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Many players had massive +/- marks in this game, but nobody exceeds Paul Reed, who has notoriety ahead of this game for comments made about Anthony Davis.

Many players had massive +/- marks in this game, but nobody exceeds Paul Reed, who has notoriety ahead of this game for comments made about Anthony Davis.

Reed had called Davis a flopper and Ham threatened him that Reed would have to guard AD tonight.

Biggest playoff series victory drought

1. Charlotte (2002)
2. Sacramento (2002)
3. Minnesota (2004)
4. Detroit (2008)
5. Orlando (2010)

Charlotte disbanded and regained a team but last had a playoff series victory in 2002 with a team led by Baron Davis. They reached the postseason two times with Kemba but lost in the first round.

Kings last won a series in 2002 with a team led by Chris Webber. They reached last year for the first time in a long time on a team led by DeAaron Fox but lost in the first round.

Wolves last won a series in 2004 with a team led by Kevin Garnett. They reached the postseason three times since but lost in the first round.

Detroit last won a series in 2008 with a team led by Rip Hamilton. They reached the postseason two times since, on teams led by Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, but lost in the first round.

Orlando last won a series in 2010 with a team led by Dwight Howard. They reached the postseason recently on two occasions on teams led by Vucevic but lost in the first round.

The Magic, Kings, Pistons and Wolves all reached the Conference Finals in the year before their long droughts began.

Joel Embiid has reached the second round of the playoffs 5 times in the last 6 years. On each occasion, he was the top usage player on his team.

The most similar recent player is Blake Griffen, who led the Clippers to the second round 3 out of 4 years, between 2012-2015. Griffen led the clippers in usage in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

What’s interesting is that both Griffen and Embiid were coached by Doc Rivers during many of these seasons.

Other players who have made multiple second rounds as top options include John Wall and Vince Carter (who did this with the Raptors and Nets).

Tier 1: Top usage on multiple championship winning teams

• Lebron James (2012 Heat, 2013 Heat, 2016 Cavaliers, 2020 Lakers)
• Steph Curry (2015 Warriors, 2017 Warriors, 2022 Warriors)
• Kobe Bryant (2009 Lakers, 2010 Lakers)
• Tim Duncan (2005 Spurs, 2007 Spurs)

Tier 2: Top usage on a single championship winning team

• Rip Hamilton (2004 Pistons)
• Dwayne Wade (2006 Heat)
• Kevin Garnett (2008 Celtics)
• Dirk Nowitzki (2011 Mavericks)
• Tony Parker (2014 Spurs)
• Kevin Durant (2018 Warriors)
• Kawhi Leonard (2019 Raptors)
• Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021 Bucks)
• Nikola Jokic (2023 Nuggets)

Tier 3: Top usage on multiple teams that made the finals

• Jimmy Butler (2020 Heat, 2023 Heat)

Tier 4: Top usage on a single team that made the finals

• Dwight Howard (2009 Magic)
• Paul Pierce (2010 Celtics)
• Russell Westbrook (2012 Thunder)
• Devin Booker (2021 Suns)
• Jayson Tatum (2022 Celtics)

Tier 5: Top usage on multiple teams that made the conference finals

• James Harden (2015 Rockets, 2018 Rockets)
• Paul George (2021 Clippers, 2013 Pacers)

Tier 6: Top usage on single team that made the conference finals.

• Jermaine O'Neal (2004 Pacers)
• Steve Nash (2006 Suns)
• Carlos Boozer (2007 Jazz)
• Carmelo Anthony (2009 Nuggets)
• Amare Stoudemire (2010 Suns)
• Derrick Rose (2011 Bulls)
• Zach Randolph (2013 Grizzlies)
• Jeff Teague (2015 Hawks)
• Demar Derozan (2016 Raptors)
• Isaiah Thomas (2017 Celtics)
• Jaylen Brown (2018 Celtics)
• Dame Lillard (2019 Blazers)
• Trae Young (2021 Hawks)

Tier 7: Top usage on multiple teams that won first round playoff series

• Vince Carter (2006 Nets, 2007 Nets)
• Josh Smith (2009 Hawks, 2011 Hawks)
• Joe Johnson (2010 Hawks, 2014 Nets)
• Blake Griffin (2012 Clippers, 2013 Clippers, 2014 Clippers)
• John Wall (2014 Wizards, 2017 Wizards)
• Joel Embiid (2018 Sixers, 2019 Sixers, 2021 Sixers, 2022 Sixers, 2023 Sixers)
• Donovan Mitchell (2018 Jazz, 2021 Jazz)

Tier 8: Top usage on a team that has won a first round playoff series

• Richard Jefferson (2004 Nets)
• Chris Webber (2004 Kings)
• Ray Allen (2005 Sonics)
• Gilbert Arenas (2005 Wizards)
• Elton Brand (2006 Clippers)
• Luol Deng (2007 Bulls)
• Baron Davis (2007 Warriors)
• Chris Paul (2008 Hornets)
• Hedo Turkoglu (2008 Magic)
• Ron Artest (2009 Rockets)
• Lou Williams (2012 Sixers)
• Danny Granger (2012 Pacers)
• Nate Robinson (2013 Bulls)
• LMA (2014 Blazers)
• Bradley Beal (2015 Wizards)
• Marc Gasol (2015 Grizzlies)
• Gordon Hayward (2017 Jazz)
• Anthony Davis (2018 Pelicans)
• Kyrie Irving (2019 Celtics)
• Pascal Siakam (2020 Raptors)
• Ja Morant (2022 Grizzlies)
• Jalen Brunson (2023 Knicks)

Jokic got removed from the game early on account of debating with the refs.

Braun picked up the slack and shut down the Pistons offensive momentum.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401584846

Last year, Anthony Edwards led the team in usage in the playoffs, where they competed against eventual champions Denver Nuggets.

The year prior, Anthony Edwards again led the team in usage in the playoffs, where the Wolves lost against the Memphis Grizzlies.

In 2018, the Wolves also made the playoffs, but in this year, Derrick Rose actually led the team in usage in the playoffs.

Why does KAT take a back seat in the playoffs and will this ever change?

Reggie Jackson (Detroit, 2019), Victor Oladipo (2018, 2019), Nicola Vucevic (2020), Caris Lavert (2020), and D'Angelo Russell (2018) have all led respective teams in usage in the playoffs during this same time window, but KAT never has. Whats up with that?

Probably his best game as a Grizzlies player and certainly his most aggressive game offensively in a long time.

Missed the final shot but played with determination and courage.

Loved what I saw.

Certainly Zaire’s best game of the season and one of his most complete games in general with Grizzlies.

This is his third year with the team and frankly he has not planned out as expected, when we traded up. He has size and athleticism but he doesn’t seem to put it together consistently enough on a day to day basis.

I did observe in our comeback last night that he was playing a lot of point in the fourth quarter which allowed Bane to roam.

Could be a sign of things to come.

Probably his best game as a Buck. Him and Dame showed that sometimes you can just have more ammo as an offense than the team you are playing.

Tonight was the matchup of the two best teams in the league from a point differential standpoint.

Jrue led the way in this contest, generating points and rebounding while providing valuable defense against Tyrese Maxey

Note: Plus/minus for individual games is a questionable stat in terms of evaluating comprehensive, long term individual player impact. It merely indicates when teams performed well or poorly in a particular matchup and a particular game, which at a minimum speaks to a particular configuration performing or not against another team. This can speak to when a team won the game, which can be interesting and I do find interesting. Did they create a lead with their bench or did they create a lead with their starters?

Analysis: Trae Jones has been leading the Spurs in this metric every night, win or loss. Incredible first week for him. Members of the Clippers starting lineup continuously show up here, suggesting the strength of that unit compared to their bench at the moment.

Knicks defeat Cavaliers by 18

• Jalen Brunson (+21)
• Evan Mobley (-19)

Spurs defeat Suns by 1

• Trae Jones (+13)
• Grayson Allen (-12)

Clippers defeat Magic by 16

• Ivica Zubac (+19)
• Cole Anthony (-18)

Note: Plus/minus for individual games is a questionable stat in terms of evaluating comprehensive, long term individual player impact. It merely indicates when teams performed well or poorly in a particular matchup and a particular game, which at a minimum speaks to a particular configuration performing or not against another team. This can speak to when a team won the game, which can be interesting and I do find interesting. Did they create a lead with their bench or did they create a lead with their starters?

Analysis: Starters and stars for the Bucks and Lakers led their teams in +/-, suggesting that they played their part and outcompeted the stars of the Sixers and Suns. Wood having a very high +/- with low point output suggest his value on the defensive and rebounding end. He covered KD and had some important defense at different junctures. The high score of Middleton, with few overall minutes, because of a minutes restriction, suggests that his presence alongside Dame and Giannis allows the team to fully blossom on offense. Eric Gordon had a strong showing against GSW on Tuesday, and a poor showing last night, which could speak to him not being able to deliver so energetically at his age on such consecutive evenings. Tobias Harris was very efficient on offense, so his poor score may relate to very poor performance from him on defense. Oubre had a positive +/- and seemed more valuable than Harris down the stretch. Lebron has led his team among starters in both games, so questions may exist about his ability to carry this load all season at his age.

Bucks defeat Sixers by 1

• - Khris Middleton (+14)
• - Dame Lillard (+12)
• - Tobias Harris (-27)

Lakers defeat Suns by 5

• - Lebron James (+20)
• - Christan Wood (+23)
• - Eric Gordon (-27)