The NBA regular season is ended, and the last week of the season did not disappoint in terms of drama, storylines, and outright f*ckery (more on that in a bit). The top six teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences may relax for a week before the playoffs begin on Saturday, while all eyes will be on the Play-In Tournament. So, this week, we’re going to do something a little different and rank the top five teams out of the eight who will be competing for the final playoff berths.
Even though these teams aren’t regarded powerhouses, a couple of them have legitimate prospects of upsetting the top-seeded clubs. As a result, these teams are unlikely to go past the first round.
Yet, one team is certain to begin their summer break early.
The Minnesota Timberwolves…
Notwithstanding Anthony Edwards’ monster effort (26 points, 13 rebounds, four steals, and four blocks) that resulted to their victory against the New Orleans Pelicans and clinched their eighth spot, the levels of collapse during that game will undoubtedly hamper their prospects in the Play-In.
They may easily have been on this list, but let’s face it, the squad is completely stupid for its dysfunction. With Rudy Gobert swinging on his teammate Kyle Anderson in the first half and being sent home to JaDaniels fracturing his hand after striking a wall (also in the first half! ), the T-Wolves don’t stand a chance.
But these groups do.
1. Los Angeles Lakers
Since the trade deadline, the Lake Show has gone 18-8, ruthlessly terminating the Russell Westbrook experiment. They also clawed their way from a horrible 2-10 start to a 43-39 winning record, becoming only the fourth club in NBA history to do it. Yet, restoring their winning ways did not give them a top-six place in the Western Conference, despite winning eight of their last 10 games (including 6-1 since LeBron James returned from a foot injury).
When the basketball Gods shone on the purple and gold on Easter Sunday, the narrative for this Cinderella season is still being written. Not only did The King dominate with 36 points on 52 percent shooting and 57 percent from deep in a dominating win over the Utah Jazz, but the Lakers’ postseason route was made simpler by their Play-In Tournament matchup with the dysfunctional Minnesota Timberwolves.
With the suspension of Wolves big man Rudy “Sucker Punch” Gobert announced today, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis could feast on Minnesota’s starved frontcourt. Davis scored over 26 points and 12 rebounds in the previous 10 games and shows no signs of slowing down now that the squad is back to full strength. We’ll also see how Austin Reaves’ reputation transfers in the postseason, where the second-year guard has a five-game scoring streak of 20 points per game with an amazing field goal and three-point percentages of 61 and 52, respectively. All it takes is one win for Los Angeles to play the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies, which may lead to an upset for LeBron and company.
2. New Orleans Pelicans
The Pels should be lower on this list since they were unable to capitalise on the shitshow that occurred on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ bench and so lost the game and their eighth seed. Willie Green, their head coach, expressed his disappointment after losing 113-108 against a Minnesota club in disarray. They are now in ninth place and need two victories to enter the playoffs, where they will meet the top-seeded Denver Nuggets. Despite the setback, they enter the Play-In having won ten of their past fifteen games and having their first winning record (42-40) since the 2017-18 season.
Brandon Ingram has been a team MVP candidate, posting career highs in points (24.7), assists (5.8), and free throw %. (88.2). After scoring 42 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in yesterday’s defeat, Ingram’s ten-game average increased to 29 points over the Pelicans’ 7-3 finish to the season. CJ McCollum, Ingram’s running partner, has also been excellent over those 10 games, averaging 20 points and shooting 42 percent from three.
The Pels rank sixth in the league on defence, so even though they’re in the tournament, they’re no pushover. And it’s easy to forget that Zion Williamson is still on this team. Despite the fact that Williamson will not return from injury for the Play-In, New Orleans remains the betting favourite to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in their first Play-In game at Smoothie King Center.
3. Miami Heat
What a difference a change of season can make. A year ago, the Miami Heat were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and were one shot away from matching the Boston Celtics in a tense Game 7 on their home court. This season, Miami is seventh and needs to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in order to face the Boston Celtics again in the first round of the playoffs. They had several chances to break the East’s top six, but three straight defeats to the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, and New York Knicks at the end of March proved to be their demise.
They did recover, winning four of their last five games. Jimmy Butler missed the previous two games, but in the three games he did play, all of which were victories, he averaged 28.7 points, 8.7 assists, and 4.7 rebounds.
Udonis Haslem scored 24 points on nearly 53 percent shooting and 42 percent from deep in what was most likely his final game in a Heat uniform in yesterday’s triumph against the Orlando Magic. It was much better and funnier when Bam Adebayo presented Haslem with a rocking chair. The fun and games will be put to rest on Tuesday, and the club will need Adebayo to produce the same way he did against Atlanta this season (24.5 points, 9 rebounds).
Despite the Heat’s 3-1 record against the Hawks this season, there’s no knowing how this will play out. The Heat aren’t an offensive powerhouse, ranked 25th, while Atlanta is 7th. If you look closely, you’ll see that the Heat’s chip on their shoulder has risen enormously, especially when discussing their status as postseason underdogs. That being stated, turn on Playoff Jimmy! They’ll also have to deploy their 9th best defence against Trae Young, who has a habit of showing up and showing out in playoff situations.
4. Toronto Raptors
The Raptors’ season has been up and down, which explains their 41-41 record. They just broke even on their way to the ninth spot in the Eastern Conference, and they need two wins to secure the eighth seed and a possible early departure at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks. Fortunately, the Raptors will face the Chicago Bulls and former T-Dot fan favourite DeMar DeRozan in Wednesday’s Play-In Tournament game at home. Toronto enjoys the season head-to-head advantage, having won two of their three meetings. Throughout five games, Fred VanVleet scored 20 points on 38.5 percent shooting. In fact, FVV appears to be allergic to effective shooting, as he has the lowest percentage (39.3) since his rookie season.
Speaking of rookies, the defending Rookie of the Year, Scottie Barnes, has struggled against Chicago, scoring 11 points on 35% shooting in three games. When it came down to it, OG Anunoby was undoubtedly the bright spot, scoring 17.3 points. Yet, the significant figure is that Pascal Siakam has only played one game versus the Bulls this season, a 104-98 victory on February 28th. Siakam has 24 points in his previous 10 games, but a pathetic 21 percent from three-point range isn’t going to cut it.
Chicago’s mediocre offence is the Raptors’ saving grace in this game. They are ranked 24th in the league, while Toronto is ranked 11th.
5. Atlanta Hawks
Despite Trae Young’s 27 points and 20 assists against a depleted Philadelphia team on Friday, the Atlanta Hawks were defeated in overtime. They followed it up with another defeat to the undermanned Boston Celtics, but to be fair, coach Quin Snyder again rested his players. Yet, the Hawks were poor in their final 20 games of the season (10-10), slipping to the eighth spot and facing the seventh-seeded Miami Heat at South Beach. Young has been a double-double machine during ATL’s mediocre campaign. With a 24 and 10 stat line in those 20, he increased his season average to a superb 26.2ppg and 10.2apg, his first career double-double performance. Young is only second in the league in dimes to Philadelphia’s James Harden.
We all know Young can turn it up when the pressure is on, but if the Hawks are to make it through the Play-In, he’ll need his teammates to do the same. Dejounte Murray comes into the tournament with a 20-point season average and about the same amount of points in his past ten games (19.5). Clint Capela of the Hawks leads the league in rebounding (11 per game), and the squad features a few 3-point shooters in Bogdan Bogdanovic (40.6 percent), Aaron Holiday (40.9 percent), and Frank Kaminsky (40.9 percent) (47.8 percent).
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