The NBA playoffs are the greatest floor show on Earth.
This season shows why so many college players are determined to get to the NBA regardless of what else they do on the way.
There is incredible play by the best basketball players in the world, dramatic comebacks and controversy from the officials’ whistles to the post-game press conferences.
At the moment, only top seed Miami has advanced to the conference finals. The Heat are playing their best ball behind “Jimmy Buckets” Butler and youthful coach Erik Spoelstra, who has led the team since 2008. They dispatched the dysfunctional 76ers and mysterious bearded bomber James Harden, who scores from 40 to 4 points on any given night.
The rest of the playoff teams are fighting for their lives.
The Celtics, No. 2 seed in the East, entered the postseason with the second-best odds of winning the NBA title but likely blew their chances by squandering a 14-point lead at home to defending champion and third-seeded Milwaukee in Game 5. Boston made some bad decisions and worse plays down the stretch and must win Game 6 on the road to force a seventh game back in Beantown.
In the West, two intriguing series go into the weekend. The top four seeds also survived the first round, and favored Phoenix has to play a seventh game at home against Dallas, which has the brilliant Luka Doncic and ex-UNC shooting ace Reggie Bullock.
The Suns will likely win Game 7 because they have All-Stars Devin Booker and Chris Paul, but the 4th seeded Mavericks play perhaps the best defense under tough-minded coach Jason Kidd.
In the 2-3 series, Memphis is playing without sensational Ja Morant, out with a knee injury, but is still alive after a 39-point blowout win over Golden State and the Stephen Curry show.
The Warriors will be at home trying to close out the series, and do not want to allow a Game 7 back in Memphis. Morant, who is like a 6-3 Spud Webb of N.C. State fame, was out for a month of the regular season while the Grizzlies went 20-5. So they know how to win without him.
By next week, we’ll know who is playing in the conference finals, but right now if you are a betting person, you have no clue.
Featured image via Associated Press/Carlos Avila Gonzalez
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