The Grip - FRI 4.13

The most wonderful time of the year

April 13, 2018

4.13.18

S.E.: The coach canning has begun. Now that Frank Vogel is out in Orlando and Jeff Hornacek is out in New York, will all be right in the world?

J.S.: No time to care about mundane teams. Playoffs start Saturday.

Written while listening to De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising [YouTube]

 A quick line on every matchup    

  Western Conference 

No. 1 Houston vs. No. 8 Minnesota

After all that emotion of an overtime victory against the Nuggets to make the playoffs for the first time in 14 years, the reality sets in.

But hey, people have hated on the Wolves so much they’ve almost become underrated. Still a team on the rise, it just feels like Houston and Chris Paul’s and James Harden’s year to do some damage.

No. 2 Golden State vs. No. 7 San Antonio

On Thursday, a lot of people, including loyal reader Mitchy Melo, fell for this Tweet that surfaced from a season ago, stating that Kawhi Leonard would play against the Warriors in game one.

It was a Tweet from last year, and it was cruel, because Kawhi with the Spurs against a crippled Warriors team would all of a sudden be verrrrrrrrrry interesting to watch. 

No. 3 Portland vs. No. 6 New Orleans

As always, #PlayoffRondo will be a spectacle, and watching Anthony Davis try and do his postseason thing against a team not named the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors will be a lot of fun.

As East Coast Blazer admirers, though, we must say to Dame and those boys we are disappointed they didn’t reach 50 wins. They lost four in a row down the final leg, but did break the streak in beating Utah in the last game of the season to maintain that third spot. 

No. 4 Oklahoma City vs. No. 5 Utah

This is not a joke: Utah is a borderline elite team that could conceivably beat the Thunder and give the Rockets a run for their money.

Please don’t laugh. We mean it. Rudy Gobert is penciled in elite defense every night, Donovan Mitchell is the first rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring since Carmelo Anthony, and Quin Snyder is a top-five coach.  

  Eastern Conference

No. 1 Toronto vs. No. 8 Washington

One of these teams will lose and have to consider blowing up their core. John Wall will make $46 million in 2022-23. Will he be the next super-max contract to be moved?

Is that rhetorical more interesting than this series? Maybe.

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 7 Milwaukee

Sigh. What a spectacle peak Kyrie Irving vs. peak Giannis would have been. This seems, though, like the final year of first round exits before Giannis turns into LeBron James and becomes a sure-fire second round playoff bet.

Also, the coaching matchup is Brad Stevens vs. (Googling) Joe Prunty, who looks kind of like a mix between David Spade and Butthead.

No. 3 Philadelphia vs No. 6 Miami

This one could be sneaky close, though Philly tips the scale even without Joel Embiid.

The Heat don’t strike us as good, necessarily, but they’re well-coached with a bunch of really interesting pieces. Goran Dragic has had big playoff moments; Dwyane Wade definitely has a game-winner left in him; Hassan Whiteside could help dull Embiid’s return; and……...don’t tell us you’ve forgotten about #PlayoffOlynyk.

No. 4 Cleveland vs. No. 5 Indiana

Because LeBron James is involved in this matchup, it can’t be the straight-to-NBA-TV series this year. And the Hawks are out of the playoffs (for the first time since 2007), so who will it be?

If the Raptors got the NBA TV treatment as the No. 1 seed, every Tim Horton's would secede from the U.S. and Canadians from Toronto to Vancouver would swear off the sport of basketball.

Anyways, nice year for the Pacers, for sure. Nate McMillan deserves Coach of the Year votes, but LeBron James hasn’t lost a first round game since 2011. 

P.S. There’s this sobering thought that sits in the back of all of our minds.*Tries not to think about the inevitable Cavaliers-Warriors finals*

 An ode to Westbrook, our rebound-grabbing wildcard   

It’s crazy to think that something as monumental as back-to-back seasons of averaging a triple double -- which has never been done before -- could fly under the radar in today’s media landscape. But that’s exactly what happened after an overdose of coverage from last year.

All of last year, Russell Westbrook dealt with waves of questions about chasing Oscar Robertson's record on a nightly basis. He made the Big O so retroactively relevant again that Charles Barkley was listing him in his top 5 best players of all time.

  Flash forward a year

April 11. Memphis. Last game of the season. Westbrook goes in knowing he needs 16 rebounds to get to 10 boards a game. And what Russ wants, Russ gets. He ended the night with six points, 20 rebounds and 19 assists. But not without a little help from his teammates.

Amazing, truly, in too many ways to even coherently explain one of them. Never change, wildcard.

  • How Far Can Becky Hammon Go in the N.B.A.? The former women’s-basketball star has broken convention by becoming the league’s first female assistant coach.But professional sports are the last major area of American culture in which the segregation of the sexes is not only tolerated but sanctioned. On the field, the ice, and the court, the reasons are obvious: differences in size and strength can make it difficult for female athletes to compete against their male counterparts. In the famed Battle of the Sexes, in 1973, Billie Jean King caused a sensation when she crushed Bobby Riggs, but King, at twenty-nine, was in her prime, while Riggs was fifty-five. Few, if any, tennis fans believe that King could have defeated Jimmy Connors or Arthur Ashe. But sex discrimination on the sidelines is also taken as a matter of course—at least when it comes to women coaching men. (Men coaching women is common in the professional and the college ranks.)To read more, tap here.

  • If you’re hoping for a different Finals matchup this year, this Washington Post article is your bloodline [Tap Here]

  • From Deadspin (highly recommended): Tank Warfare, Or A Night At Mavericks-Suns [Tap Here]

  • 82 Flavors of Russell Westbrook [Tap Here]

  • LISTEN: Zach lowe discusses his award picks with Kevin Arnovitz [Tap Here]

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated