Do you prefer “Second Round” or “Conference Semifinals” which is what the league says to make it sound fancier?
And then there was one.
Due to injuries, only one NBA team with a Marquette men’s basketball connection is in the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The knee injury that Jimmy Butler suffered in the play-in tournament game against Philadelphia kept him sidelined against Boston, and the Miami Heat went down in five games, pulling off one win because they hit 23 three-pointers in Boston in Game 2. A late regular season calf strain kept Giannis Antetokounmpo out for Milwaukee’s entire series against Indiana, and an Achilles strain suffered during the series cost Damian Lillard a game and presumably limited him in the closeout contest against the Pacers. Is it weird that Milwaukee won the game that Giannis and Dame missed? It’s definitely a historical anomaly, as they became the first team in NBA history to win a playoff game while missing their top two scorers from the regular season. In any case, that’s why Jae Crowder and Doc Rivers are no longer on our list of dudes to watch in the postseason.
That leaves us with just one guy to watch, and, well, that injury thing might end up stopping us from actually watching him….
Olivier-Maxence Prosper: Dallas Mavericks
Well, the good news is that Dallas beat the Clippers in six games to pull the 4/5 upset in the first round. The bad news is that we’re almost definitely not going to get to see OMax in the second round. After appearing for one minute in the Mavericks’ Game 1 loss to Los Angeles, Prosper suffered an ankle sprain prior to Game 3, and did not appear again after that. I’m not saying it’s a pretty nasty ankle sprain because I’m not a doctor, but I am saying that he was on crutches before Game 4.
Then again, he was off the crutches — but in a walking boot — before Game 6, so who knows?
Dallas was led in the series by, of course, Luka Doncic, who averaged 29.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 9.5 assists in the six game set with the Clippers. Kyrie Irving did a lot of scoring as well, averaging over 26 points per game, and the Mavs got a nice bump from PJ Washington who went for nearly 11 points per game in the series, too.
They’ll be set against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals, who tied with Denver for the best record in the conference and won the #1 seed by way of tiebreakers. The Thunder are incredibly young, with leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander standing as the oldest of the five guys who averaged at least 10 points a game in their four game sweep of New Orleans in the first round….. and he is only 25 years old. He led the team with 27.3 points per game against the Pelicans, but Jalen Williams went for over 21 per night, and those two tied for the team lead in assists at five per game. Chet Holmgren, who made being super tall and lanky cool long before Victory Wembanyama came along, was OKC’s leading rebounder in the series at 8.8 per game.
If you’re looking for a reason to cheer against the Thunder other than “it would be fun if OMax was in the conference finals,” well, then let me point out to you that the “What A Pro Wants” AT&T commercial that you’ve been seeing constantly since the NCAA tournament features SGA and Holmgren. I don’t want to say they should be punished for the heavy rotation that the ad has been in, but I am saying that maaaaaaaaaaaybe karma needs to balance things out a little bit here.
All times Central
Game 1: Tuesday, May 7, 8:30pm, TNT
Game 2: Thursday, May 9, 8:30pm, ESPN
Game 3: Saturday, May 11, 2:30pm, ABC
Game 4: Monday, May 13, 8:30pm, TNT
Game 5*: Wednesday, May 15, TBD, TNT
Game 6*: Saturday, May 18, 7:30pm, ESPN
Game 7*: Monday, May 20, 7:30pm, TNT