Here we go, party time - the first part of the season, where all 30 teams play 82 games each, is finally over, with 10 teams now done for the year. 4 more will be eliminated this week (via a load of midtable one-off matches to decide the 7th and 8th seeds), and then we'll get whittled down from 16 to 8 over the next couple of weeks. Saturday and Sunday have the traditional four games each back-to-back to really get things going (add that to Foolham earlier on Saturday and it's a real bonanza weekend!)
As always with American sports and their love of drama and soap operas, there have been far too many silly stories going on over the last few months to really keep track of. But the main two issues that have hung over this season like a stinky fart are: tanking, and the 65-game eligibility rule for awards.
Tanking (to be clear, if you're not familiar) is the American sports term for intentionally losing in order to maximise your chances of getting a good player in the coming draft. It's been acute in the NBA this year due to various circumstances, the biggest of course being some tantalising prospects on the horizon. But the big problem was how flat-out unwatchable it's made a lot of games recently - the bottom 10 has been clear and set for quite a while and, even though some of them don't even have a draft pick next year (so it's not really clear why they're being so crap), games between the top 20 and the bottom 10 have often just been walkovers and non-events. And games among the bottom 10 themselves have almost descended into farce at times - it almost got to a point where players would start scoring "own goals"! (Not literally, but some of the shenanigans have been ugly). Changes need to be made (and are being discussed) because the incentives to nab a top young player in this way are too strong and leading to a worse overall product. But when you see Detroit and San Antonio now back at the top on the back of great play from recent no.1 picks Cade Cunningham and Victor Wembanyama, you can understand why teams chase it.
The games limit for awards has been a recent hot topic, distracting from the actual games with endless discussion whether this player or that player would qualify... tedious, and surely will be changed too. Cunningham suffered a punctured lung(!) from a bad fall a few weeks ago, and as he hadn't reached 65 games by that point, it means he now won't be in the mix for any awards - clearly a farce when he's been pretty much a consensus top-5 player this year. This limit (playing 65 of the 82 games) was introduced when they were negotiating the new tv deal, as the tv companies had got concerned about how often stars were "resting" but it hasn't worked out at all - the sport has become more and more athletic, dynamic, etc and it's just almost impossible to get through a full season without picking up a knock or something these days. But we've ended up with 3 of the top 10 players in the league falling below this arbitrary line, along with more farcical situations like Wembanyama being wheeled out for the last (pretty meaningless) game to ensure he qualified, the difference between him being quite possibly the unanimous defensive player of the year (and 2nd or 3rd in MVP, "player of the season" voting) or not receiving a single vote. Another rule that is surely going to be changed, as it's just ended up poisoning discussion around the league.
And of course, I've started with those rather than the games myself, so just feeding into the machine. Sorry...
For the actual lay of the land, the West is probably the place to start - defending champs Oklahoma City Thunder finished top overall for the 3rd year in a row, good going, and their defending MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexandar looks primed to seal back-to-back awards there.
The Canadian guard finished second overall in scoring, behind only LA Lakers' Slovenian guard Luka Doncic, who'll probably end up 4th in the MVP vote. Impossibly tall Frenchman Wembanyama has butted his way into the conversation, leading his San Antonio Spurs to the second seed in the West, while Denver's fantastic Serbian big man Nikola Jokic rounds out the top table (will likely end up 3rd).
Those 4 are the stars for the West's top 4 seeds, although the Lakers (the ManU of basketball, so no tears shed here) look screwed by two late injuries to Doncic and sidekick Austin Reaves, leaving them fighting with one arm behind their backs as the playoffs begin. They still have the legend LeBron James, who's still performing incredibly considering he's 41, but the squad is thin so they've got no chance really - 5th seed Houston Rockets are licking their lips. 6th seed Minnesota Timberwolves have made it to the West finals in the last two years and might have the next American star in guard Anthony Edwards, but they'll start with Denver and it won't get easier from there...
Over East things are a little more murky. The consensus preseason picks would have been New York or Cleveland, but both have looked lacklustre at times on their way to 3rd and 4th placed finishes respectively. Cunningham impressively led Detroit to top spot, and possibly even more impressively Boston grabbed 2nd, led by an excellent season from forward Jaylen Brown.
The West has a pretty clear top 6, while the East's top 4 stood apart and 5th to 10th was a throng of flawed teams with potential. Somehow Toronto ended up top of that pile, while Orlando (sorry
@maddogging) endured a very frustrating season to end 7th. They'll take on Philadelphia tomorrow, with the loser playing the winner of Charlotte and Miami for the 8th seed on Friday.
Back to the West, shooting legend Steph Curry is still incredible but lost an expensive colleague to knee ligaments which pretty much wiped out his Golden State Warriors chance of making any noise - they finished 10th and will play the LA Clippers tonight, with the loser getting the rest of the summer off. The winner there will take on the loser of Phoenix and Portland, who will play for the 7th seed tomorrow.
two Scott Fitzgeralds indeed...
