NBA scores 2017: Let’s thank the NBA for another amazing season

Another regular season has passed us by, and it was great yet again.

Apr 13, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Eighty-two games, 30 times over, have come and gone again. The National Basketball Association is consistent like that. It ticks on and on, each passing season presenting new challenges and stars, and different storylines and controversies.

Last October, as we ramped up to the NBA season, I was having trouble getting excited for it. There was a number of reasons, to be sure — but it was partly that it all felt predictable. As we look back, perhaps it was. Certainly, we head into the postseason with some uncertainty but the overwhelming expectations that the Warriors will be playing the Cavaliers in the finals. Still, writing off the regular season because we might know which teams end up facing each other at the end would have been the worst possible mistake any of us could have made. After the regular season’s final day, I can put finally file away that preseason feeling for good.

It was so wrong.

This season, and this sport, did it again. We were rewarded with a thrilling, fascinating, and stimulating six months of sports. Thanks, basketball. I don’t need to rattle off specific moments, and really, there’s too many to even count, although Tom Ziller’s top 101 does as good a job as any. (He did leave out Dirk Nowitzki passing 30,000 points, which is my only quibble.) But from front to end, the NBA season captured our attention and never gave us a dull moment.

Thanks, basketball. Now, right before the postseason starts, now’s our chance to say thank you.

We know who’s in the playoffs and when the games are

The key details that were determined on Wednesday are:

Boston clinched the No. 1 seed, and will face the Chicago Bulls.
Indiana secured the No. 7 seed, which will pit them against Cleveland.
The Clippers will host Utah in their 4/5 series in the Western Conference, with Los Angeles locking down home court advantage with a win on Wednesday.

You can see it all right here.

Apologies to the Heat — but Miami fans, be proud

The Heat started 11-30 and finished 30-11. That’s the best second half record for any team ever down 19 games under .500, and the best second half record for any team that missed the playoffs. What they did was amazing.