LeBron James reclaims his throne, Thunder beat the Rockets at their own game and more NBA playoff takeaways

With Monday’s list now in the books, the NBA’s four-game marathon is officially over. The Miami Heat have completed their run to the Indiana Pacers, and the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors both did their job on Sunday, as the playoff pitch begins to shrink only to contenders.

In that sense, most of Monday’s games served as previews, an opportunity to evaluate the best teams before their games really started to count. So what have we learned from day eight of the NBA playoffs? Here’s everything you need to know about today’s games.

Results

Milwaukee Bucks 121, Orlando Magic 106

Oklahoma City Thunder 117, Houston Rockets 114

Miami Heat 99, Indiana Pacers 87

Los Angeles Lakers 135, Portland Trail Blazers 115

Long live the king

Remember when LeBron James single-handedly beat the entire Eastern Conference in the 2018 playoffs? Well, check out these numbers:

The #WashedKing narrative has always been made up. No one honestly believed that something as common as a groin injury in a missed season had really brought LeBron down forever. But James scored an inefficient 22-point average in the head games. He then only scored 33 in total during the first two games of the Portland series. The idea that James had descended from the heights of “Greatest Player on Earth” to the status of top-10 or top-15 player was not entirely far-fetched. Despite everything LeBron was still doing on the pitch, it is extremely difficult to lead a team to a championship without scoring.

And there are still qualifications to consider here. The Blazers have one of the worst defenses in playoff history, lacking anyone even adequately sized for the task of protecting LeBron, and injuries have so decimated them that, despite winning Race 1, they never really had a chance in this one. series.

But if the last two games have proven anything, it is this: the bogeyman is still hiding under every contender’s bed, ready to strike the moment they let their guard down. It’s a little older, a little slower, and a little grayer. But even at 35, no basketball player should inspire more fear for a seven-game streak than LeBron. If he can do what he did against Portland four times out of seven against everyone else, the Lakers will win the championship.

The Thunder are beating the Rockets in their own game

The problem with showing your cards as blatantly as Houston is that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Negotiating for Robert Covington when the contract expired, the Rockets submitted their thesis statement to the entire basketball world for examination. Great men don’t matter. Rebounds don’t matter. The only things that matter are 3 points and free throws, and the best way to get them is to surround a star or two with an endless supply of shooters.

Circumstances forced Oklahoma City’s hand in Game 3. Steven Adams left the game early with injury, so to combat Houston’s (lack of) size, the Thunder attempted a move they avoided all season. . Their three point guard lineups decimated opponents all year, but they never pushed those groups further by removing a center. During overtime in Race 3, they had no choice. They raced with Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dennis Schroder, Lu Dort and Danilo Gallinari. They surpassed Houston by 11.

Billy Donovan kept him in reserve until the last moments of game 4, but with one gap of one with about four minutes to go, he played his trump card. Those same five surpassed Houston by five if you exclude an insignificant Danuel House buzzer when the result was already decided.

Houston has problems to contend with. James Harden is clearly grappling with the ball management burden that Russell Westbrook’s absence has placed on him. The Rockets shooting comes and goes. But a poorly optimized Thunder team allowed them to win their first two games with relative ease. But now the gloves are off. Oklahoma City can match Houston stylistically, and while its ball produces different hits (Chris Paul has never seen a cleaner mid-range look), the Thunder has proven itself capable of matching the Rockets shot for shot. Now it’s up to Mike D’Antoni to find an answer, but with no great playable men on their roster, this won’t be as simple as changing the lineup.

Don’t take Giannis for granted

Look, humans are simple creatures. We like shiny new things and we like the classics, but we ignore everything in between. Luka Doncic was the most exciting player of the postseason, and fans are already making him the new face of the league. LeBron James’ rebirth was the most exciting overall storyline, and nothing could generate a more enjoyable post-season than the King claiming his throne. Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo is ravaging poor Orlando Magic, and no one seems to have noticed.

Part of the game-to-game excitement is causing people to forget it, but 31-16-7 averages in a playoff series aren’t normal, even against an impoverished opponent like Magic. Surprisingly, the basketball world seems to have forgotten the 25-year-old mutant who is about to win his second MVP and first Defensive of the Year award.

The next two rounds will be a major update. The crowd has pressed the panic button on Milwaukee following its Game 1 defeat to Orlando and seems to have stopped watching from there. It is fair to some extent. The Bucks have dominated the Magic ever since, and boring grandeur is still boring. But don’t be surprised when the real matches start and the MVP reminds you that they have the trophy for a reason. Luka can have the first round titles. Giannis is playing for the last round.

The Heat have it all

The Pacers were wiped out in the first round, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they played poorly. Their four healthy starters gave them over 75 points per game, so it wasn’t a star problem. They surpassed their regular season averages in both 3-point percentages and attempts, so it wasn’t bad luck either. Allowing 112.7 points per 100 possessions isn’t great, but shooting luck is the main culprit. According to NBA.com, the Heat scored 47.2 percent of their 3 open points. That’s an increase of nearly 10 percentage points from the regular season average. All in all, the Pacers played the caliber of basketball they expected, they needed to win. And they still lost.

The difference? Miami’s unmatched versatility. Heats are not heavy and most of their role players fight on one side of the ball. But when you have several high-end 3-point shooters (Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Kelly Olynyk), ball handlers (Herro, Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler, Kendrick Nunn, even Bam Adebayo) and switchable defenders (Butler, Adebayo, Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala, Derrick Jones), you essentially have the ability to mix and match as you please and fight every possible tactical decision made by an opponent.

They closed Game 3 with a group full of defending veterans. Erik Spoelstra was not yet ready to rely on children. But who lifted Miami in Game 4? Herro, a rookie. They scored six points from Butler, their maximum contract superstar, and beat the Pacers by double digits on Monday. They are not a perfect team, but they are annoying. Much playoff basketball revolves around exploiting discrepancies, but even on the few occasions they exist, the players are so good on the other side that they can do more of the situation there.

The Bucks will be big favorites in their second round series, but Miami’s depth will give them the results. The Milwaukee defense is designed to take away edge shots and corner 3 points. They ask the opponents to take 3 points above the break. Almost anyone in the Miami rotation can do it. The Heat have had the best 3-point percentage in the league this season, and between Adebayo, Butler, Crowder, Jones and Iguodala, they have as many bodies to throw at Giannis as anyone else. It wasn’t a fluke. It was not the result of Indiana injuries. The Heat were simply better, and there’s a reasonable chance they’ll be better than the Bucks in the next round as well.