While you were watching the Masters … or fertilizing the lawn … or watching baseball … or enjoying Mark Heisler’s public resignation from The New York Times after they turned down his one-on-one interview with Kobe Bryant … or learning that Mike Rice is up to his old tricks, except now he is berating 12-year-old girls, a whole helluva lot was being decided in the NBA.
Just think where we might be a week from now when eight Game 1s will be in the books? Hopefully the Korean War Part II will not have broken out.
Somebody please send Dennis Rodman back, ok? The whole situation over there has gone to hell ever since he partied with Kim Jong-Un.
What we do know:
- The Miami Heat are going to play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. How cold will the weather be for games 3 and 4? Will anyone allege a league conspiracy? It wouldn’t be the first time, as detailed in our latest MVP rankings.
- The New York Knicks will be playing the Boston Celtics in the first round, but that doesn’t mean they have no more meaningful games. If the Knicks can defeat the Atlanta Hawks in the season finale (assuming the Hawks defeat the Raptors on Tuesday), and if the Chicago Bulls win their final two games, the Bulls will move in to the No. 5 spot and the Knicks will not have to worry about them. And make no mistake, the Knicks want no part of the Bulls.
- The Indiana Pacers will be the No. 3 seed and the Brooklyn Nets will be fourth. One will get the Hawks, the other gets the Bulls.
- You thought the Lakers were dead when Kobe Bryant ruptured his Achilles?
Whew!! Well done my dudes. Well done. UNO MAS #playoffs
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 15, 2013
Uno mas indeed, but they might have to get that one last win against Houston on Wednesday night. It all depends on whether the Utah Jazz can win their final two games — tonight at Minnesota and Wednesday night against Memphis. One loss, and the Jazz are out.
And if you had Steve Blake outscoring Tony (1-for-10) Parker 23-4 overall and 18-2 in the first half of El Lay’s 91-86 victory over the Spurs on Sunday night, congratulations and please bring me to Vegas with you ASAP.
Dwight Howard was a monster once again with 26 points and 17 rebounds as the Lakers won for the seventh time in their last eight games, and maybe all that talk about Kobe and Dwight not being the best of chums was somewhat overstated.
D12 was a beast. He stopped by the hospital twice yesterday to check on big brothat’s luv #countond12
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) April 15, 2013
It now appears the Oklahoma City Thunder will have the No. 1 seed in the West, needing only one more victory or a loss by the Spurs to clinch.
But how about this one … The Lakers can actually finish 6th in the conference if the Warriors and Rockets each lose twice.
It would create a three-way tie between Los Angeles, Golden State and Houston, and the first tie-breaker would be head-to-heads against the other tied teams. Los Angeles and Houston would both be 5-3, which would kick it to the next tie-breaker … conference record. The Lakers’ is better than Houston’s.
So, yes, there will be drama in the next three days, and then Bloody Thursday will arrive with the butchery likely beginning in Philadelphia, where they showered the court with confetti after winning their final home game Sunday night as the news was breaking that coach Doug Collins plans to leave the franchise at the conclusion of the season.
Confetti? After making the worst trade in NBA history? Rod Thorn and Tony DiLeo may want to spend some time updating their resumes in the next couple days (our advice would be to leave out the part about trading Andre Iguodala, Nik Vucevic and Moe Harkless for Jeff Ruland 2.0.)
The NBA Board of Governors will meet this week to vote on whether to allow the Sacramento Kings to be moved to Seattle, where they prospective ownership group has tossed another $25 million onto their purchase offer. There also may be a coin flip to determine who gets the most chancs to win the Draft Lottery — but only if the Bobcats can win one more game and the Magic lose their final two.
And who would go No. 1 in the draft? Our man Joe Kotoch says it is Nerlens Noel of Kentucky, despite his torn ACL.
Then again, if the Magic get the overall No. 1 pick, they won’t need it for Noel. Not with Vucevic manning the middle.
Oh, and by the way, the Kentucky Wildcats won’t need Noel, either, after landing the best recruiting class in the history of collegiate sports. And it’ll only get better for them if Andrew Wiggins, the likely overall No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft, chooses Kentucky over Kansas, North Carolina and Florida State.
Wiggins teamed up with Julius Randle and a couple other future Wildcats at the Jordan Classic in Brooklyn on Saturday night, and our man Adam Zagoria was there to fill you in on what was seen and what was said.
And there you have your recap of the weekend that was.
It’ll be an interesting week, and be sure to check the site Thursday morning to see who I voted for in the NBA’s annual postseason awards. LeBron James for MVP and Damian Lillard for Rookie of the Year are the only mortal locks.
Who know, maybe we’ll even se Yi Jianlian get signed? As noted in the linked column, the Nuggets are one of the teams that can use an insurance policy — especially after Kenneth Faried went down with a a sprained ankle on Sunday night.
So stay thirsty, my friends.
The fun is just beginning.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.