Apart from the 1 vs. 8 and 2 vs. 7 series, the first round of the NBA playoffs has been incredibly competitive, just as much so as anyone could have reasonably hoped.
The Clippers and Grizzlies are showing everyone how good they are – and how unfair it is that one will lose this series. The Warriors and Nuggets are playing must-see basketball. And just today, Chicago and Brooklyn went to three overtimes.
I’m glad I’m not a gambler, because there is no way I could predict who is going to make it out of the West. This is already shaping up to be one of the most fun postseasons in a while.
One team that doesn’t look like they will make it out of the first round is the Lakers. Writing for Sheridan Hoops, Brian Kamenetzky reports on just how badly they got stomped by the Spurs in Game 3, which you can check out right here.
Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com thinks Brandon Jennings is all but done in Milwaukee: “To look at him now, his team down 0-3 to the defending champion Miami Heat, and to look at the faces and body language of Bucks fans along with the 30-to-50 percent off tags hanging from his jerseys on sale racks throughout the Bradley Center, there’s sufficient evidence to say that these could be the last days of Brandon Jennings in Milwaukee. The marriage is over. Irreconcilable differences. Yes, Jennings might return next season (probably for only one year because he reportedly already turned down a four-year, $40 million offer from the Bucks last offseason) after he officially becomes a restricted free agent July 1, but the feeling and vibe surrounding the situation is that once this series is over, so might be the Jennings/Bucks love/hate fest.It started with not so much of a whisper. Open and honest comments from Jennings about how he saw his future. Then on March 27 after a loss to the Sixers when head coach Jim Boylan benched Jennings in the fourth quarter, Jennings released the pain: “I don’t see any all-stars in this locker room so I think everybody should be held accountable, like anybody else. There’s no maxed-out [contract] players in this locker room; there’s no all-stars. So don’t try to put me on a pedestal and just give everybody else the freedom to do whatever they want.”
- If you missed Game 3 of the Warriors-Nuggets series, you missed one of the wildest finishes I can recall, complete with an absolutely incredible atmosphere. Monte Poole of the Oakland Tribune describes it: “The “Screaming O” was back, after a six-year postseason absence, and if the noise levels happened to crack the concrete walls, well, so be it. In the final seconds, as the arena DJ played Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” the crowd, on its feet, nearly lost its collective mind. And when a last-gasp shot by Denver’s Andre Iguodala glanced off the rim at the buzzer, the party was on. The victory chorus: Waaarrr-iors, Waaarrr-iors, Waaarrr-iors. “It was unbelievable,” CEO Joe Lacob said through a mile-wide smile. “This crowd was just an incredible advantage for us. And we needed them tonight.” Peter Guber, the Warriors co-executive chairman and longtime entertainment executive, compared this to a moment under the bright lights of Hollywood. “It feels like the premiere of ‘Batman,’ ” said Guber, who was the producer of that 1989 movie. “There is the excitement, the anticipation, that sense of wonder, of being a part of something special.”
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