NBA’s break time over as playoff push begins
Kevin Durant went to Phoenix. Russell Westbrook went from Los Angeles to Los Angeles, via Utah (sort of). Kevin Love did what once worked out nicely for LeBron James, taking his talents from Cleveland to Miami. As for James, he said he’s about to play some of the biggest games of his career.
The NBA All-Star break ended with the league’s return to regular-season play Thursday.
Let the playoff push fireworks begin.
“It’s not the start of a new season,” Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “But I think this is when guys really raise their level of play.”
Based on win-loss records entering Thursday, the Boston Celtics (42-17), Milwaukee Bucks (41-17), Denver Nuggets (41-18), Philadelphia 76ers (38-19), Cleveland Cavaliers (38-23) and Memphis Grizzlies (35-22) probably can go ahead and make playoff plans.
The Houston Rockets (13-45), San Antonio Spurs (14-45), Detroit Pistons (15-44) and Charlotte Hornets (17-43) probably can go ahead and start scheduling vacations in April.
That essentially leaves 20 teams competing for 10 postseason berths. The Sacramento Kings are in position to end the longest drought in NBA history — 16 years and counting — and the Cavs are in line to make the playoffs without someone named LeBron on the roster for the first time since 1998.
“We have a group that’s dedicated to winning, and there are certain things we have to learn about each other,” Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell said. “It’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows with us. We’re still a team that’s young, but we also are figuring each other out.”
Entering Thursday, the Cavs were five games behind the first-place Celtics, 4 1/2 behind the Bucks and two behind the 76ers in the Eastern Conference. The rest of the race might get jumbled; the 13th-place Orlando Magic are only four games from a berth in the play-in tournament.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance,” Magic rookie Paolo Banchero said.
In the Western Conference, it’s a mess.
“The West is loaded now,” Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. said. “I don’t know how that happened.”
Well, here’s how: Durant went to Phoenix. The Brooklyn Nets’ trade of Durant to the Suns could make a team that looked vulnerable anything but that.
The Nuggets were five games clear of the Grizzlies for the West lead and eight games up on the third-place Kings.
But starting with the Kings, there are 11 teams in the standings separated by just six games. The others are the Clippers (who just got Westbrook, after he was bought out by the Utah Jazz after a trade by the Los Angeles Lakers), Suns, Dallas Mavericks (now with former Nets guard Kyrie Irving alongside Luka Doncic), New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers and the Lakers.
The seedings could flip every night out West. “Must-see TV,” Morris said. And James — who earlier this month passed Kareem AbdulJabbar for the NBA career scoring record — said the 23 games the Lakers have left carry incredible significance.
James didn’t go to the playoffs last year. The four-time NBA champion can’t envision missing them again.
“I don’t want to see myself not being part of the postseason for two years straight,” James said. “It’s just not part of my DNA.”