At the start of the first round of the NBA playoffs, I wrote a column about which teams I would be rooting for in the first round. With the first round ending Sunday night — though not before the second round began — let’s take a look back at the first round to see whether the teams I wanted to win did so. And because I can multi-task, we will also take a look forward as to who I will be rooting for in the second round. As in March Madness, rooting for a team in one game, or series, does not obligate me to stick with that team against their next opponent.
As with the prior column, I will follow the sun and start in the east, and then move west.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers vs. 4. Indiana Pacers
In the first round, I wanted the Heat and the Bucks to win. For the Cavs-Heat series, I said this (and correctly predicted the outcome):
Alas, my residual feelings for the Heat, even without Playoff Jimmy, have me rooting for them — but it likely won’t matter. In the second round, I assume I will be choosing between the Cavs and either the Bucks or Pacers.
For the Pacers-Bucks, the team I wanted to win once again did not, and it wasn’t very close. Even worse, this was my comment about Damian Lillard’s comeback from injury:
While the latter two have departed, the Bucks still have Giannis, which is enough for me, especially if Damian Lillard comes back from his Wembanyama-like injury. That would also be encouraging for Victor’s own prognosis.
I did not, and could not, predict Dame’s actual injury — a torn Achilles. That injury which will doom the Bucks for next season and has been widely seen as the event that may lead to a trade of the third best player in the NBA. The Bucks may want to quickly hire someone with experience in that type of trade: Nico Harrison.
Cavs vs. Pacers is a fascinating second round match-up, in which the Cavs are rightfully favored. Amazing fact — Donovan Mitchell has the 9th highest playoff scoring average all-time at over 27 points per game. But the Pacers are both good and underrated.
Even though I rooted against both in Round One, I have mildly positive feelings about both. Several good friends are Cavs fans, and the Pacers have the ABA Spurs connection. From a coach’s viewpoint, the Cavs play great D, and the Pacers move the ball extremely well on offense.
I planned to make this a game-time decision. I turned on the game Sunday afternoon and my heart … couldn’t decide. I think I will just root for a 7-game series. The Pacers’ Game One upset win in Cleveland makes that a bit more likely, though the Game One Pacers win was largely based on an unsustainable three-point shooting differential. If that continues, the Pacers may just blow out the Cavs.
2. Boston Celtics vs. 3. New York Knicks
In Round One, I essentially punted on Celtics vs. Magic:
Even though I am a reformed former Laker fan, it remains difficult to root for the Green. However, this series feels like it will go the same way as OKC-Memphis. The Celtics will probably win in 4 or 5 games, so no need to waste any of my precious rooting capital on this series.
On the other side of the bracket, I rooted mildly for the Knicks over the Pistons. My temporary affection for the Knicks came down to two things:
As time has gone by, I started rooting for my friends’ teams so my friends would be happy. Odd concept, I know. I have several good friends who are big Knick fans, so I will root for their happiness over the great story that is this year’s Pistons.It also helps that the Knicks have all those Villanova guys.
However, watching the Knicks actually play is not very enjoyable for this ex-coach and still Spurs fan. I like passing and ball movement, with a bunch of players touching the ball. The Knicks’ offense, especially in fourth quarters, is Jalen Brunson dribbling the ball around until his defender gets off-balance so he can shoot. Even though it works fairly well, and Brunson is very good at it, I don’t enjoy watching it. I am sure Gregg Popovich feels the same.
Will the Knicks offense upset Pop and me enough that we start to root for the Celtics and ex-Spur Derrick White? If so, I blame Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
1. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 4. Denver Nuggets
I was 1000% correct with this comment about the Thunder-Grizzlies match-up:
Like a car accident on the road, nothing to see here. Just move along.
The other match-up was also an easy call. My third favorite team, the Nuggets, vs. the El Segundos a.k.a. the Clippers. I said:
In my April Fools’ post a few years back, Adam Silver re-named them the El Segundos because they will always be LA’s second team. Adding James Harden moved the needle even further away.
Through six games, the Nuggets — Clippers series was the best of the first round. The Clippers were thought to be the better team, though by the smallest of margins. (Is anyone else amused by how differently “though”, “thought” and “through” are pronounced by changing a single letter? Which is why the English language is so “tough”. See what I did there?)
And then Game Seven happened. James Harden had a classic Harden close-out game, with only 7 points on 2-8 shooting, though he did have a bunch of assists. After the Clippers led by 5 after the first quarter, the Nuggets outscored the Clippers by 16 in the second quarter. And to prove it was not a fluke, the Nuggets outscored the Clippers by 16 in the third quarter too. A few minutes later, the Nuggets went up by the visually pleasing score of 99-66. During the blow-out, Spurs fans and I were blessed with this shot of one of our favorite players sitting next to one of our least.
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While that was on the screen, I was texting a friend that the Nuggets needed to sub out all their starters to get just a bit more rest before traveling to OKC.
Game 1 is Monday night. I will be rooting hard for the Nuggets, but I fear that OKC may be too deep and talented for this Denver team. The Nuggets essentially play only 7 guys, one of whom is Russell Westbrook, who will either make great or terrible plays, with nothing in between.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves vs. 7. Golden State Warriors
I received some harsh words from some of my LA friends when I announced that I would be rooting for the T’Wolves over my ex-favorite team, the Lakers. My buddy Mike announced he was revoking our friendship and implored me to just “root for the damn laundry”. Mike was harkening back to my old blog post from October 28, 2013 renouncing my Laker fandom, even though the game I attended was a Laker victory over the Clippers:
So, while I was at the game, and happy the Clippers lost (no band-wagon fan am I), it was rather surreal. My favorite Laker Pau played only 24 minutes. Former Laker Jordan Farmer returned and played well – but did so playing with the aforementioned No. 7, Shawnee, some guy named Johnson, who cares about him Kaman, and ex-Trojan bad shot taker Nick Young. It was hard for me to root for the guys wearing this color laundry just because in years past Laker players I really knew and cared about wore that same laundry.”
In that same post, I announced that I had replaced the Lakers with the Warriors as my “second to the Spurs favorite team”. Note that this was before the Warriors had become very good, as they had not yet disposed of Mark Jackson as coach — they hired Steve Kerr at the end of the 2103-2014 season:
Steph Curry went to Davidson, where he hung out with the son of Haverford College roommate and soccer legend Phil Zipin – Phil’s son says Steph is a good guy. He is also a great shooter, like I dream of being. So that’s one. Laker announcer and former Laker player Michael Thompson’s son is the other guard, also seems like a good guy. Also a great shooter. That’s two. Andrew Bogut is from Australia, and we have 2 great friends from Australia. And he is a great passer. That is three. Iguadola is a great defender, team player, seems like a real good guy. That’s four. Harrison Barnes, now back as 6th man, went to North Carolina, who I normally don’t like, but Tar Heel legend Bob Bennett is one of the best people in the world. So that helps. I really liked Warrior great Rick Barry growing up. And former Claremont player and All-American Chris Greene is a Warrior fan from way back. That is enough for me. Warriors all the way, baby!
After the Warriors’ impressive win at Houston, we have a 6 vs. 7 showdown, and you know who I want to win. Warriors all the way, baby!
