different from the journeys of many of today's star athletes, who have been pampered and showered with praise since childhood, and then are provided with generational wealth because of their athletic abilities; too much public adulation and too much money distorts reality, and often leads to a sense of entitlement as opposed to a sense of responsibility.

So many of today's athletes scream, "I'm him!" Erving is not like that, and neither is Gervin. Gervin combines confidence with humility. He knows that he could not just score but also play at a high level, but he was never a showboat, and he gives credit to his teammates. Gervin has always spoken highly of his Spurs backcourt partner James Silas, and at the 2005 ABA Reunion Gervin told me, "James Silas was a guy who we really went to at the end of the game. James Silas never missed free throws. They don't give him enough credit and I'm disappointed in that, but we (the ABA players) give it to him because we played with him and respect him and a lot of us idolize his play."

Uninformed people often think that great athletes are running, jumping, and scoring without much thought, but the reality is that excellence in sports requires intelligence. You can get a glimpse of this intelligence in George Gervin's answer to my question about what made Roger Brown special: 

He probably had one of the best first steps in basketball. You've really got to understand basketball to know what I'm saying when I say 'first step.' Matter of fact, I learned that from him when I played against Roger Brown--that first step. He used to pivot and make you move and he isn't going anywhere. It was probably one of the best moves that I picked up and when I went to the guard spot it really helped to take my game to the next level.

Speaking to me in a 2004 interview that I quoted in my Roger Brown tribute article, Gervin added that he wished that modern players emulated Brown's approach to the game: "What guys don't realize today is that first step is everything because if I can get the first step on you then you will never catch me--and if you do catch me then all I have to do is fake and you will go for the fake because you are trying to catch up--you are in a recovery situation. That's where Roger was good. He forced you into a recovery situation all the time, so you had to go for his fakes." Gervin contrasted Brown's use of the first step with the way that too many current players overuse the dribble: "Dribbling that ball five, six, seven, eight seconds is a travesty. What are the other four guys doing--standing there watching? A lot of the guys pound the ball today, but we used to move the ball around and when we got it we took that first step and made something happen. So we (retired legends) hope and pray that the guys understand that you really need to give the ball up. If you're not going to make your move, give it up, go back and get it. Don't just stand there and pound it."

Gervin was a basketball artist and a basketball technician--and the two traits are connected: by mastering the sport's fundamental techniques, Gervin acquired the necessary foundational skills to enable his creativity to blossom. He played basketball with unbridled joy, and it was a joy to watch him play.

Labels: Artis Gilmore, Chicago Bulls, George Gervin, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Roger Brown, San Antonio Spurs, Seagram's Seven Crowns of Sports, Virginia Squires

posted by David Friedman @ 11:04 PM

0 comments

The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament: Grab Your Popcorn and Savor the Mediocrity!

The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament features the seventh seeded teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences (Miami Heat and L.A. Lakers respectively) facing the eighth seeded teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences (Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves respectively). Each of the winners of those two games qualifies for the playoffs as the seventh seeded team in that conference, and will face the second seeded team in that conference in a seven game first round playoff series. Each of the losers of those two games will get a second chance to qualify for the playoffs by facing the winner of the battle between the ninth seeded teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences (Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans respectively) versus the 10th seeded teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences (Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder respectively), while the losers of the games featuring the ninth and 10th seeded teams are eliminated.

The NBA began using the Play-In Tournament in this format in 2021. The seventh seeded team has yet to lose a game in either conference, and the ninth seeded team has yet to lose to the 10th seeded team. The ninth seeded team has defeated the eighth seeded team three times in four games. No team that qualified for the NBA playoffs via the Play-In Tournament has extended a playoff series to seven games, much less actually win a playoff series.

In short, the Play-In Tournament is a showcase for teams that spent 82 regular season games proving their mediocrity, and no Play-In Tournament team has proven to be anything other than mediocre.

In the Eastern Conference, I predict that Miami will defeat Atlanta, and Toronto will defeat Chicago. Then, Toronto will defeat Atlanta to earn the eighth seed. The Miami Heat not only enjoy homecourt advantage, but the Heat have the same core players who reached the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat have struggled with injuries and uncharacteristic inconsistency this season, but they have a better and deeper team than the Hawks. If there is a Play-In Tournament team that could actually win a playoff series--a doubtful proposition, as noted above--the Heat are that team. The Raptors have endured a disappointing season, but they should be able to win two games to salvage this campaign by at least earning a spot in the playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks' run to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals was a fluke: they went 41-41 that season, and followed that up with records of 43-39 and 41-41 the past two seasons while cycling through four coaches since 2020.

In the Western Conference, I predict that the L.A. Lakers will defeat Minnesota, and New Orleans will defeat Oklahoma City. Then, New Orleans will defeat Minnesota to earn the eighth seed. The media narrative that it is an accomplishment for the Lakers to earn a spot in the Play-In Tournament is baffling; the Lakers feature two players selected to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team: failing to qualify for the playoffs outright is embarrassing, and losing in the Play-In Tournament should be considered unacceptable. The Utah Jazz' "B" team eviscerated the Lakers in the paint by a 76-50 margin in the last game of the regular season with playoff positioning on the line for the Lakers, putting a dent in the notion that the Lakers have become some kind of defensive juggernaut since the trade deadline--but the Lakers won the game, mainly because of some improbable three point marksmanship (8-14) from LeBron James, who posted one of the lowest three point shooting percentages of his career this season, and who made at least five three pointers in a game just five other times all season long. The Lakers have performed better recently because Anthony Davis has been healthy and thus has been active at both ends of the court, but the Lakers are what their overall record suggest that they are: at best, a lower tier playoff team.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have never been known for their collective basketball IQ--to put it charitably--but their multiple meltdowns during the last game of the season are as baffling as they are damaging: Rudy Gobert was sent home at halftime after punching teammate Kyle Anderson, and Jaden McDaniels fractured his hand by punching a wall. Somehow, the Timberwolves still beat the Pelicans, though perhaps that is not shocking considering that the Timberwolves often played better this season without Gobert. McDaniels is likely out for whatever remains of the Timberwolves' season, while Gobert's status has yet to be publicly determined.

If James cannot lead the Lakers to a home win against the dysfunctional Timberwolves, even his staunchest allies in the press corps will have a difficult time buying whatever excuses he offers.

The Pelicans are talented and scrappy even without the perpetually injured Zion Williamson, and I like their chances to beat the Timberwolves in a rematch of the regular season finale.

The NBA does not include Play-In Tournament statistics with either their regular season statistics or their playoff statistics, which reinforces the reality that these games are less about competition than about an opportunity to make more money--and we know that the NBA cares about profits more than anything else. For the record, in 2021 I correctly picked three of the four Play-In Tournament qualifiers (Boston, Washington, L.A. Lakers), and in 2022 I correctly picked three of the four Play-In Tournament qualifiers (Atlanta, Brooklyn, Minnesota); to review my previous Play-Tournament predictions and commentary, check out the links below.

Previous Play-In Tournament Articles:

2022

The NBA is (Usually) Fantastic (Except When Teams Bench Their Starters for the Season's Last Game) (April 11, 2022)

Nets Clinch Seventh Seed After Outlasting Cavaliers, 115-108 (April 12, 2022)

Notes on the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament (April 14, 2022)

2021

Thoughts on the NBA's Play-In Tournament (May 17, 2021)

Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball (May 20, 2021)

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, L.A. Lakers, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Play-In Tournament, Toronto Raptors

posted by David Friedman @ 1:53 AM

14 comments

Second Day of NBA Playoffs Highlighted by Jayson Tatum's Buzzer Beater

The NBA's second quadrupleheader of the weekend featured the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, and the top seeded teams in the East (Miami Heat) and the West (Phoenix Suns), but it will always be remembered for Jayson Tatum's buzzer beater to cap the epic first game of the Boston-Brooklyn series. My recaps for Saturday's four games are here.

Here are my thoughts about Sunday's games:

Miami 115, Atlanta 91

While teams like Brooklyn and Philadelphia received most of the media's attention throughout the season, the Miami Heat grinded their way to the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Atlanta Hawks, fresh off of their appearance in the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals, struggled for most of this season before beating Charlotte and Cleveland in the Play-In Tournament to clinch the eighth seed.

This series would be a mismatch in Miami's favor even if Atlanta were at full strength, but injuries to Clint Capela (who will be out of action for at least another week) and John Collins--who returned for game one after missing more than a month due to finger and foot injuries--crippled the Hawks' frontcourt depth.

The Heat raced out to a 21-11 lead, but by the end of the quarter the Hawks trimmed the margin to six (23-17) despite suffering through their worst field goal shooting quarter of the season (3-17, .176). The Heat shot 9-21 (.429) from the field, and no player from either team scored more than five points. Both teams committed five turnovers. 

The Heat blew the game open in the second quarter, pushing their lead to 59-38 after Gabe Vincent's three pointer with less than a minute remaining. Miami led 59-40 at halftime. Duncan Robinson paced a balanced Heat attack with 11 points on 4-5 field goal shooting. The Heat shot 21-40 from the field (.538), including 10-19 (.556) from three point range, while the Hawks shot 11-38 from the field (.297), including 2-18 (.118) from three point range. This was the Hawks' worst shooting half of the season. Danilo Gallinari scored 14 points on 4-8 field goal shooting, but Trae Young had just eight points on 1-9 field goal shooting.  

Young could neither find his shooting stroke nor create open shots for his teammates in the third quarter, and the Heat led 86-60 heading into the fourth quarter. The teams essentially traded baskets in the fourth quarter, with the Hawks never mounting even the semblance of a serious threat.

Robinson scored a game-high 27 points and set a Heat franchise playoff single game record by making eight three pointers. He shot 9-10 from the field, including 8-9 from three point range. Jimmy Butler scored 21 points on 9-15 field goal shooting, while also contributing six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Gallinari led the Hawks with 17 points on 5-12 field goal shooting. Young finished with eight points on 1-12 field goal shooting.

The Heat are at a different level than the Hawks, whose Eastern Conference Finals run last season is looking more and more like a fluke: the Hawks are a solid team, but hardly a legitimate title contender. It is unlikely that Young will be completely shut down like this again, but it is also unlikely that the Hawks will pose much of a threat to win this series.

Boston 115, Brooklyn 114

Tatum led the Celtics with 31 points on 9-18 field goal shooting. He also had four rebounds and a team-high eight assists. Jaylen Brown, who played down the stretch with cotton swabs in both nostrils to stop bleeding, scored 23 points on 9-19 field goal shooting, and he swiped a team-high four steals. Smart added 20 points on 8-17 field goal shooting, plus seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Horford had 20 points on 8-13 field goal shooting plus a game-high 15 rebounds. Irving poured in a game-high 39 points on 12-20 field goal shooting, and he filled up the rest of the boxscore with six assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Irving scored 18 fourth quarter points, nearly matching Boston's total for the final stanza. Durant contributed 24 points, but he shot just 9-24 from the field, and he had more turnovers (six) than rebounds (four) or assists (three). Irving was the only Nets' starter who had a positive plus/minus number (+6), while Durant had a -13 plus/minus number. Goran Dragic (14 points) and Nic Claxton (13 points, eight rebounds) made solid contributions off of the bench, but this game highlighted how much more overall talent and depth the Celtics have: Irving and Durant combined for 63 points on 21-44 field goal shooting--which is what one could reasonably expect from the duo, even if one might expect Irving to shoot a little worse and Durant to shoot better--and that was still not quite enough to win; that will likely be the story throughout the series: Durant and Irving will average around 60 ppg combined, and the Celtics will advance to the second round.

Milwaukee 93, Chicago 86

The Bucks opened the game with a 9-0 run in the first 1:33, and it looked like they planned to tame the Bulls the same way that the Heat silenced the Hawks, but instead the Bucks were outscored the remaining 46:27 of the game. The collapse did not happen immediately, though, and the Bucks led 34-21 at the end of the first quarter as Giannis Antetokounmpo scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds. Antetokounmpo had 17 first half points and 11 first half rebounds, but by halftime the Bulls had pulled to within 51-43. 

The Bucks have advantages in size, top level talent, and overall depth, but it is important to remember that the Bulls have several excellent players, including DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic. Matchup advantages on paper do not win games; exploitation of matchup advantages on the court wins games. 

The Bulls took a 67-64 lead on Coby White's three pointer at the 3:11 mark of the third quarter, and shortly after that they went up 69-64. The Bulls have performed horribly against good teams all season long, but with less than 15 minutes remaining in the game the Bucks seemed to have lost their way before Antetokounmpo's three point play put them up 74-71 heading into the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter was ugly and low scoring, and the Bulls not only led 78-77 with less than six minutes remaining but they were down by only one point, 87-86, with 1:36 remaining. Neither team made a field goal in the final 1:24, and the Bucks closed out the win by sinking their final four free throw attempts.

Antetokounmpo finished with a game-high 27 points on 10-19 field goal shooting, and he grabbed a team-high 16 rebounds. His plus/minus number of +19 was eight points better than any other Buck's plus/minus number; he came to play, but his supporting cast did not consistently follow his lead. Brook Lopez was a major factor with 18 points on 7-14 field goal shooting, five rebounds, and stout defense. Jrue Holiday was OK, but not great, with 15 points on 6-16 field goal shooting, plus six rebounds and six assists. The Bucks need more from Khris Middleton (11 points on 4-13 field goal shooting, plus six assists and five rebounds). The Bulls were done in by poor field goal shooting: Vucevic scored 24 points but shot just 9-27 from the field, DeRozan had 18 points on 6-25 field goal shooting, and LaVine added 18 points on 6-19 field goal shooting. When a team's three best scorers shoot 21-71 (.296) from the field it is very difficult to win.

The Bucks played a very sloppy brand of basketball in the second half, tallying 14 field goals made and 14 turnovers. They shot just .345 from the field after the first quarter. They will win this series, but the larger issue is that they must raise their game to a much higher level to beat whoever they will face in the second round. One wonders how much the Bucks' decision to hunt this matchup by sitting their starters in the final regular season game impacted their mindset and preparation, but I am a firm believer that when you mess with the game the game will mess with you. The Bucks very much wanted to face the Bulls, and the Bucks would be well-advised to focus on the task at hand as opposed to possibly looking forward to playing in the second round and beyond.

Phoenix 110, New Orleans 99

The New Orleans Pelicans were the last team to qualify for the playoffs, and they are the only 2022 playoff team with a losing regular season record. For most of this game, they looked like they are on course to be the first team eliminated from the playoffs. The Suns led 28-16 by the end of the first quarter, scoring almost as many points in the first 12 minutes as the Pelicans put up in the first 24 minutes. By halftime, the Suns were up 53-34, and the main question seemed to be whether the Suns could hold the Pelicans under 65 points--but the Pelicans came to life (or perhaps the Suns fell asleep) in the third quarter, cutting the margin to as low as seven (76-69), and heading into the fourth quarter with the game very much in the balance as the Suns were only up 79-71. The fourth quarter turned into the Chris Paul show, as the Suns' point guard erupted for 19 points to make sure that the Pelicans never got closer than six points the rest of the way. The Suns led by double digits in the final 8:45 except for two brief moments when the Pelicans shaved the margin to nine points. 

Paul finished with a game-high 30 points on 12-16 field goal shooting, and he also led both teams with 10 assists. His +20 plus/minus number was nine points better than the next best player. He also had seven rebounds, three steals, one blocked shot, and just two turnovers. Devin Booker added 25 points and eight assists, but he shot just 8-19 from the field. Deandre Ayton scored 21 points on 10-15 field goal shooting while also grabbing nine rebounds and blocking four shots. 

C.J. McCollum topped the Pelicans with 25 points, but he shot just 9-25 from the field. He led the Pelicans in assists (six) and he ranked second in rebounds (eight). Brandon Ingram shot 6-17 from the field to score 18 points, and Jonas Valanciunas shot 7-21 from the field for his 18 points, though Valanciunas also did yeoman's work on the glass with a playoff career-high 25 rebounds.

The bottom line is that after a nearly flawless first half the Suns did more than enough in the second half to win the game.

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns

posted by David Friedman @ 3:01 AM

12 comments