Playoffs mania
IT’S that time of year again when Pinoy fans are willing to forego sleep to watch National Basketball Association (NBA) games playing at ungodly hours and when those who can afford to do so report late for work so they can finish the game. (Thank God for work-from-home set-ups.) When dopamine and adrenaline abound in bet-happy odds-watchers who think the NBA Playoffs are the happiest season of all.
The NBA Playoffs are something else. The first of the four-round, best of seven tournament began April 20 and is now in full swing, with 16 of the best performing teams in the regular season now showing off their play-off personas, each one angling to outperform the other to survive the gritty ordeals and arduous journey of the post-season.
As of Wednesday afternoon, here’s how the play-off picture looks like. In the East: Celtics 1, Miami 0; Cavaliers 2, Magic 0; Pacers 1, Bucks 1; Sixers 0, Knicks 2. In the West: Pelicans 0, Thunder 2; Mavericks 1, Clippers 1; Suns 0, Wolves 2; Lakers 0, Nuggets 2.
The Boston Celtics have been llamado all season long and have entered the playoffs with an impressive record: 64 won games, 14 games ahead of their closest opponent, fifthbest scoring margin of all time with plus 11.3 points per game. They had also not lost more than two games in a row.
But to quickly choose the Celtics as shoo-in winners of the play-offs, hail them as the Eastern conference champs, and consider them as the ultimate winner-take-all 2024 world champions is not that easy. Nobody chose the Denver Nuggets last year as the outright champs either, even if they had the best record in the league at about the same time and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic in their fold. In fact,
NBA watchers had in fact already eliminated Denver from contention in the Western conference finals, which many hoped would be contested by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. So when GSW bowed to the Lakers in the second round, Western Conference lovers felt the rest of the way was anticlimactic. So the Nuggets just kept digging gold, quietly. And won it in the end.
The Boston Celtics were dominant too last year, finishing second in the league after the regular season with home court advantage in the East. But yes, they faltered and caved in against play-in survivors, the Miami Heat, who stole home court from them by winning two in Boston and another one at home.
And though Boston won Games 4, 5 and 6, the Heat took home the ultimate Game 7 and ran away with the Eastern crown. For the talented duo of Jayson Tautm and Jaylen Brown and the Merry Men in Green, that was the unkindest cut of all.
Now is a different year. The C’s have gone through a crucible of fire and survived a pre-season of tears and regrets. But the metal is now hardened, tempered and sharp. And this sword has an inner strength that was not there before.
But until they handle the play-offs as dominantly as they did the regular season, there will be doubts about their consistency, keeping in mind the disastrous post-season of 2023.
But The Athletic says the odds are kinder to the Celtics this time around. “Of the 15 teams to post a margin of plus-9.3 or greater in an 82-game NBA season—taking us two points below what the Celtics did—only the 2015-16 Warriors [who lost the NBA Finals in seven games] and the 2015-16 Spurs failed to win a title. The other 13 won, many in romps.”
But the Nuggets are still the defending champions. And yes, they are still entering their prime. They also still have the seven-foot wonder that even Lebron James and Anthony Davis combined cannot solve to date.
If Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic stay healthy, if their starting five roars out of the gates and dominates games, if the Nuggets’ awesome chemistry remains intact, the team wins handily in the playoffs to get good rest and ride their youth the rest of the way, they can repeat and go back-to-back.
It’s still too early to think about that wedding date between East and West in June. But Nikola Jokic playing toe to toe against Kristaps Porzingis is a delicious thought. Doncha think?