NBA Weekend Review
What a great weekend for basketball. With the playoffs right around the corner, and the play-in looming in the west, every game counts right now. Even though I don’t like the play-in anymore, I’m still a fan of meaningful basketball.
Lakers, Warriors:
How much longer will we get to see LeBron and Steph square off? For the first time ever, I was a bit emotional thinking this as the game tipped off. My mind began to think back to the finals matchups, the greatest Christmas game ever, and their presence in the league over time.
Nonetheless it was somewhat of a typical LeBron/Warriors game. He had 40+ points, AD got hurt, the Lakers dominated at times, and the Warriors walked away with the victory.
Just for the record, Steph leads the series 28-23 over LeBron, with a 17-11 record in the playoffs. Not bad for LeBron considering the KD years in Golden State were a given 8 loses.
Let’s just be honest with ourselves, the league has somewhat moved on and out from these two. Although it’s sad to say it’s the truth. Most teams can shoot as good if not better than the Odubs (original Warriors) and LeBron is at the tail end of his career.
It was a fun run. My prediction is that Denver, Boston will be the next best rivalry/finals matchup in the coming years.
Suns, Bucks:
I was pumped to watch this game and then immediately disappointed when I found out Giannis was out. Dame was still able to put on a show, and I’ll admit it was good to see Kris Middleton back on the floor. Gig em!
Bucks put up 82 in the first half, almost lost the lead in the 3rd quarter in typical Doc fashion, but were able to pull off the win.
These are two incredibly talented, well coached teams. It was fun to see great basketball by the best players in the world. Potential finals re-match? It would be a long shot. The Bucks have a better shot than the Suns making it out of the crazy, competitive West.
KD is still the man, Dame is starting to get into playoff form, and Middleton is back.
Mavs, Nuggets:
Mavs won on an insane buzzer beater by Kyrie in the final seconds, but there was more to it for me. With about five minutes remaining in the game, the Mavs were up by 10 points, and started to look scared.
Luka/Kyrie started doing the thing were you let the ball roll up the court to burn time off the clock, and the offense became super stagnate.
It didn’t feel like we were ready for the moment. I was more confident in the Nuggets ability to come back and win, because I knew they were going to keep playing and executing in an almost robotic fashion.
That’s why they are the champs. It’s essentially a machine of a team that has been constructed over time to pump out wins.
We got away with one with the Kyrie buzzer beater. In reality, we let a 10 point lead slip away, and if that game goes into OT - we’re talking about how resilient the champs are.
NCAA Tournament:
I need to make a bracket. I’m picking North Carolina to win no matter what because they’ve always been my team. We’ll see what happens with the rest.
Until next time.
