The first-ever night of the play-in tournament was a bit underwhelming, to say the least. That is not to say that we didn’t learn anything about the teams who played. The first matchup of the night saw the Pacers going up against the Hornets. The game was over by the end of the first quarter.
LaMelo Ball and the Hornets seemed overwhelmed by the playoff atmosphere, and seriously missed the shot creation and playoff experience that Gordon Hayward brings to the team. The score at the end of the first quarter was 40-24 in favor of the Pacers and they kept extending that lead through steaming hot three-point shooting, getting a huge boost early on from Doug McDermott who came out of the gates scorching hot and ended the night with 21 points.
The Pacers have an incredibly balanced attack on offense that was in full display last night. They had 8 players score 12 or more points and as a team put up 144 points. That is nothing new for the Pacers as they are the 5th highest-scoring team in the NBA. The Pacers are getting healthy at the right time, getting Malcolm Brogdon back from injury along with Edmond Sumner, who has been a spark of energy off the bench for Indiana this entire season.
The Pacers will now match up with the Wizards, and the winner of that contest will take on the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs as the 8-seed. What is unfortunate for the Pacers is that they will be without their emerging star, Caris LeVert, going forward as he is in the league’s health and safety protocols. Since being traded from the Nets, Caris has been through the wringer. At his first physical, team doctors found out that he had kidney cancer and he had to miss significant time due to that (he is now cancer free) but he got back and was playing the best basketball of his career before his unfortunate close contact. He was averaging 21, 5, and 5 in his time with the Pacers. If they end up facing off against the Sixers, let’s hope the series is competitive, that way we can see LeVert make his return and show off his skillset in the playoffs.
The second and final game of the night was the Washington Wizards taking on the Boston Celtics. The Wizards were one of the best stories of the season, having started as one of the worst teams in the league, but then turning it on towards the end of the season to shock the eastern conference and end up as the 8 seed. Their star-powered backcourt of Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook is to thank for this success. Russ didn’t look fully healthy until after the all-star break, but it is now clear that he is playing with that intensity we are used to seeing him play with. Beal was neck and neck with Steph Curry to win the scoring title this season, but Curry ended up edging him out on the final day of the season.
The media wanted to count out the Celtics and gift the seven seed to the Wizards since Jaylen Brown will be out for the remainder of the season with an injury. What wasn’t accounted for was that the Wizards don’t have a soul on their team who can guard Jayson Tatum, who went off last night for 50 points and carried the Celtics to a victory. Watching Tatum go to work is magnificent, as he can comfortably score on all three levels and has move after move to throw at defenders. He never seems to be surprised by what the defense does and has counter moves to match whatever the defense does.
The Celtics get rewarded by having to play the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, where they will most likely fall, but I think this will be Tatum’s announcement to the league that he is a superstar.
The Wizards now and play the Pacers on Thursday in a matchup where not much defense will be played, and the game will be up and down. The loser will have to pack their bags and go home, but the winner will be in a better situation to upset the Sixers than either side would be to go up against the Nets at full strength.
Tonight we have the pleasure of watching Curry vs. LeBron in an elimination game for the first time since the legendary game 7 of the 2016 NBA finals. I am thoroughly loving the play-in this year and hope it sticks around for years to come.
