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Where did it all go wrong? A post-mortem for the Eastern Conference first round
Paul George of the Indiana Pacers set a lofty goal of 'No OT' in ads, but failed to deliver. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Where did it all go wrong? A post-mortem for the Eastern Conference first round

Everyone has high hopes entering the playoffs, even if they're playing LeBron, but often those hopes come crashing down, like Paul Millsap desperately trying for a shooting foul. Let's look at the first-round losers from the East and try to figure out where it all went wrong. 

Indiana Pacers  

Great Expectations:  The Pacers made it into the postseason by ending the season with a five-game winning streak. They’d brought back prodigal son Lance Stephenson, and despite his being waived by three teams in the past year, they gave him a long-term contract. They also took LeBron James and the mighty Cavaliers to double-OT in their last loss of the season. With Lance and Paul George back together, veterans of two Conference Finals battles with the Heat in 2013 and 2014, the Pacers were filled with confidence — confidence that they could almost not-lose to LeBron. 

No OT Tonight, Part One: Paul George was feeling himself this spring. He was almost three years removed from his horrific broken leg. He won a gold medal at the Rio Olympics, and Nike released his first signature shoe. So it made sense for him to be the center of an ad campaign for Gatorade Flow. In it, George declares “No OT tonight” before putting up a jumper, slowly walking off court, and enjoying a delicious Gatorade Flow. Because, like Gatorade, Paul George’s jumper has a smooth finish. This commercial ran at nearly every stoppage of play, and would almost certainly not come back to haunt anyone.

Teammates, Meet Bus: In Game One, the Pacers trailed by ten points going into the 4th quarter, but charged back to take the lead with 3:30 to go. The Cavs rallied, but in the last minute, Myles Turner blocked a Kyrie Irving layup, George hit a three, and LeBron missed. The Pacers had the ball down one with 20 seconds left. It was time for Paul George to feel the Flow.

But the Cavs had other plans. They rushed George with a double team, forcing him to give up the ball, and when he did, C.J. Miles missed a jumper. After the game, rather than praising his team’s effort in almost stealing a road playoff game, George announced “Situations like that, I’ve got to have the last shot.”

Shooting Themselves in the Foot: One reason the Cavs could blitz George is that there were no shooters to make them pay. And because Lance was inexplicably standing underneath the basket, almost out of bounds. This offseason, Larry Bird traded George Hill (40% three-point shooter) for Jeff Teague (35%). He also traded for Thaddeus Young (33%). Lance has a career average of 30%. Larry Bird is one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, but his guys all shoot like Larry Brown. Like, Larry Brown, now.

Bus Stop, 2: After another Pacers comeback fell short, Paul George had words for another teammate. He said that Lance Stephenson “[has] got to learn to control himself." It’s not a great precedent that George kept maligning teammates, but not as crazy as what he said next. “Lance is in our locker room, is looked upon as a leader — one of our leaders.” If Lance was one of their leaders — keep in mind, he had been on the team for 8 games — the team by definition had leadership problems.

The Biggest Comeback in NBA Playoff History: Inspired by returning home to beautiful Indianapolis, the Pacers raced out to a 25-point halftime lead in Game 3. Cleveland responded with their usual third quarter explosion to cut the lead to 15, but Indiana appeared to absorb it, and even extended the lead back up to 20. A 25-point lead with two quarters left is huge, but a 20-point lead with 16 minutes to go seems even more insurmountable. But that’s when the Cavaliers made a 14-0 run, thanks to a flurry of fouls and a newfound inability to hit shots, including free throws. By 6:26 in the 4th quarter, Cleveland had the lead and Indiana had a nightmare to rival Larry Johnson’s four-point play.

No OT Tonight, Part 2: Still, the Pacers never gave up. Trailing by 11 after three quarters, they fought back and even took a two-point lead with 1:31 left. But then, thanks to an uncalled travel, LeBron hit a three to retake the lead. With ten seconds left, J.R. Smith stole the ball, but George stole it right back. Finally, he would get the last shot. Unfortunately, there would be no OT tonight. The shot clanked off the side of the backboard, and Indiana was swept out of the playoffs for the first time.

Denouement: The day after the loss, Larry Bird drove down Fifth Avenue in an Indy car to deliver an All-Star bid. Perhaps out of fear he’ll lose the bid, and his own All-Star player, Bird resigned as team president days later. George is signed for another year, but he’s openly flirting with joining the Lakers, and the team has very little leverage in trades. They’ll try to convince him to stay, maybe by bringing in more non-shooting veterans, maybe by hoping for a mega-max extension, but ultimately this looks like the last act of a Pacers squad that ultimately missed its shot.

Atlanta Hawks 


Dwight Howard was not the answer the Hawks were looking for this season.  AP Photo/John Bazemore

Great Expectations: “Great” isn’t really the right word. Good expectations? Half-assed expectations? The Atlanta Hawks, the NBA’s most mediocre franchise, had regular expectations. The whole season was a balance between hopeful moves for the future and attempts at short-term success. They offered Al Horford a four-year extension. He wanted five, so he left. They traded Jeff Teague for the #11 pick — a good pick, not a great one. Dennis Schroder is a pretty good prospect, and he got a reasonable extension. Kyle Korver went to Cleveland in what seemed like a white flag move, but then Atlanta held onto their other pending free agents. They got the five seed, but were two games out of missing the playoffs entirely. 

Where It Went Wrong: This is the easiest answer for any of our playoff teams: It went wrong when they signed Dwight Howard. There was a time when Dwight was a great, game-changing player. That time was during Barack Obama’s first term. He went to the Lakers, where he clashed with Kobe Bryant and got himself ejected from the last game of their first-round sweep. Then Dwight went to Houston, where he clashed with James Harden. The Rockets had their best season when he missed half the year. Atlanta saw this and decided to give him $70 million. Howard gets upset when he doesn’t get post touches, but he doesn’t have any post moves. He can’t make free throws, so he’s unplayable in the 4th quarter. He only runs the pick-and-stroll on offense. Honestly, Dwight seems like he’d be happier in another line of work — as long as the job let him wear tank tops and push people around. Bouncer at the Oakley factory? Lifeguard at a private bullies-only beach

Cry-Babies: The weirdest feud of the playoffs was between Paul Millsap and Markieff Morris. It’s never a good sign when your star complains that the other team is playing too rough. In the quote of the series, Morris promised “double MMA” versus Millsap, and called him a “cry-baby.” Look, there’s no problem with trash talking, but when your star feuds with the opposing team’s fifth-best player, it lowers him by comparison. 

The Hawksiest Game of All: Often, the Hawks playoff games have been relegated to NBA TV. This one took it to another level. It started at 3 PM on the West Coast. On a Wednesday. America hates the Atlanta Hawks. The whole thing was close, though nobody noticed. In the last minute, the Hawks got the ball down four points and ran their signature play — Millsap dribbled somewhat close to the hoop, threw up a garbage shot, and then pretended to be fouled. The Wizards got the rebound, and everyone who has ever seen a basketball game knew their choice was to foul right away, or go for a steal. When the Wizards got the rebound, the Hawks did… nothing. No one particularly pressed John Wall as he dribbled out the shot clock, then missed a jumper. Marcin Gortat got the rebound and, insanely, tried a putback, but Atlanta couldn’t take advantage. Tim Hardaway, Jr. passed up a three-pointer, Atlanta passed the ball around, and eventually missed a three at the buzzer. Which still would have lost the game. Most maddening of all, they still had a timeout! The crowd in D.C. was legitimately too confused to cheer. It would not have been a surprise if Adam Silver had disbanded the franchise on the spot. 

Hitting the Wall: It wasn’t so much that the Wizards ripped the Hawks’ hearts out in Game 5 as it was the Hawks’ hearts got sick of beating and took a siesta. But it might not have mattered with how John Wall played in Game 6. He poured in 42 points, Bradley Beal scored 31, and the Hawks were mercifully out of the playoffs. His counterpart, Schroder, didn’t even really play badly! But John Wall is on a higher level than any of the Hawks, and so is Beal. The Hawks system reliably produces B-minus players, but those aren’t going to get you wins in May. 

Outlook: Paul Millsap is a free agent, and the Hawks want to keep him. But he’s 32, and it’s going to take 5 years. Will he stay? Since this is the Hawks, the answer is of course, 50/50. 

Chicago Bulls


With a cast on his right thumb, Chicago Bulls' Rajon Rondo, center, sits on the bench during Game 3 of the team's NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics in Chicago, Friday, April 21, 2017.  AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Great Expectations: The Celtics looked like the least dominant top seed that the playoffs have had in years. The Bulls had a chaotic year and stumbled to the eighth seed, but still had their vaunted "three Alphas" of Rondo, Butler and Wade. Boston had a very deep team, but their weakness was the one thing the Bulls could do with confidence: rebounding. Also a lot of the games were on TNT, where the Bulls had been shockingly good for the last four years. 

Foul Stench of Success: The Bulls won their first two games. Robin Lopez treated Al Horford like a mascot, tossing him around and grabbing rebounds. Dwyane Wade was hitting threes. Not only was Rondo dishing out assists, he was also calling out Boston’s plays as they were happening, like Jon Gruden facing his old Raiders team in the Super Bowl. Even as columnists wrote about Brad Stevens losing his job, Bulls fans remained worried. For months, all they wanted was for John Paxson and Gar Forman to be fired and the team to rebuild, and if they took Fred Hoiberg with them, all the better. Now they were coming home, and not only had they perhaps saved their jobs, they’d cruelly awakened the city of Chicago’s hopes. 

The Breaks of the Game: Rondo broke his hand and was out for the rest of the series. He had a cast on his arm and would be watching from the bench. The only thing uglier than the Bulls offense without Rondo running things was the short-sleeved blazer he wore on the bench. The Bulls traded for point guards Jerian Grant, Michael Carter-Williams, and Cameron Payne this year, and yet still had no reliable ball handler once their 31-year-old reclamation project got hurt. 

Carrying the Team After seeing the Grizzlies rally behind Coach Fizdale after he ripped the refs, Fred Hoiberg tried the same tactic. Only he had none of the charm, wordplay, or charisma of Coach Fizz. Holberg complained that Isaiah Thomas was carrying the ball and that made him unstoppable - not Chicago playing Grant and Carter-Williams, or benching Robin Lopez for the entire fourth quarter. It was a big week for carrying accusations. Tim Hardaway Sr. claimed that his crossover, the UTEP Two-Step, was the predecessor to all subsequent crossovers, and that Allen Iverson carried the ball whenever he crossed it over. Iverson claimed he carried it "all the way to the Hall of Fame." Palming or not, Isaiah Thomas carried his team all the way to the second round. 

Pushing buttons  Often, playoff coaches get credit for their timely substitution and lineups. They're "pushing the right buttons," as if they're a skilled gamer navigating a 2K17 season. In contrast, Hoiberg was the guy mashing buttons in a game of Street Fighter, accidentally hitting on effective combinations due to random chance, but never able to replicate the moves. Former fourth-string point guard Isaiah Canaan played zero minutes, then all of the minutes. Sometimes there was no point guard at all. Anthony Morrow sometimes played to give the Bulls shooting, while sometimes the shooting threat was Paul Zipser. Clearly, the main button Hoiberg uses is the panic button. 

Energy conservation Jimmy Butler is a great player, but much of this series had him guarding Boston's best player, while also working as primary ball handler, and rarely sitting down. He was injured before the series started, and he only got more tired. In contrast, Dwyane Wade took his rest on the court:

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted: By the end, everyone was ready to go. Hoiberg was storming out of his postgame pressers . Wade wasn’t trying. Starting power forward Nikola Mirotic got two rebounds in Game 6. It felt like the Bulls had non-refundable plane tickets that they’d lose if they forced a Game 7. It’s nearly impossible to lose three home games in a single playoff series, unless you are old, injured, or checked out. This year, the Bulls and Clippers both did it. They’ve got a whole summer ahead of them to kick back and not watch game film, before inevitably, they'll bring everyone back, to torment the fans of Chicago once more. 

Milwaukee Bucks


Milwaukee Bucks guard Matthew Dellavedova drives for the basket during the fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors in Game Six of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

I Wasn’t Even Supposed To Be Here Today!: The 2016-17 season had the makings of nightmare. Coming off a 33-49 season, Khris Middleton tore his hamstring in September. The big off-season acquisition was Matthew Dellavedova. Greg Monroe was unhappy, and the Bulls wing depth was so bad that they traded for Michael Beasley. Just before the All-Star break, Jabari Parker suffered a second ACL tear. Then they lost to the Lakers. They were 22-30, and it looked like time to pack it in and hope for luck in the lottery. Instead, Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the All-Star Game, and the Bucks rode an 18-6 run to the 6 seed.

Are You Experienced?: The Bucks’ lineup for Game 1 included two rookies, Malcolm Brogdon and Thon Maker, and the oldest player was 25. The lack of age and experience didn’t hurt them as they overwhelmed Toronto with their athleticism, energy and shutdown defense. It was a 14-point road victory, and seemed wildly encouraging — that is, if Toronto didn’t always lose Game 1 in the playoffs. 

Make-or-Miss League: Both teams made adjustments for the second game, and things were much closer. DeMar DeRozan shot better, and P.J. Tucker bothered the Greek Freak. But ultimately the game came down to one sequence: Khris Middleton missed an 18-foot jumper that would have tied the game, and then Kyle Lowry drilled a contested 20-footer to ice it. If those shots went the opposite way, we’d probably be watching LeBron James blow out Milwaukee right now! 

Torch Song For the Baby Bucks: Milwaukee would win only one more game in the series, but boy did they get their money’s worth. The Bucks led by 20 after the first quarter and put on the afterburners the rest of the way. They took a blowtorch to the Raptors. But, their success may have proved to be their undoing. They held DeMar DeRozan without a field goal and that lit a fire under him — he’d average 28 points a game the rest of the way.

Flushed out of the Playoffs The Bucks were blown out in Game 5, and looked on their way to another rout in Game 6. With half of the third quarter gone, they were down 25 points. But in shades of LeBron James, Giannis drove his team back from the precipice, dominating on both ends. With three minutes left, a Jason Terry three actually gave Milwaukee a lead! They fell behind again, trailing by 7 with 30 seconds left, and somehow roared back one more time, with 39-year-old Terry adding a three and a blocked layup. But at the end, they ran out of time. Giannis got the ball with a chance to tie with a three, but panicked and threw down a monster dunk instead. They ran out of a time, and the impressive flush flushed them out of the playoffs. With remotely decent injury luck and any contribution whatsoever going forward from Parker, the future is very bright. Next time they get in a late-game situation, Coach Jason Kidd simply needs to motivate Giannis to make the smart play. Maybe offer him a smoothie? GOD BLESS AMERICA.

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