The last NBA playoff game that I really watched took place on June 13, 2019. Sitting in a hotel in London (England), I saw Toronto beat Golden State 114-110 to win the NBA Championship and (apparently) end the Warriors' dynasty.
Then COVID happened and players were moving around, so I lost track of the NBA for several years. Here is what happened:
2020: LeBron's Lakers won the title over Miami in a COVID tournament.
2021: Milwaukee beat Phoenix 4-2.
2022: Golden State came back, beating the Celtics 4-2. It was Steph Curry's fourth title at Golden State, to go with the ones he won in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Anyway, now things have gotten enough back to normal so that I will return to my usual practice of turning in once we get to the semi-finals. In the meantime, here's what the first round looks like (seeds in parentheses):
Eastern Conference:
(1) Milwaukee v. (8) Miami
(4) Cleveland v. (5) New York
(3) Philadelphia v. (6) Brooklyn
(2) Boston v. (7) Atlanta
(2) Boston v. (7) Atlanta
Western Conference:
(1) Denver v. (8) Minnesota
(4) Phoenix v. (5) L.A. Clippers
(3) Sacramento v. (6) Golden St.
(2) Memphis v. (7) L.A. Lakers
We'll check back in a few weeks.
I really do enjoy the last two rounds of the NBA playoffs, and I've missed them in recent years.
ReplyDeleteBehind 18 points from Malik Monk, and 24 points from De'Aaron Fox, the Sacramento Kings beat Golden State 114 to 106. The Kings now lead the series 2 games to 0, and the whole world will be watching when the teams head to San Francisco for Game Three.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm supposed to believe that Monk and Fox were beaten fairly by UNC back in 2017? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteThe Kings haven't made the playoffs in 16 years, and now they are up 2-0 on the Warriors. It turns out that the Kings have a play-by-play announcer named Gary Gerould. He's 82 years old, and he's been the radio voice of the Kings since they arrived in Sacramento back in 1985. That's over 3,000 games. He was pretty excited tonight.
ReplyDeleteMichael Wilbon was on Tony Kornheiser's podcast talking about a playoff game in 2002 where he covered a Kings playoff game with the Lakers where he wrote at the time--and still believes to this day--that Sacramento was actually cheated by the referees.
DeleteI watched that game, and then I didn't watch the NBA again for almost eight years.
DeleteIf we'd had the HP in 2002, my comments on that game would have been blistering.
DeleteI'm still angry about it. I feel really bad to Mike Bibby and Chris Webber, two guys who I always rooted against.
DeleteI guess I'm rooting for Knicks and Kings.
ReplyDeleteNow the bracket looks like this:
ReplyDeleteMilwaukee 1 - 2 Miami
Cleveland 1 - 3 New York
Philadelphia 4 - 0 Brooklyn
Boston 3 - 1 Atlanta
Denver 3 - 1 Minnesota
Phoenix 3 - 1 L.A. Clippers
Sacramento 2 - 2 Golden St.
Memphis 1 - 2 L.A. Lakers
Sadly, the playoffs are being distorted by injuries. For the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo missed Games 2 and 3 with back issues, while the Heat has lost Tyler Herro to hand surgery. For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard scored 38 points in Game 1, and 31 points in Game 2, and hasn't played since. Now the Clippers are on their way out. For the Kings, De'Aaron Fox scored 38 points in Game 1, 24 points in Game 2, 26 points in Game 3, and 38 points in Game 4. But now he has a fractured finger and is likely to miss Game 5. That will sink the Kings.
ReplyDeleteGiannis is playing tonight, and he has 26 points. But Jimmy Butler has gone for FIFTY-THREE, and the Heat lead 116-109 with only 32.7 seconds left.
ReplyDeleteButler finishes with 56 points (16-20 from 2-point range, 3-8 from 3-point range, 15-18 from the line), and the Heat win 119-114. The Heat are now up three games to one over the Number 1 seed in the East.
ReplyDeleteThanks to a tremendous effort from LeBron James, the Lakers beat Memphis 117-111 in overtime last night in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteEvery series in the first round has now gone four games, and only one of them is tied:
ReplyDeleteMilwaukee 1 - 3 Miami
Cleveland 1 -3 New York
Philadelphia 4 - 0 Brooklyn
Boston 3 - 1 Atlanta
Denver 3 - 1 Minnesota
Phoenix 3 - 1 L.A. Clippers
Sacramento 2 - 2 Golden St.
Memphis 1 - 3 L.A. Lakers
Down 13 points in the 4th quarter, Trae Young leads the Hawks to a 119-117 victory over Boston, in Boston, in Game Five. What a game!
ReplyDeleteThe Suns beat the Clippers 136-130 to end that series. The Clippers were doomed without Kawhi Leonard. Here's how our old friend Russell Westbrook did for the Clippers:
ReplyDeleteGame One: 3-19 from the field, 9 points
Game Two: 9-16, 28 points
Game Three: 11-23, 30 points
Game Four: 17-29, 37 points
Game Five: 3-18, 14 points
Total: 43-105 (41.0 percent), 23.6 points per game, 7.4 assists per game, 4 turnovers per game.
Denver, Phoenix, and Philadelphia have advanced. The other series are still going.
ReplyDeleteAfter all the game fives, the first round looks like this:
ReplyDeleteMilwaukee 1 - 4 Miami
Cleveland 1 - 4 New York
Philadelphia 4 - 0 Brooklyn
Boston 3 - 2 Atlanta
Denver 4 - 1 Minnesota
Phoenix 4 - 1 L.A. Clippers
Sacramento 2 - 3 Golden St.
Memphis 2 - 3 L.A. Lakers
I know it's supposed to be a huge upset that 8-seed Miami beat 1-seed Milwaukee. But I'm just not that surprised that the 2020 Eastern Conference Champion beat the 2021 Eastern Conference Champion.
ReplyDeleteDown 3-2 to the defending champions, the never-say-die Kings go to San Francisco and beat Golden State 118-99 to force a Game Seven in Sacramento. What a great series this has been.
ReplyDelete