general attitude towards the NBA is that we already know the championship will be won by one of 2 teams-- the Rockets or the Warriors. For this reason, many believe the league is in a boring state because of the lack of parity between the league’s top tier franchises and the tier of teams right below them.
They're wrong. The first round and beginning of the second round of the playoffs has presented us with plenty of exciting play. Here are my favorite stories from the NBA postseason so far.
Utah takes down OKC in 6
In a matchup pitting him against the league’s most intense player in Russell Westbrook, Donovan Mitchell shined. The rookie is shooting almost 46% in the playoffs on 23 shots per game, and he out-dueled the reigning MVP in the first round. A “superteam” that many people had high expectations for (though I personally never saw it working out from a chemistry standpoint) fell short, and the forever lowkey Utah Jazz advanced. Possibly the best part of that series was watching the fan favorite Australian Joe Ingles (pictured above) drop 20 all the while running his mouth against a team with three all-stars from a year ago.
LeBron being LeBron
If you’re tired of hearing about LeBron, sorry. The King is proving that he STILL is the best player in the league. The man is taking over games and is flirting with a triple-double every night and is playing 42 minutes per game in year 13 of his career. He led the Cavs to an overtime victory in Game 1 of the second round in Toronto, but his best performance came in front of the Cleveland faithful. After dropping Game 1 to the Pacers, LeBron came out in Game 2 and looked seriously pissed off. From the tip off he played aggressively, and tallied the first 16 points for the Cavs while scoring efficiently and in just about every way imaginable. And by the way, Cleveland also outscored the Pacers 16-1 in that stretch to open the game, and they eventually went on to win it and the series.
Pelicans sweep the Trail Blazers
Pels nation stand up! My guys did it, and without a top-5 player in the league in Demarcus Cousins, by the way. Every expert on ESPN picked the Trail Blazers to win, and more than half of them didn’t even expect New Orleans to make it to a Game 7. Whoops. The Pelicans seemed to take that personally, and they dominated. Rondo and Holiday outplayed the dangerous tandem of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and the Blazers had no answer for Anthony Davis. The squad played scrappy and grabbed out a lot of 50-50 balls, and offensively they played very well when given the opportunity to close games. It’s best Pels fans soak in this win while we still can, because this series against the Warriors is not going to end well. On the bright side, the win without Cousins is encouraging, and the fact that they were able to do that without him should encourage him to stay when his contract expires this off-season.
"Scary Terry"
Excuse me, but would someone like to tell me what the hell has possessed Terry Rozier? The man’s playoff swagger is unreal. Now in his third season, he’s been a reliable leader for a Celtics team playing without their two best players (Irving, Hayward) and is scoring with high efficiency, particularly shooting 44% on 8 three-pointers per game. Also, who could forget the moment in Game 1 against the Bucks when he left Eric Bledsoe in an alternate universe after crossing him up and then proceeding to drain a long ball to take a 3 point lead with half-second remaining? Oh, and then he called he referred to Bledsoe by the wrong name in the post game press conference. Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Scary Terry is beasting.
