Magic Rout Hawks and Warriors Edge Grizzlies to Clinch Playoff Berths
The NBA Play-In Tournament lived up (or down) to my expectations in the opener, as the physical, defensive-minded Orlando Magic stomped an Atlanta Hawks team that struggled to score and then compounded that problem by playing very little defense. The Magic won 120-95 and the game was not as close as the final margin suggested: the Magic outrebounded the Hawks 54-42, outscored the Hawks in the paint 58-52, and held the Hawks to 32-82 field goal shooting (.381), including 4-21 (.190) from three point range. The Magic's bench outscored the Hawks' bench 57-30.
Cole Anthony scored a team-high 26 points off of the bench for Orlando, and he passed for six assists without committing a turnover in 20 minutes of action. Wendell Carter Jr. added 19 points, and Paolo Banchero had a strong all-around game (17 points, nine rebounds, team-high seven assists) even though he shot just 4-13 from the field. Anthony Black contributed 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists as a reserve while posting a game-best +34 plus/minus number.
Trae Young scored a game-high 28 points, but he shot just 8-21 from the field and had the second worst plus/minus number (-22) in the game. Young capped off his performance by getting ejected for disrespecting a
referee with 4:47 remaining in the game; in his post-game press
conference, Young complained about his team not getting a fair whistle,
even though the Magic committed more fouls (25-18) and the Hawks shot
more free throws (34-27). I have never understood or agreed with the "Ice Trae" hype; yes, he has hit some exciting shots and he posts gaudy statistics for points and assists, but he is an undersized, inefficient offensive player who puts up empty calorie numbers while not playing a lick of defense for a mediocre team. Young has a 2-3 career playoff series record in seven seasons, and his Hawks have not won a playoff series since 2021. The notion that he is a great clutch player is refuted by his woeful playoff career shooting (.402 from the field, including .297 from three point range). He has never shot better than .441 from the field in a playoff series, and he shot worse than .400 from the field in two of his five playoff series.
The Magic outscored the Hawks 17-2 in the final 4:58 of the first quarter and led 32-17 after the first 12 minutes. There is so much talk about "clutch time" statistics, but the reality is that the NBA is often a first quarter league, and that was true in this game: the Magic outscored the Hawks by 15 in the first quarter, and then outscored the Hawks by 10 the rest of the way. The Magic built a 22 point first half lead before settling for a 61-47 halftime edge. The Hawks cut the margin to 71-68 on a Caris LeVert layup with 3:00 left in the third quarter, but the Magic outscored the Hawks 21-13 in the next seven minutes to reestablish a double digit lead that they never relinquished the rest of the way.
The Magic earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, and will face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, while the Hawks will host the winner of the Chicago-Miami game for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
The second game of Tuesday night's NBA Play-In Tournament doubleheader looked like it was heading toward a blowout win for Golden State after the Warriors sprinted to a 55-35 second quarter lead versus Memphis, but the Grizzlies roared back to cut the margin to single digits at the 8:43 mark of the third quarter. The Grizzlies led 96-94 early in the fourth quarter, and did not trail by more than six points the rest of the way. I predicted that the Warriors would win "a close, hard fought game," and the Warriors eventually prevailed, 121-116.
Jimmy Butler added another chapter to the legend of "Playoff Jimmy" (or "Play-In Jimmy," in this instance), pouring in a game-high 38 points on 12-20 field goal shooting while also contributing seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals. The way that he forced his way out of Miami in the middle of this season instead of honoring his contract stinks, but there is no denying his talent. Stephen Curry shot a Trae Young-like 9-22 from the field, but he made all 13 of his free throws to finish with 37 points while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, passing for four assists, and committing just one turnover in 39 minutes.
Desmond Bane scored a team-high 30 points on 11-21 field goal shooting. Ja Morant added 22 points, but he had just three assists while committing a game-high five turnovers. Even more worrisome for the Grizzlies is that he scored just four points after suffering a nasty sprained ankle while hitting a 10 foot jumper with 4:25 left in the third quarter and the Warriors clinging to an 82-80 lead. Morant was fouled on the play and made the free throw to bring the Grizzlies to within one point. Jaren Jackson Jr. (18 points, six rebounds, four assists) and rookie Zach Edey (14 points, game-high 17 rebounds) played solidly in the paint but the Grizzlies needed them to shoot better from the field than 6-15 and 4-11 respectively.
The Grizzlies outrebounded the Warriors 50-39, but they squandered those extra possessions by losing the turnover battle, 19-10. If the undersized Warriors get outrebounded by a team that does not handle the ball with the dexterity of Edward Scissorhands they will likely lose, so they are facing quite the challenge as the seventh seed in the Western Conference with a first round matchup versus a Houston team that led the NBA in rebounding while ranking 11th in fewest turnovers. The Rockets are bigger, stronger, and younger than the Warriors while also having homecourt advantage.
The Grizzlies will host the winner of the Dallas-Sacramento game for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Morant's swift recovery from his ankle injury is important, but the Grizzlies should have enough firepower to beat Dallas or Sacramento--and they don't have enough firepower to pose much of a threat to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The best news is that the Play-In Tournament will soon be over, and the playoffs will begin on Saturday April 19.
Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Cole Anthony, Desmond Bane, Golden State Warriors, Ja Morant, Jimmy Butler, Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Paolo Banchero, Play-In Tournament, Stephen Curry, Trae Young, Wendell Carter Jr.
posted by David Friedman @ 2:32 AM
Cavs “Let Em Know,” Make Magic Disappear in Hard Fought Game Seven
The Cleveland Cavaliers' 2024 slogan is "Let Em Know," and on Sunday afternoon the Cavaliers let everyone know that they could win a playoff series without LeBron James for the first time since the early 1990s when the team's franchise players were Mark Price and Brad Daugherty. The Orlando Magic built a 49-31 lead late in the first half in Cleveland before the Cavaliers pulled off the largest NBA game seven comeback since at least 1998 (which is as far back as such records go) and emerged with a 106-94 victory to earn the right to face the Boston Celtics in the second round.
The NBA should not need gimmicks like the NBA Cup or the Play-In Tournament
to convince players and teams that it is important to play hard; it
should suffice to review what happened in this series: the home team won
all seven games, including an epic comeback in the series clincher--and
the Cavaliers enjoyed homecourt advantage because they finished one
game ahead of the Magic in the 82 game regular season marathon. Of
course, the Cavaliers could have finished two games ahead of the Magic
if the Cavaliers had not tanked the fourth quarter of their final
regular season game, and it could be argued that karma should have
dictated that the Cavaliers lose to their hand-picked first round
opponent--but the larger point is that the Cavaliers took the regular
season seriously overall, and earned homecourt advantage for a first
round series that could have easily gone the other way had game seven
been played in Orlando.
Donovan Mitchell scored a game-high 39 points, dished for a team-high five assists, and committed just one turnover in 45 minutes. Mitchell attacked the hoop relentlessly and he made 15 of his hard-earned 17 free throw attempts to offset his 11-27 field goal shooting. Add in his 50 point performance in game six, and Mitchell posted the second highest combined game six/game seven scoring total in NBA playoff history, falling just one point short of Allen Iverson's record.
Caris LeVert contributed 15 points off of the bench on 5-9 field goal shooting while starters Max Strus (13 points), Darius Garland (12 points), and Evan Mobley (11 points) also scored in double figures. Strus nailed three treys, Garland led Cleveland with 10 fourth quarter points, and Mobley had a game-high 16 rebounds while also anchoring Cleveland's paint defense with a game-high five blocked shots (one more than Orlando's entire team had).
Paolo Banchero had a monster game for the Magic, finishing with 38 points plus a game-high tying 16 rebounds, but he shot just 10-28 from the field and seemed to wear down in the second half, producing 14 points and eight rebounds while shooting 4-15 from the field. Wendell Carter Jr. had a solid game (13 points, seven rebounds), but Jalen Suggs (10 points on 2-13 field goal shooting) and Franz Wagner (six points on 1-15 field goal shooting, the worst FG% in game seven history) struggled mightily.
Cleveland has a rich sports history that includes four
AAFC championships (1946-49), four NFL championships (1950, 1954-55,
1964), two World Series titles (1920, 1948), and one NBA championship (2016)--but
that history also includes some fiascos that are so infamous and
painful that they have become depressing catchword phrases that any
Cleveland sports fan knows by heart: "Red Right 88," "The Drive," "The Fumble," "The Shot." For most of the first half, this game seven seemed destined to be added to the above litany of sports meltdowns and disasters as the Magic looked unbeatable until the Cavaliers rallied just before halftime to cut the margin to a manageable 10 points (53-43). This game was a tale of two halves, because the Cavaliers outscored the Magic 63-41 in the second half while outshooting Orlando from the field, .542-.256. Mitchell reflected that tale in microcosm, scoring 15 first half points on 3-13 field goal shooting before pouring in 24 second half points on 8-14 field goal shooting.
Mitchell's impact went beyond his numbers. He demonstrated patient and productive leadership as he encouraged his teammates--most notably Garland--to keep shooting. After the game, Mitchell said that his message to Garland was simple: I don't give a (bleep) what happened before or if the crowd is booing--just trust the work you put in and shoot your shots. Mitchell hastened to add that at other times in the season Garland pumped him up. Mitchell did not show up his coach, throw his teammates under the bus, or spend more time whining to the referees than playing the game.
There is understandable skepticism that a team featuring two small guards like Mitchell and Garland can win a championship--and as someone who has consistently insisted that size matters in the NBA I share that skepticism--but I would caution those who insist that the Cavaliers should get rid of either Mitchell or Garland to consider that such a move is more likely to be a step backward than a step forward. With the assets that the Cavaliers would be willing and able to package, they are unlikely to receive more value in return than what they would be sending out. Mitchell is not an all-time great player like Nikola Jokic--but the few all-time great players who are playing now are not available. Mitchell has repeatedly proven that he can be highly productive on the sport's biggest stage--and even more significant than Mitchell's final game seven numbers is the fact that he did
not quit after his slow start, nor did he wilt under the pressure of the
moment. Several players who have won more honors than Mitchell have an established track record of disappearing
in big games.
The path to winning an NBA title when your best player is a player of Mitchell's caliber is to build a deep and versatile roster that can wear down teams that have more top end talent but less depth. There are not many such championship teams in NBA history, but the 2004 Pistons and the 1979 SuperSonics are two examples. Mitchell is no less talented than 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups or 1979 Finals MVP Dennis Johnson. Billups and Johnson were better than Mitchell as playmakers and defenders, but Mitchell is a much more dynamic scorer. The Cavaliers have a young, solid nucleus of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, LeVert, Strus, and Jarrett Allen (who missed the final three games versus Orlando due to a rib injury). The continued development of that core combined with shrewd drafting and one or two free agent signings or trades could lift the Cavaliers from barely being in the top four in the East to legitimately fighting for the Eastern Conference title. It is a positive sign that the Cavaliers are already one of the league's best defensive teams, which means that (1) the coaching staff led by J.B. Bickerstaff knows how to effectively teach defensive principles, and (2) the team's young players have bought into the importance of playing good defense.
Unless Mitchell insists that he wants to leave--in which case he will get his way, because that is how the modern NBA works for All-Star players--the Cavaliers should not trade him. Players who score 39 points in elimination games are rare, and their value cannot be matched by acquiring a package of role players and draft picks. The Cavaliers should not part with Garland, either, unless they can get a 6-6 guard who is an elite defender and competent range shooter to pair with Mitchell--but such players are hard to find and not likely to be available on the trade market.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Orlando Magic, Paolo Banchero
posted by David Friedman @ 1:37 AM
