Well, the season is officially complete and boy, did the drama at the end of the season not disappoint. If you love seeding (as much as yo momma), the last day of the season was totally created for you… and in case you missed the craziness that was the NBA Playoff bracket this passed week, here’s how it all ended up:
And honestly, only the Mavs versus Clippers series had been locked for a week, featuring two fan-bases that want nothing to do with each other, but every other playoff match-up was pretty much possible leading up to yesterday’s games and was it a doozy…
LeLegend was back at it again, locking in the Lakers at the 8-seed with a 28/11/17 with five steals effort. A line like this hadn’t been done since Magic Johnson in 1981 by the way, one year before I was born. I’m not sure if that makes me feel old or super old, but LeBron is 39, so either way, we’re all old. Oh, and just a simple plug, but we went over LeBron James‘ penchant for threes this year, and lo-and-behold, he has finished the season shooting 41.3% from beyond the arc. That’s higher efficiency than Steph Curry, granted, different types of shooters, but epic feat nonetheless.
Another positive Lakers note, really not just from last night but for the entire season; Anthony Davis played in 76 games, his most since the 2017-18 season. Granted, his skillset went kinda goofy, seeminly trading in his three-point shot for more defense, but any time he plays in plus-50 games, the NBA is better for it.
Jalen Brunson has again shown that the Mavs decision-making ability should always be questioned. A big part of the Knicks’ second seed finish, he scored 40 points in the OT win against the Bulls, adding seven rebounds and assists. It’ll be interseting to see how far this team can go without Randle, but potentially going through the 76ers, Bucks and then the Celtics seems pretty difficult. Still, the Knicks, if pretty healthy next season, should be a team to be reckoned having real ECF chances.
The Damian Lillard roller coaster of a season continued to the last minute, as he went 16/4/2 on 2-14 shooting in the Bucks blowout loss against the Magic. While it’s obvious this wasn’t how many of us imagined a Bucks season to go, it has at the very least been interesting to watch a team in real time decide to pay three coaches at the same time. It should also be noted that the Bucks did not win 50 this year with two top-75 players on their roster. I believe that under Bud Smith, they had never finished below 50 wins either…
Bradley Beal has not had a great season for various reasons, but showed up in a huge win against the Timberwolves (surprise-surprise, their first round match-up!) going 36/6/5 on 67/100/100 shooting. That marks the third straight win against Minnesota and could ring some alarm bells in of itself. The T’Wolves basically have designed their defense to force teams to take the middy, and they will now be facing off against three wings that can all shot create at that level. Should be an amazing series to watch.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
