Hornets 117-144 Pacers
Yeah, the Hornets were completely out of gas by the end of the season and were never in this game even for a minute. The Pacers played well, looked pretty good.
Wizards 100-118 Celtics
I was surprised by this, thinking the fury of Russell Westbrook could pretty much single-handedly take the retiring Celtics, who look ready to be done with this season. Instead, Westbrook couldn't get any offense going (he was at his best when he was hunting for fouls more than buckets) and Beal and Bertans didn't score either. The Wizards mostly flailed and let Tatum go for 50. Honestly I can only assume that the Wizards wanted even less of the Nets than the Celtics did.
Spurs 96-100 Grizzlies
Hard fought battle, the Grizzlies were generally a step ahead of the Spursand controlled pretty much throughout. Everytime the Spurs made a run, the Grizz would regroup and get the lead back. Frustrating watch as team defense just isn't as sexy as stars putting up big numbers.
Warriors 100-103 Lakers
Fun game. The Warriors were up at halftime but was the glass half full or half empty: Curry didn't light it up and the Warriors were still ahead, but neither did Lebron or Davis and the Lakers weren't out of it. Davis got right in the 2nd half and Lebron did all his Lebron stuff and a late flailing 3 that the Warriors couldn't counter was the difference. The Warriors really wanted this game and it was there for them but frankly no one shot well, Wiggins defended Lebron well at times but then didn't mark him much in the 2nd half. I'm not surprised the Lakers won--they really wanted this game and still had to flail a fluke to get it--but I really have doubts about this squad.
Pacers 115-142 Wizards
So, they couldn't score at all on the Celtics, then drop 142 on the Pacers. Come on, man, the Wizards didn't wanna play the Nets, that's all. The Pacers just never got going, while the Wizards hit every shot they put up it seemed like.
Grizzlies 117-112 (ot) Warriors
Man, I didn't even think the Grizz played all that well, but Draymond was pretty awful, Wiggins disappeared for long stretches, Curry was okay but not great and the Grizz just kinda never went away. The Warriors were really gassed by overtime while the Grizz still seemed kinda fresh. Ja Morant is not a player I've seen much of, he's a weird player: seems totally in control and yet has no idea what he's doing simultaneously. He gets into the lane without much effort but never seems to know what he's gonna do when he gets there.
A personal note on the play-in games, which were started last year (in the bubble). This is the first year out in the real world that the league has had this intro to the post-season. Personally I didn't like it, don't wanna like it, don't need it in the future.
For the most part, I'd say no one liked the play-in games. And that's considering that this year featured the defending champs (that rare #7 seed that actually could win the championship) against the most popular NBA star of his generation (the rare #8 seed that actually has a strong national interes)--and went to a riveting late game finish--in the West; while the East featured two teams eager to avoid facing the #2 Nets, bringing its own wacky drama.
And in the end the only difference it made was bouncing Steph Curry--what's the upside of that?
This year's version is basically the best possible arrangement of teams we're ever going to see...and we still didn't like it.
Commissioner Silver, the answer is clear: this year is as good as this will ever be, meaning you should end it now.
Remember: if the NBA play-in games were really like MLB's version, then the playoffs would've been: Sixers, Bucks, Hawks with the Nets playing the Heat for the 4th spot in the East and Jazz, Suns, Mavs with the Nuggets playing the Clippers for 4th in the West. That's not what we got, nor will we ever. (*)
(*) I didn't like the play-in game. I wasn't sure if I made that clear. Lebron v Steph will never--can never--be repeated. This will never be better than it was this year and this year really wasn't all that great anyway.
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