thelesterlee
I love the NBA Play-In Tournament. It requires teams bust their ass to lock up the top 6 seeds and avoid a single-game elimination while also incentivizing teams who would typically start tanking at the end of the season to try and make the play-in game and potentially sneak into the postseason. No organization is turning down that extra playoff home game revenue.
It makes the NBA’s most important games happen at the end of the season, generates a feeling of desperation and pressure at the end of the year like the NFL calendar does and allows LeBron James and Trae Young to extend their seasons.
And with every big event, there are winner and there are certainly losers. Let’s start with the winners.
Here are the 7 biggest winners of the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament:
1. New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans looked weird against the Lakers.
Outside of Zion Williamson dropping 40 points, the rest of New Orleans’s starting five played like they were as high as Brandon Ingram looks.
Jonas Valanciunus went 1-for-7 with 4 points.
CJ McCollum went 4-for-15, 1-for-9 from 3 with 9 points.
Brandon Ingram went 4-for-12 with 11 points and was benched in the 4th quarter
But after watching them beat the Sacramento Kings with Zion out nursing a hamstring injury, I’m beginning to think they wanted the 8th seed and a shot against the Thunder instead of a first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets.
Now, they most likely just got beat by the Lakers because they sucked that night but the Pels defense was lightyears better against Sacramento.
Their victory against the Kings may also say something about the on-court compatibility of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson but that’s a conversation for another day.
For now, New Orleans makes the playoffs for the 2nd time in Willie Green’s 3 years as head coach.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
On February 6th, Joel Embiid had knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. On Wednesday, Embiid had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists to secure the 7th seed for a team that could not exist without their MVP.
Not only did they avoid a second elimination game later in the week against the Bulls but they avoided the Boston Celtics in the first round.
They are in for HELL against the New York Knicks but they don’t seem to know that yet. At least they get to have some optimism.
The Celtics have eliminated the Sixers from the playoffs 3 of the last 7 years. The Knicks are a fresh team for the Sixers to melt against.
3. Miami Heat
The Heat should not be in the playoffs.
At one point this season they had a nasty 7-game losing streak. The Heat basically only beat up on bad teams and lost to the real title contenders.
Their star sociopath, Jimmy Butler, didn’t even play on Friday night and Miami found a way to put the Chicago Bulls in jail all game.
Coby White looked unstoppable against the Hawks dropping 42 points on their heads. White scored 13 against Miami and looked like his girl just texted him “We need to talk” right before the opening tip.
Miami was up by 20 most of the game. Jimmy Butler was somewhere getting injected with the most expensive painkillers on planet Earth. Terry Rozier was on the sidelines having the time of his life. It didn’t matter. Tyler Herro and Jamie Jaquez Jr. handled business. It was the worst thing to happen to Chicago since the Great Fire in 1871.
4. Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler’s knee exploded in the first quarter against the Sixers and he played 30+ minutes, like his shit wasn’t hanging on by a thread.
Jimmy gets a lot of love and is treated like he has a hand covered in championship rings despite never winning shit. It’s annoying how he seems to get a pass for never winning the big one.
And then he gets 19 points and 5 steals on one leg and you’re reminded of why he’s deserving of any and all praise he receives.
5. DeMar DeRozan
I earned a lot of respect for DeMar DeRozan in Chicago. I’m sure it sucked for him to watch the Raptors instantly win a championship immediately after they traded him away for Kawhi Leonard. The same exact team that couldn’t get past LeBron James every season marched to the NBA Finals once DeMar was gone.
But DeMar has established himself as an automatic bucket in a way that I didn’t feel he was in Toronto. When the ball is in DeRozan’s hands, I expect two points on the board.
At one point while this game was getting away from Chicago, DeMar scored 11 straight points and swatted a Tyler Herro floater through the backboard.
💪 ¡Pero a dónde vas!… DeMar DeRozan frena a Tyler Herro 🚫 pic.twitter.com/neNcPefvtB
— NBA MÉXICO (@NBAMEX) April 20, 2024
Coby White didn’t show up. Zach Lavine quit on this team months ago. DeMar DeRozan was the Bulls on Friday night.
Nothing but respect for one of the best bucket-getters of this era.
6. Nic Batum
20 points in 28 minutes from a guy who had no business playing such an important role for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tobias Harris was on the bench in the 4th quarter watching Batum hit massive 3’s to save their season.
Batum has played 1,812 postseason minutes. These are the types of guys you just want on your team when the games matter most.
4th quarter yelling why the fuck batum in gotta be craziest NBA bar of all time pic.twitter.com/3t05vXheOm
— PROPTIMUS PRIME (@xProptimusPrime) March 4, 2023
FOURTH QUARTER YELLING WHY THE FUCK BATUM IN
7. Phoenix Suns
The Sacramento Kings are one of the better teams in the NBA and they’re on vacation right now because they failed to secure the 6th seed. The Phoenix Suns are winners of the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament by simply not participating in the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament.
Zion injured his hamstring. Jimmy Butler tore his knee. These one-game elimination matches have far too many variables to play with seeding and act as if finishing in the Top 6 doesn’t matter.
With all the injuries the Suns have trudged through, Phoenix is lucky to have this week off and a first-round matchup against a 22-year-old, a French loser and playoff Karl.
And now onto the 6 biggest losers of the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament…
1. Atlanta Hawks
Yo, the Atlanta Hawks SUCK.
They lost by 15 to a team that lost by 20 to a team without their best player.
This team went to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Trae Young was a star in Madison Square Garden. They ended Ben Simmons’s career.
And it all feels like that run happened a decade ago.
Trae Young has far more Russell Westbrook in him than he does Steph Curry.
He’s a guy who constantly has the ball in his hands and frequently makes the worst decisions but still gets a ton of assists because—after holding the ball for 20 out of the 24 seconds in the shot clock—he throws terrible passes at his teammates where they have no choice but to chuck something up at the basket.
2. Boston Celtics
I know Jimmy Butler most likely won’t be playing basketball again this season but I just watched this team win by 20 without him. As long as Miami continues to be coached by Erik Spoelstra, they are a problem.
Boston may have the best offense in the NBA but I’ve seen Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown dribble off their feet and throw passes into defenders’ chests at the ends of big games.
I’ve seen Jrue Holliday walk the ball up the court and quickly chuck up nasty 3’s off the side of the backboard.
Kristaps Porzingis is a dork.
I have no reason to believe this is the year Boston is unaffected by Miami’s zone defense.
The Celtics would’ve much rather have played the 76ers. I still think Boston will win but they’re not coming out of this first-round series unscathed.
3. Golden State Warriors
The dynasty is officially over—unless they trick Mike Dunleavy into running it back one last time which is very much a possibility for a new GM who may not want to deal with the consequences of being the guy who traded away Draymond Green and ended the Warriors.
It feels important to point out, even if Golden State snuck into the 8th seed they were 1000% going to get swept in the first round by whomever.
The Warriors suck.
They stole a title in 2022 thanks to Andrew Wiggings turning into prime Scottie Pippen and Jordan Poole being the solution to any scoring problems they might’ve faced.
Andrew Wiggins looks like he barely wants to come to work now and Draymond punched Poole to DC.
It’s Steph Curry and a group of bums. The Houston Rockets should’ve gotten that final spot but they’ll get it next year when teams figure out the Moses Moody/Kevon Looney 2-man game.
4. Klay Thompson
Let’s take a look at the impact Klay Thompson had on the most important game of the 2023-24 NBA season:
- 0 points
- 0-for-10
- 0-for-6 from 3
- 4 rebounds
- 1 assist
- 1 turnover
- 2 fouls
- -12 +/-
Klay Thompson is WASHED.
5. Chris Paul
Don’t let Klay doing absolutely fucking nothing distract you from ring-chasing Chris Paul joining the team he could never beat only to get 3 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists off the bench.
A 3-1-2 from the guy people claim is the greatest point guard ever. Disgusting. Those are Adam Morrison numbers. And I honestly think the Warriors would be like, the 7th seed with Adam Morrison instead of Chris Paul
6. Tobias Harris
“Why do Sixer fans hate Tobias Harris?”
pic.twitter.com/NLCNHTBNWY— Aidan LaPorta (@AidanLaPorta69) April 18, 2024
I mean…
Tobias Harris will be a free agent this season. All 30 teams should be blowing up his phone begging he can bring his 8 points on 4-for-10 shooting to their squads. “Please, we need a guy who was in the league back when Kevin Love, the elderly man who averages 8 points off the Heat bench, used to average more points than Carmelo Anthony yet still hasn’t achieved anything or has any memorable career moments.”
Who do you think are the biggest winners and losers of the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
