NBA Week 25 – Western Conference
- The Los Angeles Lakers played the Oklahoma City Thunder tough this week. They won the first game and were leading the second game when Luka Doncic was thrown out of the game. Both games were in Oklahoma City. The Lakers have to believe they can beat the Thunder in a series. More importantly, other teams in The Western Conference now have to believe they have a realistic shot against the Thunder in a playoff series.
- The Denver Nuggets firing Michael Malone and Calvin Booth at this point of the season is crazy This after reports the discord between the two has been gong on for much of the season. Doing it right fore the playoffs makes it difficult for a team to refocus. The one positive the Nuggets have is Nikola Jokic, the best player in the game, so you never know.
- Speaking of crazy firings let’s look at the Memphis Grizzlies. They are 3-5 since firing Taylor Jenkins and have lost two big games this weak to Denver and Minnesota They will be a play-in team. This is what happens when you gamble on firing a coach late in the season. Outside of the Phoenix Suns, the Grizzlies are a team headed for a makeover.
NBA Week 25 – Eastern Conference
- If Jaylen Brown is hurting and not effective in the playoffs the Boston Celtics have no shot at a title and would be lucky to get out of the second round. If he’s ineffective the only thing that could save the Celtics is if Jayson Tatum goes off big time.
- Have the Milwaukee Bucks found something with Giannis Antetokounmpo running the offense? They have won serve straight and he has played in six of those wins and put up ridiculous numbers. He is averaging 31.8, 10.3 rebounds and 11.8 assists in that time.
- No team comes into the playoffs with more pressure on them than the New York Knicks. This week they have lost three tough games to the Celtics, Pistors and Cavaliers. They just can’t get over the hump this season losing all their games to the top tier three teams, in the league (Thunder, Cavaliers and Celtics). It seems things went downhill for them ever since Brunson’s injury and Mikal Bridges saying he spoke to Tom Thibodeau about minutes distribution. If they play poorly in the playoffs something has to give.
- I never thought I’d see another player like Marcus Smart. Though is isn’t a great shooter he makes winning plays. No along comes the Miami Heat‘s Davion Mitchell and he’s the closest thing to Smart you will see.
