The year’s top storylines dominate the 2016 NBA playoffs.
Even sans Kobe Bryant, the playoffs couldn’t ask for better scenarios. The Cleveland Cavaliers headline the Eastern Conference despite drama surrounding LeBron James and a team that already chewed through one head coach. Out in the Western Conference, the historic Golden State Warriors and the somehow-underrated San Antonio Spurs have to find a way to deal with a deadly portion of the bracket.
It goes on and on top to bottom, with even the eighth seeds looking like threats based on the parity this season has boasted. Let’s take a look at 10 storylines to know as the playoffs get underway.
East Comes Full Circle
Funny how things have a way of working out.
The Indiana Pacers opened the NBA season in Toronto with a dance against the Raptors. Now the Pacers will start the playoffs in much of the same way after clinching a playoff by winning six of their last 10 games and helping to keep the Chicago Bulls out of the postseason.
And what an opening-round matchup it is. The Raptors took the season series against the Pacers 3-1, but a 106-99 margin wasn’t terrible, one game went to overtime and in Indiana’s win it wasn’t even close, a 106-90 blowout.
The Raptors haven’t exactly been the most consistent team this year, especially when it mattered most, such as when stealing the top seed from the Cavaliers presented itself. Also keep in mind the experience factor, as TSN Sports’ Josh Lewenberg pointed out:
For 3rd straight year Raps will be the less experienced team in their series.
Starters: 110 games of playoff experience
Pacers starters: 198— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 13, 2016
This isn’t a typical No. 2 vs. No. 7 matchup in any sense. With parity as a theme of these playoffs, don’t be shocked if Paul George can pull a miracle out of his hat and get the upset.
Prove-It Time for Boston
Danny Ainge, the guy who many claim keeps coming close to pulling off blockbuster deals, doesn’t appear to need one for his team to remain in the title hunt.
The Boston Celtics might be loaded with future draft picks and the future looks good, but how about right now? Who would have thought Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and Jared Sullinger, among others, would have the Celtics this high up the standings and looking like serious contenders?
Crickets.
Look, Boston isn’t sexy on paper. But the Celtics ran well with Cleveland and Toronto this year and won the season series against the Miami Heat. Over a seven-game series, a team-based approach and strong defense could suffocate even the best of teams in an Eastern Conference where the so-called contenders haven’t impressed consistently enough to make any potential matchup look like a lock.
These Celtics might change drastically in the offseason. Or maybe Ainge has a new, proven rebuilding method on his hands. Either way, Boston is the most lovable underdog around this year.
Hassan’s Heat
Remember when the Heat were doomed without James?
Right. The Heat added Joe Johnson and put on an epic tear to close the season, though the real credit goes to center Hassan Whiteside.
In fact, Whiteside might be one of the most important players to watch this postseason. Not only is he a double-double monster with averages of 14.2 points and 11.9 rebounds going into Wednesday, he manages 3.7 blocks per game.
Now Whiteside and the Heat enter an odd time in their relationship, as the center heads to free agency this offseason. Miami might have the cash to keep him around, but much of it depends on his playoff performance and how the rest of the Association feels about assigning a dollar value to his talents.
Should Whiteside continue to blow up and make a household name for himself, the Heat will prosper—and potentially suffer in the long term, too.
Rockets as the Underdog
Here come the Houston Rockets.
The team many thought dead in the water after firing a coach and never really seeing James Harden and Dwight Howard play well together has backed into the postseason.
Howard and Co. took down the Sacramento Kings Wednesday in a blowout, securing the eighth seed and the right to face the Golden State Warriors. It sounds like a death sentence, but if there was one underachieving team the top playoff teams didn’t want to face, it was probably Houston.
Seriously—if the Rockets could just live up to their on-paper potential for a seven-game series, anything can happen. Howard is still dominant on the block, Harden can pour it on and even Michael Beasley looks great off the bench.
And this is the playoffs, where amazing happens (or whatever the catchphrase is this year). Would Houston somehow, someway finally living up to its potential with a title on the line be the biggest shock? Maybe not.
Oklahoma City’s Warmup
Nobody talks much about the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to the pair of teams in front of them in the standings.
Call it a major mistake. A team with the triple-double machine known as Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant on board makes for a serious contender, lack of headlines or not.
These Thunder were one of the only teams to best San Antonio this year and played Golden State close in most encounters. Now Durant and the Thunder get a nice opening series against a struggling Dallas Mavericks team it posted a 4-0 mark against during the season.
Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks just don’t pose the threat they once did. Hardly a .500 team, Durant and the Thunder get to run wild while fine-tuning the machine for one last championship push before the…
Countdown to the Summer of Durant
Think the Thunder’s first-round encounter with the Mavericks isn’t important?
Think again.
Though it hasn’t gotten as much attention as it probably should have, keep in mind Durant heads to free agency this summer with plenty of options. Durant might want to stay in Oklahoma City with Westbrook, but it’s not a given, especially when he could pack his bags and head for a bigger market and have Westbrook join him a year later.
Much of what Durant decides to do this summer might hinge on how the Thunder perform right out of the gates against Dallas. If the Thunder cannot escape the first round or at least make it to the conference finals, starting fresh and maybe even moving to the somewhat easier Eastern Conference might look quite attractive to Durant, who isn’t getting any younger.
Like a few of the other storylines, a team’s performance this postseason will impact the future of the league in a big way. There’s simply nothing bigger than Durant and the Thunder, though, as a collapse or surge could change the landscape of the league for a decade or more.
Kemba-Lin Combo Ready to Make Noise
How’s this for fun? Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lin have the Charlotte Hornets thinking big things in the Eastern Conference.
Lin has provided quite the unexpected spark off the bench as of late and averages 11.7 points, though he’s not moving into much of a starting role. Most of the credit, though, goes to an improved Walker, who spent the offseason working on his game. Steve Reed of the Associated Press (via Yahoo.com) detailed the changes Walker made:
Clifford attributed Walker’s improvement to three things: his willingness to change in his shooting mechanics, learning how to better set up pick and rolls, and from playing in a one-in, four-out offensive system full time this season – something that has created better spacing and more shot opportunities.
Clearly it has worked, with the 25-year-old guard now averaging 21.1 points, 5.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Just a few weeks ago the tandem had the Hornets as the team with the best record in the league over 10 games. Not only that, Charlotte has played Cleveland well and has recent wins over Boston and even San Antonio. These Hornets weren’t expected to do much of anything this year, but player development and underrated signings has crafted a team perhaps more ready to make serious noise than most would have predicted.
Surging Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers look like title contenders.
It’s easy to see Golden State and San Antonio in the same conference and dismiss the Clippers, but try to keep in mind Chris Paul and Co. won six straight after Blake Griffin’s return.
There’s a sense of desperation around these Clippers, too. Paul is now north of 30 years old and Griffin isn’t getting any younger, meaning the athleticism he leans on continues to fade. DeAndre Jordan already toyed with the idea of leaving. It almost seems like now-or-never mode before the brass in the front office decide to start over.
Not that it’s a bad time to hit such a mode. Going into Wednesday the Clippers had won nine of their last 10 games, the lone loss to Golden State. Now healthy and rested, though, anything seems possible over a seven-game series for the Clippers no matter who the opponent winds up being.
From an absolute trainwreck to bonafide contender, there isn’t a more interesting team to watch in the postseason this year, especially because of the league-wide impact an early exit could produce.
Historic Warriors
Upstaged by Kobe Bryant or not, the Warriors did the no longer unthinkable Wednesday night, notching win No. 73 via a 125-104 dismissal of the Memphis Grizzlies in which Stephen Curry bloated the boxscore with a wicked 46 points.
These Warriors don’t need warming up, folks:
“It’s about playing for each other& that’s how something like this is accomplished. It’s incredible.” @Money23Greenhttps://t.co/ms9NqwZLt2
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) April 14, 2016
Again, probably a good thing because the record doesn’t mean anything if the team falls flat on its face in the first round or beyond and doesn’t win a title.
The Warriors remained adamant all year the record would be a nice note but that a title was the end goal. But the team went all out to hit the mark, which means it will be quite interesting to see how season-long fatigue plays into the team’s upcoming series.
Maybe the Warriors keep cruising at an epic pace and show no signs of slowing. Or maybe folks look back on Wednesday’s historic moment and shake their heads. First up is Houston hoping to make it the latter.
LeBron Finds His Stride
The Cavaliers are on fire.
Gone are the days LeBron spent his time needing a stern talking to due to his behavior and gone are the days folks questioned the team over the David Blatt firing.
Instead, Cleveland has cruised down the stretch, getting wins against Atlanta twice and Charlotte while locking up the top seed. Even better, the team has rested starters and looks more than ready for a title push. James’ improvement on the court gets most of the credit, as Cleveland.com’s Bill Livingston explained:
At any rate it has worked. James is playing his best basketball of the season now. Relaxed and rested, he is playing better than at any time since he returned, even taking into account the unprecedented near-triple double he had in points, rebounds and assists in the playoffs.
That is because his 3-point shooting, a glaring weakness in the playoffs and especially in the NBA Finals against Golden State, has suddenly improved dramatically.
As always, James is all business once the playoffs begin. It might still be an odd marriage, that of LeBron pairing with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, but it’s one that will undoubtedly work so long as James feels fresh and continues to play at this clip.
Some of the teams out West might classify as the scariest right now, but a rested, potent James will have something to say about the title picture. All nonsense aside, the Cavaliers remain one of the teams to beat.