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Poll: Play-In Winners For No. 8 Seeds

May 20th, 2021 at 2:04pm CST by Luke Adams

While some games in the NBA’s play-in tournament have been a little more exciting than others, the end result of all four has been the same so far: the higher seed has advanced.

That means we’ve got a pair of No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchups on tap, with the final playoff spot in each conference on the line, starting on Thursday night with the Eastern Conference….

Indiana Pacers (9) at Washington Wizards (8)

Given the way the last month of their respective seasons played out, the red-hot Wizards looked like a safe bet to earn a playoff spot, while the inconsistent, injury-plagued Pacers seemed to be a candidate for an early exit. But Washington couldn’t knock off Boston on Tuesday, and a shorthanded Indiana squad dominated Charlotte, setting up an elimination game between the two teams for Thursday.

Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook fueled the Wizards’ 17-6 finish to the season, but neither player looked quite like himself on Tuesday. Beal, still bothered by a hamstring injury, scored 22 points on 10-of-25 shooting, a subpar night by his lofty standards. Westbrook was worse — after averaging a monster line of 23.0 PPG, 14.0 APG, and 13.5 RPG in Washington’s final 23 games, he shot just 6-of-18 on Tuesday and had nearly as many turnovers (4) as assists (5).

To advance on Thursday, the Wizards will need more from their two backcourt stars and from $80MM man Davis Bertans, who missed all seven of his 3-point attempts on Tuesday and was a game-worst minus-23.

As for the Pacers, even without key players like Caris LeVert, Myles Turner, and T.J. Warren available, they put up 144 points in their win over Charlotte. But the Hornets had backed into the play-in tournament, losing 15 of their last 21 games of the regular season, and were dealing with injury absences of their own, including standout forward Gordon Hayward. Indiana will face a more difficult challenge on Thursday and will no longer benefit from home-court advantage.

What do you think? Will the Wizards or Pacers win on Thursday and clinch the East’s No. 8 seed?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Memphis Grizzlies (9) at Golden State Warriors (8)

The Warriors defeated the Grizzlies on the last day of the regular season to earn the No. 8 seed in the play-in tournament. On Friday, just five days later, they’ll be looking to repeat that result to clinch the No. 8 seed for the playoffs.

Although the Warriors couldn’t pick up a win on Wednesday, their performance against the defending-champion Lakers showed why they’ll enter Friday’s game as the favorites. The Dubs held the Lakers to 40.7% shooting and led for most of the night, but a miracle LeBron James three-pointer broke a tie in the game’s final minute.

Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins, who combined for 58 of Golden State’s 100 points on Wednesday, may need a little more help on Friday, but the fact that Los Angeles couldn’t slow down Curry (37 points on 12-of-23 shooting) even with so much defensive attention on him is an encouraging sign for the Warriors.

The Grizzlies shouldn’t be ruled out, however. While the final score in Wednesday’s 100-96 win over San Antonio was close, Memphis dominated the minutes that Ja Morant (+20) and Jonas Valanciunas (+26) played and figure to lean heavily on that duo again on Friday.

The Grizzlies’ chances of hanging with Golden State and pulling off the upset hinge not only on Valanciunas’ ability to punish the Warriors inside like he did the Spurs (23 points, 23 rebounds), but on Memphis’ ability to play good defense while the veteran center is on the court. In Sunday’s loss, Valanciunas racked up 29 points and 16 boards, but the Grizzlies posted an awful 127.0 defensive rating during his 36 minutes.

What do you think? Will the Warriors or Grizzlies win on Friday and lock up the No. 8 seed in the West?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Beal Playing Through Injury; Bertans Struggling

May 19th, 2021 at 9:37pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After initially straining his hamstring just under two weeks ago, Wizards All-Star guard Bradley Beal braced himself to play through the injury in this week’s play-in tournament, writes David Aldridge of The Athletic.

“I’m a strider,” Beal said on Monday, in advance of the Wizards’ eventual 118-100 blowout play-in loss to the Celtics yesterday. “It restricts a lot of my movements, for sure. But when you’re … on the court you find ways to manage it. You’re in control of a lot of stuff. The reactionary stuff, you’re not, especially like on defense and things like that. But the things you can’t control, you try not to put yourself in harm’s way.”

The Wizards will play the Pacers tomorrow for the No. 8 seed in the East.

Candace Buckner of the Washington Post asserts that, in order to win their second play-in game and qualify for the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Wizards will need to get more offense from power forward Davis Bertans, who is in the first year of a costly $80MM deal he signed during the 2020 offseason.

No Draft Tiebreaker Required For Pacers, Wizards

May 19th, 2021 at 8:31am CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers won their play-in game on Tuesday night, while the Wizards lost theirs, meaning the two teams will face one another on Thursday in the Eastern Conference’s final play-in contest with the No. 8 seed up for grabs. The winner will earn the East’s last playoff spot, while the loser goes home.

The Pacers and Wizards had identical 34-38 records in the regular season, but since only one can make the playoffs now, no random tiebreaker will be required to determine which of them has the higher first-round draft pick or the higher spot in the lottery standings. The team that makes the playoffs will end up with the 15th overall pick (or No. 16, if the Spurs make the postseason). The team eliminated on Thursday will get a spot in the late-lottery.

Monty Williams Wins Coaches Association Award

May 18th, 2021 at 11:45am CST by Luke Adams

Suns head coach Monty Williams has won the 2020/21 Michael H. Goldberg award, as voted on by the National Basketball Coaches Association, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

This award, introduced in 2017 and named after longtime NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg, is voted on by the NBA’s 30 head coaches, none of whom can vote for himself. However, it isn’t the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by media members and is represented by the Red Auerbach Trophy. The winner of that award will be announced later in the year.

Williams earned the Coaches Association’s award after leading the Suns to a 51-21 record, good for second in the NBA. The club had the league’s sixth-ranked defense and seventh-ranked offense, Wojnarowski notes.

The Suns, who were 19-63 in 2018/19, became just the fifth team in NBA history to improve by at least 15 games in back-to-back seasons, per Woj. Williams accomplished that feat in his first two years in Phoenix despite dealing with pandemic-shortened seasons, making the feat even more impressive.

According to Wojnarowski, Scott Brooks (Wizards), Michael Malone (Nuggets), Nate McMillan (Hawks), Doc Rivers (Sixers), Quin Snyder (Jazz), and Tom Thibodeau (Knicks) were among the other coaches who received votes.

The previous winners of this award are as follows:

2020: Mike Budenholzer and Billy Donovan
2019: Mike Budenholzer
2018: Dwane Casey
2017: Mike D’Antoni and Erik Spoelstra

Homesley's Contract Non-Guaranteed Past This Season

May 17th, 2021 at 10:02pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Caleb Homesley‘s contract with the Wizards is worth $5.3MM over four years, including this season, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. The next two seasons are non-guaranteed and the final year includes a team option. Homesley was signed as a developmental player after seeing action in 15 G League games with the Erie BayHawks. He won’t be with the team for the play-in tournament.

Poll: Eastern Conference Play-In Games

May 17th, 2021 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s 2021 play-in tournament will tip off on Tuesday night, when the No. 9 Pacers face the No. 10 Hornets in Indiana, followed by the No. 7 Celtics hosting the No. 8 Wizards in Boston.

By the end of the night, one team – either Boston or Washington – will have secured the No. 7 seed, earning a first-round date with the Nets. And one team – either Indiana or Charlotte – will be eliminated from postseason contention altogether.

The Pacers/Hornets matchup would be a little more intriguing if both teams were at full strength. Unfortunately, the Pacers will be without one of their top scorers (T.J. Warren) and are expected to be missing their defensive anchor (Myles Turner) as well. The Hornets, meanwhile, have gotten a little healthier as of late, but still don’t have their $120MM man (Gordon Hayward) available.

That doesn’t mean Indiana and Charlotte can’t play an entertaining game though. LaMelo Ball will be looking to put the finishing touches on a Rookie of the Year caliber season, while Nate Bjorkgren may be coaching for his job. Neither team will want its season to come to an end on Tuesday.

As for the headlining contest of the night, the fact that the Wizards are even involved in this game is pretty incredible. Washington started off the season with a 6-17 record and was 17-32 in early April. Since then, the team has reeled off 17 wins in 23 games, securing the No. 8 spot for the play-in tournament and looking a whole lot more dangerous as of late than the reeling Celtics.

The Celtics made the Eastern Conference Finals last season and entered the year with the aspirations of making another deep playoff run. It has been an up-and-down season in Boston though, and it has been trending down as of late. The C’s finished the season by losing nine of their last 13 games, and their only four wins in that stretch came against sub-.500 teams. With Jaylen Brown out for the season, the club will be shorthanded as it looks to secure a playoff spot.

Still, while the Wizards aren’t missing any top players, Bradley Beal continues to deal with a hamstring injury and isn’t at 100% entering the play-in tournament, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes. If the Eastern Conference’s leading scorer doesn’t look like his usual self, it may be an uphill battle for the Wizards to pick up a win in Boston.

We want to know what you think. Which teams will win the two Eastern Conference play-in games on Tuesday? Make your picks in the polls below, then head to the comment section to weigh in on which club will win Thursday’s play-in game to claim the No. 8 seed.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on Pacers/Hornets.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on Celtics/Wizards.

Caleb Homesley Signs Multiyear Deal With Wizards

May 15th, 2021 at 9:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

Swingman Caleb Homesley has signed a multi-year contract with the Wizards, the team announced (via Twitter).

Homesley won’t join the Wizards for their final regular season game on Sunday or the play-in tournament (Twitter link). Washington expects him to be part of its development program over the offseason.

The 24-year-old was in training camp with the Wizards on an Exhibit 10 contract after going undrafted out of Liberty. He was assigned to the G League’s Erie BayHawks and averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 15 games in the Orlando bubble.

Washington has an open roster spot, so the team can add Homesley without a corresponding move.

Injury Updates: Ibaka, Beal, Conley, Dozier, Barton

May 14th, 2021 at 5:39pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Serge Ibaka hasn’t played since March 14 due to a back injury but the Clippers’ big man could be in uniform on Friday. He’s been upgraded to questionable, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Ibaka has averaged 10.9 PPG and 6.7 RPG in his first season with the Clippers and could be a pivotal player in the postseason.

We have more news on the injury front:

Wizards All-Star Bradley Beal won’t play against Cleveland on Friday due to a hamstring injury, the team tweets. The league’s second-leading scorer hasn’t played since last Saturday. Washington can clinch a spot in the play-in tournament with a victory tonight.
Jazz All-Star guard Mike Conley told the media he’ll play the final two games of the regular season, including tonight’s tilt against the Thunder, Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune writes. He’s been out since April 26 due to a right hamstring strain.
The Nuggets’ Will Barton (hamstring) and PJ Dozier (right adductor) are not expected to return before the playoffs, coach Michael Malone told Mike Singer of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Barton, who has been out since April 23, is closer to returning than Dozier.

Ted Leonsis Avoids Question About Scott Brooks

May 14th, 2021 at 1:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis sidestepped a question about coach Scott Brooks during a news conference this morning, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports. Leonsis chose to focus on the upcoming play-in tournament, rather than the status of Brooks, who is in the final season of a five-year contract.

Gafford Enjoying New Life With Wiz

May 13th, 2021 at 9:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Standout Wizards center Daniel Gafford has enjoyed his new opportunity with Washington, writes Spencer Davies of Basketball News.

The athletic second-year big man has seen an increased role with the Wizards, who are currently the No. 10 seed in the East with a 32-38 record. Washington is 13-6 since Gafford became a regular part of the lineup.

Gafford averaged 12.4 minutes per game in 31 contests for the Bulls. In 21 games for the Wizards, Gafford is averaging 10.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and an astronomical 1.8 BPG, even though his minutes have increased by just 5.3 MPG a night (to 17.7).

“When I got here, it clicked automatically because you got two point guards who really know the game, and really know how to facilitate and play-make,” Gafford said of his perspective on the trade to the Wizards. He hopes to continue to expand his defensive attributes with his new team. “I’m good at blocking shots, [but] at the same time, I can be able to contain the ball up at the key if I put my mind [to it].”