Wizards Notes: Len, Gafford, Neto, Brooks
After eight years in the NBA, Wizards center Alex Len is finally ready for his playoff debut, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Len has the longest active streak with no postseason appearances, and it’s a distinction that he’s eager to get rid of.
“The play-ins kind of felt like the playoffs,” he said. “Every possession counts. You could feel the intensity was way higher than the regular season. It’s just probably the most exciting part of my career.”
It didn’t look like Len was headed to the playoffs when he arrived in D.C. in January. The Wizards were far out of the race when they claimed him off waivers after he had been cut loose by the Raptors. He turned out to be a valuable addition in the wake of a season-ending injury to starting center Thomas Bryant.
“When I came here, it was probably at the bottom or the second-worst team in the East,” Len said. “Then, climbing all the way back and making the eighth seed, it was a lot of fun. We battled through and guys stuck together.”
There’s more on the Wizards:
- Daniel Gafford is another member of Washington’s center rotation who is happy to be in the playoffs, Hughes writes in a separate story. Gafford spent his first season and a half with the Bulls before the Wizards acquired him at the trade deadline. “I was overwhelmed with a lot of emotion after (beating the Pacers in the play-in tournament),” he said. “I had to kind of just hold it in. … I would say this trade was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
- Raul Neto is looking forward to facing his former team in a playoff setting, Hughes notes in another piece. Neto was a back-up point guard for the Sixers last season, and he believes that familiarity will be an asset for the Wizards. “I know every one of them; how they play, how they mentally approach the game,” he said. “So, I think I’m going to try to use that during the series and try to help my teammates if they need to know something else.”
- Coach Scott Brooks found success with a three-guard starting lineup that he began using in late April. Fred Katz of The Athletic examines how that group will match up against a much larger Sixers team.
Nets Notes: Big Three, Durant, Griffin, Green
The Nets used a brand new starting lineup in Saturday’s playoff opener, and although they started slowly, they eventually showed why they’re among the favorites to win this year’s title, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving played together for only the ninth time, and they were joined by Joe Harris and Blake Griffin as starters. Brooklyn trailed by 12 points early in the game, but rallied for an 11-point victory.
“There was a little bit of newness in many ways,” coach Steve Nash said. “We weren’t sharp offensively, but we found a way.”
Harden suggested another factor may have contributed to Brooklyn’s rough start. After playing in empty or near-empty arenas for most of the season, the Nets welcomed a sellout crowd of 14,391 fans Saturday night.
“Maybe I’m speaking for myself, but the crowd kind of just threw me off a little bit,” Harden said. “It was pretty loud in there. The vibe was what we’ve been missing, and it just threw me off a little bit. That second half, we got more comfortable, and shots started to fall when we needed it to.”
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- Playing his first postseason game since suffering an Achilles injury in the 2019 Finals, Durant reminded fans that he’s still an elite player, states Ian O’Connor of The New York Post. Durant had 32 points and 12 rebounds and led the second-half rally that gave the Nets the lead. “It’s always great playing in this time of year,” he said. “That intensity is the next level. … It felt great to be out there among the best teams and the best players in the league. Look forward to Game 2.”
- Griffin wasn’t with the Nets when the Big Three was formed, but he could tell they were going to be something special. He discusses that and other topics in a wide-ranging interview with Steve Serby of The New York Post. “If there’s three guys you’d want to have the ball in their hands at the end of games, or four guys — I think Dame (Damian Lillard) and KD and Kyrie are three of ’em,” Griffin said. “So when they joined up, it was like those are two guys that can go get you a bucket at the end of games, but when James (Harden) came, it was kinda the same thing.”
- Jeff Green tied an NBA record by appearing in a playoff game for his seventh team, tweets Greg Logan of Newsday. In addition to the Nets, Green has been to the postseason with the Celtics, Cavaliers, Rockets, Clippers, Grizzlies and Thunder.
Jazz Notes: Conley, Snyder, Ilyasova, Mitchell
Mike Conley was a beloved figure during the 12 years he spent with the Grizzlies, so it’s going to be odd to face his old team in a playoff series, writes Mark Giannotto of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Conley will square off with 21-year-old point guard Ja Morant, who was drafted to replace him after he was traded to the Jazz in 2019.
“I know how great the fans are there when they’re rooting for you, but I don’t know what it’s like when they’re against you,” Conley said. “I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new chapter for me and it’ll be fun to compete in the city that was home for me for so long against the team that’s playing so well.”
Conley had one of his best seasons at age 33 and is coming off his first All-Star appearance. He had a difficult adjustment to Utah last season, but posted numbers this year that are typical of what he used to do in Memphis: 16.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 44% from the field and 41% from three-point range.
“I felt really comfortable in my role this year, how I’m used and how I can be effective for our team,” Conley said. “I think the bubble kind of helped expedite that and now with everybody healthy … everybody has really bought into their roles so much that we feel really comfortable and confident with what we have, and we feel like we can go to bat with anybody.”
There’s more from Utah:
- The new play-in tournament put the top-seeded Jazz in the awkward position of not knowing their first-round playoff opponent until late Friday night, notes Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “It’s really different,” coach Quin Snyder said. “Some teams, they’ve known who they’re playing since early in the week. Their preparation is going to look very different from ours. Not knowing who you’re playing, you want to work, you’re ready to go, but at the same time be really smart about what it is that you’re doing.”
- Ersan Ilyasova is the only player listed on Utah’s injury report for Game 1, tweets Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. He is dealing with an illness that is not related to COVID-19.
- In case you missed it, Donovan Mitchell returned to practice Thursday and is hoping his sprained right ankle has healed enough for him to be active for the playoff opener.
Trail Blazers Notes: McCollum, Stotts, Lillard, Nurkic
Trail Blazers players won’t be thinking about saving coach Terry Stotts‘ job when they open their playoff series with the Nuggets tonight, CJ McCollum tells Jason Quick of The Athletic. Stotts is rumored to be among a handful of coaches who are in jeopardy if they suffer an early exit in the postseason. He has one year left on his current contract with a salary of more than $6MM.
McCollum made it clear that the players support Stotts, but there are other motivating factors.
“You have no control over those things,” he said. “I like Terry. Terry has been great for me, my career, my development, he’s given me a chance. I will forever be grateful for everything he has done for me. But your job as a player is to play. And his job as a coach is to coach. Like, you can’t worry about what could happen. That’s every year. Every year, I could be traded. Every year, a coach could lose his job. There is enough pressure to perform on its own.
“… I don’t need any extra motivation to help Terry keep his job. I’m gonna go hoop and do what I do no matter what. And I think that’s Terry’s mentality. If something happens, Terry is OK. He’s gonna be all right, and he’s probably going to get another head coaching job.”
There’s more Trail Blazers news to pass along:
- Damian Lillard discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic affected him and players in general in an in-depth interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic. He also addresses a recent column by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports calling for Portland to add more top-level talent during Lillard’s prime years. “People love to hear, ‘Oh, this guy might want out of here or out of there.’ I’ve constantly mentioned what my commitment to Portland is,” Lillard said. “I don’t think I need to keep going in on that. But over the course of a season, everybody gets frustrated, you know? And I’m not a person who fakes it for nobody. Not the media. Not my teammates. Not the fans. Not for nobody.”
- The 2017 trade that sent Jusuf Nurkic from Denver to Portland helped the Nuggets and Blazers both improve, writes Kyle Fredrickson of The Denver Post. Portland needed an upgrade at center, and Nurkic had just lost his starting job to Nikola Jokic.
- Zach Collins is the only player listed on the Trail Blazers’ injury report as the playoffs begin. Collins hasn’t played all season after undergoing surgery to fix a stress fracture in his ankle, but a recent story by Quick said the big man hasn’t given up hope of returning if Portland makes a long playoff run.
Celtics Notes: Fournier, R. Williams, Thompson, Irving
The Celtics were expecting to use Evan Fournier in a sixth-man role for the playoffs, but an injury to Jaylen Brown changed those plans, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. With Brown unavailable after having surgery for a torn wrist ligament, Fournier will be part of the starting lineup in the first-round series against the Nets.
Acquired from the Magic at the trade deadline, Fournier has been productive since returning from the league’s health and safety protocols. In 16 games with the Celtics, he is averaging 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per night and shooting a sizzling 46.3% from three-point range. Fournier’s time in Orlando gave him some experience in approaching the playoffs as a low-seeded team.
“There’s no secret,” he said. “Being the lowest seed playing against the No. 1 or second seed, you just have to compete against them. When you play the best teams in the NBA, you have to compete. You have to show them that everything they’re going to get is hard.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Center Robert Williams is available to play tonight, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Williams had to leave Tuesday’s play-in game against the Wizards because of turf toe and sat out Friday’s practice.
- Due to Williams’ unpredictable status, the Celtics will have to rely more heavily on veteran big man Tristan Thompson, notes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Boston signed Thompson as a free agent during the offseason to add a veteran with plenty of playoff experience to its front court. “I think that his role probably looms large regardless,” coach Brad Stevens said.
- The matchup with the Nets will give Boston fans plenty of opportunity to vent their anger at Kyrie Irving, the former Celtic who told season ticket holders in 2018 that he was planning to re-sign with the team, Murphy adds in a separate story. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes Irving was sincere at the time and speculated that changing circumstances prompted him to reconsider his pledge. “No grudges, no second-guessing,” Ainge said. “I just wish him well. He was a player that came through this organization. I appreciate how talented he was, how much he wanted to win, and I’m grateful for the experience to get to know him.”
- The Celtics plan to increase their crowd size for Game 3 of the playoff series and hope to be “near full” capacity for Game 4, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
Nuggets Notes: Jokic, Millsap, Rivers, Barton
Part of Nikola Jokic‘s rise to being an MVP finalist has been his ability to adjust to different teammates, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. A string of roster moves and injuries, most notably to Jamal Murray, have shaken up the Nuggets‘ lineup throughout the season, but Jokic’s production hasn’t fallen.
Singer notes that Denver’s starters for tonight’s Game 1 of the playoff series with Portland will likely be Jokic, Michael Porter Jr., Facundo Campazzo, Aaron Gordon, and Austin Rivers. Porter is in his first year as a full-time starter, Campazzo is a rookie who has made 19 NBA starts, Gordon has been with the team for 25 games following a midseason trade, and Rivers has played 15 games after signing with the Nuggets last month.
“The attention that (Jokic) draws, being able to do so many things, not just score the ball, but pass and the way he passes and makes plays so easy for his teammates, makes him so unique to play with,” two-way guard Markus Howard said. “… Just the attention that he brings from opposing defenses, and his ability to be creative with the pass, is unlike anybody I’ve ever played with.”
There’s more on the Nuggets:
- After a decade as an NBA starter, Paul Millsap has adjusted to a reserve role since the trade for Gordon, as Kyle Fredrickson of The Denver Post writes. The 36-year-old power forward is trying to lead by example and make the best of his new responsibilities. “There are challenges that come with it,” Millsap said. “I want to compete. I want to play every single minute during a game. But that’s not possible and that’s what you have a team for. I’ve always been a guy (to do) whatever the team needs.”
- Rivers is suffering from a non-COVID related illness, but the Nuggets are optimistic he will be able to play tonight, Singer tweets. He is officially listed as questionable.
- Will Barton is hoping to be able to play in this series, but it won’t happen in Game 1, according to Clevis Murray of NBC Sports Northwest. Barton has been ruled out for tonight because of the strained hamstring that has sidelined him since April 23. PJ Dozier also remains out with a right adductor strain. “I think Will is definitely closer (to returning) than PJ,” coach Michael Malone said.
Hawks Notes: Capela, McMillan, Huerter, Arena Capacity
Clint Capela is in a new position as he prepares for his first playoff series with the Hawks, writes Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Capela was always one of the younger guys with the Rockets, who reached the playoffs every season he was in Houston. Now at age 27, he is serving as a mentor to Atlanta’s younger players, many of whom are about to have their first playoff experience.
“I really feel like (I’m in) a new role here, that vet role,” said Capela, who was traded to the Hawks at the 2020 deadline, but didn’t get to suit up before the pandemic hit. “So I get to share my experience, and I really feel (listened to) about everything I say. It’s really fun to be part of it.”
There’s more from Atlanta:
- Coach Nate McMillan insists comments he made this week that drew a $25K fine from the league were “taken out of context,” according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN. McMillan seemed to indicate he was concerned the Hawks wouldn’t get a fair shake from the officials in the first-round series against the Knicks because the NBA benefits from having New York in the playoffs. “My intentions were never to suggest any type of bias as it relates to the league and our upcoming playoff series,” McMillan explained. “This type of narrative does not in any way represent me and what I stand for as coach of the Atlanta Hawks.”
- There is “strong momentum” toward McMillan receiving a long-term contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link). No negotiations have taken place yet, Charania adds, but they’re expected to happen after Atlanta’s playoff run ends. McMillan was 27-11 after taking over for Lloyd Price at the start of March, and the Hawks climbed from 10th to fifth place in the East.
- The Knicks won all three regular season matchups with Atlanta, but Hawks forward Kevin Huerter welcomes the opportunity to face them in the first round, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “We feel really good about ourselves,” Huerter said. “They beat us three times this year, but all three games we could have won. We like the matchup and are ready for the challenge.’’
- The Hawks will increase seating at State Farm Arena to nearly full capacity for the playoffs, Spencer adds in a separate story. There will be sections for vaccinated and unvaccinated fans.
Hornets Notes: Ball, Monk, Hayward, Cody Martin
LaMelo Ball exceeded expectations in his first season with the Hornets, but coach James Borrego still sees room for improvement, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Ball is a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors and Borrego has called him the “engine” of Charlotte’s offense, but his first season was also marked by excessive turnovers and missed assignments on defense.
Bonnell notes that Ball didn’t have a full summer or a traditional training camp to adjust to the NBA. He still averaged 15.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 51 games and may have been a runaway choice for the league’s top rookie if not for a broken wrist he suffered in March.
“This is all new and fresh for him,” Borrego said. “I thought he was making some significant steps before the injury. I thought he showed tremendous growth. Obviously, that was disrupted with the injury. The goal now — one of my top priorities this summer — is to really work with this kid … work on offense and defense. We’ve got to take some major steps, and it starts with his body, and then working through offense and defense.”
There’s more from Charlotte:
- Malik Monk‘s future with the team is uncertain as he heads toward free agency this summer, Bonnell states in the same story. The fourth-year guard is coming off his best scoring season, averaging 11.7 points per game, but he might not have a set role in a crowded Hornets backcourt. “If they want me here, I’d love to be here,” Monk said Wednesday in a session with the media, “but I want to feel wanted.”
- A sprained right foot sidelined Gordon Hayward for the final 25 games, but he doesn’t expect to need offseason surgery, Bonnell adds. Hayward told reporters that when the injury occurred in early April, he was given a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks. This Friday represents the seven-week mark.
- Cody Martin missed Tuesday’s play-in game with a sprained ankle and said he probably won’t be able to do any on-court work until next week, Bonnell tweets. That mean’s it’s unlikely that Martin would have been available for a first-round playoff series if the Hornets had advanced.
Spurs Notes: DeRozan, Mills, Gay, K. Johnson
After falling to the Grizzlies in the play-in tournament, the Spurs face important decisions on their veteran players. DeMar DeRozan will be one of the biggest names on the free agent market this summer, and San Antonio must decide whether to make a long-term investment in the 31-year-old guard on a team filled with young talent.
The Spurs will have an exclusive window to reach a new deal with DeRozan before free agency begins August 1, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider article). DeRozan is eligible for an extension that could pay him up to $149.1MM over the next four seasons, including a $33.3MM starting salary for 2021/22.
If DeRozan reaches the open market, Marks identifies the Hornets, Mavericks, Heat and Knicks as teams that would have cap space and interest in signing the high-scoring guard. He suggests New York, which will have $55MM available, could be tempted to reunite DeRozan with his long-time friend and former Raptors backcourt partner, Kyle Lowry.
There’s more from San Antonio:
- Similar decisions will have to be made on Patty Mills and Rudy Gay, who are both headed to free agency, Marks adds in the same piece. Mills, who will turn 33 this summer, has spent most of his career with the Spurs and was considered a Sixth Man of the Year candidate during the first half of the season. Gay, who turns 35 in August, is a dependable three-point shooter and an effective weapon off the bench.
- After spending much of his rookie year in the G League, Keldon Johnson made significant progress during his second NBA season, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. The 21-year-old small forward started 67 games this year and appears to be part of the Spurs’ foundation heading forward. “I’ve learned a lot,” Johnson said. “I’ve grown a lot — on and off the court — from just observing (coach Gregg Popovich) and how he goes about things. … He’s taught me so many things.”
- Popovich is encouraged by the progress his team made this season, but he cautions that becoming a title contender won’t happen right away, Orsborn tweets. “That takes time,” Popovich said. “… The more these guys get to practice together, the more they develop, hopefully the record will bend in the correct direction.”
Knicks Notes: Ntilikina, Vildoza, Randle, Playoff Experience
Frank Ntilikina was an afterthought for most of the season, but he could be part of the Knicks‘ rotation for their first-round series against the Hawks, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Coach Tom Thibodeau said Wednesday that he’s considering using Ntilikina for defensive purposes in certain situations.
Ntilkina got into 33 games this season and averaged 2.7 points in just 9.8 minutes per night. He will be a restricted free agent this summer, but only if the Knicks make a qualifying offer, meaning his time in New York could be about to end.
“Frank has sort of been in that role as a defensive stopper. He adds great value to our team,” Thibodeau said. “What you guys don’t see is he and Kevin Knox and a bunch of other guys who aren’t in the rotation, how hard they work in practice. And we value the practice greatly. So they’re providing a lot to our team and whatever their strengths are, we’re going to try to take advantage of that.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Luca Vildoza may not see any playing time in the postseason, but he will be on hand to cheer on his new teammates, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. The newly-signed combo guard will arrive in New York on Friday. He agreed to a four-year contract, but the final three years are non-guaranteed. The guarantee for next season will kick in the day after the season opener.
- After a breakthrough season, Julius Randle is enjoying a week of rest before the playoffs begin, Berman adds in a separate story. This will be Randle’s first postseason experience in his seven-year NBA career. “For me, this week is important,’’ he said. “I’m doing everything — recovery-wise, taking care of my body — to make sure that I’m as fresh as possible heading into this series. It’s obviously great to have a week to prepare. I’m trying to do my best to make sure I’m ready for the grind of the series.’’
- Lack of experience could be an issue for the Knicks in the series, suggests Peter Botte of The New York Post. Along with Randle and Ntilikina, RJ Barrett, Elfrid Payton and rookies Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin will be in the playoffs for the first time.