Good morning, the NBA playoffs are here
Get ready, the postseason has arrived.
Good morning. Let’s playoff basketball.
TODAY: Four games on the docket. The links below go to the series hubs, which are CHOCK FULL of predictions, odds, season series info, coaching matchups and more more more. Here’s the link to the central playoffs hub.
Nets at Raptors, 12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Warriors at Clippers, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Hawks at Pacers, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Grizzlies at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Playoffs!
MEMPHIS BLUES: The NBA announced (very) late Friday that Grizzlies back-up point guard Nick Calathes has been suspended 20 games for testing positive for a banned substance. Woj reported that the substance in question is Tamoxifen, which is often used in conjunction with steroids to mitigate the effects on estrogen production.
But Calathes claims the substance was in an over-the-counter supplement, and the test reportedly found no trace of anabolic steroids or other PEDs, according to Woj. The interim head of the players’ union lashed out at the league, calling the punishment a “true injustice.” Calathes will appeal.
BENO TIME: Beno Udrih will take Calathes’ spot in the rotation. Mark Deeks reminds us how brilliant the maneuvering to claim Udrih off of waivers and avoid the luxury tax was for Memphis.
DEFENDING THE PICK AND ROLL: Coach Doug Eberhardt with a crucial, detailed explainer on how to defend the pick and roll, the NBA’s bread and butter play.
GET GEEKED: My list of 23 things that have me all sorts of stoked for the postseason, starring Playoff Noah, the Mark Jackson soap opera, Durant and LeBron’s Odyssey and more.
EXPLAINING ODOM: Why did the Knicks sign Lamar Odom 15 minutes before the last game of the season? Deeks explains in full.
CASH MONEY: Larry Coon reports that the league’s salary cap projection for the 2014-15 season has shot up $5 million to $63.2 million. The new luxury tax threshold projection is $77 million. That is a massive jump (almost 8 percent). The immediate impact may be that it emboldens the Bulls and Rockets in their potential chases of Carmelo Anthony.
THE COMPLETE HORRY SCALE: Lang Whitaker’s brilliant Horry Scale -- rating each game-winning buzzer beater of the season -- is complete. My favorite is the Monta Ellis winner after the tying shot from Damian Lillard. What a sequence.
IMPATIENT IN PARIS: Kobe is in Paris because why not, but Mitch Kupchak still basically begged him for patience during his end-of-the-season exit interview on Friday. Those guys have one weird relationship.
THE LAND OF LOB: The Magic completed only nine alley-oops all season. Nine! Here’s video of all of them.
FUELBAND GONE: Nike has ended its work on wearable tech and will no longer produce FuelBand or apparently Nike+ products. I had the sense FuelBand had a bit of a following among hoopheads, based on Twitter.
AN NBA WITHOUT INJURIES: 538’s Jeff Stotts calculated what the league would look like if there had been no injuries this season. The playoff picture remains relatively unchanged. So stop complaining!
READING MATERIAL: If you have time before Nets-Raps and are all NBA playoff previewed out, good sir Max Fisher at Vox.com points toward six short Gabriel Garcia Marquez stories you can read this weekend. Highly recommended.
Happy Playoffs. Playoffs playoffs playoffs. Playoffs. See you next time.
