Just like that, there were none. Zero perfect brackets remain after the first round of action in College hoops. After all, it’s called March Madness for a reason. Better luck next year (which they say every March). You might need more than luck and then some.
Resuming play in the major sports world, saying there were quite the shakeups would be an understatement. What are realistic expectations of the Las Vegas Raiders with newly acquired Jimmy G at the helm? What does the loss of Edwin Diaz mean for the New York Mets? I could go on and on. But for the sake of time, let’s discuss the NBA — quite frankly, I felt like this week in the Association went under the radar due to March Madness. Below are my personal two cents.
You Philly-ing them?
Sorry if that headline is lame. It took a lengthy 3 seconds to come up with. All jokes aside, the Philadelphia 76ers are arguably looking like one of the best teams right now. Having a record of 9–1 in March, including an eight-game win streak, Philadelphia is healthy and blossoming at the right time. In case you haven’t heard, Joel Embiid is on an absolute tear. He’s averaging over 36 points and 12 free-throw attempts in his last nine games. Personally, he has my vote for Most Valuable Player (MVP) by a hair above Jokic. It could certainly go either way. I expect that award to come down to the last couple of games in the regular season
Apart from Embiid, James Harden is the most important player on the roster. His play will determine how far of a run the 76ers will make in the playoffs. Let’s look at his stats this month:
It’s not your flashy 50-bombs or 40-pieces. But focus on his assists! Harden has owned the playmaker role, facilitating the court, and putting players around him in the best position to contribute. This is the version of Harden that Philly needs for them to make a deep run — keeping turnovers to a minimum and being willing to share the rock when it’s not his night shooting-wise. I’ll go so far as to say that if Harden is available and healthy throughout the playoffs, reaching the Finals is the floor. Anything short of that will be a failure. Given the talent of their roster, if he can’t produce similar numbers in the postseason, I believe Doc Rivers and Daryl Morey are out of Philly.
Portland’s Play-In Push
It’s not often that Portland makes major headlines. In the select few times that they do, Damian Lillard puts on a show that we’ve become numb to by now. The NBA world knows what Dame is capable of. Some might argue he’s not worth the $122 million extension he received last summer. But the fact of the matter is Portland lacks the supporting cast, depth, and leadership. No disrespect to the young up-and-coming stud they have in Anfernee Simons. However, team success in the NBA requires more than raw talent; who are the veterans that can mentor the younger players? Who is the “energy guy” that keeps the locker room afloat? For example, Miami has Kyle Lowry and now Kevin Love, the Bulls have Patrick Beverley (we’ll see how much his presence helps their playoff push), and the list goes on... It would behoove Portland to prioritize identifying and adding that missing piece this upcoming offseason. The last thing we want is for Lillard’s talent and career essentially go to waste year after year.
That said, Portland finds themselves three games behind the Utah Jazz for the last play-in spot with 12 games remaining. I wouldn’t say it’s an impossible feat. But it’s a tall task having to also leapfrog the Pelicans and Lakers who are only .5 and 1 game behind respectively. Fortunately, for Portland, four of their next five games are against teams in their respective play-in conferences. Based on the records, these are critical but winnable games. To say that coach Chauncey Billups is on the hot seat would be an understatement. They’ll need to bounce back from their current three-game losing streak soon to keep a minimal chance for the play-in tourney.
The week ahead on Sean Street
I’m still recovering from the College basketball chaos. My brackets are kept private, no questions asked. For this upcoming week, I’ll be closely watching the following:
- Philadelphia at Golden State 🧐
- Panic with Denver’s recent inconsistency?
- Celtics vs Kings should be a shootout
I’ll be back next week folks 👋
