Moving day is usually reserved for those quiet Saturdays in Augusta, Georgia, but the NBA turned its back nine into a big roar on Sunday, with score watching, dodging and dodging, and finally a clear picture of the playoffs. Well, sure, considering there’s still the matter of an attractive play-in tournament with lots of stars.
The rest of the league can take a collective breath before returning next weekend. It’s well-deserved, considering how wild it’s been since the All-Star break — the usual malaise and situational tanking being replaced by scenarios and tiebreakers. Almost no one actually made it to the finish line except the Boston Celtics.
Never in the league’s rich history has there been a day like Sunday, when the first-place team in the Western Conference could have gone to one of three teams on the final day of the season, and the bottom of the bracket was so intriguing and, at times, puzzling.
Who could have expected the young Oklahoma City Thunder to watch the defending champion Denver Nuggets fall and the surprising Minnesota Timberwolves stumble to the finish line? In fact, it should be the youth that wilts under the specter of playoff pressure.
The desperation was on display in the case of the Phoenix Suns, who wanted to avoid the play-in chance. And when the Timberwolves didn’t seem to want to take advantage of their conference win, a showdown was set up, a potential rivalry having seeds planted.
So it’s the Thunder who seem to have the poise of a veteran team, and even though it’s all too easy to conjure up memories of the now-bearded Kevin Durant and Co. in OKC, this version looks more Magic – like that Orlando Magic team that took advantage of wave of a smooth guard named Penny (and that Shaq guy) to the 1995 NBA Finals.
If you squint, you’ll see some similarities between Penny Hardaway and OKC MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who shouldn’t be easily dismissed in the individual awards race or the race to make it to June.
Speaking of Magic, Orlando entered Sunday with a series of results far from finishing fifth or falling to eighth, in the play-in and in the away start. They will play a Cavs team that has had an undefeated streak sandwiched around inconsistency, a team that could have finished second but is fourth in a series that many will label as an afterthought, but shouldn’t be.
It appears the New York Knicks are not being rewarded here. Playing 82 playoff games under Tom Thibodeau, bodies dropping left and right but somehow standing tall as a unit, and then having to face the league’s biggest skyscraper in Joel Embiid if Philadelphia beats Miami in the play-in 7-8, not quite how they felt justice when they finally dismissed the troublesome Chicago Bulls – in a game that, if they had lost, they would have achieved the “easier” draw.
But these are playoff breaks — and it’s Thibs, who would sell his and his mother’s souls for a win, so let’s be honest here. And being deserving of a break doesn’t apply when it comes to high-stakes competitions. It means that if they emerge from this circumstance, their validity will not be questioned.
The last champion to emerge from the East was the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Sure, they got a break in the conference finals by playing the upstart Atlanta Hawks, but they got past the feared Miami Heat in the first round, beating them, before going up against the team everyone thought would make it to the Finals – the Durant-led Brooklyn Nets.
It seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Especially for the Bucks, who would love to muster up some of that courage, and a lot of luck that every champion seems to have. They are in third place and face the Indiana Pacers because they haven’t figured out how to work as a unit – and that’s with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court or not, as he’s missed the last three games with that sigh-worthy calf injury.
His Achilles is intact, but the psyche is tired. Where does trust come from? Sure, their losses mean they avoided the Philadelphia-Miami challenge, but their play was uninspiring.
Fortunately, there are question marks all over the East. This creates amusing circumstances and, in some cases, consequences. The next two months will be the ultimate mirror image for the Celtics, who have advanced through the NBA as the New Edition, and they have all the nerdy numbers to back up the flashy wins.
All that means is that there’s a lot at stake for them, and if Philadelphia or Miami finish in eighth place, there better not be any complaints coming from either corner. Everyone made their bed here.
Some did theirs early, others waited until it was a little late to finish their work, but here we all are.
Having LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid in the play-in represents star power, certainly, but it also speaks to the depth of the league as a whole. The raw numbers say James and Curry aren’t far off their primes, if not peaks, but the eyes say something different. There are moments and flashes of greatness, Saturday nights when the skies light up in a way that only those truly prepared for the moment can face. But it was the mundane Tuesday nights that paved the way for the Lakers and Warriors to find themselves in desperate situations, looking at teams and stars no longer impressed by their towering shadows but inspired by the opportunity to topple the former kings to make room. for the new ones.
What’s coming is clear: Either we’ll see a changing of the guard, a stealing of the torch from the NBA’s standard-bearers, or those old men pulling off one last trick on tired legs — exuberance replaced by cunning and know-how.
Here’s to watching it all and waking up to Charmed, NCIS or Smallville for the next two and a half months – it’s a sprint and a grueling marathon all in one.
