The Four Horsemen of the NBA Reconception – Erik Spoelstra, Nick Nurse, Tyronn Lue and Steve Kerr – have ridden into town carrying banners.
The message: Why are we arguing about MVP’s, flop fouls and game minimums, when the entire regular season doesn’t matter anyway?
Forty-eight hours from now, they’ll either be trumpeting their cause even louder on a grander stage, or limping home much the same way they’ve staggered in.
The NBA play-in tournament features four teams that actually tried this season. Not coincidentally, they featured three of the six youngest rosters in the league, and a fourth that was coaxed by a glorified college coach into playing young.
They are the Hornets, Trail Blazers, Suns and Magic. Three are given a good chance of advancing, and the fourth would, too, if it were not paired with another of the energy-burning amateurs.
And then there’s the Heat, 76ers, Warriors and Clippers. They should, by all rights, be disqualified at this point for six months of tanking.
But their coaches know what they’re doing … or at least they think they do.
Will youth prevail? Or will the wise old men have taught another hardwood lesson?
Let’s take a look at the matchups …
Heat-Hornets
For the entirety of LeBron James’ lifetime, the Heat have been a better team than the Hornets. Even this season, when Spoelstra was yanking hard on the reins, they won three of four from Charlotte, which was “coming of age.”
The Hornets made a statement in a 30-point thrashing in the most recent regular-season head-to-head, after which they went on to play some entertaining ball, while all the Heat did was run up the score one night on the Wizards.
The Hornets are favored here because they tried late in the season while the Heat rested. Like that matters.
In your classic experience vs. exuberance matchup …
The Heat will prevail.
Trail Blazers-Suns
The only thing to say about this matchup is the Warriors and Clippers would die to be facing either of these regular-season surprises and not each other.
The Trail Blazers and Suns are Hornets Lite. The Warriors and Clippers are Heat Heavy.
Alas, the Trail Blazers are playing the Suns and …
Who really cares?
Magic-76ers
Joel Embiid and Paul George on the same team. What did you think was going to happen?
No doubt, if he could find the delete button, Nurse would have scripted two more wins and a first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. But don’t be surprised if he has another trick up his sleeve.
Nurse has to believe he can beat the Heat or the Hornets, at home, on Friday even without Embiid, which would land him on the Pistons/Cavaliers side of the imbalanced Eastern draw.
It would require the Ultimate Tank — a kinda playoff game — but it’s already in motion. Beating the Magic would mean drawing the Celtics next, and nobody wants that.
So play this like the regular season … lose a meaningless game, hope George can turn back the clock for one night, and pray his big guy gets healthy in a week. It just might work.
The Magic catch a lucky break.
Warriors-Clippers
With a chance to play his over-the-hill gang into some sort of rhythm, Kerr elected to exercise Kristaps Porzingis just 24 minutes and De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford just 19 apiece Sunday against this same team on this very same court.
So much for rhythm.
Nobody would call what happened Sunday a playoff preview. Well, almost nobody.
With regulars seeing most of the action, the Warriors won the first and third quarters of that one by a total of three points. Advantage: Kerr.
Now they get Draymond Green back, while the Clippers get to awaken Kawhi Leonard from his April nap. Big advantage: Lue.
At least Porzingis will be well rested for his fishing trip next week.
Kerr will get clobbered.
