NBA Weekly Recap: April 4

Story posted April 4, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Maclain Young

The race to the top of the East and the final play-in spots in the West are heating up as the NBA regular season enters the final stretch.

As it stands right now, four teams from each conference have clinched spots in the league’s postseason along with three more locking up a spot in the recently established play-in tournament.

Eight total teams have been mathematically eliminated from the NBA playoffs, including five from the East.

This secures the East’s field of 10. The real battle revolves around the top couple of seeds.

The Heat, Bucks, Celtics and Sixers are separated by about three games with Miami currently sitting in the top spot.

While any team would love to claim one of those top seeds, there also comes a bit of caution.

The Brooklyn Nets are currently sitting in a play-in spot, but their top players are beginning to get going.

In a loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night, Kevin Durant scored a career-high 55 points. Kyrie Irving is also averaging just above 27 points per contest and is now allowed to play games in New York.

The reality is, the Nets are likely to beat whoever they match up with in that play-in contest and no team at the top of the east wants to do battle with Brooklyn’s superstars in round one.

Ben Simmons is also waiting in the wings as he ramps up from back soreness and could be a key difference-maker on defense for Brooklyn in the postseason.

Elsewhere in the Association, the Lakers have fallen out of a play-in game spot in the West.

Despite Anthony Davis and LeBron James finally playing together this week against the Pelicans, the Lakers fell 114-111.

James is now leading the league in scoring at 30.3 points per game, but the Lakers have still struggled losing six straight games.

The Milwaukee Bucks have had a rollercoaster of a week with a pair of one-possession wins against fellow East contenders Philadelphia and Brooklyn to start off the week. However, the Bucks have lost their last two, including a game in which they gave up 153 points to the Clippers.

Los Angeles’ Robert Covington scored 43 and knocked down a whopping 11 threes in his squad’s victory. Both teams were resting their top guys for the matchup.

Despite the up and down week with team results for Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo has entered his name into the MVP conversation.

Antetokounmpo is averaging just over 30 points per game and has looked dominant for the Bucks in big games late.

Against the Sixers, the Bucks’ forward dropped 44 points but won the game for his squad on the defensive end of the floor.

With time winding down, Giannis had a spectacular block on Joel Embiid’s put-back attempt to tie the game.

Overall, it has been another exciting week in the NBA as the league’s top teams gear up for the playoffs. It should be interesting to see where the top teams end up and what the playoff matchups have in store.

 

Maclain Young is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.