After a successful regular-season return that saw playoff seeding come down to the final day of action and the Portland Trail Blazers emerge from the play-in series, the NBA playoffs are now in full swing.
The first week of post-season action in the Disney bubble has already delivered some classic moments, from buzzer-beaters to viral sound bites, and we’re just getting started.
Here are five things we learned from around the league.
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1. A tale of two Clippers
In what is now the norm, Kawhi Leonard has once again taken his game to another level during the playoffs. The two-time Finals MVP is averaging 33 points, 10 rebounds and five assists through the Los Angeles Clippers’ first four games against the Dallas Mavericks. Leonard is undoubtedly living up to his reputation and the huge contract he signed last summer.
You can’t say the same for his partner in crime.
Paul George was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder that helped woo Leonard home to southern California. To say the 30-year-old has struggled in these playoffs would be an understatement. George is averaging 15.3 points per game on a dismal 29 per cent shooting from the field and 22 per cent from beyond the arc. Social media has been quick to jump on the six-time all-star, with “Playoff P” and “Pandemic P” trending on Twitter during Los Angeles losses.
With the series tied 2-2, the Clippers can’t afford for their second-best player to go missing in action. If he continues to launch bricks, one of the NBA’s championship favourites could easily see its bubble burst in the first round.
2. New playoff heroes emerge
While the likes of Leonard and LeBron James are established post-season performers at this point, a new crop of stars is taking advantage of the spotlight.
In his first taste of the playoffs, Mavericks youngster Luka Doncic has been sensational, shattering all sorts of records along the way. With his heroic performance Sunday against the Clippers, he became the first player to post a line of 43+ points, 17+ rebounds and 13+ assists in the post-season. It’s worth noting that he put up that stat line while battling through an ankle injury.
At just 21 years old, he’s also now the youngest player to hit a game-winning playoff buzzer-beater. It’s Luka’s world and we’re just living in it.
Doncic is rightfully dominating headlines but there are two other Western Conference guards making splashes of their own: Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray.
Mitchell has been on fire for the Utah Jazz, averaging a playoff-best 39.5 points per game with two 50-plus showings already under his belt. He joins Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only players in NBA history with two 50-point games in a playoff series. The Jazz have hopped on Mitchell’s coattails and own a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets.
Those Nuggets may have been swept if not for Canadian Jamal Murray. The Kitchener, Ont., native was exceptional in a Game 1 overtime win, finishing with 36 points and nine assists, going to-to-toe with Mitchell down the stretch. Murray did his best to match his Jazz counterpart in Game 4, totalling 50 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists but his squad came up short.
3. Dad strength
Utah traded for longtime Memphis Grizzlies standout Mike Conley last off-season hoping he would be the missing piece that took the Jazz to the next level. The veteran point guard wasn’t an immediate fit, struggling to find consistency over the first few months of the season. He appeared to be back on track in February and March before COVID-19 brought things to a halt.
After leaving the bubble for the birth of his son, Conley had to watch the early stages of the Jazz-Nuggets series from his hotel room, quarantining for four days upon his return to the Disney campus. When he got back on the court for Game 3, he carried his team to a massive 37-point victory and finished with a game-high 27 points. He tacked on another 26 in a Game 4 win and is shooting a blistering 11-of-16 from three-point range over the two contests.
If the story of a player elevating his game in the playoffs after welcoming a child to his family sounds familiar, it’s because it happened just last year. In the 2019 playoffs, Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet famously broke out and even received a Finals MVP vote after his partner gave birth. Memphis will be hoping Conley follows that same path this summer.
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4. Chalk rules the East
Aside from a Game 1 stunner in the Milwaukee Bucks-Orlando Magic series, the Eastern Conference playoffs have gone exactly as planned with the favourites cruising. The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors have already disposed of the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, respectively, the Miami Heat have a 3-0 stranglehold over the Indiana Pacers and the Bucks have rebounded to take a 2-1 lead over the Magic.
While the first round has been a bit of a dud, the conference semifinals figure to be electric. The Raptors and Celtics will finally meet in what has felt all season like an inevitable collision course. The two teams have never squared off in the playoffs and it’s shaping up to be can’t-miss television. Boston won the season series 3-1 with two of those victories being blowouts. It’s worth mentioning the Raptors were missing integral rotation pieces in two of the four games and they could be down a key man once again with Kyle Lowry’s status uncertain after suffering an ankle injury in Game 4 against Brooklyn.
Assuming the Bucks and Heat finish off their respective first-round matchups, their series has the potential to be a long one. Miami defeated Milwaukee twice in the regular season and lost the July matchup in the bubble without star Jimmy Butler in the lineup. The scrappy Heat have several capable defenders on their roster and feature one of the NBA’s best coaches in Erik Spoelstra. If nothing else, they’ll make life difficult for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
5. The process has lost our trust
Trust the process, they said. It would be fun, they said.
All those years of futility were supposed to result in an extended period of success for the Philadelphia 76ers. We’re still waiting.
After being swept aside by the Boston Celtics in Round 1, changes are surely on the way in the City of Brotherly Love, with coach Brett Brown expected to be the first casualty. Philadelphia didn’t have Ben Simmons available in the playoffs, but that’s not a good enough excuse.
The fact is this team looked out of sorts all season with the individual parts failing to come together properly. How much of that falls on the coach is up for debate but the roster construction itself has its flaws, too.
Forking over a max contract for Tobias Harris and a four-year, $109-million deal for an aging Al Horford was extremely questionable. With four players on the team each making in the ballpark or north of $30 million per season, the 76ers will have to find a way to optimize the roster.
Does that mean trading one of Simmons or Joel Embiid? Philly is far and away the team to watch this off-season so get your popcorn ready.
