Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball

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If you grew up in the 1980s, you remember the commercials that declared, "NBA Action--It's Fantastic!"

If you watched the ninth seed versus 10th seed matchups in the 2021 NBA Play-In Tournament then fantastic is not the first word that comes to mind. Here are the final scores:

Indiana 144, Charlotte 117

Memphis 100, San Antonio 96

The first game was a non-competitive blowout throughout, while the second game started as a blowout before turning into a competitive--if not artful--contest: the victorious Grizzlies shot .444 from the field overall and scored just 44 second half points, while the Spurs bricked their way to .351 field goal shooting.

The Pacers hit the Hornets with 40 first quarter points, and they could have scored 160 points in the game if that had been necessary or desirable. The Grizzlies dropped 38 first quarter points on the dull Spurs. The Spurs rallied to cut the lead to two in the second quarter--how nice of them to show up at all--but the Grizzlies led 56-49 at halftime. The Spurs briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter but overall they trailed for the vast majority of the game.

Casual, uninformed fans may think that the fourth quarter or even the final five minutes are the most important segments of an NBA game, but--as Doug Collins used to point out--the NBA is a first quarter league. The tone is often set in the first quarter, and that is also when the matchup advantages that will decide the game are often identified and probed. The Spurs dug themselves into a huge hole with their lackadaisical start, and it is not surprising that they lost.

It is interesting--if a bit off topic--that so many people talk about Tom Brady versus Bill Belichick (forgetting that Belichick led the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs, and led New England to a 11-5 record when Brady missed the 2008 season after suffering an ACL injury in the first quarter of the first game), but little is said about Tim Duncan or Kawhi Leonard versus Gregg Popovich; the Spurs have not won a playoff series since the last time they had a healthy Leonard (2017), and they have been a sub-.500 team each of the past two seasons. This is just another example of how media members decide what the preferred narrative is, and then stick with that narrative no matter what happens. Many media members do not like Belichick, and thus they will jump at any real or imagined opportunity to criticize him; many media members like Popovich, and thus he will not be criticized even if the Spurs post losing records for the next five years. I think that Popovich is an excellent coach, but that is not the point: the point is that the media picks favorites (and enemies) for subjective reasons, and then slants coverage accordingly. If it is reasonable to make a big deal about Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay while New England missed the playoffs, then it is reasonable to make a big deal about Kawhi Leonard winning an NBA title with Toronto while San Antonio has gone from contender to pretender.

Back to the Play-In Tournament. Boston versus Washington was close for a half before the Celtics pulled away for a 118-100 win in the seven-eight Eastern Conference matchup, while Golden State took a quick 15-4 lead versus the L.A. Lakers, and Mark Jackson observed that the Lakers spent most of the first half in "chill mode." Golden State was ahead 55-42 at halftime. Stephen Curry topped the Warriors with 15 first half points (including a three pointer to beat the halftime buzzer), while LeBron James (six points on 1-7 field goal shooting) and Anthony Davis (five points on 2-12 field goal shooting) combined to score 11 points on 3-19 field goal shooting in what ESPN's "Screamin' A" Smith had breathlessly hyped as the most anticipated game of the season. Really? Before the season, who was hoping to see the Lakers and the Warriors competing for the seventh and eighth playoff seeds? In the first half, the Lakers shot .311 from the field, while the Warriors shot .413.   

In the second half, the Lakers' two stars finally showed up, and the Warriors fed the Lakers' fast break with several careless turnovers. The score was tied at 100 when James received the ball well past the three point line with the shot clock about to expire and 58 seconds left in the contest. James fired away and drained what turned out to be the final points of the game, as the Lakers won 103-100. That three point shot will be the highlight play that is shown on a loop, but--as ESPN's Tim Legler correctly noted after the game--the Lakers won the game because of "flat out physical power in the paint." The Lakers used their size to overpower the Warriors at both ends of the court. James scored 16 second half points on 6-10 field goal shooting and he finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Davis scored 20 second half points on 8-12 field goal shooting. The Lakers are so good, big, and talented that they can sleepwalk through half the game and still beat the Warriors. 

What about the NBA being a first quarter league? If you watched the whole Lakers-Warriors game, then you saw that the Warriors lacked the necessary size and skill to keep James and Davis out of the paint. James and Davis were not effective or efficient in the first quarter or first half, but that had more to do with them than the Warriors. Once James and Davis played up to their capabilities and exploited their obvious matchup advantages, the Warriors had no answers. Golden State's big early lead all but guaranteed that the Lakers would not win by a large margin, but if you watched the game with understanding you realized that the contest was there for the taking for the Lakers; the Lakers' stars played horribly in the first half and the Warriors still could barely put together a double digit halftime lead!

Meanwhile, Curry--who has become the people's choice for the MVP even though his team will miss the playoffs if they do not beat the Grizzlies on Friday night--could not even get a shot off in the final minute with his team down by three points. Curry is 6-3--not 6-8 like James, or 6-10 like Davis--and size matters in the NBA. If James wants to get off a shot in the last minute of a playoff (or Play-In) game, the only player who can stop him is James himself (if he decides to pass the ball). Remember all of the foolish talk a couple years ago about how much better Golden State's offense supposedly was with Kevin Durant out of the lineup? Do you think that Durant would have gotten off a shot in the final minute of this game? We already know the answer, because we have seen Durant dribble the ball up the court in the NBA Finals, and hit a pressure shot over James en route to outplaying James, winning a championship, and earning the Finals MVP. 

Curry is a great player. He had a game-high 37 points on 12-23 field goal shooting--but a great 6-3 player will never be more valuable than a great player who is taller, bigger, and stronger. It is baffling that anyone would think that Curry, as great as he is, is a more valuable basketball player than Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmpo this season, or that in previous seasons Curry was more valuable than players like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant when those players were healthy enough to play most of the regular season games.

Jayson Tatutm's 50 point game versus the Wizards and James' triple double capped off by a game-winning shot are the signature moments of the 2021 Play-In Tournament thus far, but the NBA has not even decided if those statistics will be counted as regular season, playoff, or something else. I am ready for the Play-In Tournament to be over and for the playoffs to begin.



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