Stars vault Portland, Memphis into ‘play-in’
Teams to battle for final playoff slot in the West
Heroics were needed to get Portland and Memphis on the doorstep of the playoffs.
For the Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard averaged more than 50 points — with a shot from a step inside midcourt in there as one of his many highlights — to lead the way in three consecutive down-to-thewire, season-on-the-line victories.
For the Grizzlies, Ja Morant and Jonas Valanciunas became the first teammates in Memphis history to post triple-doubles in what turned out to be a must-win game as well.
And now, the mission isn’t done yet for either club. Portland and Memphis meet Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference play-in series; the Trail Blazers have the upper hand by finishing the seeding-game portion of the NBA’s restart ahead of the Grizzlies. Portland needs one win, Memphis needs two to advance to a first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bulls
Chicago, which hasn’t won an NBA title since the 1990s, fired head coach Jim Boylen Friday after two losing seasons.
“After doing a comprehensive evaluation and giving the process the time it deserved, I ultimately decided that a fresh approach and evolution in leadership was necessary,” said team executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.
Boylen joined the Bulls for the 2015-2016 season as an associate head coach and took over when the Bulls fired head coach Fred Hoiberg in December 2018. His teams went 39-84. The Bulls were 22-43 this season and didn’t qualify to play in the NBA bubble. The six-time NBA champions haven’t won a playoff series since 2015.
Elsewhere
Kobe Bryant and the rest of this year’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class won’t be inducted in 2020 — or at the birthplace of basketball.
The Hall announced Friday that the enshrinement ceremony will be held May 13-15, 2021, and festivities will be moved to
Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
This year was to be a highlight for the Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Mass. Bryant, killed in January in a helicopter crash, headlined a class featuring Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett that would have been enshrined in the recently renovated museum. But the coronavirus pandemic scuttled those plans and hit the Hall so hard that it eliminated several full-time positions and cut senior management pay in the 25-40% range.
Hall of Fame President and CEO John Doleva says the rescheduled enshrinement festivities, the diminished museum visitation and the uncertainty regarding the Hall’s college and high school basketball events this fall “has forced us to make these very difficult decisions.”