LeBron's Quest, Playoff Duels to Make NBA's Stretch Run Most Thrilling in Years
The All-Star Game is past. The trade deadline is over. And the unofficial second half of the season is underway.
Because eight is the magic number of teams in each conference that will get to play on, here are eight ways of looking forward to the rest of the NBA regular season.
1. Cavaliers' Chemistry Experiment
Don't be thrown off by the action of the trade deadline that was largely smoke compared to real championship fire. The season's greatest intrigue is and always will be whether LeBron James can be the ultimate homecoming king.
Cleveland retooled in advance of the trade deadline and has already seen the benefits of Timofey Mozgov's paint protection and J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert as athletic wing options. The Cavaliers are second in the league in field-goal defense (41.3 percent) over the past month—playing with so much added zip since James took his rest that no one should be surprised if he takes another break before the playoffs.
Kyrie Irving is having a far better season than most people realize, but Kevin Love isn't (as most people realize). Ultimately, the offense runs through James and Irving anyway, so if those two are clicking, Love just needs to not be a distraction.
2. The Next Suns Star?
If there is one guy in the NBA who could really shake things up the rest of this season, it's Eric Bledsoe of the Phoenix Suns.
Everyone by now is expecting Oklahoma City to qualify for the Western Conference postseason and Phoenix and New Orleans not to. (The Thunder have 17 of their final 29 at home.) If the Pelicans somehow pulled it off, Anthony Davis' already established greatness obviously would be at the crux of it.
But after all the rave reviews recently about disgruntled Goran Dragic preceding Phoenix trading him to Miami, Bledsoe will get more of a chance than he's ever had to dominate games, even with Brandon Knight on board. We're talking about the guy LeBron sees as a mini version of himself and was mentored closely by Chris Paul until last season.
Despite having to share awkwardly with Dragic and new Celtic Isaiah Thomas, Bledsoe still averaged 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.0 steals over his last 27 games, 17 of which the Suns won. If Bledsoe finds a couple more gears now, the race to enter the low end of the West playoff bracket might become really captivating.
3. Just Joining the Party Is Satisfying
Making the playoffs in the East isn't quite the accomplishment it is in the West, but what's going to go on toward the bottom of the bracket is of great interest to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
One of the main reasons the league is reluctant to change the current tanking-friendly draft lottery system is the fear that mediocre teams, knowing the very worst teams don't have an overwhelming likelihood of getting the top draft pick, will not be properly incentivized to make the playoffs and avoid the lottery.
Right now, it's clear teams this season feel it is unquestionably worthwhile to be part of the playoff mix—and the moves Thursday at the trade deadline reflected that.
If there was that upside of just missing the playoffs, would the Celtics have taken on Thomas amid their Marcus Smart-led youth movement? Would the Pistons have gone for Reggie Jackson right now to seize upon their 16-10 record since that 5-23 start? Would Paul George be planning to come back from injury in time to help the Pacers push for a playoff berth?
Seeing this scramble for the satisfaction of making the playoffs is a very real part of what the NBA can offer clubs that are realistically a long way from title contention. In the East, Charlotte and Miami sit tied in the Nos. 7 and 8 slots—with Brooklyn, Boston, Detroit and Indiana all within two games of them. There's going to be some excitement in all those markets the rest of the way.
4. Lining Up the First-Round Fireworks
The sexy matchups are out there, just teasing us.
It'll take some doing for Oklahoma City not to be the No. 8 seed in the West; likewise for Golden State not to be the No. 1 seed in the West. That's a first-round matchup between two legit title contenders, with the artistry of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson's shots against the playoff experience of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
There's also an easy-to-envision and impossible-not-to-crave revenge match lining up as Cleveland predictably rises in the standings—perhaps all the way to No. 2 in the East and drawing the team James left behind in Miami, a likely No. 7 after adding Dragic (assuming Chris Bosh is healthy).
But if the pieces happen to fall into different places, there still won't be any shortage of subplots. If Oklahoma City does move out of No. 8, how about a rematch of the seven-game 2014 first-round series between the Thunder and Grizzlies? Imagine what might be at stake there, the result playing into whether Marc Gasol re-signs with Memphis (Pau Gasol said Marc's top criterion is winning soon) or how insane Durant's 2015-16 walk year might be (talk about pressure after an OKC first-round exit).
5. Would You Rather…?
Portland bolstered itself with Arron Afflalo, a hard-nosed, resolute performer unafraid of the playoff spotlight (and one who can hit the open shots that sore-wristed Nicolas Batum hasn't this season).
Houston is expecting to get Dwight Howard (knee) back, and the Clippers are expecting to get Blake Griffin (elbow) back. By April, Dallas' brilliant Rick Carlisle will have fully integrated healthy-again Rajon Rondo into the Mavericks' fantastic starting five. OKC's real problem in recent years has been injuries to Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, but they and Durant all should be ready to roll with a supporting cast refurbished at the trade deadline.
So which team among the bottom portion of the West bracket would you rather face? Believe it or not, it might actually be defending NBA champion San Antonio.
So far, Kawhi Leonard has had an injury-plagued, inconsistent season instead of the breakout one everybody planned. Even more of a problem than that, though, the Spurs are coming off of back-to-back NBA Finals appearances (with the latter being quite satisfying)—and no amount of Gregg Popovich rest days can offset that mental fatigue.
6. So Far, So Good
The Hawks and Warriors deserve our thanks for playing such beautiful team basketball this season. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be spending the rest of the season looking for cracks in their foundations.
Both teams have been very good on the road—traditionally a barometer for a team's championship legitimacy. The Hawks are 18-8, and the Warriors are 19-7—but those aren't that far off from the Bulls' 19-9 or the Rockets' 18-9.
With Atlanta and Golden State having generated widespread recognition by now—including so much attention over All-Star Weekend—they aren't going to sneak up on any home teams anymore. Everyone and everyone's fans will see their visits as big games and proving grounds for the home team.
If the Hawks and Warriors keep rolling through arenas all across the league the next two months, then we can start visualizing them facing off in the NBA Finals.
But particularly in the case of the upstart Hawks, it probably won't be so easy anymore. As long as the Warriors stay healthy—especially underrated Andrew Bogut—they might be just fine; when Curry, Thompson, Bogut, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes all play, Golden State is 31-3 this season.
7. A Playoff Bloom?
Don't you get the sense that Derrick Rose has been saving himself to let it all hang out once the games really matter? He has picked his spots to be aggressive, giving a variety of teammates a chance to shine and Pau Gasol a chance to pile up big numbers. But Rose, 26, promised at USA Basketball workouts over the summer that he would be wiser this regular season, avoiding gratuitous collisions in the lane and so much torque on those joints.
The truth is that Rose's explosiveness had already returned back then in July. Even if he hasn't taken the league by storm like his former MVP self—and that 29.4 three-point percentage and odd lean-forward form are both unsightly—Rose should be showing what he can do more often as the playoffs approach.
With a more consistently dynamic Rose to go with the depth and the defensive pedigree, the Bulls at their best can offer more than either the Hawks or the Cavaliers.
8. The Lottery Isn't About Luck Yet
We mentioned the Celtics, even with their heritage of far greater accomplishments, wanting to win and salvage a playoff berth while they rebuild.
That is nothing like what's going on with some of the Celtics' old friends with similarly illustrious pedigrees: The 10-win Knicks, 12-win 76ers and 13-win Lakers are embracing the embarrassment and accept the benefit of getting as high a draft pick as they can. (In the Lakers' case, they must be bad enough for their pick to stay in the top five—otherwise they lose it this season to the 76ers).
So the Knicks, 76ers and Lakers are fielding lineups that have neither pride nor shame. If these guys showed up to get some run at your local park, how many of them would be recognized?
Knicks: Jason Smith, Louis Amundson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Langston Galloway and Jose Calderon.
Sixers: Nerlens Noel, Robert Covington, Luc Mbah a Moute, JaKarr Sampson and Tim Frazier.
Lakers: Robert Sacre, Tarik Black, Ryan Kelly, Wayne Ellington and Jordan Clarkson.
Those guys won't be worth watching play basketball for the rest of the season, but a lot of people will be watching the results to make sure they lose.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
