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- Chris Chagall / Associated Press
For all the captivating storylines of the 2021-22 NBA season, history can remember them as an introduction to the real storylines that define heritage: what happens in the postseason.
From dreams of championships to teams torn by playoff failures, the second season can be rich in critical, landscape-changing developments.
We may not yet know how these things will develop, but we can share – and rank on the basis of importance in the entire league – the first 10 stories we follow in the post-season of 2022.
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- Adam Pantozzi / Getty Images
Normally, a club that has just posted 0.598 percent of profits and the Association’s third-highest net rating won’t need a fuel check, but there’s reason to wonder if Utah Jazz is running on steam.
This core has been together for some time and has not yet overcome the hump of the second round. Stick to the constant speculation about the people involved – be it the constant dissections of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Robert relationship, the threat of the Knicks to lure Mitchell back to New York or coach Quinn Snyder to be mentioned at other concerts – and maybe the postseason is fun.
If this team performs less well and the front office withdraws, there may be a complete breakdown in the basketball landscape.
Mitchell and Robert are regular All-Star players on the right at 30. The interest in them – and the impact of adding them elsewhere – would be huge. Snyder is one of the best captains in the NBA. Any opening team would look at it for a long time. The supporting cast is full of plug-and-play vets who can immediately bolster winning buyers this summer.
If you like watching this team play together, take some time on the couch and immerse it while you still can. If this time he fails to solve the most difficult puzzles after the season, he may not encounter them again.
2 of 10
- Ron Jenkins / Getty Images
With all due respect to the Phoenix Suns (more on them later), this championship feels wide open.
But do you know how that can change? If you bring all the players together in the injury report, this group will become the next Goliath in basketball.
The headliners are two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry (left foot sprain), two-time defender of the year and two-time MVP of the finals Cowie Leonard (ACL) and three-time All Star Luka Doncic (left calf stretching).
Leading the supporting cast is three-time All-Star Ben Simmons, who could make his playoff debut after more than a year of back pain and mental health problems. Boston Celtics Center Robert Williams III, nominee for Defender of the Year, is struggling to return from a torn left meniscus. The Denver Nuggets, of course, are left without the powerful offensive tandem of Jamal Murray (knee) and Michael Porter Jr. (behind).
When, or in some cases, if these players return and accelerate, they can go a long way to crowning the next champion.
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- Sarah Steyer / Getty Images
The Brooklyn Nets campaign looked less like a seamless story than a series of disjointed plot points that ultimately painted an incomplete picture of what this club is – and what it could be.
Only four players cleared the 60-game mark, and the group included sporadically recruited rookie Cam Thomas and James Johnson, who left. It did not feature Kevin Durant, who lost more than a month with a knee injury, or Kyrie Irving, who could not play home games until the end of March due to the requirement for a vaccine against COVID-19 in New York for public indoor and private business. .
And apparently, there were zero appearances from Simmons, the main piece returned to the mega-department of James Harden in the February deadline.
Through it all, Brooklyn turned out to be … good. The Nets, who grabbed No. 7 in the East during Tuesday’s playoffs, tied for 14th place in terms of winning percentage (.537) and ranked 15th in terms of net rating (plus -0.9 ). Problems with defense and the interior also kept these numbers under control.
Networks can be much, much better. Only the presence of Durant and Irving promises that. The pair is a plus-13.1 for 523 minutes together. The possible addition of Simmons only intensifies the intrigue. ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst said Thursday in Get Up that the three-time All Star could make its Brooklyn debut in the middle of the first round against the Boston Celtics.
But is all this enough to overcome the lack of an advantage on the home court, the insidious path through the Eastern Conference, the team’s limitations in defense and the sometimes uneven result of support? We’ve seen Durant and Irving work magic on this scene before, but it’s a test different from anyone they’ve encountered before.
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- Michael Reeves / Getty Images
He says something about the Miami Heat – and probably more about public perception of them – that the most noisy person is discussing them this season, when Jimmy Butler is arguing with head coach Eric Spoelstra and the great man Udonis Haslem aside.
Did Spo take this team to a place where its success is taken for granted? Is the lack of a first-level megastar to blame? Or do these dangerous tapes have problems that justify the treatment of the hindquarters?
The answer may be all of the above.
Look, the heat is good. Really, really good. For example, the best record in the East, the second best net rating in the conference. You don’t have to tilt your imagination too far to imagine this group marching along Biscayne Boulevard in June.
However, there are enough questions about this violation – especially in the half court – to wonder if the Heat have enough shooting and scoring juice to do so. Miami had the seventh worst clutch violation this season. The team’s fourth-placed defense must always keep things close, but the Heat will need someone to equalize at the other end, as Butler did in the 2020 playoff balloon to seal those victories.
5 out of 10
- Justin Ford / Getty Images
Objectively speaking, there is no reason to doubt Memphis Grizzlies based on what they did this season.
Aside from swaying to a 9-10 start, Memphis was essentially GREAT from that point on, with or without Star Defender Ja Morant.
The Grizzlies eventually made their way to 2nd place in the West with 0.683 percent of profits (linked to the best in franchise history) and a net rating of plus 5.3, which ranks fifth. Memphis was one of two teams (along with Phoenix) that finished sixth or better in attack (fourth) and defense (sixth).
Subjectively, however, it is difficult not to worry about the lack of experience of this team. The Grizzlies were only in the game last season, and even that was considered premature for the young core.
They don’t have much experience in the playoffs to draw from. Not to mention that there are questions about whether Memphis’s style of pedaling to the floor – fourth in tempo, first in points for quick breaks – can cope with the inevitable change of gears in the playoffs. If the Grizzlies have to grind matches on the half court, the lack of shooting can be a problem.
6 of 10
- Justin Ford / Getty Images
No team in the Eastern Conference has improved Boston’s net rating to -7.4 this season. No one played better basketball from February to April, when the C steam reached a 24-6 record. Few clubs have a player sailing at higher altitudes than Jason Tatum, who averaged 28.4 points in a 49.2 / 39.2 / 87.0 shot, while scoring a colossal plus-414 over the same stretch.
Are we sure that the way to the championship does not pass through Beantown?
Computers clearly think so. ESPN’s BPI gives Boston a staggering 39.6 percent chance of winning the title. FiveThirtyEight gives the Celtics a 32.0 percent chance of winning it all. Basketball Reference has 27.1 percent of them. All of these numbers are the best in the league and only one is even remotely close. The Basketball Reference gives Phoenix a 22.9 percent chance of being crowned, while no one else has even a 10 percent chance.
The injury to Robert Williams III (knee) is a concern, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on Wednesday that there was a “real chance” he would be ready to return to the first round. With Al Horford, Daniel Thays and Grant Williams on the list, the Celtics may have enough to cover his current absence.
If the Celtics get a healthy Williams III, is there any good reason to doubt them? If the last few months have been any indication, no.
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- Jim Purton / Getty Images
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when only injuries – and once LeBron James – were able to dethrone the Golden State Warriors. From 2014-15 to 2018-19, they booked five consecutive final trips, won three championships and set an all-time record for winning one season with 73.
Stephen Curry, Clay Thompson and Draymond Green were at the forefront and center of the race. When Curry returns to action – he is “likely” for Saturday’s game 1 against the Denver Nuggets – they will also be at the heart of this one.
Now, however, everyone is in their 30s. Thompson is playing for the first time in three seasons after suffering more than one significant injury. Curry has just posted his worst shooting percentage from the field (43.7) and three (38.0), with the exception of a sample of five games in 2019-20. And Green had some rudeness after missing two months with a lower back injury.
Can this trio summon their magic again? Even Warriors, who have not yet played a game with their full active roster, are not sure what to expect.
“I think four years ago … I expect to win a championship. But now we’re a different team,” head coach Steve Kerr told Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “I don’t have any expectations … In many ways, it makes it really fun. Maybe not as much fun as having one of the greatest lists ever compiled, but it’s a completely different challenge and unique.”
The questions for this club may depend on the supporting cast. When he is healthy, Curry remains one of …
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