Now that the trade deadline has passed, it’s time to set our sights on the playoff push ahead. Here are five league-wide storylines to keep tabs on down the stretch:
THE RACE FOR 8th:—WEST
The top seven teams out West— the Warriors, Spurs, Rockets, Jazz, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Thunder— are, in some order, locks to make the post-season.
That leaves just one spot up for grabs with six teams currently within three games of one another. Currently, the Nikola Jokic-led Denver Nuggets are holding down the eighth seed, but the Kings, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Timberwolves, and Pelicans are all breathing down their neck.
The most interesting of the group is clearly New Orleans, who made— by far— the biggest trade splash of the season when they fleeced Sacramento and got the NBA’s most unstoppable centre, DeMarcus Cousins to join Anthony Davis and form the most unstoppable frontcourt duo in 20 years.
The Cousins-Davis experiment, still in its infancy, hasn’t exactly worked out yet. The Pels have dropped all three games with the pair of Kentucky alumni and it remains to be seen if they’ll turn it around in time to make a run for that final playoff spot. Part of that is because Cousins is coming from an equally lousy team in which he’s accustomed to dominating the ball and will naturally have to adjust playing alongside a top-5 scorer (Davis is 4th in the NBA in scoring, Cousins is 6th).
But mostly it’s because the rest of the roster is either bad, ill-fitting, or both. Even Jrue Holiday, who was on a tear before the Cousins trade, is suddenly struggling to find his role on the new-look team. If the Pelicans can figure it out, though, they stand to be one of the more fascinating teams to watch, bucking the small ball trend and dominating opponents down low.
A potential Warriors-Pelicans first-round matchup, with a Golden State team that doesn’t have the pieces to go toe-to-toe in the paint (…but will still obviously win) would be the most interesting potential first-round matchup in the conference.
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MVP DEBATE STRONGEST IN YEARS
James Harden. Russell Westbrook. Kawhi Leaonard. LeBron James. Those are your four front-runners for MVP, and a legitimate case can be made for each:
Harden: Since being handed full-time point guard duties in Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo, free-for-all system, Harden has been flat-out unstoppable since opening night as the Rockets have established themselves as a legitimate threat out West.
Westbrook: As noted earlier, the Thunder will make the playoffs this season. Take Westbrook off the roster and what happens? They’d have started talking about tanking in Oklahoma City sometime in mid-November.
Leonard: No matter how much we say it, it still can’t be said enough: Kawhi Leonard is the most underappreciate superstar in the NBA. He’s the league’s best two-way player and— by far— the biggest reason why the Spurs are again on pace for 60+ wins.
James: Still seemingly at his apex. While the names above (particularly the first two) have gotten all the buzz this season, LeBron just keeps being undeniably the best player on the planet. His usage has been astronomic— a worrying sign for most looking to lead their team on a deep playoff run, but one that he seems immune to at this point—and he’s still putting up 26/8/9 averages while ensuring the Cavs remain the top seed. Crazy. He’d be my pick if ballots were handed in today.
THE RACE FOR 8th—EAST
Out East things are somewhat less interesting. Really, this is just a race between the Miami Heat and time. In short: how much longer can the NBA’s most surprising team keep this up?
The Heat are 3-3 since their improbable 13-game win streak, but have found a formula that’s working. With a fast-paced team that’s averaging nearly 110 points per game since that win streak began in mid-January, Miami isn’t just fun to watch— they’re only a game and a half back of the Detroit Pistons for the 8th seed in the East.
When Dwyane Wade signed with the Chicago Bulls last summer it signaled the start of a bona fide restart in South Beach. Pegged as a bottom-feeder (which, for the first half of the season, they were), Miami has instead rebuilt their identity around Hassan Whiteside (who leads the NBA at 14.1 rebounds per game), Goran Dragic, and Dion Waiters, of all people. This team was supposed to contend for a top-3 draft pick, not a playoff spot.
Should the Heat pull it off and secure a trip to the post-season it’ll be one of the more shocking events in an NBA season that already saw DeMarcus Cousins team up with Anthony Davis, Charles Oakley be forcibly removed from MSG, James Harden becoming a point guard and averaging 100 assists per game, and, again, the Miami Heat winning 13 games in a row!
TRIPLE-DOUBLE WATCH
This conversation got tiring for awhile, so we all stepped back to let it breathe, but now it’s time to start paying attention again. Russell Westbrook is more likely than not to finish the season averaging a triple-double.
The Thunder star is averaging an absurd 31 points per game (1st in NBA) to go along with 10.6 rebounds (12th), and 10.3 assists (3rd). And, while you may have heard otherwise, no, the trip-dub is not a league-wide trend. Westbrook (and to a much lesser extent James Harden) is just a freakish anomaly, the perfect and rare combination of talent meeting situation.
OUCH
Kyle Lowry’s wrist. Joel Embiid’s swollen knee. Kevin Love’s knee.
There have been some significant injuries of late, and all could have major impacts on their teams and the NBA.
Kevin Love has played an increasingly integral role in the defending champ Cavaliers since he arrived in Cleveland and the Cavs will need him at 100 per cent, or as close as possible, to take another run at the improved Warriors and the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Embiid’s injury doesn’t have an effect on the standings, but could have real implications on the Rookie of the Year race. The Sixers budding superstar has only appeared in 31 games this season and may not suit up for the rest of the campaign as Philly may play it safe and try to ensure he and 2016 1st overall pick Ben Simmons are healthy as possible heading into 2017-18.
In just 25 minutes per game, Embiid averaged a ridiculous 20.2 points, 7.8 boards, and 2.5 blocks. He’s so far and away the best rookie in the NBA, yet with so few games under his belt he could now wind up dropping the RoY award to lesser talents like teammate Dario Saric, Denver’s Jamal Murray, or Milwuakee’s Malcom Brogdon.
As for Lowry, we’ll tackle the top 5 Raptors storylines on Wednesday. Here’s betting the Raptors all-star will make an appearance.
