If it’s not in a list, then it’s not worth writing! Let’s rank teams by how much things suck for them in the NBA Playoffs right now!
6. Philadelphia 76ers
And it already starts to feel yucky. The Sixers having five teams above them doesn’t feel right. Like, you think about Joel Embiid injuries and you’re already in hell. The Sixers are in hell once again this year.
And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad (you know, Maxey is still young, Edgecombe is contributing as a rookie) if this matchup wasn’t against the Celtics. This happens so much. Boston makes people in Philadelphia sad so much. I know people who root for the Sixers and I feel really bad for them!
But, like, this kind of seemed how it was going to go. Seven-seed Philadelphia and two-seed Celtics. Not too long ago Boston was again crowned the consensus best team in the East by loud types of people whose opinion I don’t entirely respect. We all should have seen this coming.
The Sixers aren’t exactly facing adversity as much as everything is just sad. I feel like I should be apologizing for something but it’s one of those times where you really haven’t done anything wrong but you’re just trying to be the voice of an unfair world.
5. Atlanta Hawks
There isn’t a ton to say here. This is a new edition of the team around Jalen Johnson instead of Trae Young. The Hawks have played quite tough at times, portending a hopeful good start to next season. The Knicks are supposed to win this series anyhow. Honestly, in an earlier edition of this article, the Knicks were on here in place of the Hawks. That was yesterday. Incredible how fast things change.
The Hawks have a lot to be proud of. It’s just looking less likely an upset than it was a few days ago.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
This team also feels like they should be higher, but this is like the circles of hell. Just a steady series of “wow, that seems awful I wonder what could be worse. oh.” moments.
There is not too much new to say on the Cavs makeup that hasn’t been said, but yeah. Going into this season one could make an argument for the Cavs being the best team in the East. And if that’s the case, that immediately makes you a contender.
Plus, so much of this team is playoff-tested. The Cavs have been, if not a powerhouse, a force in recent regular seasons with unfortunate exits (that we can partially attribute to injury luck) in the playoffs. They just needed to keep their base strong and healthy and they could go into the postseason with experience with the environment and familiarity as a group.
Unfortunately to shore up their playoff capacity they got James Harden. I don’t want to be mean, but that tends to only go one way.
3. Houston Rockets
Oh good another owner I don’t like. Remember when Frittata would have commercials for his own book in which he advertised he was a narcissistic, self-obsessed weirdo?
Anyway, this is a team that after the addition of KD was also in outer contender orbit for a time. The Fred Van Vleet injury seemed to be the end of that, but they started off the season looking like one of the best teams in the league all the same. Their net rating was in the top tier of teams, and the hope of watching young players coalesce around KD more and better as the year went on was dope!
Then Steven Adams going down with an injury ruined the most fun offensive rebounding attack I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch. And players got less healthy. And I think at one point I saw someone wanting to trade Alperen Şengün for Nic Claxton. The vibes shifted
And that’s kind of the vibes still sticking with the team now in conjunction with a KD injury.
Now. You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned that they are playing Lakers team missing two of their top three players, and the one that remains is forty-one.
This isn’t supposed to be happening. The Lakers seemed a little paper-tiger-y even before losing a likely All-NBA First Team selection at the end of the regular season. And Austin Reaves. This is my contractually obligated Reaves mention. Use hashtag #ReavesSteez on social media for giveaways and prizes.
It’s just sad. This Rockets season is not what it was supposed to be.
2. Denver Nuggets
This team was a genuine championship contender this year, it seemed. Still is, really. Jokić remains in his prime. Jamal Murray always does stuff in the playoffs. Grabbing Cam from Brooklyn seemed like an upgrade. Aaron Gordon. New coach blood.
They now find themselves heading to Minnesota on Thursday facing elimination against a team that knows them very, very well without or with a hampered Gordon, no Peyton Watson, and a nepo baby coach that turns into a pez dispenser throwing a tantrum as soon as there is media availability.
The Wolves have injuries too, but that just kind of makes the potential of a Nuggets first round exit even more painful.
Either there are going to be a lot of 3-1 comebacks, or teams we thought had real potential are going home early.
Speaking of…
1. Detroit Pistons
One seeds are supposed to beat the eight seeds. Like, that’s supposed to happen. Pistons fans (hi) are not supposed to potentially only have one game left in their season.
But they do. The Number One Eastern Conference Seed Detroit Pistons are down one game to three in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
This is made worse by Paolo Banchero and the Magic looking like a three pack of buns as the regular season closed and the play-in happened. There were almost full-on obituaries written for Paolo’s rise a couple weeks ago. Amazing how things change.
The Pistons have to hope things can change back? But the Pistons have looked good for maybe a grand total of 15 played minutes in this series. The Magic had fewer turnovers and more scoring opportunities every game, with the last game being the worst: the Magic had19 more scoring chances per Dunks and Threes than the Pistons. That’s nearly a quarter’s worth of possessions.
The Magic are doing exactly what a team needs to do to make things difficult for Detroit. And I know I’m not the first to say this, but Orlando has way more talent than a typical eight seed would. Franz and Paolo have looked tough for seasons, Suggs is healthy, and they added Bane to cover their biggest weakness in shooting. They are just a good team when playing well.
Well, we can’t exactly say either team is playing great, but Orlando has simply been better.
As a Pistons fan, it sucks. From the perspective of a Pistons fan, two things:
1. I thought getting all the way to 60 wins despite Cade‘s injuries was more than enough. I think I had more raw, total fun watching the Pistons this year than in any season prior. It was great.
Heck, I wrote something saying as much. I swear this isn’t a “don’t put it in the paper that I’m mad” thing.
But there’s a but.
2. I’m annoyed as hell at people who went into the playoffs publicly stating how much they didn’t believe in the Pistons. So many of the reasons I saw were just, if I’m honest, complete nonsense.
Offense dependent on the transition game can get stuck in the playoffs (see the recent pre-blown-up Memphis team) and JB has had teams underperform in the playoffs. Those are great ones.
But this team was as tough as Cam Skattebo thinks his skull is in the regular season. Cade worked miracles in the fourth over and over. When starters were out, end-of-bench players stepped up. By the end of the year, I truly believed that they could win almost any game they were in. It was awesome! I don’t believe in Detroit teams! Ever! I believed in this one!
And I do still believe that. It would be wild if they could climb out of this hole. But circumstances are, adverse.
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