Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. We’re about halfway through Round 1 and the biggest storyline so far are the many injuries to star players: Ja Morant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard. After a season of load management, these 4 players have already missed 6 Playoff games between them. Of course, what happened to Giannis and Ja were freak incidents and unfortunate to happen on the same day, but still. Anyway, here’s a quick update on the current series: the 76ers have sent the Nets home, the Bucks are struggling against Miami, Boston is taking its time with Atlanta and the Knicks are on course against Cleveland to achieve something they haven’t done in 10 years. In the West, the Lakers look in control of the series against the Grizzlies but all is still to play for. The Nuggets are pretty much done with the Timberwolves, much like the Suns are done with the Clippers. Luckily, there is 1 series that might go to 7, and that’s the Kings and the Warriors. This week, we go over 5 of the most impactful players of Round 1 so far. I’m Peter Peake and this is your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets. Three years I had to wait, but it was worth it! Bubble-Murray is back, baby! In Game 2 of the series against the Timberwolves, Murray went off for 40 points, battling with Anthony Edwards, who finished with 41, in an epic battle, reminiscent of the Mitchell Donovan - Murray battle between the Nuggets and the Jazz in Round 1 of the NBA bubble in 2020. The Nuggets won that series and the Timberwolves will need a miracle if the Nuggets are going to lose this one.
At the time of recording, the Timberwolves are leading the Nuggets by 6 at the end of the third quarter but this series could be all over by the time this podcast is online. Jokic already has 29 points and looks set to finish this early. With Murray playing exceptional in the first few games, Jokic has been able to cruise through this first round. By winding it up quickly now, they can start prepping for their match up with the Phoenix Suns. The Timberwolves are not capable of getting this Denver team in trouble, especially after the Gobert-punch uncovered quite a dysfunctional team on that end.
With the Suns, the Nuggets will have a bigger test in front of them. I can’t imagine them being scared of anyone on the other side of the Western Conference bracket, so if they can knock off the Suns, the path to the NBA Finals is wide open. This has to be the year for the Nuggets. Finally, they have a healthy roster since that massive run in the bubble and with the West all over the place, they can’t afford to lose their chance to have a chance to play for the Championship. Whether or not they’ll be able to beat whoever will come out of the East is a different story but getting there is the mission right now!
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings. The Warriors and the Kings are THE series of Round 1 so far for me, the reigning champion against the future of North California, old versus new, quick versus quicker, Draymond Green versus Domantas Sabonis or the stomp versus the grab and Stephen Curry versus De’Aaron Fox. The series is tied and so are the topscorers, because both Curry and Fox are averaging 31.5 points per game. There is very little that separates these teams and so far, neither one has been able to make the difference on the road.
And we all know that a series doesn’t start until the road team wins, in this case the Warriors. And they sucked this season, winning away from the Bay. Only 11 wins out of 41 games, that’s pretty much 1 game in 4. Now, if they can keep winning at home, they only need to win 1 game out of 4 on the road. Maths! The Kings have had 2 opportunities so far to knock the Warriors to the ground and forget to finish it off, especially in game 4. With 10 seconds left, they were a point down, when they called a time-out. A perfect opportunity to get the ball to Clutch Player of the Year De’Aaron Fox to finish off this game. And they did but Fox couldn’t get past Draymond, and the Warriors even the series.
For the Kings’ sake, I hope that they manage to finish off this series. They deserve it, based on the 2 games they played at home. The Warriors looked done and dusted. But, as they’re learning now, you’re never finished with the Warriors. You only get so many chances against them and if you forget to finish it, they’ll end up taking you to the cleaners. And I’m afraid this is what will happen to the Kings. The Warriors take some momentum to Sacramento and if they win, this series is over. But for the sake of all basketball fans out there, please let this series go to 7! That’s the least we deserve.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks. It took some time but RJ finally found his groove in this series. He really struggled in Cleveland, barely contributing anything, on both ends of the court. It was so bad that Stephen A. Smith called on First Take for Barrett to be benched in this series. Considering Smith is a massive Knicks fan and he has a soft spot for RJ, that was a massive take. But a bit too early. Because once the series shifted back to New York, all of a sudden, RJ turned into the second best player in this series.
With 45 points over 2 games, he outscored everyone, except for his teammate Jalen Brunson. Brunson is dominating this series and winning the match up against Donovan Mitchell, Knicks fans can be pleased. They got the right guy in the offseason, at a fraction of the price. And with 2 home court wins over Cleveland, the Knicks are now up 3 to 1 in the series when they travel back to Cleveland. I expect a bounceback game from Cleveland and then the Knicks to finish it off in New York. But if Cleveland can win the next 2 games and tie the series 3 all, I’m not sure if the Knicks have the ability to close out a Game 7.
Ideally, they get the job done in Cleveland but we’ll need to see RJ Barrett play much better than he has so far. And not just RJ, Julius Randle is yet to appear in this series too. Granted, he only just came back from injury at the start of the series and probably should have sat Game 1 and 2 but right now, New York needs him to be the Randle we saw in the regular season. The Knicks are on the verge of Round 2, something they haven't achieved since 2013, when Melo lost in 6 against the Pacers. And with Giannis banged up, maybe the Knicks can dream of more?
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers. Mr 50% strikes again! Look, it’s not exactly 50% but since Kawhi has signed for the Clippers he has been available for about half of the games they have played in those 4 seasons. And now it’s happening again in the Playoffs. After 2 dominating performances against the Suns, where he was the best player on the court, in a series that stars KD, Devin Booker and Chris Paul, he missed the next 2 and has basically handed the series to Phoenix. Look, the Clippers were always going to struggle without Paul George and with Kawhi you just never know when he’ll be injured but if he is serious about playing basketball, at some point you need to play through this stuff. Or quit.
The fact that he is such an incredible player makes this a difficult discussion. 34 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, averaged over 40 minutes per game, shooting over 50% from the floor, INCLUDING 60% from deep. He made KD look like a casual out there in Game 1 and stunned the Suns to steal home court. Then he banged his knee and it was game over. Even a 37 point game by the everpresent Russell Westbrook in Game 4 couldn't stop Devin Booker and KD from taking control of this series.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I’m pretty confident it is safe to say that the Suns can start preparing for their second round clash with the Denver Nuggets. Up 3-1, the series moves back to Phoenix and I have no doubt they’ll finish it at home. Suns in 5! The Clippers? They have to leave another postseason with their tails between their legs. Yes, without Paul it was always going to be hard but when will that excuse stop being used? Neither one of these guys are available enough for the Clippers to achieve anything. As far as I’m concerned, they tried, they swung for the fences but fell short. Time to move on and retool, surely there’s a team or two out there that is willing to pay good value for these 2 absolute superstars.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers are the only team so far that have successfully completed their first round. The Nets fought for what they were worth but at the end of the day, they were simply not strong enough to beat the Sixers, even in a game without Embiid, a game that 99 times out of a 100 would be won by the weaker team, the Nets were unable to extend this series. And that is good news for Joel, who is battling with a knee injury and could be out for a bit.
He injured his knee in Game 3, trying to contest Cam Johnson. The fact that he managed to finish the game is positive for Philly, that means it’s not that serious and he should be back in no time. The fact that his team took care of business in Game 4 gives the MVP favourite extra time to recover because now he can sit back and let that knee rest until Boston has taken care of the Hawks. That could be as early as this week but if Trae Young and his mates manage to steal another game from the Celtics, Joel could be looking at a full week to recover.
In his 3 games, he averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds per game and was absolutely dominant at moments. Obviously, his attempt to neuter Nic Claxton was a stain on his performance, really he should have been ejected there. But overall, this was an impressive series by Embiid who did not have to exert too much energy in Round 1. James Harden, who did get ejected but didn't really do anything, took on the role of playmaker perfectly. Tyrese Maxey took another step up and carried the Sixers during stretches in the series and even Tobias Harris proved his worth. I thought they’d struggle more against the Nets and be more banged up before they meet the Celtics. Now that they aren’t, I’m concerned for the Celtics who better take care of business quickly.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
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