Trail Blazers, Lillard taking NBA spotlight
A dozen things to know about the NBA playoffs, starting Monday inside the bubble near Orlando:
It won’t remind anyone of March Madness, but four games will be televised backtoback Monday (ESPN) and another four Tuesday (TNT). Step into the flow of things — potentially 56 games, if all series go the distance — and you might get hooked.
It’s been very good television. Refreshingly, the league has backed off the intensely annoying ingame music we hear in normal times. The manufactured crowd noise comes through at an acceptable level, and none of the screamingidiot PA announcers were employed. Those virtual fans are a little bit weird, but the atmosphere is about as tolerable as could be expected.
The most interesting team is an outlier. Portland, seldom taken seriously during the season and needing the last three weeks to fight its way into the playoffs, has become wildly appealing. Damian Lillard is the best clutch player in Orlando. Center Jusuf Nurkic, who missed so much time because of a severe leg fracture, has become a force, competing through a heavy heart in the wake of his grandmother’s death. CJ McCollum,
playing with a fractured bone in his lower back, took over Saturday’s clincher against Memphis with a 14point fourth quarter. Gary Trent Jr., who played his senior season of high school basketball for Prolific Prep Academy in Napa, has been hot from the outside. And Carmelo Anthony is reminding people why he’ll be in the Hall of Fame someday. Bring on the Lakers.
So bring on whom, exactly? ExWarrior Quinn Cook? Head coach Frank Vogel was so exasperated (who wouldn’t be?) with the prospects of playing Dion Waiters and JR Smith in the backcourt, he needed to see whether Cook was ready. It’s an open question, but Cook got a start against Houston, scored 21 points in 23 minutes against Atlanta, and played 30 minutes in the finale against Sacramento.
The Lakers aren’t hurting just with backcourt mainstays Avery Bradley (opt out) and Rajon Rondo (broken thumb) unavailable. Anthony Davis has been noticeably inconsistent — unstoppable one night, nearly invisible the next. That can’t continue.
Nobody’s more relieved than Giannis Antetokounmpo to see the playoffs arrive. He was frustrated with his team’s offandon performances and downright incensed over drawing hard fouls just about every time he attacked the basket — so much so that he headbutted
Washington’s Moe Wagner (and drew a onegame suspension) during a break in play. Now comes the real thing, with an entire league waiting to see whether Antetokounmpo can lead Milwaukee to the title — and most likely stay there with a new, longterm contract.
As written in the original Orlando agreement, players are now allowed to bring trusted family and friends into the bubble. Lord knows they deserve the company after all this time, but the warning so relevant throughout this pandemic — don’t let your guard down — comes into play.
At various times in Orlando, the Clippers were missing Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, JaMychal Green, Landry Shamet and Ivica Zubac, for various reasons. They’re all eligible to play now, but can they find cohesiveness in such a short time? If Harrell and Williams pick up where they left off — by far the NBA’s best pickandroll combination off the bench —that solves many issues.
Right off the bat, Houston gets Oklahoma City and Chris Paul, who would love to bury his former team. Worse yet, Russell Westbrook (strained quad) will miss at least part of the series. If the Rockets go down, it’s hard to imagine head coach Mike D’Antoni keeping his job under owner Tilman Fertitta, who has taken massive financial hits during the pandemic and isn’t known for his patience. General manager Daryl Morey won’t be the most popular man in town, either.
Should be a treat watching Miami with Andre Iguodala part of a compelling, Jimmy Butlerled rotation. Sparks fly whenever this team hits the floor — and good for Warriors broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald, hired by TNT and brought into the bubble to work at least four games, starting with HeatPacers at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
They barely played for the Warriors (Chris Boucher) and the University of Oregon (Bol Bol), but these towering, railthin players could be relevant. Boucher mighty be one of the last guys off a very deep Toronto bench, but he had 25 points and 11 rebounds against Milwaukee, then 19 and nine against Philadelphia as the seeding games wound down. (Patrick McCaw was hoping to make the Raptors’ roster but recently had to leave Orlando for treatment on an injured left knee.) Bol, son of Manute, has shown the Denver Nuggets that his special skills — including a feathery outside shot — have a place at this level.
We love Gregg Popovich. He’s the best. But it was bizarre hearing the Spurs’ head coach call Denver center Nikola Jokic “the reincarnation of Larry Bird.” Jokic is highly influential, a clever passer with tremendous vision. Other than that, he reminds people of Bird — well, never.