NBA Weekly Recap: March 27

Story posted March 28, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Patrick Lepre

With the regular season in the NBA coming to a close and the playoffs quickly approaching, here’s a recap of the latest storylines across the league.

Suns Clinch Top Seed

The Phoenix Suns have officially clinched the top seed in the Western conference. The Suns currently have a record of 61-14, which is nine games better than anyone in the entire league.

Despite having various injuries from star players Devin Booker and Chris Paul this season, this Suns team looks poised and ready for another run to the Finals, but this time securing some hardware.

Kyrie Irving Cleared To Play

One of the biggest storylines the whole season has been Kyrie Irving and his inability to play home games in Brooklyn due to his coronavirus vaccination status.

As of March 24, though, Irving has finally been cleared to play home games for the Brooklyn Nets. This is a huge shakeup in the Eastern conference, and even in the entire league, as Irving is one of the best players in the league.

Having Kevin Durant and Irving together in a playoff series is going to be a lot to handle for anybody.

Tight Eastern Conference

The top four seeds in the Eastern Conference are all separated by 0.5 of a game. This has been one of the tightest finishes in recent history in the league.

Miami has had a hold of the top seed for quite a while but is beginning to fumble down the stretch. This seeding has huge implications for the playoffs now that the Brooklyn Nets are back with Irving’s return, as they are nowhere near the typical eighth-seed team.

It’s definitely going to be an exciting race to close the regular season in the East.

MVP Race

The MVP race is about as close it’s been all season right here at the end. Obviously, the two heavyweights Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, but the likes of Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo have come storming here with a last-second push.

Booker’s name has been thrown into the mix for being the best player on the best team in the league and Antetokounmpo has been unstoppable — like he has been for the past three years.
It’s been interesting to see other names thrown into the mix, but it’s still highly unlikely Jokic or Embiid don’t end up winning the award this season.

Heat Falling Apart

The Miami Heat, who had held the one seed in the Eastern conference, have now fallen out of the top seed after suffering some tough losses.

They lost to the 76ers without James Harden and Joel Embiid, and they also lost to the Warriors without Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

There was also a fight inside in the huddle between Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem and Coach Erik Spoelstra.

It’s clear to see there is some sort of dysfunction in Miami and it couldn’t be coming at a worse time with the playoffs looming. The Heat have to turn this around very soon if they want to go on the playoff run they were supposed to go on.


Patrick Lepre is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email pjl5466@psu.edu.

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