- The transformation the Bucks‘ roster underwent during the 2020 offseason paid off in the first round of the 2021 postseason, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The team – which added Jrue Holiday, Bobby Portis, and Bryn Forbes last fall – figures to face a tougher test in round two, with a potential matchup vs. Brooklyn on tap.
- The Bucks have lost a key member of their backcourt, Donte DiVincenzo, due to a torn ligament in his left ankle. The Athletic’s Eric Nehm takes a look at which players might absorb DiVincenzo’s minutes. Bryn Forbes, Pat Connaughton and P.J. Tucker could pick up the slack offensively with Forbes moving into the starting lineup. But it will be difficult to replace DiVincenzo on the defensive end. Coach Mike Budenholzer may give more playing time to Jeff Teague, though he could also opt to slice his rotation to eight players.
12:55pm: The Bucks have announced further details on the injury that will sideline DiVincenzo for the remainder of the 2021 playoffs (Twitter link). An MRI and examination by team doctor Dr. Carole Vetter revealed that DiVincenzo is suffering from a torn ligament in his left ankle, per the team.
11:53am: Bucks guard Donte DiVincenzo will miss the remainder of the postseason after suffering a serious tendon injury in his left foot, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
DiVincenzo was hurt on a drive to the basket in the second quarter of Thursday’s game. He was fouled by Goran Dragic on the play and limped off the court.
The third-year guard started all 66 games he played this season and turned in a career-best year with 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per night. Although Milwaukee appears to have its first-round series in hand with a 3-0 lead over Miami, DiVincenzo’s absence could make a difference in later rounds.
DiVincenzo will be extension-eligible this offseason as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.
A decision not to pursue Bucks big man Bobby Portis in free agency may have led to the Heat’s playoff downfall, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jackson traces several missteps for Miami, which is in a 3-0 hole against Milwaukee, but the most significant might be passing on Portis, who is averaging 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in the playoff series.
A source tells Jackson that the Heat showed “mild interest” in Portis during free agency, but decided against making an offer. Portis would have considered Miami, Jackson adds, but he wound up signing with Milwaukee for $3.6MM and having a career-best season. The Heat signed Maurice Harkless for the same money, but he played just 11 games and scored 15 total points before being traded to the Kings in March.
Portis figures to be back on the market this summer as an unrestricted free agent and should get much better offers this time.
There’s more from Miami:
- The Heat made overtures to Marcus Morris in free agency before he re-signed with the Clippers for $64MM over four years, Jackson adds. They lost two of their own free agents when they refused to come close to the three-year, $30MM deal that Jae Crowder got from the Suns or the two-year, $19MM contract that the Trail Blazers gave Derrick Jones Jr. Instead, Miami split its $9.6MM mid-level exception between Harkless and Avery Bradley, neither of whom is still with the team. The Heat also drafted Precious Achiuwa and gave a two-year, $19MM deal to Meyers Leonard, but Achuiwa dropped out of the rotation when Dewayne Dedmon was added and Leonard played just three games before a season-ending shoulder injury.
- Team president Pat Riley has a history of making major changes after playoff embarrassments, and Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel suggests that another one may be coming. Winderman notes that the current roster was built for an immediate overhaul, with team options on Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala for next season and Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, Andre Iguodala, Victor Oladipo, Trevor Ariza, Nemanja Bjelica, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Udonis Haslem and Dedmon all potentially headed for free agency.
- Jimmy Butler believes the Heat need to fall back on toughness to salvage the series, writes Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN. “(I’m most surprised by) just how fast it got out of hand,” Butler said after Thursday’s loss. “We’ve got to pick who we want to be — be physical, make things much tougher. Then you’ve got to live with the result.”
- The Bucks will be raising crowd capacity at their home arena, Fiserv Forum, from 9,100 fans to 16,500 fans for the rest of playoffs, per a team press release. The earliest date this could go into effect is June 1, if the team’s series against the Heat extends to five games.
- The Bucks internally talked about tanking a matchup with the Heat in the final weekend of the season to avoid facing Miami in the first round, but unanimously decided against it, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN. With Milwaukee on the cusp of taking a 3-0 advantage in its series against Miami tonight, it appears that was the right call.
- Bucks reserve shooting guard Bryn Forbes proved his value with a stellar shooting night in the second game of Milwaukee’s first round matchup against the Heat, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Forbes scored 22 points and connected on six of his nine long-range attempts. Forbes has a $2.45MM player option for the 2021/22 NBA season, and may command a raise on the open market should he opt out of his current deal.
As we discussed on Monday, the postseason is off to a fascinating start in the Western Conference, where the underdogs in all four series won Game One. The results in the Eastern Conference haven’t been quite as surprising so far.
The No. 1 Sixers and No. 2 Nets took care of the Wizards and Celtics in their respective Game Ones. Although Washington and Boston were competitive, the star power of the higher seeds may be too much for the two play-in teams — Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris racked up a combined 67 points for Philadelphia on Sunday, while Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden scored 82 of Brooklyn’s 104 points on Saturday.
Meanwhile, after upsetting the Bucks in last year’s second round, the Heat have dug themselves a 2-0 hole in this year’s first round, and Monday’s loss was especially one-sided. Milwaukee poured in 46 first-quarter points and 22 total three-pointers en route to a blowout victory.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, the most exciting Eastern Conference series in the first round should be the one featuring two teams that have spent the last few years out of the postseason. The Knicks and Hawks went down to the wire on Sunday, with Trae Young clinching an Atlanta victory by hitting a floater with less than a second left in regulation.
The Celtics, Wizards, and Heat still have plenty of time to turn things around, but oddsmakers view it as a long shot that any of these three clubs will pull off a comeback. BetOnline.ag currently lists the Nets as -2750 favorites, meaning that if you want to bet on Brooklyn to win the series, you’d have to risk $2,750 in order to win just $100. The Sixers (-1800) and Bucks (-1000) are also heavy favorites.
The Hawks’ Game 1 upset has made them the frontrunners over the Knicks, but Vegas still views that series as practically a toss-up compared to the other three — Atlanta is only a -255 favorite.
We want to know what you think. Will the East’s top three seeds hold on and win their respective series with relative ease, or will the Celtics, Wizards, and/or Heat come alive and make things interesting? Do you expect a long series between the Hawks and Knicks? Who are you picking to win that one?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Jeremy Lin plans to keep on playing next season with the hope of hooking onto an NBA franchise, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Lin played in the G League this season, with the aim of landing another NBA contract. That didn’t happen, much to his dismay, despite averaging 19.8 PPG in nine G League contests. Lin is preparing for next season and evaluating his options, Stein adds. Lin hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2019.
We have more from the basketball world:
- Keith Appling, who played five games for the Magic during the 2015/16 season, has been arrested in regard to a homicide investigation in Detroit, according to an Associated Press report. The former Michigan State star has been accused of shooting a 66-year-old man after an argument on Saturday night. Appling was placed on probation last year in a heroin-related case.
- Forward Ignas Brazdeikis, who finished this season with the Magic, is looking to make the Lithuanian national team, Marius Milasius tweets. He’ll participate in the team’s camp before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Kaunas. Brazdeikis, who has previously represented Canada in international play, is officially a Lithuanian citizen, but doesn’t have his passport yet and still needs to meet FIBA requirements. He will be among 14-15 national team candidates.
- The Bucks are partnering with Motorola and will wear the company’s “batwing” logo on the front left shoulder of their jerseys, according to a team press release. The team previously wore a Harley-Davidson patch.
On Monday, we took an in-depth look at what we knew about the NBA’s 2021 draft lottery standings and projected draft order so far based on the regular season standings, and what was still to be determined based on play-in results, random tiebreakers, and the lottery results.
With the play-in tournament nearly over, we can fill in a few more gaps. Let’s dive in…
Lottery standings
Having been eliminated from playoff contention, the Pacers will be at No. 13 in the lottery standings, giving them a 1% chance at the first overall pick and a 4.8% shot at a top-five selection, per Tankathon.
A tiebreaker will be necessary to determine whether the Spurs or Hornets get the edge in the lottery standings, but they’ll occupy the Nos. 11 and 12 spots in the lottery standings. The winner of the tiebreaker – to be conducted next Tuesday – will have a slightly higher chance of earning the first overall pick (1.8% to 1.7%) and a top-four pick (8.5% to 8.0%).
The No. 14 spot in the lottery will be held by the loser of Friday’s Warriors/Grizzlies play-in game.
Draft order
Having clinched playoff spots, the Wizards and Celtics will draft 15th and 16th, respectively, in the first round.
The winner of tonight’s Warriors/Grizzlies play-in game will draft 17th, while the Lakers will be part of a Tuesday tiebreaker to determine their exact position — they could draft as high as 21st and as low as 23rd.
If the Lakers had missed the postseason, teams like the Heat, Knicks, and Hawks each would have been pushed down one spot in the draft. Since L.A. made it, those teams will stay put, starting with Miami at No. 18.
Notable traded second-round picks
On Monday, we focused on what would happen with 2021’s traded first-round picks. So many of this year’s second-round picks have been traded that we’re not going to run through all of them in this space (you can check our tracker for the full details), but here are a few notable second-round swaps worth flagging:
The Pacers traded their second-round pick to the Nets with 45-60 protection. Because Indiana’s second-rounder is going to land at No. 44, that pick will be sent to Brooklyn rather than being protected.
The Bulls, who will be involved in a first-round tiebreaker with the Pelicans (and Kings) to determine their spots in the lottery standings, also have the ability to swap second-round picks with New Orleans. In the event of a random tiebreaker, the second-round order is always the inverse of the first-round order — for instance, if Team A wins a first-round tiebreaker over Team B, then Team B would get the higher pick in the second round. But in this case, the Bulls could win the first-round tiebreaker, then use their second-round swap to make sure they pick ahead of the Pelicans in both rounds.
Because the Warriors‘ first-round pick will fall in the top 20, Golden State will keep it and will instead have to send the Timberwolves’ second-round pick to the Thunder to complete last year’s Kelly Oubre trade. That pick will be No. 36.
The Suns had agreed to send their second-round pick to the Grizzlies if it landed between 31-35 and to the Nets if it landed between 36-60. It’ll go to Brooklyn, since it’s the No. 59 overall selection. Memphis is simply out of luck, as Phoenix’s obligation to the Grizzlies is now extinguished.
The Bucks will get the first pick of the second round (No. 31), since the Rockets have the ability to swap their second-rounder for Milwaukee’s first-rounder (No. 24).
Other early second-round picks that will change hands include the Pistons‘ No. 32 pick (to the Knicks), the Cavaliers‘ pick at either No. 34 or 35 (to the Pelicans), and the Raptors‘ No. 37 pick (to the Pistons).
- Ahead of their playoff rematch against the Heat, the Bucks claim to know Miami’s game plan this year, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. A Miami club that upset then-top-seeded Milwaukee in the second round of the 2020 playoffs appears confident it can do so in the first ahead of a 3-6 first-round matchup.