First True Glimpse of the Nike LeBron 19

by Brendon Schunck | Jun 8, 2021 | Featured, NBA, Sneakers

Although not “officially” unveiled by the brand yet, the Nike LeBron 19 has now been seen by the public eye. LBJ’s soon-to-be 19th signature model has been causing quite the stir on social media over the past 48 hours. Today, we got to see clear pictures in two colorways of what we can expect the LeBron 19’s to look like. We usually would not see early pictures of James’ newest signature shoe until the late summer or early fall, but due to Space Jam 2 releasing soon it was only a matter of time these would be leaked.

The first colorway we see coincides with the Tune Squad’s bright orange/purple/teal uniforms. This will most likely be dubbed the “Space Jam” colorway and will be in high demand for LeBron and Nike basketball collectors. The second colorway is a more subtle white/silver/blue. Sneaker enthusiasts have claimed the 19’s have numerous callbacks to previous LeBron models including the 8’s, 9’s, 12’s, and 13’s. It appears LBJ’s newest signature will also feature another zoom air/max air cushion setup. Look for LeBron James to rock these in the new Space Jam 2 movie which releases July 16th and stick with Sneaker Reporter for any more colorways that may pop up.

Jun 8, 2021 No Comments

Kicks Through the Lens (Week 3 of Playoffs)

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by Brendon Schunck | Jun 7, 2021 | Featured, NBA, Sneakers

The first round of the playoffs is over. The defending champions have been dethroned and the Miami Heat weren’t even a factor. The L.A. Clippers capped off a great series comeback and sent the Mavs home for the summer in game 7. This past week’s Kicks Through the Lens saw action from four brands – much more than usual. With LeBron and A.D. out of the playoffs that leaves two sneaker giants out of our countdown for the remaining weeks. Kyrie Irving is coming strong with new colorways of his Kyrie 7’s, Paul Millsap, Khris Middleton, and P.J. Tucker will look to carry on the Kobe 6 Protro void that will be left by Anthony Davis, and Devin Booker will continue channeling his inner Kobe while wearing his older models. Scroll below to see which stars made up our list for the third week of the 2021 NBA Playoffs.

10. NERF x Reebok Kamikaze II Low – Rajon Rondo

9. New Balance THE KAWHI P.E. – Kawhi Leonard

8. Rugrats X PUMA Court Rider – Deandre Ayton

7. Nike Kyrie 7 “The Eye of Horus” – Kyrie Irving

6. 2008 Nike Zoom MVP (Steve Nash P.E.) – Langston Galloway

5. Nike Kobe 6 Protro P.E. – Paul Millsap

4. Nike Kobe 6 Protro P.E. – P.J. Tucker

3. Nike Kyrie 7 P.E. – Kyrie Irving

2. Nike LeBron 15 “SVSM Air Zoom Generation” P.E. – LeBron James

1. Nike Kobe 6 Protro P.E. – Khris Middleton

Jun 7, 2021 No Comments

2020-21 NBA Postseason Prediction For The Western Conference Semi-Finals

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by Marcus Van Diver | Jun 7, 2021 | Featured, NBA

And just like that, the First Round of the Western Conference Playoffs are over. We’re on to the second round and as the true playoff atmosphere returns with vaccinated fans re-entering stadiums to fill the capacity limit, business is picking up. Though the semifinals in the East started up on Saturday evening with the Bucks being manhandled by the Brooklyn Nets to fall behind 0-1 to the gargantuan Nets offense, we will officially be in the second level of the postseason as soon as the Nuggets and Suns tip-off on Monday evening. The Jazz and Clippers, who respectively handled their business in their first-round series, will clash in a high-stakes, stacked matchup to determine who gets the second berth in this year’s Western Conference Finals.

Source: CBS Sports

Both series feature the final four best teams left in the warzone that is the Western Conference, and result-wise and statistically, these teams have earned the right to continue their seasons and improve their odds of hoisting up the Larry O’Brien trophy at the end of the year.

And so, we’ll delve into these two matchups, who has the advantage, statistical accolades earned over the course of the season, and reveal the two likeliest favorites to play in this year’s conference finals with yet another postseason predictions and matchup breakdown.

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No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 1 Utah Jazz

Dec 17, 2020; Los Angeles, California, USA; LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) passes off between Utah Jazz forward Royce O’Neale (23) and center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first quarter at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

While the Utah Jazz won’t have the goal of reaching a perfect postseason record, they handled business by winning four straight games by an average of 11.3 points after losing Game 1 to the Memphis Grizzlies by three in shocking fashion. They found a way to score consistently and keep Dillon Brooks largely out of every other game in the series after he dropped a game-high 31 points.

What was that “adjustment”, you ask? Oh, just getting Donovan Mitchell back in the building and on the floor, which did enough to get Mike Conley Jr. enough space to create and attack bigs in the Pick and Roll and provide Rudy Gobert a litany of touches and a good ball handler to make screen assists for and mismatches for easy looks at the rim.

The Jazz portrayed themselves as the league’s third-most efficient offense that they’ve been all year, posting an otherworldly 124.6 offensive rating in the first round of the Western Playoffs, good for the second-best offensive rating (per 100 possessions) in this year’s playoffs.

And while it was Mitchell that looked every part of an MVP candidate averaging 26.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists off 47/40/94 splits through four games, Mike Conley Jr. winded back the hands of time with some scintillating road performances against the Grizzlies, his old franchise that he became their all-time scorer at. Conley averaged 17.4 points off 47/55/100 splits all series and in game three, the first of the series inside Conley’s old stomping grounds of the FedEx Forum, edged his Jazz over the top with a signature 27 points off 8-for-16 shooting for a 10-point win.

Grizzlies budding star Ja Morant did all he could, becoming the second-highest scorer in the history of the league in their playoff debut, but the Jazz’s team-wide ability to stretch the floor with nearly four to five perimeter scorers on the floor in nearly every Quin Snyder rotation, the team fixed their mishaps from Game one and didn’t look back, shooting a team-wide 35.7 percent from downtown as the NBA’s third-best three-point shooting team in the league during the regular season.

Which makes this matchup between the resilient and synergetic Jazz all the more exciting. Star power may be anemic, but the sense of all-around team ability is pungent between these two high-octane offenses. The Clippers finished the regular season as the best three-point shooting team in the NBA, percentage-wise, and while the Jazz hold a 2-1 season lead over the Clippers, two of the three games were decided by single digits, with the largest win against the Clippers being by 18 points back on February 17th in the Staples Center.

The playoffs are a different story, and these Clippers are grizzled, battle-tested, and hungrily on a mission to redeem their Conference semifinals woes that have hung over their heads like black clouds since their inception. Since 2015, the Clippers have appeared in two conference semifinals but still haven’t advanced to the Conference Finals in franchise history.

Kawhi Leonard reverted back to his 2019 ways and was a man amongst boys this series when it seemed like the deck was stacked against them, averaging around 32 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists off 61 percent shooting and put the team on his back in what would have been a consequential Game 6 loss had they folded in the fourth quarter.

Leonard assumed the position of the take-us-home Alpha Male, both scoring 45 points on 18-for-25 shooting and finally taking heed of the responsibility of shutting down Luka Doncic on the other end in crunch time. Better yet, he continued displaying the two-way dominance that fans were waiting on him to show with his new team by dropping 28 points off 10-for-15 shooting and doing the same to a fatigued Doncic in the fourth quarter of Game 7, manually completing the Clipper comeback when folks wrote off their season as soon as they fell behind 2-0 to the Mavericks and couldn’t win a home game in the series until Game 7.

So looking at the tale of the tape, there are a bunch of factors that will likely determine who wins, but none more important than these four: 1.) Kawhi Leonard and Paul George’s creation of mismatches in the halfcourt, 2.) Three-point shooting for both teams, 3.) The productivity of Utah’s backcourt against the Clippers’ combination of physical, lengthy wings, and 4.) Rudy Gobert/Derrick Favors’ gravity and presence both rolling to the rim and on the interior against the Clippers’ frontcourt.

Utah’s second-most-efficient offense in the playoffs will have their hands full in trying to get to their spots against a Clippers team that loves to switch (maybe a little too much, after watching the first few games of the Clippers – Mavs series) and is intent on taking away driving angles as a Top-8 defense this season. But, as mentioned in our prior Western Conference playoff predictions, Utah could be licking at their chops in their intent on attacking the second-worst Pick and Roll-defending team in the NBA with two guards – not just Luka Doncic in a starting lineup – that run the halfcourt set ad nauseam.

Conversely, with the star power of both Leonard and George (who averaged 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists off 48 percent this series) as well as the balance of this roster, it won’t be easy for Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley to jumpstart the offense if space is air-tight for 48 minutes all series.

Prediction: Clippers beat Jazz 4-2.

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No. 3 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 2 Phoenix Suns

DeAndre Ayton #22 of the Phoenix Suns looks to pass around Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets during the NBA game at Phoenix Suns Arena on January 23, 2021, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Tipping off at 10 p.m. ET on TNT tonight will be a much-anticipated duel between the third-seeded Denver Nuggets and the Chris Paul-led Phoenix Suns, who shocked the world by defeating LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers in six games during the Western Conference First Round. The Nuggets are also a team that defied expectations (certainly ours) by beating Damian Lillard’s Portland Trail Blazers by outlasting the scoring onslaught from the superstar backcourt of Lillard and CJ McCollum while Denver’s offense was largely carried by MVP favorite Nikola Jokic (33 points off 53/43/92 splits) and budding star Michael Porter Jr., who averaged 13.2 points off 49/39/78 splits in his second-ever postseason.

Denver has dominated the season series 2-1, with all three games being decided by an average of five points. Their biggest win was a four-point win on January 22 by a score of 130-126 as Nikola Jokic gave DeAndre Ayton the work, scoring a game-high 31 points with 10 rebounds and 8 assists. But, these teams played each other tightly, with two of the three games going into overtime this season.

We have yet to see a hiccup from these Nuggets with Jokic being the caboose of the Nuggets’ train that hasn’t really stopped since the early-April season-ending injury suffered by superstar guard Jamal Murray. They are playing a confident brand of ball, operating in a Michael Malone motion offense that’s diverse in touches and opportunities for players like third-year standout Monte Morris and longtime veteran Austin Rivers to step up in Murray’s absence.

As a team, the Nuggets were the sixth-best offense in basketball this season, posting a 116.3 offensive rating per 100 possessions while simultaneously being a respectable top-15 defensive team, only allowing 111.5 opponent points in the same metric. Now granted, that lacks some context with a group of players currently inactive impacting those statistical marks. But in the scale of the playoffs, the Nuggets are averaging a 122.9 offensive rating, which makes them the third-most efficient offense among the teams still left in the pool.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, the Nuggets are in the bottom quadrant of defensive teams as the 13th-ranked playoff team in points allowed – which doesn’t tell the full story considering their efforts in Game 5 of the series in which they allowed a ghastly 147 points in four quarters and two overtimes, and just couldn’t stop the heroics of Damian Lillard that day, who ended scoring a playoff career-high 55 points – as the Nuggets handled business in the second half of game 6 and kept Lillard virtually scoreless in the fourth quarter for a 1-11 shooting effort, which ended his season.

Additionally, the constant ball pressure from their backcourt combinations gave CJ McCollum troubles in alleviating some of the load from Lillard late down the stretch, and the cold streak became contagious for the entire team during their 126-115 loss, which could immediately start the rebuild of the Trail Blazers with Lillard possibly seeking playing time elsewhere in a winning market.

And as is the case for Denver, Phoenix was not highly touted as a 2 seed, ironically, against a banged-up Lakers team even with the implication of Playoff LeBron showing up at some point and wreaking havoc on the inexperienced Suns (who are the youngest team in the playoffs) who hadn’t seen a playoff series win, or playoff appearance, in eleven years.

But fate would have different plans for Devin Booker and Chris Paul’s Suns, who stormed out of the gates and won Game one convincingly. Here’s how it went, explained as briefly as possible:

Booker scored the most points in a playoff debut in NBA history and continued to further reveal his superstardom to the basketball universe, the second unit – most noticeably Cameron Payne, who averaged 12.5 points off of 42/42/100 splits in his third-ever playoff appearance – stepped up mightily when Chris Paul experienced sudden shoulder and nerve pains in the middle of Game 1, Monty Williams’ defensive schemes restricted a hampered and aging LeBron James to jumpers when the Suns went on runs, DeAndre Ayton kept Anthony Davis quiet for a majority of the series, and the Phoenix Suns did what hadn’t been done since the Steve Nash/Amare Stoudamire days: win a playoff series.

And because of that masterclass of a defensive effort against the NBA’s most efficient offense (per offensive rating), the Suns are the best defensive team in the Western playoffs so far with an insanely impressive 102.6 defensive rating. Offensively, they could be better as the 12th ranked offense left in the playoffs, but they certainly will embrace the challenge with quite arguably the most dangerous two-guard combination left in the Western playoff picture.

If the three regular-season duels told us anything about this series, it’s that it will be balanced, tightly contested, technical, and orchestrated by two exceptional on-ball operators and passers in Paul and Jokic.

Unfortunately, NBA fans will not have the luxury to enjoy two masterful isolation bucket getters in Booker and Murray face off against each other in a crucial playoff series as Denver will surely miss the special dynamic of having their three-level scorer bend defenses to his whim, but in his place will be the emerging Michael Porter Jr., who is growing in total skill set but will have to meet a now experienced Mikal Bridges that just got done matching up with LeBron James for six games. Ultimately, it’s going to be up to Jokic in creating offense for himself and others while surveying defenses from the low post and wing. Also, expect the Joker to be a constant pick and pop threat who can literally shoot over anyone if need be.

This series will come down to its stars performing when the lights are the brightest, but bench points and role players will always play the biggest part in determining who advances to the Western Conference Finals. Denver’s rotation of guards is also getting healthier and as players like Will Barton and PJ Dozier expect to re-join the team at some point this series, pieces like rookie Facundo Campazzo as well as veterans like Aaron Gordon and Paul Millsap are there to assist Jokic and these Nuggets on getting back to the Conference Finals, the place they finished their season off by losing in six to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.

And even if Phoenix is having one of those “destiny” seasons with health on their side as well as Devin Booker playing the best ball of his career, it’s hard to deny Malone’s Nuggets, since Jokic has averaged 25.7 points against them in the three times he’s played Phoenix this year. The Nuggets have already been through the wringer of stopping an elite backcourt with a frontcourt compilation of Aaron Gordon and JaMychal Green off of switches, but have enough talent and experience to neutralize both Chris Paul and Devin Booker when the moment calls for it.

Prediction: Nuggets beat Suns 4-3.

Jun 7, 2021 No Comments

Brad Stevens To Assume President Of Basketball Operations Position, Danny Ainge To Step Down From Role

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by Marcus Van Diver | Jun 2, 2021 | Featured, NBA

Once the final buzzer sounded following the ending of Game 5 against the Brooklyn Nets, the 2020-21 season from hell (Boston fans’ words – not mine) finally came to a close with a 123-109 loss, and the Celtics were bounced in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season. From that point, the off-season began, and pontification and opinions over what needed to happen to the Celtics’ roster in this off-season to put them on the same hierarchy as rivals Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia.

And then not even a full 24 hours later, perhaps the most groundbreaking news shook the Celtics fandom to its rattled core: Danny Ainge, the President of Basketball Operations Boston Celtics formally announced his retirement on Wednesday morning, and in his place would be Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens, who would leave his role as the coach and oversee all operations as the team’s new authoritative figure.

This comes as a shock to Celtics fans and NBA infrastructure and officially is recognized as the first major managerial shake-up of the off-season. Boston’s suboptimal season, deterred by injuries, COVID-19, and just pure, bad luck, concluded Tuesday night at the hands of the 2nd-seed Brooklyn Nets, led by self-departed Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, but regardless of their success in their first-ever Play-In tournament and qualification in the postseason for the sixth time in seven years, it’s rather logical to say that their 36-36 record to finish off their 2020-21 campaign signaled a murky future for a team that’s suddenly in a rebuild, even if they were just in the Conference Finals last year.

Cap situation aside, Boston will be tasked with finding someone else to call the shots and engineer a new offense with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and (should Boston decide to sign him to a new deal this off-season) Kemba Walker.

Which, sounds like an opportunity many would chomp at the bit to jump at, but the main difficulty is in clearing the hazy culture and outward portrayal of the Celtics’ organization right now, which has been heavily impacted due to Kyrie Irving’s actions of stomping on the Celtics’ logo after Game 4 and the public lamenting of the organization’s possibly perceived “xenophobic” atmosphere from its fans and interior.

Ainge, 74, was one of the league’s longest-serving basketball operations executives, completing his 18th season as president. He helped bring in the Celtics’ 17th title in 2008, and was responsible for bringing in Doc Rivers and devising a championship roster composed of Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett,and got the Celtics to appear in two NBA Finals in the last two decades.

And while the Celtics fielded great, 50-to-60-win teams teams in the East, they were in the way of LeBron James’ teams in their path to get back to the NBA Finals with such solid rosters that got them to three Conference Finals in the past four years. But now, the Celtics will have to arrange a coaching search as well as craft a form of an executive stronghold that resembled the same success that Ainge produced, which starts with building a foundation of a solid core of veterans and two-way scorers (Celtics ranked 17th in perimeter defensive efficiency during the 2020-21 season and were in the bottom quadrant in bench points) to accompany their three stars and help them get on the same level as their Eastern competitors.

Photo Cred: Christopher Evans/Boston Herald

Jun 2, 2021 No Comments

SR – NBA Playoff Power Rankings: Week 2

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by Marcus Van Diver | May 31, 2021 | Featured, NBA

While it seems that round one of the Eastern Conference Playoffs is coming to a close, that cannot be said for the Western side of the spectrum.

Just like last week, the first full week of the postseason hasn’t disappointed, but rather supplanted truths that we always come to expect: teams that qualified for the Play-In tournament have all but showed why they’re inferior to their opponents as 9th and 10 seeds to finish off their regular season. And as some of the teams are facing some insurmountable odds with 3-0 and 3-1 deficits like the Knicks, Wizards, and Celtics, other teams in dead heats like the Mavericks, Lakers, and Jazz aren’t out of the woods with slim 2-1 leads and 2-2 tied series they still have to battle in.

And for a full week of games, we’ll break down the advantages of each leading team and each team that has the edge in their series in this week’s eight-team rankings.

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1. No. 1 Philadelphia 76ers (49-23, 3-0 vs. No. 8 Washington Wizards in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 1)

Much like last week, Philadelphia has kept Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards largely out of games, with Joel Embiid (28.5 ppg., 10.6 rpg., 2.8 apg., +61 through three games) being indomitable for the entire series. They’ve looked as poised as ever to contend with the likes of the Bucks and Nets as soon as they finish off this series against the struggling frontcourt and inconsistent output of Washington on both ends of the floor now up 3-0 over the Wizards and have all been led by their stars and their rotation of guards off of the bench.

Danny Green is in peak postseason form (no, that’s not a slight – he’s averaging 9.5 points off o 63% shooting from downtown) and in turn, is doing an exceptional job keeping forwards like Rui Hachimura and guards like Ish Smith out of rhythm for long stretches. Seth Curry has also made a difference, both in terms of shot-making and spacing provided for stars like Embiid and Tobias Harris to shine with. They’re getting into a groove, and it’ll be hard to touch these Sixers if they’re playing this efficiently in the playoffs already. Washington should go ahead and look forward to the off-season since it’s unlikely they scrape out a game in this series.

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2. No. 2 Brooklyn Nets (48-24, 3-1 vs. No. 7 Boston Celtics in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 2)

The name of the game is offense, and the Nets have shown that with pure efficacy in their opening series against the Boston Celtics, who are massively undermanned with the inconsistent statuses of Kemba Walker (knee) and Robert Williams III (Turf Toe). Per their insane 127.6 offensive rating – good enough for the best in the league right now – Kevin Durant is automatic from the field pulling up from virtually anywhere, James Harden is unguardable off the bounce whilst continuously switched onto Evan Fournier *and literally everyone else*, and Kyrie Irving is doing the same with some favorable matchups against Walker and the rest of Boston’s anemic guard rotation.

However, the Nets are defensively underwhelming during this postseason so far, and while that’s likely to change (well, it’ll have to if the Nets want to advance past Milwaukee and Philadelphia) Brooklyn’s defensive rating of 116.5 is a mark of concern, especially since they allowed the only Celtic threat in Jayson Tatum to go off for 50 points in game 3 off 16-for-30 shooting and 40 points two nights later.

Or, maybe not, considering that their big three virtually outscore teams by a pretty wide margin, as they’ve done all year so when all three share the court together. Their series likely comes to an end Tuesday night when they battle the Celtics in Game 5 in Brooklyn, and they’ll have the Milwaukee Bucks to look forward to in what should be an exciting seven-game series.

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3. No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks (46-26, Won 4-0 vs. No. 6 Miami Heat in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 4)

Game one of Milwaukee’s series suggested they’d be in another dogfight with Miami for the second-straight year, and redemption from last year’s upset sounded easier said than accomplished, since we all figured that Miami had their number with virtually the same roster from the bubble donning black and red.

That was a lie.

Khris Middleton’s game-winner and a two-point win over Miami would be the closest margin of victory for the Bucks, who seemingly pulled away from the Heat for three-straight games, closing their first-round series out by an average of 26.7 points through their last three games. Milwaukee beat them in the open court, which Miami could not restrict this time around with an underperforming core of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Trevor Ariza, and Duncan Robinson.

And while Miami is likely in the negatives when looking at their cap situation next year, Milwaukee has championship aspirations on their mind. This is a different team with a different focus, and the matchups between (likely) Brooklyn and them are interesting on paper. Jrue Holiday has been a welcome addition to this team from this past off-season, and he’ll have to be big if they’re to contend with Brooklyn for what’s going to be a lengthy series.

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4. No. 1 Utah Jazz (52-20, 2-1 vs. No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: N/A)

Well, hello Utah. It’s about time you popped up on one of these rankings.

Though just about every game has been a little too close for comfort if you’re a Jazz fan, Utah looks spry and dangerously effective through two straight games with the returning Donovan Mitchell in the lineup. While Credit is due to the young and promising Grizzlies, who look to be on the upward trend in the development of pieces like leader Ja Morant, Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, De’Anthony Melton, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. along with their incremental building of chemistry with veteran big man Jonas Valanciunas, Mitchell, or “Spida”, if you will, presents an entirely unpreparable dynamic to stop as the slashing shot-creator ar the guard has punished the Grizzlies.

Mitchell’s impact has been felt on the inside with his adept ball-handling skills to get to the rim as well as on the outside with his separation-inducing stepback jumpers from nearly everywhere around the court. Moreover, Mike Conley Jr. has been injurious to Memphis’ aspirations of an upset, and the tandem of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors has rightly adjusted to, at the least, slow down the high Pick and Roll attack during periods where Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins rolls out his most-efficient Brooks – Morant – Kyle Anderson – Valanciunas – Bane starting five.

Now, granted, defensive efficiency hasn’t been a positive metric to them in the starting out of their postseason, as they were the league’s third-best defensive team this season but have given up a nauseating 118.9 points per 100 possessions. With game four on the horizon for Memorial Day, keeping the Grizzly faithful inside FedEx Forum relatively quiet by winning the first quarter commandingly against an eighth-seed has to be a point of emphasis, should they want to prove to the league that this 50+ win team isn’t anything to play with.

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5. No. 2 Phoenix Suns (51-21, 2-2 vs. No. 7 Los Angeles Lakers in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 3)

Chris Paul’s shoulder strain and questionable status for Game 4 of this series on Sunday sounded like it all but did the 51-win Suns in before Sunday’s contest, and only gave LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ crew some more confidence and ammunition to knock off the second-seeded Phoenix Suns.

And then just like that, it wasn’t a problem anymore.

He helped the Suns propel past the hobbling Lakers with an efficient 18 points, nine assists, and three steals (one of those came during a momentum-altering Lakers run in the final 3:26 of the fourth quarter, a quarter in which the Lakers invariably won) as they evened the series at 2-2 against the defending champions.

A win that wasn’t just needed for their proving of legitimacy against the league’s most defensively-efficient team at the end of the season, but a win to soothe the nerves of fans and young players on their first tour of the playoffs alike. Los Angeles embarrassed them in Game 3 as LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 55 points in a 14-point win in which Devin Booker and Chris Paul combined for a measly 26 points in a must-win ordeal.

Booker looked to be shaken to his core, not just from the innumerable amount of stunts and nail help the Lakers were showing him as he tried to get his shots in the halfcourt while running PnR sets, but due to the magnanimity of the moment, as he shoved Dennis Schroder out of emotion before he and Jae Crowder were ejected from the Staples Center. And so, they earned a hard-fought victory in the third quarter of Game 4, sparking a 14-point swing from a run after Anthony Davis came down hard from crashing the boards, straining his groin in the process.

Davis’ status is unknown for Game 5 in Phoenix, a massive blow for the champs’ hopes of repeating, for there isn’t much on Los Angeles’ end to stop DeAndre Ayton’s dominance on the glass if he is anything but optimal.

And so the chance to strike while the iron is hot is there for the Suns, should they heed the opportunity.

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6. No. 6 Portland Trail Blazers (42-30, 2-2 vs. No. 3 Denver Nuggets in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 5)

While this appeared as a back-and-forth kind of series for the Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets, the truth of “bucket-getters matter at this time of the year” couldn’t be more applicable to any other team than the Blazers right now, who have found a way to tie the series and gain a noticeable advantage over the No. 3-seeded Nuggets. In keeping Nikola Jokic to under 4-for-11 shooting in the first half of Saturday’s Game 4, they kept the clamps on the frontrunner for MVP this season as he put up a playoff-worst 16 points in a 20-point blowout at home in the Moda Center.

And that blowout was significant, mainly because Damian Lillard was atrocious, scoring only one field goal for 10 points, but eight rebounds and 10 assists to boot due to the three-headed monster composed of CJ McCollum and now, surprisingly, Norman Powell – an actual threat as a scoring wing off the bounce in a Terry Stotts offense. The former Raptor acquired before the Trade Deadline led all scorers with 29 points on an afternoon where he couldn’t miss, and in comparison to the Nuggets, who are thin in the guard department with only Jokic there (and maybe Michael Porter Jr.) to generate offense, you have to like Portland’s chances advancing at the end of this series.

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7. No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers (47-25, 2-2 vs. No. 5 Dallas Mavericks in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: N/A)

Go ahead and toss those Clippers offseason trade scenarios list in the garbage. These Clips are not done just yet.

When things looked as grim and bleak as ever following their head-scratching Game 2 loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks, the panic button was slammed by Clippers fans from just about everywhere, who were vexed at the simple fact that their franchise was simply “unlucky” with arguably their most balanced and championship-ready roster to date.

Down by more than 22 points at the tail end of the first quarter, it became Kawhi Leonard’s time for the Clippers, who charioted his team to a 10-point victory over a Dallas team that had them in their grasp. And two nights later on Memorial Day Eve, Leonard, who has been averaging around an insane 33 points and 8.5 assists per game off of 47.6 shooting from deep in four postseason games, turned this season that was to abruptly end disbelief and disappointment into a probable second-round meeting with the winner of the Jazz – Grizzlies series, for Luka Doncic’s offensive supernova of an effort, has been all but dimmed and impeded due to the sudden inefficiency of the players (Tim Hardaway, Kristaps Porzingis, Maxi Kleiber, Jalen Brunson, etc.) around him for two-straight games at home. We have a series!

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8. No. 5 Atlanta Hawks (41-31, 3-1 vs. No. 4 New York Knicks in First Round, Last Week’s Ranking: 8)

So…maybe voicing your displeasure with the brand new villain of Madison Square Garden in Trae Young after Games 1 and 2 wasn’t the best idea, New York fans?

Because, surely, he’s taking it out on your team, who surely cannot figure out any defensive coverage that’ll keep him from exploding for 27 points per game in this series.

This series has exposed a truth not much want to hear, but it has to be said: the Knicks do not have enough talent to box with the prizefighter of an offensively-endowed Hawks lineup and rotation, as the Knicks have succumbed to back-to-back losses by an average of 14 points on the road to fall behind 3-1 in their first playoff series in eight years. And shockingly, the Knicks’ defense – the NBA’s best in terms of points allowed per game and third-best in total defensive rating through 20 weeks of the year – has been suboptimal, letting the Hawks, on average, score 106.5 points in this postseason.

A large component of that has largely been Trae Young being himself and averaging 27.5 points per game off 47/37/95 shooting splits in his first-ever trip to the playoffs at 22 years old, and he’s attacked dropping bigs with automatic floaters and runners, penalized opposing guards with 30+ foot jumpers when they hesitate to switch, high PnR and two-man offensive sets with potential All-NBA member Clint Capela that have unsuspectingly bruised the Knicks in the middle of the paint, and has whizzed down the floor in transition when the Knicks haven’t gotten above the break.

But, the inconvenient inefficiency of the Knicks stars who have gotten them into the postseason in the first place, be that Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, has all but ended their season to their chagrin, as this season will end before the reaching of their desired destination. Granted, the series will return to the Garden for what will be a rousing rally by the team and its rowdy fans in an effort to extend the series on Tuesday, but with the Hawks averaging 109.4 points per 100 possessions this series, it is probably ending tomorrow.

May 31, 2021 No Comments

Kicks Through the Lens (Week 2 of Playoffs)

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by Brendon Schunck | May 31, 2021 | Featured, NBA, Sneakers

Week 2 of the 2021 NBA Playoffs had players bringing back old gems out of the closet as well as debuting new signatures and models from their respective brands. Jayson Tatum surprisingly debuted the Jordan XXXVI on court. This is a lot earlier than we were expecting to see the 36’s as there is usually a lot of build up to initial images of the Jordan model every fall. Adidas signature athlete, Donovan Mitchell, debuted his third signature model on court, the D.O.N. Issue #3. Chris Paul’s Suns teammate, Langston Galloway, dug into the archives and represented for CP3, by sporting some old P.E.’s from Paul’s Hornets days. Kyrie Irving opted for the Kyrie 3’s during his bout against the Celtics on Sunday evening. Unfortunately for Irving, and other NBA players, their on court opponents aren’t the only thing in their way this post season. LeBron James has been favoring his Ambassador 13 model over his 18th signature shoe for this post season run. James has done this in the past, opting to instead wear one of his takedown lines like the Soldier or Ambassador models, rather than his signature shoe of the year. Scroll below to see who made up our Kicks Through the Lens for Week #2 of the playoffs.