NBA playoff bracket reaction: Spurs DISASTER, Thunder ready for title run, can LeBron carry Lakers?
Jason reacts to the end of the NBA regular season and the playoff bracket being set. He discusses how the San Antonio Spurs hurt their title chances by benching Victor Wembanyama in their regular season finale against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserves MVP, how good the OKC Thunder roster is (in response to Bill Simmons), the Eastern Conference playoffs setting up in a fun way for Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics, whether LeBron James will carry the Los Angeles Lakers against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and more.
All lines provided by @hardrockbet
Timeline
0:00 – Start
0:45 – Spurs lose last game vs. Nuggets
10:15 – How this affects the rest of the playoffs
12:55 – Fun first round
19:10 – SGA MVP
20:54 – Thunder roster talent / Bill Simmons topic
34:42 – Knicks vs Celtics in round 2
37:20 – Lakers season
41:02 – LeBron James still cooking
47:13 – Tanking
50:02 – Playoff schedule
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23 Comments
Your second MVP criterion is flawed and should not be included, the other two are perfect
So if the Thunder were a 35-win team without SGA, they’d have no shot at the title? That just strengthens the Jokic for MVP argument because I seriously question whether the Nugs would be a 35-win team without Jokic. With Jokic, they’re a legit contender because the pieces they have around Jokic are so complementary. But without Jokic, that team would fall apart like a Jenga tower because Jokic is THE piece that makes it all work.
Bad MVP take. Jok is getting robbed again
Yikes… as a script writer for the NBA… I regret to inform you suns in 6 over the spurs. lol imagine that for this whole rant about spurs 😂
OKC deserve this route. You should always get an easy ride for coming 1st
Nick/Jason collab I used to pray for times like this
Bro LeBron is not top 10 in the post season now. D.Mitch is also better now
The Knicks may be a little better than they were last year, but the Celtics are significantly better. They replaced age & health with youth & energy, and twice as many players on the bench who Mazzulla is comfortable putting on the floor.
Jason x nick wright collab. I’m locked in!
Victor Wembanyama shows his French softness, screws over his team in pursuit of individual accolades and merit badges.
Why did Wemby play against Dallas Friday and sit against Denver Sunday instead of sitting against Dallas (meaningless game) and playing in the v meaningful for his team game 82 Sunday against Denver?
Spurs have long been locked into the 2 seed. Going into the 2 games this past weekend, Spurs could not move into 1st or fall into 3rd.
Victor Wembanyama needed to play 1 more game for > 20 mins to qualify for MVP / ALL NBA / DPOTY etc. Wembanyama's bruised ribs meant that while he was going to play 1 of Dallas or Denver this past weekend to get to 65 games, Wemby was not going to play both.
So, which to play?
DALLAS — MEANINGLESS game for the Spurs. Completely meaningless. However, Dallas presents an easier challenge for Wembanyama personally and for his team to W while Victor's on the court.
DENVER– MEANINGFUL game for the Spurs. if the Spurs can defeat Denver Sunday, game 82, Denver falls to the 4th seed and out of the Spurs side of the playoff bracket to OKC's.
Beating Denver would've meant Spurs get either the hobbled Lakers or the hot-mess, dysfunctional Rockets in the 2nd rd of the playoffs.
Losing to Denver in Sunday's game 82 means Denver secures the 3 seed and is now on track to meet the Spurs in round 2 of the NBA playoffs.
Why did Wemby play against Dallas and sit against Denver instead of sitting against Dallas (meaningless game) and playing in the v meaningful for his team game 82 against Denver?
Because Victor Wembanyama is French.
Victor Wembanyama is Charmin soft.
Victor Wembanyama is more concerned with pursuing individual accolades and merit badges than helping his team win a title.
Spurs will not win a title this year, maybe never with Charmin soft Victor Wembanyama as their centerpiece.
Pretty big shame you’re associating with Nick Wright. I come for actual analysis and to escape the tv landscape of shills and clowns and rage baiting
Would the Detroit pistons fall under that great players (Chauncey Billups) elevate great teams to championships or are they an exception with just an overall good/solid team who won? Also, does that mean if you replace jimmy butler with other stars we deem better than him, like Kawhi or Jaylen brown, does Miami win?
I do not trust Ayton (or AR even though he wont play) in PO. Lebron will have to be prime lebron one more time if LA wants to move on
Jalen Brown should be the MVP. He carried the Celtics to a top 2 seed by himself . No one saw that coming … dropping 30 and lock down defense
The Spurs were never winning the title this year.
There are multiple factors on why this isn’t the same Denver versus Minnesota matchup as it was in the past. Timberwolves don’t have the personnel that they used to defensively on the perimeter, losing NAW. Also, it will be much harder to swarm Jokić with how much better of a shooting team Denver is this year. Not to mention Jamal last playoff is one of the worst versions we’ve seen of him and now he’s playing like the best version we’ve ever seen of him. Let’s also not forget Kat. As much as we like to make fun of him, he really was a matchup problem for the Nuggets and it was a lot easier for them to deploy him on Jokić and allow go Rudy to roam.
The lakers best player is heliocentric and doesn’t play defense…. That archetype has never won a title as the best player . They’ll always be a flawed roster
Jokić lead the lead in total rebounds, total assist assist per game and rebounds per game while missing a month of basketball and also averaging 28 points a game on 67% true shooting and highest effective field-goal percentage in the league. I’m sorry but he was the best player this year 😹
It's a full circle moment between San Antonio, and Denver. If, y'all remember just a couple seasons ago Denver had a what should have been easy home game 82 vs a bad spurs team to lock up the #1 seed, loss badly, dropped to the 2nd seed, had a ten times harder schedule that ended up biting them in the ass, and getting bounced
Hoping ant man takes over the playoffs
“…I would take Jokic by a small margin…SGA was a better basketball player..” … total bullshizer 😂
Jason I believe that you’re overlooking how San Antonio handled this game. At the end of the day we all know they the 2 seed for a reason maybe they feel like they have matchups they can go to that will throw Denver off I honestly don’t believe San Antonio has thrown their best punch all year Allah Pop’s strategy. They def got something up their sleeve they have so much talent over there & also have 2 big looks I can see a Kornet on Jokic while Wemby roams which would really break things let’s see how it plays out bc I believe both teams have numerous dynamic players on both sides of the ball. We all kno about Denver’s unstoppable 2 man game & overall offense but San Antonio also has many young & different archetypes of defenders. I can easily see a 7 game series which would be great.
The La Houston series is very interesting I wonder if Bron or KD will take the matchup personally reminiscing on how they both stopped eachother from winning in the Finals 😂