Worst gift in the pile: 2023 NBA Play-Ins

A thread to keep the ball rolling while we're waiting to see which teams get the chance to get beaten up by the top seeds.

heat / lakers / bulls / thunder

predix

lakers over twolves
thunder over pellies
thunder over twolves

raptors over bulls
hawks over heat
heat over bulls

sorry should be heat over raptors for the second one

predicting lakers & okc / heat & hawks emerge victorious and enter the playoffs, but... I would love for the twolves to beat L.A. and make them play okc

heat > hawks
lakers > wolves

bulls > raps
thunder > pelicans

thunder > wolves
hawks > bulls

hawks over heat

From your mouth to the ears of the gods, but I am not optimistic.

the heat have kicked the hawks ass so thoroughly the last few years that my guard is way up tonight. something feels fishy

a hawks win here would be a big surprise. boring but:

Lakers 7
Wolves 8

Heat 7
Hawks 8

trae moving the ball very early this game trying to counteract miami blanketing him

hawks r rolling wow

17 assists on 20 fg for the hawks and getting really good looks.

yeah ball is popping and theyre faster to the 50/50s

meanwhile miami looking like a 1990s offense

theyre up 20!

saadiq bey is not shy

these udonis haslem slo mo shots are pain personified

this is out of hand

few bad trae possessions and miamis back in range

Lowry gave them some life too

Hawks should've traded Trae while he was still cooking.

lol

haha just yank him off the bench during a timeout

the score is masking what a complete clown show of a half that was from the heat. i think they scored 0 points on like 9 fast breaks.

strus completely losing the ability to shoot is puzzling to me

heat def not looking like they give a shit about this, which i think is down the road the problem with these play-ins unless a team wins a series sometime soon

conversely i think capela is the only hawk who is actually playing well?

i guess the box score doesn't bear that out but he is contributing to the heat getting absolutely destroyed on the boards

if the hawks could make a free throw this wouldn’t be a competitive game. the heat are getting murdered around the rim on both ends

The Hawks have grabbed the offensive rebound on 38.5% of their missed shots. That might win them the game if the Heat don't start securing the glass.

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) April 12, 2023

kyle lowry gives a shit

to be overpowered by the muscle of the hawks is really bad

57-37 rebounding advantage for the hawks, 19-5 on the offensive glass. wild

kyle going nuts

i want to bludgeon him until he stops this

not sure who woke up grandpa but i don't appreciate it

lol

this is a completely appalling performance. i guess the upside is that it hastens the demise of a dead end season

the heat take a really blasé (honestly arrogant) approach to seeding and in 2 of the last 3 years it’s really come back to bite them in the ass

capela looking like 01 shaq out here

clint capela’s impact in this game is basically the argument some people make for rodman being an inner-circle guy

two heat guys running into each other and losing a rebound in the process only for john collins to pick it up and get an and 1 was a fitting bow for that game

rebounding thing is out of control lol

atl just controlling this game after losing 14 of 16 to the heat wild stuff

happy news for the celtics heat always give them trouble

yet another bam adebayo "what is it you would say you do around here?" performance when it mattered

hawks went away from their trae centric offense and it worked crazy to think about

cut to shaq saying "hey kenny, hey kenny" before dropping a dr evil quote in 2023, perfection

Quinn Snyder looking a bit odd these days

https://images.app.goo.gl/Q6GAbFR8EhcMtkww7"> https://images.app.goo.gl/Q6GAbFR8EhcMtkww7

Or not if the image doesn’t post.

i thought the hawks looked better prepared for the heat’s defense against trae (go figure) but no coaching really matters when there’s a +20 offensive rebounding difference

quin looks like he's on an unnecessary ozempic regimen

yet another bam adebayo "what is it you would say you do around here?" performance when it mattered

weird court cant say i recall that

tough loss for the boston sports media

pic.twitter.com/MvKKjiBNAF

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 12, 2023

lol

I was hoping to smell the beach. I smell @johnhollinger instead. It looks like the Hawks will be Boston’s first-round opponent.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) April 12, 2023

Quinn Snyder looking a bit odd these days

― that's not my post, Tuesday, April 11, 2023 9:57 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah this is a situation I am monitoring

just realized he looks like clayne crawford

no offense to quinn but… “these days” ??

truly pains me to have to root for the lakers tonight

yea I think it's more fun if the Lakers get knocked out inaa 7 game series

nathan knight, a player we have all heard of, is out there in a key role for the wolves

You know I said I thought the hawks had the best center duo in the league for a reason

nathan knight, a player we have all heard of, is out there in a key role for the wolves

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, April 11, 2023 7:32 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lakers counter w wenyan gabriel and troy brown jr

if you don't know about wenyen gabriel by now that's your loss!

taurean prince basically just got chop blocked by two lakers players

i wonder if any nba teams are interested in trading for a certain french timberwolves center

nickeil alexander-walker had 2 dunks this year

bron has 27 points and is a -20

KAT :[

the Wolves have been going on some crazy scoring runs

kat dumb fouls and dumb smiles

wolves have no shot with KAT on the bench

ant edwards gotta get something going

wow tight traveling call!

those some big 3s for the Wolves

has KAT touched the ball since coming back in

ant seems a little shook, not trusting his step

has KAT touched the ball since coming back in

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, April 11, 2023 9:22 PM (eleven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol i dont think so

wolves offense right now is completely lost. Way too many possessions ending with prince with the ball w 4 seconds left on the shot clock and nowhere to go

major dilemma for the lakers here as lebron does not believe in 2 for 1s

As @TimBontemps has been tracking all night, the Timberwolves have now made nine more 3-pointers than the Lakers (16-7). Teams that hit nine more 3s than their opponents were 50-4 (.926) during the regular season.

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) April 12, 2023

since I have to root for the lakers, then winning despite lebron fouling out is actually the best thing that could happen

the wolves have been scoreless for like 6 minutes

whole team shook

Hilarious 4th quarter

adam silver should descend from the rafters and say "ive seen enough. neither team may go to the playoffs" and exit unstaples to a chorus of lusty boos

beautiful drive n kick

Oh god they’re gonna force Lebron to shoot it here

Ok fine that was cool

WOOOOOWWWWWWWWW

anthony davis playing the role of KAT

oh man

flagrant??

wtf is this game

MF CLUTCHHH

this overtime is gonna suuuuuuck but pretty funny outcome

flagrant??

― k3vin k., Tuesday, April 11, 2023 9:41 PM (fifty-nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

was thinking that too but looks like he landed safely in his zone then brow ran him over after

can the wolves make another actual basket or....

4th quarter was 19-12 lakers, oof

shook vs cooked

hilarious end of regulation I love the play ins

some ugly basketball bit i can’t stop watching

This is so funny

its wonderful

that... was not a travel on ant

this is like an ncaa tournament game

not sure i’d want taurean prince taking that shot for me

shoulda taken the open dunk

d lo back on the court for that possession reminding me he’s been benched for like the entirety of the 4th Q and OT

revenge game

cant believe the heat ruined the only good lowry game theyve gotten from him in 2 years

fell alseep but it doesnt sound like that second game was of the highest quality basketball

rough night for the lad

You know I said I thought the hawks had the best center duo in the league for a reason

― Heez, Tuesday, April 11, 2023 10:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

youve upset them

https://i.imgur.com/trUwooS.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vHnSuPn.png

watching highlights wow fouling on the 3 with .1 left incredible

it looked like if he had tried davis couldve avoided the foul instead he turned around to watch the shot and just wiped conley out

brow ultimately is just not a true baller

yea it was pretty stunning given the situation, no time to set up a decent shot all you have to do is not foul. not only did he foul it was one of those fouls that didn't even really affect the shot. props to Conley for making all 3 in that scenario, mentally I think a lot of players would've been shook as hell in that situation. too bad the Wolves didn't win in OT, would've been a hilarious way for the Lakers to lose

lol yeah too bad

lakers grizz is an interesting match up youd think the grizz young legs will win out but if not could be close lakers are actually kind of good since the deadline deals, lakers despite being old actually play a fast pace prob to overcoming their shooting deficiency get those easy transition baskets, grizz also play fast and have bad halfcourt offense when theyre not getting offensive rebound and their main offensive rebounder is out, will be interesting to see what happens when transition opportunities dry up like they usually do in the offs could get ugly

was thinking last night it would make sense imo for the final play-in games to happen the day after the 9/10 games to make the lower seed play a back to back

fell alseep but it doesnt sound like that second game was of the highest quality basketball

― lag∞n, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 9:16 AM (two hours ago)

both games were... far from the best the NBA has to offer. the lakers game was at least dramatic in its own way even tho the t wolves didn't make a field goal for a full 8 mins between the 4th Q and OT

both those games really did remind me of NCAA tournament games. heat-hawks was a raggedy up and down game w/ tons of bad passes, botched fast breaks, guys running into each other etc. in wolves/lakers nobody could score in crunch time, the lakers turned it over inbounding *and* committed a three shot foul in the last like 10 seconds of the game, TNT threw up a "wolves have not scored in 5 mins" graphic which you see in every march madness game but never in the NBA. idk if this is good or bad... i think the play in games are generally stupid and fun

btw i just looked it up... KAT re-entered the game with 7:35 in the fourth quarter and 5 fouls. from that point forward including OT he went 0-2 from the field w/ 1 rebound

it's a very KAT-ish turn of events for KAT to be so good for three quarters in a playoff game that he sets himself up for miserable failure in the fourth quarter

xp we basically get six game 7s before the playoffs even start

heat-hawks was a raggedy up and down game w/ tons of bad passes, botched fast breaks, guys running into each other etc. in wolves/lakers nobody could score in crunch time, the lakers turned it over inbounding *and* committed a three shot foul in the last like 10 seconds of the game

hence the thread title

xp we basically get six game 7s before the playoffs even start

― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Wednesday, April 12, 2023 12:12 PM (eighteen minutes ago)

calling those games 7s is an insult to game 7s...

to be fair though a lot of game 7s are pretty ugly

yup

dollar store game 7s if you will

i get that game 7s are often ugly but there's a tension inherent in a game 7 that can't be replicated in a one game winner take all scenario. that's why i mention the ncaa tournament... you realize that you're not really watching either good or very meaningful basketball, but the concocted stakes of a one game winner take all scenario carry the day despite all the warts. but these are no game 7s let's be real

you're otm

the West was pretty ideal for this, every team in it was basically the same record and no one team really "deserved it", a scenario in which the 7th seed in another season was like 5 games clear of the next seed and didn't advance would be a bummer

feel like watching the playin might make me more likely to tune into some hopeless 1-8 matchup because i already watched the 8th seed advance im already in "a playoff mindset"

the lakers would've been an interesting test case as a team w/ high end talent that was underperforming but changed their roster at the deadline & started playing a lot better. but they got the 7 and won the first game so nothing changed. but if they had been the 8 and won, or had lost last night and slipped to 8, we might feel differently. unless they went into the playoffs and lost 4-1, then we would go back to feeling the same way. so idk

"I can pretty much do everything. It's just a matter of the level that I was playing at before my hamstring. I don't want to go out there and be in my own head and affect the team when I can just be on the sideline supporting them more."

— Zion Williamsonpic.twitter.com/m6vUT46MeX

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 11, 2023

lmao

reminds me of derrick rose

oh, zion. time to stop talking buddy

DeMar's daughter is screaming whenever the Raptors take free throws 😂 pic.twitter.com/HxmMz3BYgq

— ESPN (@espn) April 13, 2023

cmon lol

that was an amazing reveal

Raptors have missed 13 free throws tonight, the most they've missed in any game this season.

— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) April 13, 2023

nurse hasnt played his bench at all and now the raptors are collapsing in the second half

so if the Bulls win it's 100% because of DeMar's daughter

lol theyre doing a live split screen with her now

lol i heard that noise when i wasn't looking at the tv and was wondering what was going on

lol entire toronto crowd silent during raps fts except one girl doing the most annoying scream its funny

damn you can’t even really ban a little kid like that it just wouldn’t feel right

pic.twitter.com/hvUnlQp5oy

— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) April 13, 2023

levine is balling

28 in the second half. he’s had a really nice season actually

i'm turning this on just bc i want to hear the girl scream

haha yessss

ref just said pat bev on tv

every team must have a screaming girl now bal don't lie

lol derozans kid just turned to her mom and said “one more” and the mom nodded this is a conspiracy

its too funny

wau siakam

haa derozen jr just wrecked siakim

justice was served on that three-shot foul

well i never thought i'd see it happen but a 10th place team has advanced to the second play-in to compete for the 8th seed

miracles still happen

will not miss this dumb edition of the raptors

pulling hard for the thunder. they’re so fun to watch and I also love the matchup for denver

proves that bad vibes are bad for a team

you gotta root for any team that starts two guys with the same name who also look the same

love the "zion williamson out for 46th game" infographic

i'm just happy he's supporting his team from the bench which is the most useful thing he could be doing rn

if he were playing hed be all thinking about stuff

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=gilgesh01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=wadedw01&p2yrfrom=2006

feel like wade is my favorite SGA comp, a wade updated for the hoisting era

wade was definitely one of the coolest players ever we need more wades out there

relentless driving is def one of the best ways to play

Diar DeRozan deserved her own highlight reel tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nUMNKrGtVQ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2023

28 in the second half. he’s had a really nice season actually

smh

However, DeRozan says she is NOT going to Miami on Friday

"She got to go back to school"

— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) April 13, 2023

dort doing things

someone needs to check under dort’s jersey to make sure there’s not a jimmy butler jersey underneath

it's really inspiring how Diar didn't give up when the Bulls were 20 down, she just kept screaming

first half was the dort-murphy battle we were all expecting

young wade was several levels above SGA athletically but i could see it in terms of SGA’s finishing creativity in the paint

good game, good game. sga is ridiculous

oh man that sucks for jones

nice win for okc shai go ahead shot was so good

so are we back on team david griffin might stink at his job or what

i mean ingram missed half the season, zion 2/3 of the season and doesnt want to play and nance/alvarado were hurt for the play in. I think herb and murphy are good and still growing.

i'm just happy he's supporting his team from the bench which is the most useful thing he could be doing rn

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 7:02 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i lol'd

nice win for okc shai go ahead shot was so good

― lag∞n, Wednesday, April 12, 2023 9:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

the dexterity

how pic.twitter.com/0fRlqMLBTR

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) April 13, 2023

the thunder doing this well while starting two rookies and a 2nd year guy plus a bunch of 2nd/3rd year guys in the rotation is insane. they only played one vet last night saric for 11 minutes.

yeah theyve got a ton of talent, and draft picks, future is bright

jaylin 8-8-8 game and the sweetest hook ive seen in years

Jaylin Williams with a BEAUTIFUL hook shot 🔥pic.twitter.com/ET2It4eeVo

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 13, 2023

and thats not even the good jalen

right. i like this guy tho seems like the dude thats willing to do all the dirty work. really interested to see how chet integrates into all this.

if chets not a total injury causality they could be real good in not that long

it is really something how well they play together. they got a good coach over there.

yeah players seem happy too even through a big tank

just seems like a good org presti obvs has the touch and daigneault is homegrown, big flaw is that theyre a small market team unwilling to pay the tax or at least that was the case last time around

i mean ingram missed half the season, zion 2/3 of the season and doesnt want to play and nance/alvarado were hurt for the play in. I think herb and murphy are good and still growing.

― Spottie, Thursday, April 13, 2023 3:02 AM (nine hours ago)

paying $101 million next year for three guys who are never on the floor at the same time. throw in another $10m for larry nance who also never plays. i guess you can say there is upside there based on the first few weeks of this season... but it's looking pretty bad!

xp yeah usually i'm skeptical of org quality but it seems real in okc, the vets who pass through always rave about how they're treated and how everything is set up which in turn prob gets a lot of goodwill with agents. it's a decent shield against tanking affecting morale.

i'm stealing this stat from one of the podcasts but the pelicans have had 4 years of ingram & zion together and their finishes in the west are 13, 11, 8, and 10th. i guess you can say they're moving up lol?

i'm astounded that ppl in the national media continue to advance the narrative that the pelicans pushed the suns to the brink in the first round last year, and thus are a latent "contender" or whatever. it's so bogus

just seems like a good org presti obvs has the touch and daigneault is homegrown, big flaw is that theyre a small market team unwilling to pay the tax or at least that was the case last time around

― lag∞n, Thursday, April 13, 2023 1:46 PM (twenty-one minutes ago)

big flaw is that they had kevin durant russell westbrook james harden & serge ibaka on their team and made the NBA finals one time cuz sam presti put a roster from the stone age around them. but maybe his ability to identify & develop role players has changed...

does anyone remember that 39 year old derek fisher averaged 26 mpg for OKC in the 12-13 finals

xxp i was thinking about your "is david griffin bad again?" post and idk, they have unquestionably collected a lot of talent but so much of it is in the form of one-way players....they need to turn it into a real team. and right now they have no idea if that real team can include zion or not.

and then averaged 16 mpg in the playoffs the next year while shooting 31/29 shooting splits xp to myself

i'm kinda trolling but i actually do think presti should have to answer to the hague about what happened between the years of 2010 and 2018 in okc

xxp i was thinking about your "is david griffin bad again?" post and idk, they have unquestionably collected a lot of talent but so much of it is in the form of one-way players....they need to turn it into a real team. and right now they have no idea if that real team can include zion or not.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, April 13, 2023 2:14 PM (three minutes ago)

i was kinda genuinely asking bcuz there was this huge whiplash in the national media NBA punditry world about how griffin was maybe gonna lose his job, but then they were the breakout stars of the playoffs & had built a contender, and now they got bounced out of the playoffs by a tanking team. so i'm curious like... what the temperature is gonna be on this one. keeping in mind of course that griffin appears to be one of, if not the, most popular/connected GM w/in the media, who all call him "griff"

yeah i get it, i think it's an interesting question and not one with a clear answer. i never considered them a contender myself but in theory they have a path to get there

i think he'll be shielded by the teams injuries yet again. but yeah 4 years of those guys and nothing to show for it is not good. i guess give it one more shot idk

i mean they kinda have no choice

well, ingram still prob has real trade value. but feel like they won't be doing that

lakers pick swap really didn't end up working out for them either

would any one of us have NOT drafted Zion with the first overall pick? obv the pels get a free pass on making that pick. what's hard to say how much better a different team would have managed his injury issues since then. a lot of rehab outcomes are down to how the player handles them.

yeah he was the only pick to make given the upside but some of the bigger concerns about him have come to fruition. the underrated one is how long it seems to take him to recover and ramp up, that's not going to get better.

big flaw is that they had kevin durant russell westbrook james harden & serge ibaka on their team and made the NBA finals one time cuz sam presti put a roster from the stone age around them. but maybe his ability to identify & develop role players has changed...

― J0rdan S., Thursday, April 13, 2023 2:11 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

tbf they made the finals as a very young team had injuries then lost a squeaker to the warriors and that was it, if you wanted to take issue with prestis roster construction choosing russ over harden was his biggest offense, still quite obviously an absolute master of the craft tho

"Went 18/36, it had to have an affect."

Scottie Barnes heard DeMar's daughter yelling pic.twitter.com/wQ2lRT8Z9B

— Yahoo Sports Canada (@YahooCASports) April 13, 2023

amazing lol

would any one of us have NOT drafted Zion with the first overall pick?

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 14 April 2023

i was a pretty big zion skeptic at the time but it wasnt a view that was widely shared.

you don't want to understate how hard it is to build a contender as a small market team, and when it starts with the klutch mafia conspiring to steal your best player well it is going to be an uphill battle

I was a Ja guy instead of a Zion guy because I'm a contrarian. Per the other thread, that take hasn't aged well either, for other reasons.

amongst the nba hardcore the consensus on zion was a potential mvp with extremely high injury risk but you gotta take the chance, if people had known how good ja would be that risk mightve been enough to push him to 1 idk

peak healthy zion has also generally confirmed the belief that he was is that good when not injured, so it's not like it was a crazy take

i think i'd still take a 100% healthy zion over a 100% healthy ja

(but the injuries exist and it looks like he's never going to be 100% for more than stretches so obv ja should have been the choice)

crazy thing is i dont think weve ever seen close to full power zion, and sadly prob never will

and hes still been dominant when hes played

on offense with the ball in his hands yes

its honestly good enough which is crazy but without the injury history and worries he prob wouldve been out there moving around a lil more

"We've got to be available. We've got to do what we need to do off the court in terms of preparation, in terms of getting treatment, in terms of getting the right sleep, the right type of hydration, having the right type of diet."

- CJ McCollum after Pelicans play-in loss pic.twitter.com/VkrCcAcIUN

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2023

its true hydration is important

“gentle reminder to drink water”
— cj mccollum

Tbf, if I was a millionaire living in New Orleans my diet would be terrible

ok i want jokic to get it again

“A lot has been said, and a lot of people haven’t been happy about how the whole thing has been going on, about how people keep bashing each other and all that stuff. Where was all that [sympathy for me]? People kept bashing me the last two seasons, putting me down. But now other… pic.twitter.com/Z7QHqSJ1bu

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 13, 2023

amongst the nba hardcore the consensus on zion was a potential mvp with extremely high injury risk but you gotta take the chance, if people had known how good ja would be that risk mightve been enough to push him to 1 idk

― lag∞n, Thursday, April 13, 2023 4:09 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

and the consensus was more or less right, tbh I would still probably take zion’s next 5 years over ja’s even considering injury risk. zion is already knocking on the door of being an elite elite dude it’s just a matter of staying on the floor. I’m much lower on ja than the consensus but to me he’s like an evolved derrick rose, a really good player but overvalued as a max guy imho

lol embiid is such a baby

it’s only because I have a soft spot for philly that I don’t completely hate him. had a long talk with my dad last night that I was going to have to root against them in the first round it pains me to have to do it

lol

I'm not going to defend Embiid - he obviously wants an MVP very badly - I just want him to shut up about it after he wins.

i want embiid to get it because i don't want to hear him talk about it for the rest of my life if he doesn't

yes. also just worry about having energy in the 4th quarter of a tight game 6 or 7 coming up.

https://theathletic.com/4408252/2023/04/14/nba-playoff-preview-celtics-bucks-nuggets-grizzlies/?source=user_shared_article

hollinger picks the ILH bowl celtics vs nuggets

lets do this

strus has remembered how to shoot

miami has 12 points "all strus"

23 point strus half

This is shaping up to be a good finish. Hasn't been more than a couple points either way since I started watching in the 2nd.

its strus world baby

strus time

congrats to heat they have played it in

fun game, liking the play ins so far, warts and all

I should have told you guys how emotionally checked out and over the Wolves I was, there's no better guarantee they would than that this season.

That they would win

its happening ITS THE OFFS BABY THE 2023 NBA PLAYOFFS

predix

lakers over twolves
thunder over pellies
thunder over twolves

raptors over bulls
hawks over heat
heat over bulls

― k3vin k., Tuesday, April 11, 2023 2:52 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

sorry should be heat over raptors for the second one

― k3vin k., Tuesday, April 11, 2023 2:54 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

went 4/6 for the ins, now it’s time for the offs!

mil > heat 5
bos > hawks 4
sixers > nets 5
cavs > knicks 6

denver > twolves 5
grizz > lakers 7
warriors > kings 6
suns > clips 6

oops