Week 21 recap and Roze's 5 Things

Standings

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers 56-11
2. Boston Celtics 49-19
3. New York Knicks 42-24
4. Milwaukee Bucks 38-28
5. Indiana Pacers 37-29
6. Detroit Pistons 37-31
7. Atlanta Hawks 32-35
8. Orlando Magic 32-37
9. Miami Heat 29-38
10. Chicago Bulls 28-39
11. Toronto Raptors 24-43
12. Philadelphia 76ers 23-44
13. Brooklyn Nets 22-45
14. Charlotte Hornets 17-49
15. Washington Wizards 15-51

Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City Thunder 55-12
2. Houston Rockets 43-25
3. Denver Nuggets 43-25
4. Memphis Grizzlies 43-25
5. Los Angeles Lakers 40-25
6. Golden State Warriors 39-28
7. Minnesota Timberwolves 39-29
8. LA Clippers 37-30
9. Sacramento Kings 33-33
10. Dallas Mavericks 33-36
11. Phoenix Suns 31-36
12. San Antonio Spurs 28-38
13. Portland Trail Blazers 28-39
14. New Orleans Pelican 18-50
15. Utah Jazz 15-52

Reaction 

The Cavaliers remain in first in the Eastern Conference with their 16-game winning, however it was snapped earlier today. The Celtics stay in 2nd but were swept in the season series vs the Thunder on Wednesday. The Knicks stay in third place. The Bucks-Pacers flipped spots after the two teams matched up against each other twice within the last week.  The Pistons stay in 6th place to round out the non-play-in teams. The Play-in make up is still Hawks, Magic, Heat, and Bulls with none of the teams having a winning record. The 76ers are just a game ahead of the Raptors in the 13th spots while the Nets are just ahead of the76ers. The Hornets and Wizards still round out the basement. The Wizards have also won 6 of their last 12. 

In the Western Conference the Thunder stay in first place after their recent win in Detroit. The Rockets, Nuggets, and Grizzlies are all tied for 2nd in the West while the Lakers and Warriors round out the top 6. The Timberwolves just are 0.5 games behind the Warriors while the Clippers stay in the in the 8th spot. The Kings and Mavericks round out the play-in with the Mavs finally winning today. They are 2-8 in their last 10. The Suns sit outside the play-in while the Spurs and Blazers are tied for 12th. The Pelicans and Jazz remain in the bottom.  

News recap 

Sunday, March 9th

Lebron James will miss at least 1-2 weeks with a groin strain. 

Jaren Jackson Jr. will miss at least another week with an ankle sprain.

Amen Thompson will miss at least 2 weeks with an ankle sprain. 

Thursday, March 13th

Bilal Coulbaly will miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury and will likely be done for the season. 

De’Aaron Fox will miss the rest of the season with a finger injury. 

Friday, March 14th

John Collins will miss 2 weeks with an ankle injury. 

Dante Exum will be out indefinitely with a broken hand. 

Saturday, March 15th

Alec Burks will miss one week with a back injury. 

Roze’s 5 Things

• Can the Pacers make some noise in the playoffs?

The Pacers will likely be matched up with the Bucks in the first of the Eastern Conference playoffs, but who has home court advantage has yet to be determined. However, for whatever reason, the Pacers give the Bucks issues more than other teams. I like the Siakam matchup for the Pacers and he’s done well against the Bucks whenever they have matched up in recently. The Giannis question for the Pacers is still a question that needs to be answered, and Damian Lillard looks like he has his recent form coming back after a slumping season last year. I think the thing that gives me some confidence in the Pacers is they have shown an elite level of defense for an extended period while playing high level competition. The lineup of Siakam-Turner-Haliburton-Nembhard-Nesmith has produced an other worldly level of net rating. That lineup has an offensive rating of 120.4 and a defensive rating of 102.8. The defensive piece from both Nesmith and Nembhard is very underrated and Tyrese Haliburton looks more aggressive getting downhill and has reached a nice level of chemistry with Pascal Siakam. Throw in Turner providing some floor spacing, the lineup is very cohesive together. I think they are much better than last season, but we will see come April. 

• We need to talk about Zion’s passing.

Zion hasn’t always been available so far this season, but the last 10 games have shown him to be returning to a version of his old self. He’s averaging 7 assists in his last 10 games played and has also reportedly been at his lowest weight since entering the NBA at 264 pounds. It’s noticeable as he looks more in shape and playing extremely hard consistently. He had a career-high 12 assists in the Pelicans' games on Tuesday, something that did not move Shaq, whatever. I have enjoyed his passing out of the post and he’s starting to see the defensive rotations before they even get to him. The double team rate is still very high, 18%, and he’s operating very nicely out of the elbow and short post. This progression from his is nice to start after a shaky start of the season. 

• Steph getting 4,000 career 3s is insane to think about. 

Steph passed another impressive milestone this past week as he surpassed 4,000 career three-pointers. He is the greatest shooter ever and it's hard to put into words what this accomplishment is. Generally, when thinking about it, the next question to ask is will anyone break it? This is usually the point at which people put into perspective what this record is. So say the player plays 16 seasons in the NBA. A lot, but to reach 4,000 career threes they would have to average 250 threes made in a season. For 16 seasons. There’s only been 1 player to have more than 5 such seasons, Steph, with 11. Buddy Hield has the next most with just 5. What if a player had 300 threes made in a season? There have been just 7 seasons ever with those. Steph has 5 of them. He’s been unbelievable throughout his entire career. 

• Quentin Grimes is really good. 

His last 10 games have shown some awesome improvement from where he was last season. He’s averaging 22 points a game on 52/38 shooting splits. He’s been insanely good for the 76ers since being traded. The most impressive thing about Grimes this season has been the shot creation he has shown. He’s scored 36% of his baskets this season unassisted, far and away the highest percentage of his career. Since being traded to the 76ers, that number has increased to 47%. He’s also taking almost 4 pull-ups a game as well and shooting 32.8% on those this season. I’ve enjoyed watching him play as well as he has this season. I still think that trade was horrible because of how good Grimes is. 

• Could the Nuggets make another run?

Kind of dumb question considering how well they’ve done in the last 2 seasons, but I’m starting to believe it honestly. This is mainly because of Jamal Murray’s recent success. Murray is the player that makes the Nuggets go. When he’s playing his best, they are a really good team. Sure, the defense gets kind of weird now and then, but overall I think the Nuggets are really good and can make noise in the playoffs. I do think they nice to have Aaron Grodon playing well, but when Murray is on they are super hard to stop on offense. Their defense has shown glimpses of being good at times. I think when Jokic is on at that end of the court they are as hard as anyone to beat.