Sunday, September 6, 2020

NBA Update

So here's what has happened in the NBA Playoff so far:

Eastern Conference:
(1) Milwaukee 4 - 1 (8) Orlando
(4) Indiana 0 - 4 (5) Miami
(2) Toronto 4 - 0 (7) Brooklyn
(3) Boston 4 - 0 (6) Philadelphia

(1) Milwaukee 1 - 3 (5) Miami
(2) Toronto 2 - 2 (3) Boston

The Heat were up 3-0 and had a great opportunity to finish off the Bucks today, but Milwaukee pulled out a 118-115 win in overtime.  Still, you have to like Miami's chances of reaching the Eastern Final.  The Raptors/Celtics series looks like a real toss-up.

Western Conference:
(1) L.A. Lakers 4 - 1 (8) Portland
(4) Houston 4 - 3 (5) Oklahoma City
(2) L.A. Clippers 4 - 2 (7) Dallas
(3) Denver 4 - 3 (6) Utah

The Clippers/Mavs series was a joy, with Luka Doncic signalling that he may soon be the best player in the league, before Kawhi Leonard (who actually is the best player in the league) put Dallas away.  And the Rockets/Thunder series was spectacular, with James Harden and Russell Westbrook (for Houston) in a desperate struggle against their old team -- now led by Chris Paul.  Finally, OKC lost Game Seven 104-102 when the Thunder couldn't get off a shot on the last play of the game.

(1) L.A. Lakers 1 - 1 (4) Houston
(2) L.A. Clippers 1 - 1 (3) Denver

I'm pretty confident that the Lakers and Clippers will reach the Western Conference Final.  But playing in the Bubble takes away the Home Court advantage, which I think makes it a bit harder for the favorites in a long series.

My biggest takeaway from these playoffs is that for the first time in many years, we don't really have a Super Team in these playoffs.  This feels like one of those seasons where the title really is up for grabs, much like 2004 season when Detroit won it all.

Last year, Kawhi Leonard took advantage of Golden State's injuries to drag his relatively mediocre Raptors to the title.  This year, he may be able to do the same thing with the Clippers.

1 comment:

  1. If the Clippers do win, Kawhi Leonard would be the third player to win NBA championships with three different teams and the first to do it as his team's obviously best player in any one (much less, all three) of those seasons. The other two guys to win titles with three teams are Robert Horry and John Salley, who were both very good players.

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