Stories from the Six

On the docket for August 18th (all times are Eastern Standard):  1:30 P.M. #8 Orlando Magic @ #1 Milwaukee Bucks (Bucks win game 1, Bucks win the series in 4) 4 P.M. #5 Miami Heat @ #4 Indiana Pacers (Pacers win game 1, Heat win in 6, but both these could go either way - Brogdon v. Butler will be a great match-up, as will Sabonis v. Adebayo) 6:30 P.M. #5 Oklahoma City Thunder @ #4 Houston Rockets (Thunder will win game 1, Rockets win in 7 with Westbrook back.) If you don't know the implications and rivalry stewing between these two, refresh yourself by looking up the Westbrook/Paul trade. 9 P.M. #8 Portland Trail Blazers @ #1 Los Angeles Lakers (Lakers win game 1, win the series in 6) To be expanded... ... ...

After the wayward and hilarious elimination of the Toronto Maple Leafs by the Columbus Blue Jackets, my city - a whole city enchanted with ice hockey - has completely lost their faith in their NHL franchise. In fact, it's been difficult striking up a conversation in Etobicoke about hockey without it devolving into pessimism or despondence.  Congratulations to the Columbus Blue Jackets , who, after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one of last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, were met with discourteous remarks like "If the Leafs got past the Bruins, they would have slaughtered the Blue Jackets" or "If only we could have got past the first round, our path to the Finals would have been easy". Today, no self-aware Toronto fan could make that claim, for if they did their face should turn beet red. The Toronto Maple Leafs are probably the most disappointing major sports team in the world - either that, or Columbus, bereft of any league-leaders in scoring or hig...

I had meant to publish an article last night previewing the eight first-round matchups, but that escaped me. I doubt many people are reading this, so when I post my predictions for the rest of the round, I doubt being a day late will harm their validity. With that ---- ---- ---- ---- #6 Utah Jazz @ #3 Denver Nuggets  Consider me one of the many who wrote off the Jazz once max-contract PG Mike Conley left the NBA bubble to be at the birth of his child, effectively benching him for his team's series against the Nuggets. But for four quarters, the Jazz looked like they would win this game - even without him.  It wasn't until overtime where the Nuggets stepped on the gas and made what felt like every shot they threw up. And, for the record, I didn't feel like the Nuggets really deserved to win this game. They might have lost if it wasn't for an eight-second violation - one of Donovan Mitchell's only errors in an otherwise headline worthy performance.  Without Conley, th...

Up by one, with the game-winning shot in the hands of Caris LaVert, the Portland Trail Blazers were an opposition bucket away from missing these playoffs entirely. CJ McCollum's on-ball defense was sound enough to cause a miss. By winning, they secured the 8th seed in the playoffs - a spot which, until today, meant a first-round playoff matchup against a 1st seed. The Trail Blazers played two more games than the Grizzlies before the season went on hiatus, meaning that because both teams won less than 50% of their games, Portland had a better winning percentage. This gives them the advantage here, fair or not.  The match-up here is almost like looking at a mirror. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in Portland's backcourt are the veteran Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks. Morant is still finding his confidence in pulling up from three, but he's an incredible playmaker and has elite NBA drive - all of which was said of Lillard in his rookie season.  Similarly, the centers matchup very ...

The Portland Trail Blazers need to win or they will be flying back to the 503 tomorrow morning. They are ahead of the Nets by six at halftime. CJ McCollum leads the team with 18 with Lillard's performance on the verge of overshadowing him one last time this NBA season. Hassan Whiteside's 12 off the bench denotes his best play thus far in the bubble. On the opposition, Caris LaVert is doing his all to knock the Trail Blazers out of playoff contention with his outstanding play, showing that he is on-par with his all-star counterparts.  LaVert and the Nets are putting in a few more reps before their round one playoff match-up against the Toronto Raptors. That series will begin Aug. 17. Earlier today the Suns won and the Grizzlies won, so the Spurs' immediate future had been established - win or lose, they were going home. It's not like it looked like they came to play. In fact, once it was official that the Spurs were eliminated, most of their team sat. Compare this to the...

Brook Lopez and Dante DiVincenzio are leading the way for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Memphis Grizzlies, who at one point led this game by 11. Presently, 52-45 for the Grizzlies, former Toronto Raptor Jonas Valanciunas is already nearing a double-double in 14 minutes of play. Presumed Rookie of the Year Ja Morant just scoring his eighth point of the contest. (60-50 at halftime; Valanciunas has achieved that double-double and is on pace for a 25-20-10 stat line. The seven assists already tallied by the Lithuanian center is a career-high.) Frank Mason III, G-League MVP of the Year, is seeing extended action for the Bucks today after a stellar season with their minor league affiliated Wisconsin Herd. He averaged more than 20 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds a game this year for the Herd, three years after being named Big 12 Player of the Year as a senior at Kansas. With a win, the Memphis Grizzlies will keep their season alive. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~...

For the first time in history, the NBA will have a wild-card play-in.  Similar to the tail end of other seasons, however, multiple teams are vying for the final two spots (in this case, the WC’s 8th and 9th seed).  Leading into the league’s hiatus, the Memphis Grizzlies were in 8th place, several wins ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans. Because of the stall imposed on the league by precautions as an extension of coronavirus, when the season resumed on Jul. 30th, it had been condensed with teams playing 8 games each as a way to finish out the season. Because of this, a caveat was made - if a team, in 9th place, is behind by 3 or less wins, they play the 8th seed in a wild card play-in. Only the Western Conference produced a scenario wherein this applies.  As of now, the Portland Trail Blazers are in the 8th seed. They will play the Brooklyn Nets today. If they win, they will still have to play again (on Sat. Aug. 15) in order to preserve their playoff spot.  If they...