Watch These NBA Storylines as the Season Closes
Watch These Storylines As the NBA Season Ends
The NBA season is nearing it’s end as it begins the final stretch where the best teams look to finalize and secure wins to move up or maintain their seedings, whilst the bad teams – well sort of give up – and start tanking more and letting the younger players play more. Things are about to get real interesting
Rookie of the Year Race
Sixers Struggles
All year long the Sixers have been mainly disappointing to say the least. While they are phenomenal at home, they are terrible on the road, currently sitting at 9-20 That is worse than every single other team in the playoffs in both conferences. Teams likes the Grizzlies and Magic are playing better. To put it into terms that make it seem even worse, it is the same road record as the Knicks. Making matters worse, Joel has played very weirdly this season. Some nights it seems he gives his all, such as last Thursday where he had 39 points, yet at times it feels like he isn’t trying at all. Combine his slow pace of play with the high tempo that Ben needs, it shows the already existing problems. Currently they sit at the 5 seed, which as we know does not give home court advantage. Big changes could be happening in Philly very soon.
Giannis and Milwaukee Bucks Historic Run
70 wins. To achieve such a feat is nearly impossible. It has only been done twice ever in this league; the 96′ Bulls, and the 16′ Warriors. All of this is being led by the clear MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is having a crazy season. Playing only 30.9 minutes a contest, he scores 30 points per game to go along with 13.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists. That’s pretty crazy. If he wins MVP, which he should, he will break Curry’s record for least minutes per game and winning MV who played 32.7 minutes a game. There is no one else more deserving. In nights where Giannis is hurt, the team has big holes to fill. He has the one of the highest usage rates and for a player like Khris Middleton is hard to fill. But if the Greek Freak can continue his utter dominance, they may indeed be the 3rd 70 win team.
What can the Celtics Really Do?
If you have been paying attention to the NBA recently, you would know that Jayson Tatum is on an absolute tear. Since 2020 has started, he’s taken that leap everyone has been waiting for, and man ohh man has he been doing something. Over the last 10 games he has 28.7 points per game, while shooting 45% from three. This includes a 41 point game against the Lakers in LA. But the real question for this team is the playoffs. Closing in the regular season is one thing, and as we all know the playoffs is an entirely different atmosphere. The last few years, while some may think Irving hindered the development of players like Tatum and Brown, he brought the tenacity to go to war at the clutch moments of games. We haven’t really seen that from Tatum yet. And if you look to the next best player with Kemba, he has been different this year. He still plays with a similar rate to Kyrie had in Boston, but his playing dynamic is very different. He is passing more, and not taking as much initiative. There are a lot of concerns heading in the playoffs from my perspective because I am not sure who the clear cut leader of this team is, if any. And majority of the players on this team are young and therefore lack playoff experience. A lot has to be solved, but if it can be, they can lead themselves to the Finals and a potential title.