Written By: Elliot Allen

The NBA playoffs are here and the are some truly intriguing matchups to start us off in the first round.  The play-in matchups have set the tone for some exciting basketball to come over the next 2 months! One of those interesting matchups will be the New York Knicks vs the Detroit Pistons! This is one of those really contrasting matchups that could prove to be one of the best opening round series. Both teams had a successful season, but the stakes are very different for the two teams.
The New York Knicks always have very high expectations from the faithful New York fans. While this was a season of adjustments for the Knicks in which they added a major piece in Karl Anthony Towns. They lost Julius Randle who was a critical part of the success of the team.  The transition was successful with Towns having a very good season along with Jalen Brunson continuing to really flourish as top player in the league and cementing his status of being THE Knick of this era. The Knicks finished the season with a 51-31 record. Brunson sustained a severe ankle sprain near season’s end which caused some uncertainty to end the season and a loss of rhythm. The flip side is the Knicks seen increased scoring in Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby during the absence of Brunson. The question is - can they gel the emergence of the two forwards with Brunson’s clutch shooting and offensive prowess. There is pressure for the organization to win a title or at very least have a meaning playoff run. A loss in the first round can mean wholesale changes starting with Coach Tom Thibodeau and trickling down to a major move in the player roster. The Knicks do appear to have enough to make a serious playoff run but execution is essential to the future of the team and its organization.
The Detroit Pistons are in a different position for what this playoff series means to them. They are coming off a horrific season. Last year they won a franchise low of 14 games in the season. The season has produced a phenomenal turn around with them boasting an impressive record of 44-38! A very young team that has gelled together behind the leadership of its young star Cade Cunningham. They have looked poised throughout the season coming up with some big wins. The Pistons will prove to be a very dangerous team due to their talent and being in a situation of playing with house money. Although they are an inexperienced team they can play loose with no real expectations. Their star, Cunnigham, does have a poise about his game that seems beyond his actual experience.  The more confidence they gain whether they win the series or not will be a huge booster for the Pistons going into next season.
The season series went to the Pistons 3-1. The last time they met was in the last week of the season and the Knicks had several key players out with injury.  An achilles heel for the Knicks all season has been their inability to beat teams with winning records. It is concerning because teams are who they are so Knicks will have the difficult task of proving that wrong in this case. I look for the experience of the Knicks to prevail. However, if the Pistons get a win in the series early it could prove to the match to ignite themselves to a sizzling series win. This could be the best series in the Eastern Conference first round.

Written By: Aaron Allen

The regular season is now over and everybody is of course talking about who's going to win their series, or who’s going to win the chip this year. However, this year is much different, as regular season awards are being announced and handed out, there is one award that is still highly thought of by the fans regarding who will win the most prestigious award there is to earn in the regular season, and that is the MVP award. Most would say the MVP race has never been this close in history with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander putting up great stats all across the board and even being the league's leading scorer this season. He also led his team to the best record in the NBA. Most of the time even in a close race, the one with the better record would be the one to come out on top, but that is not the case this season. Nikola Jokić had nothing short of a historical season being one of only 3 players to average a triple double throughout the season. So the question still reigns, who was the Most Valuable Player this season? 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been dominating the league for the past 2 years and unfortunately came up short of the MVP last year and it went to Nikola Jokić. This year Shai has played even better than his debatable MVP season last year making it hard to even question who is at the top of the MVP race. Shai averaged a total of 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists, along with these exceptional numbers he had on the season, he as well led his team to the best record in the NBA as mentioned. Most years, this would be an undeniable unanimous MVP but Nikola Jokić is having just a good of a season if not better in some peoples eyes. Jokić has been on a tear throughout the league earning the MVP award 3 times out of 4 seasons. This season he showed no signs of stopping and had a great, even considered historical, season averaging 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists. With these numbers this puts Jokić in a very small elite category of players who have averaged a triple double throughout the season. These stats are hard to look at and not be awarded with the MVP trophy. 

Although looking at the records, Shai and the Oklahoma City Thunder have not just the best record in their conference, but throughout the entirety of the league, it is also important to look at where the Denver Nuggets are, and consider where they would be without the help of Jokić. He is undoubtedly a major part of the Denver Nuggets being the leading scorer, and the one who really facilitates the ball throughout the games making these big time plays and beautiful passes for an easy bucket. Both had an amazing season that honestly both deserve the MVP award, but at the end of the day there is only 1 player that can come home with that trophy. So is it Shai, or is it Jokić?

Written By: Aaron Allen

Last night the Timberwolves went up against the Lakers in Game 1, and what may seem like a shock to some, the Timberwolves came out with the win, fairly easily blowing the Lakers out 117-95. Most predicted that the Lakers were going to win this series easily but being blown out in Game 1 is not a good way to start your Playoff experience, so what really went wrong with the Lakers in this game? 

The Lakers roster, last night, did not look sharp and it was not the best basketball we’ve seen them play like in the regular season. Luka Doncic played well with 37 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist. Along with him comes LeBron James with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists which is a decent game for  LeBron. He can and will do better as we progress through the series.  Austin Reaves had 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, and we know that Reaves is more than capable of doing much better and shooting the ball better than he did this game. The next leading scorer for the Lakers was Rui Hachimura with 9 points, so clearly scoring was a major issue for the Lakers, also the difference in fast break points being that they had 6 to Minnesota’s 25 with LeBron, Reaves, and Luka combining for 11 turnovers out of the 13 they had as a team. Coach JJ Redick, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James pointed out the physicality of the Timberwolves caught them by surprise and it was something they weren’t ready for which was also a factor in this blowout loss. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves put on a clinic last night against the Lakers pulling out with a huge win against the Lakers on their home floor. The Timberwolves looked to have set the tone of this series, coming out with major physicality that the Lakers felt bigtime. The young superstar Anthony Edwards had a decent night with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists on poor shooting percentage. Other than the percentage, these stats are still very great and we know that Ant hasn’t even gotten started showing what he’s capable of in the playoffs. Jaden McDaniels had an amazing game last night with 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists on an amazing shooting percentage going 11-13 from the field. Another notable performance in this game was Naz Reid. Naz had 23 ponts, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists which was obviously huge for this underdog team. It is key that all of these players are on point and don’t slip up against a team like the Lakers. As a team, Minnesota played the perfect game of basketball. As stated in the previous article, they need everybody on point and can’t slip up, and as the stats show, that’s exactly what they did. The Timberwolves shot 51.2% from the field, and 50% from the three point line as a team. If Minnesota continues this beautiful offense, keeping this intense pressure and physicality, the Lakers can potentially have a major problem comfortably winning this series, or winning at all. 

Written By: Aaron Allen

​The NBA Playoffs are here, and we have our 2nd and 7th seed matchup in the western conference set already. The 2nd seed Houston Rockets vs the 7th seed Golden State Warriors.

Written By: Aaron Allen

The #3 seed Los Angeles Lakers go up against the #6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of this year's NBA playoffs. Many All-Stars on the court, and only one team can come out on top and advance to the next round, the only question is which team will it be? ​

Starting off with the #6 team in the West, the Timberwolves really made a jump on the back half of the season going from an 8th seed play-in team, to now securing their spot in the playoffs as the 6th seed. A major part of that jump is obviously the young superstar Anthony Edwards. Ant had a great season averaging 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists this year achieving a feat such as leading the league in 3 pointers made; knocking down 7 threes in the last game to achieve it. Most can make the claim that there is no argument, and the Los Angeles Lakers are the clear winners in their eyes, but one thing the whole world should’ve learned from last year's playoffs is to never count out Anthony Edwards. This young superstar led his team in that playoff run doing things like sweeping Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns and even going to the Western Conference Finals. Fast forward to this season, all he’s shown us is that he’s just getting started and is only getting better and better with more experience. This year though, the Timberwolves roster is looking different with a big piece, in Karl-Anthony Towns, being traded from there to New York. It does look like some of the pieces, if not all, were picked up with the addition of Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle. Donte is coming off a good year with the New York Knicks and is cementing himself as a serious threat from the three ball, and Julius Randle being Julius Randle. Meaning he should be playing like the All-Star we know he is, and Julius is known to be one to get shut down during the playoffs, but he cannot let that happen on this team or it won’t look good at all for the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are going to need everyone to be playing their best basketball and cannot afford any mistakes. 

The Los Angeles Lakers had a very rough start to their season in the first half just as the Timberwolves, but since the addition of Luka Donicic they have turned it all the way up and haven’t turned it down since. Luka Doncic is undoubtedly one of the best players in the league, and as he’s coming off a Finals appearance, not only does he now have a little more playoff experience, he knows what he and his team needs to do to get to the NBA Finals. Luka has been averaging 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists for the Lakers and that has been a major contribution for the team. But as soon as you put all of your attention on Luka, in comes Lebron James who is still undeniably one of the best players in the league and his knowledge of the game and playoffs and finals are just unmatched. Lebron has been putting up 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists at the age of 40 years old. This man is a freak of nature and still can’t be stopped by the league! Then when you focus all of your defensive schemes around Lebron and Luka, in comes Austin Reaves who really had an amazing season for himself. He put up 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists this season, which are really good numbers especially considering he has Lebron and Luka on a team with him. If you leave him open though, 20 isn’t even in question, that is an easy 30 ball for the star, and that would be the last thing the Timberwolves need. Overall besides those three, the Lakers have themselves a solid well built team and together it’s really hard to not have them at least in your mind as one of the teams to make it out the West. ​

At the end of the day, there's not a lot of arguing you can do when it comes to this series because on paper it looks like the Lakers are the clear winners and even have a shot at a Championship even, but as stated before, you can never count out the young superstar himself Anthony Edwards, and don’t be shocked when he completely takes this series over. ​