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NBA playoffs blog
2017 NBA Playoffs First Round Matchups:
EAST
Boston vs. Chicago
Cleveland vs. Indiana
Toronto vs. Milwaukee
Washington vs. Atlanta
WEST
Golden State vs. Portland
San Antonio vs. Memphis
Houston vs. Oklahoma City
LA Clippers vs. Utah
Now check the complete series-by-series first round NBA playoffs schedule
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The Golden State Warriors have already clinched a berth in the 2017 NBA Playoffs by virtue of Saturday’s 112-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Oracle Arena, becoming the first team to secure a playoff spot this season. Golden State, which owns an NBA-best 49-9 (.845) mark on the season, has earned a playoff appearance in the month of February for the second consecutive season. The 2017 NBA Playoffs are scheduled to begin on April 15.
The Warriors, who are slated to make their fifth-straight playoff appearance for the first time since qualifying for the postseason in each of the first six years of the league’s existence (1946-47 to 1951-52), won the 2015 NBA Championship and earned two Western Conference Championships since their return to the playoffs in 2013. Golden State owns a 40-24 (.625) postseason record in that span.
By Jeff Lenchiner
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The Cavaliers beat the Warriors in seven games to win the 2016 NBA championship. Here’s what Cavs star LeBron James averaged in the Finals series:
29.7 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 8.9 apg, 2.6 spg, 2.3 bpg, on 49% shooting.
That’s… insane.
Those are video game numbers.
Those are the type of stats your buddy in the park makes up, as a joke, about some rec league he allegedly dominated that you happen to have never heard of.
Except, they’re real, and they accurately represent what LeBron accomplished in the NBA Finals, against a team that had just won more regular season games than any team in the history of the NBA.
Cavs guard Kyrie Irving was excellent in the Finals too of course, averaging 27.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.9 apg and 2.1 spg, shooting 47% and hitting 40.5% from three-point range. He will never average a ton of assists in the current makeup of the Cavs team. But he produced, and often stepped up when the team seemed to be in an offensive lull. He did his job.
Third in scoring for the new champs was shooting guard J.R. Smith at 10.6 ppg (40% FG, 36% threes), then Tristan Thompson at 10.3 ppg and 10.1 rpg.
Kevin Love was quiet in the Finals, averaging 8.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 26.3 minutes per outing.
Back to those LeBron 2016 NBA Finals stats: have fun trying to come up with proper adjectives to describe just how awesome they are. And after you do that, just stare at them for a while, because they don’t happen often.
The Cavaliers beat the Warriors in Game 7 last night to win the 2016 NBA championship. Veteran small forward Richard Jefferson emerged as a big-time contributor to the Cavs. And now, will RJ hang up his sneakers? Probably. But not definitely. ESPN.com reports:
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“I am retiring. I am retiring,” he told Fox Sports Ohio as he celebrated.
Later, in an interview on NBA TV, Jefferson said: “My teammates keep trying to talk me out of it, and I’m like guys, this has been the most stressful month of my life. I was like, ‘I don’t know.'”
Jefferson then told ESPN of retirement: “Maybe. If you ask me now, yes. But we’ll see.”
The NBA playoffs are down to one game. NBA Finals Game 7 is Sunday night at Golden State. And for some key Warriors players, a Game 7 loss would define the entire season as a failure. Here’s CSN Bay Area reporting:
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After nearly nine months reaping the benefits of unity, being of one mindset, the Warriors are, in at least one regard, splintering as they approach Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
A loss would slap the term “failure” on this season, say guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
“Yeah, pretty much, because that was our goal from the beginning,” Curry said Saturday, on the eve of Game 7, echoing comments Thompson made two days earlier.
A loss would not define the season as a failure, says coach Steve Kerr, who took mild umbrage that someone would frame such a question.
The Warriors lead the Cavs 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals. The defending champs won’t have Draymond Green’s services for Game 5, but they’re still in good shape. Now, as for guard Stephen Curry, is he fully healthy? Nobody knows. He’s looked like himself for some stretches of some games, but plenty of other times has looked like a regular, mortal, pretty good guard. He’s clearly mostly healthy, or else he wouldn’t be out there at all. But as for real injuries? Here’s CSN Bay Area with the latest:
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It was with a completely different look that Steph Curry walked to the interview podium Sunday after Warriors practice.
There was a large ice pack wrapped around his right shoulder, a visual that was particularly notable in the wake of weekend reports he is coping with a shoulder injury.
The ice pack was, according to Curry, his comedic response to reports he was having problems with his shoulders.
“I can’t even keep a straight face,” Curry said. “Whoever said I was getting shoulder surgery and all that kind of stuff, we’ve got bumps and bruises, but every – we’ll be all right.”
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of officiating, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
Lue made his comments during the postgame press conference following the Golden State Warriors’ 108-97 victory over the Cavaliers in Game 4 of The Finals on June 10 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has been assessed a Flagrant Foul 1 upon league office review, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
In accordance with NBA rules, Green will serve a one-game suspension without pay for accruing his fourth Flagrant Foul point of the 2016 postseason. He will serve his suspension Monday, June 13 during Game 5 of The Finals at Oracle Arena.
The incident occurred when Green made unnecessary contact with a retaliatory swipe of his hand to the groin of Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James with 2:48 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 108-97 win in Game 4 of The Finals at Quicken Loans Arena.
Under league rules, any player who accumulates four flagrant foul points over the course of the playoffs will be automatically suspended for one game, and every additional flagrant foul will result in either a one-game suspension (for a Flagrant Foul 1) or a two-game suspension (for a Flagrant Foul 2).
“The cumulative points system is designed to deter flagrant fouls in our game” said VanDeWeghe. “While Draymond Green’s actions in Game 4 do not merit a suspension as a standalone act, the number of flagrant points he has earned triggers a suspension for Game 5.”
James has been assessed a technical foul upon league office review for his role in the altercation, which included a physical taunt.
The Cavs are in big trouble in the 2016 NBA Finals. You know that, because they are down 3-1 to the Warriors, who were the best team in the league this season. But having some historical perspective is often helpful. Here’s the News Herald reporting:
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The Cavaliers are trying to do something historical in the NBA Finals, as in first-man-to-row -a-bathtub-across-the-Atlantic-Ocean-from-the-United-States-to-England historical.
Ten teams in the 70-year history of the NBA have triumphed after being down 3-1 in a playoff series. But it has never happened in the Finals. The most recent team to do it, the Cavs don’t need to be reminded, was the very Warriors they are trying to beat. Oklahoma City had a 3-1 lead and then lost in Oakland, lost at home and lost Game 7 in Oakland last month in the Western Conference finals.
As if that isn’t bad enough for the Cavaliers, who trail the Warriors, 3-1, heading into Game 5 on June 13 in Oakland, only twice in the 10 comebacks did the road team prevail in Game 7, which is what the Cavaliers would have to do to topple the defending champions.
The Cavs are down 3-1 to the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Game 5 is Sunday in Oakland. The first three games of the series were blowouts, so a few free throws in either direction wouldn’t have made much of a difference, but Game 4 was close. Did LeBron James deserve more free throw attempts? Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle reporting:
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LeBron James barked plenty toward Warriors Stephen Curry and Draymond Green on the court during the second half of Friday’s Game 4, and the Cleveland All-Star forward transferred some of his ire toward the officials after the 108-97 loss.
“I’m not quite sure what I can do to get to the free-throw line, but I’ve got to continue to be aggressive for our team,” James said. “I’m getting hit, but the refs are not seeing it that way on my drives. I’ve got to continue to be aggressive. That’s who I am for our team. That’s what opens up the floor for a lot of our shooters.” …
“He never gets calls,” Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue said. “He attacks. Outside of Russell Westbrook, he’s one of the guys who attacks the paint every single play, and he doesn’t get a fair whistle all the time because of his strength, his power and guys bounce off of him. But those are still fouls. We’ve got to play through the officiating.”