A playoff series never truly begins in the NBA until the road team comes out on top. Through the first three days of playoff basketball, all of the home teams won, even though there were some very tight games that came down to the final possessions. Tuesday night's playoff action was slightly different, with the Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks both picking up road wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively. In regards to the Pacers' win, even more questions are now being asked about Giannis Antetokounmpo's injury and his status for the NBA Playoffs.
Giannis did not play in the Bucks' 109-94 Game 1 victory over the Pacers. He did not play in their 125-108 Game 2 defeat to the Pacers either. With this series knotted up at a game apiece and Antetokounmpo not progressing the way the Bucks imagined when the playoffs first began, there is certainly a sense of concern surrounding this organization. Internally, the Bucks still believe they will be able to advance with or without Giannis on the floor. However, the outside noise grows louder, especially after Milwaukee lost to the 8-seeded Miami Heat in the first round a season ago.
Out of all the teams in the league, the Pacers had the biggest turnaround from Game 1 to Game 2 in their playoff series. After scoring a season-low 94 points while shooting 39.6 percent from the floor in their first game, Indiana bounced back to score 125 points while shooting 55.6 percent from the floor in Game 2. The Pacers are a very gifted offensive team, and that has been proven against Milwaukee this season, as Indiana has scored over 120 points in six of their seven matchups against the Bucks this year.
Will the Pacers be able to sustain success as they take things to their home court with Antetokounmpo still sidelined? Over in the Western Conference, how does the Dallas Mavericks' win over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 2 shape what could eventually become a seven-game series? All of this, plus the latest on the NBA awards races and some questionable officiating around the NBA in today's edition of the NBA Playoffs Primer.
Pacers, Mavericks shake things up
When the NBA Playoffs began, many people circled the Pacers-Bucks and Mavericks-Clippers series as two matchups that had the chance to go the distance. Obviously, Giannis' injury plays a major factor in how things go in this first-round Eastern Conference series, and there is really no need to describe the Mavs versus the Clippers. A series that features six future Hall of Famers in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Luka Doncic needs no introduction or reasoning as to why we should expect seven games.
To kick things off, we have to talk about the turnaround by Rick Carlisle and the Pacers from Game 1 to Game 2 in Milwaukee. Without Giannis on the floor, Damian Lillard has his way with the Pacers' defense, which has been one of the worst throughout the course of the season. Lillard scored 35 points in Game 1 and the Bucks simply got under the Pacers' skin, forcing 13 turnovers and not allowing Indiana to get going on the interior whatsoever.
While Lillard another strong game with 34 points, the rest of the script was completely flipped in Game 2 on Tuesday night, with the Pacers taking the fight to the Bucks and not allowing Milwaukee to settle into sets on defense. Indiana looked faster and more determined than Milwaukee in this second game, which is why they seemed to be in control from the very opening tip. This series during the NBA Playoffs is now 10 times more interesting.
“They said they couldn't play defense, they did that in the second game. I thought it was more our offense versus their defense than the other way,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said on Tuesday regarding the Pacers pulling away at the start of the fourth quarter. “They got out on breaks because of our offense. I thought their pressure took us out of our sets, I thought we struggled execution-wise on the offensive end, and I thought that bled over into the defensive end. I thought it was more our offense tonight.
“So, even in that stretch, came out, ran a play that we liked, and we just didn't execute. So, we have got to handle that better.”
Constantly pressuring the Bucks and simply playing more as the aggressors in this series rather than letting the game come to them allowed the Pacers to build and sustain a lead, especially with their uptempo offense. Simply put, Game 2 came down to the Pacers playing their style of play and not letting the Bucks dictate how the game needed to be played. Without Giannis, the Bucks have looked identical through two games against Indiana. While things worked out in Game 1, we shouldn't expect much of the same so long as Indiana continues to play with high intensity.
As far as when Giannis could possibly return, this seems like the million-dollar question across the NBA right now. The Bucks have provided no clear timetable on when Antetokounmpo will resume full basketball activities, as he is truly day-to-day based on how his body responds to treatment. On Wednesday morning after Game 2, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that the Bucks star has just started some light jump shooting, but he has not scrimmaged with the team nor resumed all-out running. It seems far-fetched to believe that Antetokounmpo will be 100 percent ready to play in Game 3.
Over in the Western Conference, the Mavs picked up a big road win in Los Angeles to go back to Dallas with their series tied at 1-1. However, the Clippers simply lost Game 2 due to their poor shooting performance. Defensively, the Clippers have been really solid. Holding Luka Doncic to 11-of-26 from the floor in back-to-back games is definitely a win for Los Angeles, as is holding the Mavericks to 97 and 96 points in consecutive games during the NBA Playoffs.
The key to this series doesn't involve the stars for either team. Instead, the focus of this series is on the interior. Winning the battle in the paint is going to be huge for either the Mavs or Clippers, especially when it comes to rebounding. In Game 1, it was Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann combining for 24 rebounds that really gave Los Angeles the advantage. In Game 2, Dallas had seven of their 10 players record at least six rebounds in what was a gang-rebounding effort. Dereck Lively II led the way off the bench with nine rebounds after Daniel Gafford left the game with a lower back injury.
Tyrese Maxey wins Most Improved Player
The first 2023-24 NBA award has been given out to Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. The first-time All-Star took home the Most Improved Player award on Tuesday night, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Maxey increased his scoring average from 20.3 points per game during the 2022-23 season to 25.9 points per game this season, and he was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.
Each of the last five recipients of this award was named a first-time All-Star the same season. We might as well start calling this the First-Time All-Star award, right?
This ended up being a really close vote between Maxey and Chicago Bulls guard Coby White, who definitely improved more than the Sixers guard from a statistical and role standpoint. Whereas Maxey went from being the No. 3 guy in Philadelphia to Joel Embiid's right-hand man, White went from being a rotational player on the bench to becoming their second-most important player next to DeMar DeRozan.
White jumped from 9.7 points per game during the 2022-23 season to 19.1 points per game this season, recording career-high marks in points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage, and made threes.
In total, Maxey received 51 first-place votes for Most Improved Player compared to White's 32 first-place votes. Maxey won the vote with 319 points to White's 305 points.
Which awards are next?
The next award that will be given out will be the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award, which either Malik Monk or Naz Reid will be receiving on Wednesday night. Bobby Portis is also nominated for this award, but voters for the end-of-season awards were stuck between choosing Monk or Reid.
Monk had a fantastic season, averaging 15.4 points per game in 72 games off the bench. He also led all players in bench scoring with 1,110 total points. Reid finished seventh on this list with 843 total points off the bench this season after averaging 13.5 points in 81 total games, 67 of which he came off the bench for.
Whereas Monk and the Sacramento Kings missed the playoffs, Reid and the Timberwolves claimed the 3-seed in the NBA Playoffs with their second-best record in team history. That is where the dilemma is in terms of who should win this award: the best bench player in the league or one of the better bench players who played an instrumental role in helping his team achieve greatness.
The other two awards to be given out this week include the Clutch Player of the Year award, which will be handed out on Thursday, and the Coach of the Year award, which will almost certainly go to Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault on Sunday. The NBA has yet to announce when the MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year awards will be given out.
What's going on with NBA officiating?
Is it just me, or have the NBA officials been really inconsistent lately? Referees have been in the spotlight the entire NBA season, which has resulted in the league making adjustments to the way they call fouls over the course of games.
The idea of teams scoring too many points and the league seeking teams to be more offensive-oriented rather than defensive juggernauts was addressed by Adam Silver and the NBA office on multiple occasions throughout the season. In March, the league's competition committee held a meeting to outline the issue of offensive players taking advantage of rules that were in place.
A memo that was shared with all 30 teams and obtained by ClutchPoints in March discussed the idea and definition of a player being in a “legal guarding position” on defense. The level of contact and what is deemed “marginal contact” were also ideas expressed to teams.
Since this meeting, the officiating across the NBA and throughout the early portion of the NBA Playoffs has been very inconsistent. It doesn't seem like all of the referees are on the same page about what marginal contact means, nor is there a full grasp on defenders being in a legal guarding position.
Essentially, the league wants to ensure fair play and not have the officials utilize their whistle on every single play. Sure, there may be a foul or contact every time one of these guys drives to the rim, but the refs have been letting a lot of calls go in order to allow the flow of a game to progress.
In doing so, the NBA has created a new problem, one where referees are sometimes too passive in late-game moments where the whistle should be blown. A perfect example of this is what happened at the end of Game 2 between the Knicks and 76ers. Both teams didn't seem to get a fair whistle on multiple occasions, and perhaps the biggest instance of this was with 27 seconds left when the 76ers were inbounding the basketball to Tyrese Maxey. Immediately, the Knicks swarmed Maxey and fouled him, based on findings from the league's L2M report, yet no call was made due to “marginal contact” being made.
There were several other calls or non-calls in this game that the league reviewed and said were incorrect, directly impacting the result of this game in the NBA Playoffs. Joel Embiid has voiced his opinion on the way games are being officiated, and he claimed it is “unacceptable” for some of these calls to be made in huge moments of playoff games.
“Everybody on the floor was trying to call a timeout, myself included, Nico [Nic Batum], coach on the sidelines; but they didn't give it to us,” Embiid told reporters. “But, you know, forget about a timeout. There’s a bunch of fouls. Like I said, that’s f***ing unacceptable.”
LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell also voiced their opinions on the officiating recently following the Los Angeles Lakers' 20-point collapse against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Whereas Russell was frustrated after a foul where he got hit in the face was overturned, James took exception to the fact that the league reviewed the play in real-time and still deemed it necessary to overturn.
“Of course, it's a heartbreaking game. You never want to lose in that fashion,” LeBron stated before a long pause on Monday night. “I don't understand what's going on in the replay center, to be honest … DLo clearly gets hit in the face on the drive. What the f**k do we have a replay center for? … It doesn't make sense to me.”
The NBA has not said anything about the state of the officiating in the NBA Playoffs, nor have they made any public announcement about fines for these players as of Wednesday afternoon. Officiating and blown calls continue to be a key talking point during the playoffs, leading to more questions this upcoming offseason about what the league needs to do in order to ensure fairness of play. After Jontay Porter's expulsion from the league for illegal sports gambling, the last thing the NBA wants to deal with is people making assumptions and doing their own investigations as to whether league officials are involved in any type of game fixing.
At this time, there is no reason to believe this is the case with any officials.
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