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A loose plate of spaghetti close to a courtside seat is one of the funniest things you can eat at a basketball game. Maybe a big slab of ribs or a crab feast or a grip of hard shell tacos would be more chaotic? Spaghetti is top of mind, though. Scroll down to see why.
And the No. 7 Seeds Are …
Five big takeaways from last night’s battles
The Play-In Tournament began last night, and we have our two No. 7 seeds decided. The Magic housed the Hawks 120-95 to move on to face the No. 2 seed, the defending champion Celtics, in the first round. Then, the Warriors survived a 121-116 battle with the Grizzlies to move on to face the No. 2 seed Rockets.
We’ll get to previewing those series later in the week. But here are five observations from last night’s games you should know.
Play-In Jimmy Butler gets Steph Curry to clutch time.
The Warriors were not good enough in the first few months of the season, so they took the risk of acquiring the 35-year-old Butler and giving him a massive two-year extension. You do that for moments like this. Butler was phenomenal. The Warriors had never won a Play-In game? Butler lives for Play-In games! He cooked the Grizzlies for 38 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals. He went to the free-throw line 18 times. And he got them to crunchtime, when Curry finally took over.
In the final two minutes, Curry hit two massive 3-pointers and sank four clutch free throws to bring his total to 37 points. This is the duo the Warriors trust for the postseason.
The Grizzlies are fighters, but they’re a mess.
Ja Morant leaving with a sprained ankle in the second half and coming back to play hobbled (but pretty well) shows the heart and fight of this Grizzlies team. Morant competed and had a pretty good game. Desmond Bane continued his excellent play. Jaren Jackson Jr. was solid. Zach Edey and Santi Aldama had moments.
But this team is overmatched and disorganized. The Grizzlies have Edey trying to do way too much. They’re scrambling to find something, and it’s causing them to lose big moments and stretches of the game. They have to simplify and let their talent come through Friday night for the No. 8 seed.
The Magic did what they were supposed to against Atlanta.
Orlando got out to a big lead, and then, to the Hawks’ credit, they fought back in the third quarter to make it a real game. And we thought we’d get a fun finish. Then, the Hawks couldn’t help themselves. They completely unraveled in the fourth. The Magic stomped them with a 41-22 quarter and really embarrassed them in the final 12 minutes. Cole Anthony and Anthony Black dominated off the bench, and it’s a reminder of how fun this team can be when relatively healthy.
The Hawks should never be taken seriously.
It doesn’t mean Atlanta can’t win, but this team has been highly disappointing since it made the conference finals in 2021. I know the Hawks are missing Jalen Johnson, but they still have good talent. Trae Young threw a tantrum with the refs in the fourth quarter and got ejected for making a mockery of the game. That’s not me editorializing. That’s literally what the crew chief told the pool reporter.
The other star of the night was the fan eating spaghetti.
This is real. Behind the Grizzlies bench, there was a fan housing a loose plate of spaghetti like he was Charlie Kelly at a day spa. It was an awesome moment early in the game that took social media by storm. Check out this guy fighting this cut-up spaghetti with a plastic fork
This is chaos. That’s a flat plate, so there’s little room for error. He’s sitting with a lot of anxiety and insecurity in the event of spaghetti careening off the plate. I want to criticize the method in which he’s attacking that spaghetti with the fork, but I have to be respectful of the fact that this is an inferior plastic utensil. Look at how splayed out the noodles are within the tongs of the fork.
Even with cut-up spaghetti, you’ve got to spool. You have to have a plan of attack and an exit strategy. Now I’ve got anxiety from watching this at least a hundred times.
The Last 24
Is Bucks star returning from blood clot soon?
🦌 Still out. Bucks guard Damian Lillard is out for Game 1 vs. the Pacers. Milwaukee is hopeful he’ll be back during the playoffs.
🏀 Power Rankings! Law Murray passes out the final grades for all 30 teams at the end of the season. You’ll never believe the A the Thunder got.
🏀 Player Tiers! Maybe the deepest tier full of stars in their roles. Draymond Green will hate who joins him in the tier.
🐻 JJJ the savior. The Grizzlies’ best defender has had a career season, but they need Jaren Jackson Jr. to do one more thing: save their season.
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily discusses Butler’s ability to carry the Warriors without Curry on the court.
📲 Fix tanking. We made a video on how to fix tanking in the NBA. Unweigh the lottery.
Season On The Line
Mavs, Kings, Bulls and Heat in must-win games
We know the Grizzlies and the Hawks fell last night and have one more chance at making the postseason. But we don’t know who they’ll face Friday night with a chance to secure the No. 8 seed. That gets determined with the 9-10 Play-In Tournament matchups tonight. Let’s get you ready for those games.
Heat at Bulls, 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
This is the third straight year we’ve had these two teams face off in a “win or go home” Play-In Tournament game. Let’s preview!
Play-In experience for the Heat: 2-2. Beat the Bulls in both 2023 and 2024 to earn the No. 8 seed.
Play-In experience for the Bulls: 2-2. See above.
Best storyline for the game: Will the Heat end the Bulls’ season in the Play-In Tournament for the third straight year?
How’d the season series go? How relevant was it? The Bulls swept the Heat 3-0 in their season series. The games were close enough, but the Heat couldn’t handle Josh Giddey at all in any of the matchups. It seems semi-relevant because the Heat struggled to defend this Bulls offense.
Key matchup: Andrew Wiggins on Josh Giddey. Giddey had two triple-doubles against Miami, and someone has to slow him down.
Key stat: Thirty! Thirty assists. The Bulls are 25-11 when they get 30 or more assists in a game. Two of those wins came against the Heat. When Miami allows 30 or more assists, it’s just 3-18. Chicago needs to move that rock.
Wild theory for this game: Out of Atlanta, Chicago and Miami, the Bulls are the only team that could push Cleveland deep in a series.
Who is the more dangerous No. 8 seed? Chicago.
Prediction: Bulls by 11.
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Mavericks at Kings, 10 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Mavs decided their franchise guard was no longer needed. The Kings decided the same thing, for different reasons. Now they’re both trying to stay alive in the 9-10 Play-In Tournament showdown. Let’s preview!
Play-In experience for the Mavs: Never been in it.
Play-In experience for the Kings: 1-1 all-time.
Best storyline for the game: These are two franchises that have decided they’re better off without Luka Dončić.
How’d the season series go? How relevant was it? The Kings swept the season series 3-0, but I don’t know how relevant it is. None of the games happened with Anthony Davis. And the last game they played against each other was the one where Kyrie Irving tore his ACL. But Sacramento has looked good against them.
Key matchup: Domantas Sabonis against Anthony Davis. If Sabonis can somewhat neutralize AD, then I don’t know how Dallas gets any advantage.
Key stat: Fourteen! Fourteen 3-pointers. Since the trade deadline, the Kings have made 14 or more 3-pointers in 15 of their 32 games. They’re 10-5 in those games. They’re lighting up opponents like it’s the beam from deep in their wins.
Wild theory for this game: If you “Freaky Friday”-d Sabonis’ necessity to be a 5 with AD’s demand to be a 4, you’d solve a lot of potential roster construction issues for both teams.
Who is the more dangerous No. 8 seed? Dallas’ size could provide an issue.
Prediction: Kings by six.
Shhhh, It’s A Secret
Mavs held ‘secret’ news conference
The internet caught a little fire yesterday when everybody thought Mavericks executives Nico Harrison and Rick Welts held a secret news conference with only Dallas media they deemed were nicer to them following the Luka Dončić trade. Turns out, that wasn’t quite the case — it was for just select media members.
It was an exclusive news conference that was more of a conversation. And at first, they weren’t going to allow recording or cameras. The Mavs would just provide a transcript after. Then, they decided to allow recording devices but no cameras. They wanted this to be more intimate and conversational.
Our own Christian Clark wrote about some of the topics that came from it, including Harrison saying he had “no regrets” with the Dončić trade for AD. He also said the product they intended to put on the floor was only seen for 2 1/2 quarters before the injuries started rolling in.
Marc Stein, Tim Cato and DLLS Sports did a video podcast on YouTube discussing the entire conversation that is worth your time if you have 90 minutes. There are time stamps to jump around if you don’t have 90. It’s a little confusing why this happened before a Play-In game, before the team is eliminated, before exit interviews and for really… no reason at all.
However, it did get us Welts comparing the Dončić trade to when he was with the Warriors and they traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut. That really happened. It’s stunning.
As Christian wrote in his story, Harrison said you don’t shop your best player (Dončić) because you might not get maximum value if the market doesn’t work out. He didn’t get maximum value for Dončić by not shopping him. And he also sees himself finishing out his remaining three years on his contract in Dallas. I love the confidence.
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(Top photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck / USA Today Network via Imagn Images )