The final two spots in the 2024 NBA playoffs were determined Friday night as the No. 8 seed in both conferences was on the line. The Heat decimated the Bulls in the evening's first game (110-89), and the Pelicans topped the depleted Kings (105-98). The top-seeded Thunder await the Pelicans, while the Celtics will face the Heat.
Injuries to star players impacted both games Friday. The Heat were without star guard Jimmy Butler, who suffered a knee sprain in Wednesday's one-point loss against the 76ers. Butler was hurt in the first quarter, but played the remainder of the game. Still, Miami was able to make due without its star.
The Pelicans were missing Zion Williamson in their matchup Friday. Williamson was having a career night against the Lakers on Tuesday, scoring 40 points and leading a comeback that ultimately fell short as he left with a hamstring injury in the closing minutes. Yet, much like their Eastern Conference counterparts in the Heat, the Pelicans were able to overcome the absence of a marquee star. Here are the biggest takeaways from Friday's games.
The No. 7 seed streak continues
The Play-In format, while generally enjoyed by fans, was a bit controversial upon its inception. Do we really want to eliminate a clearly deserving team over the course of 82 games because it fell flat in two extra ones? The Pelicans were a pretty stark example of this fear. They finished sixth in the NBA in net rating during the regular season. They won 49 games. A format that doesn't allow such a team into the playoffs is going to invite some criticism.
But the Pelicans won tonight. In the process, they cemented a streak that has lasted since the beginning of the Play-In Tournament: every No. 7 seed has reached the playoffs. Only No. 8 seeds have been eliminated through this new mechanism, and that's a slightly easier pill to swallow. Eventually, a No. 7 will lose. What we're seeing in the early years of the Play-In, though, is that having two home games is a genuinely enormous advantage. Teams that win 49 games should be able to win at least one home game with its season on the line. The Pelicans did so tonight even without Williamson. The system is working.
Sacramento still needs a defensive anchor
Almost everything about the 2023-24 Sacramento Kings suggested that this year was, indeed, different. They had one of the NBA's best defenses down the stretch. They allowed the third-fewest shot attempts in the restricted area per game in the NBA. Who needs a defensive anchor?
Well, as soon as the Kings faced a postseason opponent capable of attacking the basket, they did so with ease. The Pelicans outscored the Kings 58-44 in the paint on Friday, bringing about another wave of Domantas Sabonis criticism. One of the NBA's best offensive centers can't protect the basket. Neither of their forwards, Keegan Murray or Harrison Barnes, are defensive difference-makers. Rookie Keon Ellis can only do so much defensively.
This isn't another round of "trade Sabonis" fear-mongering, but there has to be a middle ground here. If the Kings can't keep the Williamson-less Pelicans away from the rim in a must-win game, what hope would they have in a series against, say, Nikola Jokic? The Kings still have most of their draft capital to dangle in a trade. Turning the Barnes slot at forward into, at least, a decent secondary rim-protector is a borderline necessity here. Last year's Draymond Green rumors might have been overkill, but it's pretty clear at this stage that Sabonis can't protect the rim on his own.
Erik Spoelstra really is the NBA's best coach
Erik Spoelstra very nearly stole a road game in Philadelphia with a hobbled Jimmy Butler on Wednesday by throwing out a zone defense that the 76ers were completely unprepared for. Their offense couldn't quite take them past the finish line, so they were forced to play Chicago on Friday with their season on the line and Butler out.
No problem. Spoelstra blitzed Chicago's ball-handlers, Coby White and DeMar DeRozan, coming off of as many screens as possible. He gambled that they weren't good enough passers to punish them for it, and that even if they were, the Bulls wouldn't be able to make all of the wide-open 3's the Heat gave up. That's exactly how the game played out. The Bulls shot 30.2% on 3's and lost by 21.
The Heat aren't going to beat the Celtics without Butler. They probably won't even come close. But there's going to be a quarter or a half in this series in which the Heat do something weird, catch Boston off guard, and for a brief stretch, actually control a game against the NBA's best team. That's Spoelstra's magic. He can't singlehandedly beat a 64-win team, but without him, the Heat wouldn't even have the chance to play them.