The brand new NBA In-Season Tournament arrived on Friday, and with seven games now in the books, we have a far better idea of what to expect out of the league's grand experiment to emulate soccer. So far, so good. All seven games were competitive. Four underdogs covered the spread and two won their games outright. Given the attention paid to what could have been a night of typical regular-season basketball, the NBA has to be happy with the results.
Before we dive into some of our biggest takeaways from the beginning of the tournament, here's everything you need to know about how the tournament works and what to expect from it moving forward.
So, with that in mind, let's dive into our major takeaways from Friday's action:
Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers won the very first game of In-Season Tournament play, and he led his team in scoring with 27 points. After the game, he gave a quote that the NBA was surely thrilled to see. "It's playoff basketball man." Turner said when interviewed on the Indiana broadcast. "That's what it's about."
A lot of the consternation about this tournament has revolved around the fear that nobody, not the fans, not the teams and not the players, would treat this like playoff basketball. If this is going to become an important part of the league calendar, everybody has to give it the importance the league is hoping for. It's too early to say whether or not they ultimately will, but the league couldn't have asked for a better night of basketball to launch this event.
Six of the seven games were decided by single digits, and the seventh was won by 11 points. Blazers-Grizzlies went to overtime, while Warriors-Thunder and Nets-Bulls both came down to a final possession, and Knicks-Bucks and Pacers-Cavaliers almost did. Nearly every game was close throughout, and the quality of basketball was high throughout.
Did the teams treat it like playoff basketball? No, not yet. Stephen Curry played only 31 minutes, for example. No team ran its stars into the ground as it would for a postseason affair. But give it time. As far as first nights go, the league couldn't have asked for much better.
You can check out all 30 courts for the In-Season Tournament above, but early on Friday, the general consensus was that the courts weren't working. In fairness, the league started off with some of its worst designs. The neon yellow and bright blue in Indianapolis was downright distracting, and the green stripe down the center of the court in Milwaukee made it look like there was something wrong with your television.
But as the night progressed? Things got a bit better. A yellow stripe worked far better with Denver's darker blue than Indiana's brighter floor. Chicago's all-red court worked well, aside from the contrast with the ball. Oklahoma City's blue and black scheme is among the best of the 30.
None of the top six courts in our rankings were used tonight. When teams like Boston, Phoenix and Utah take the floor, fans might feel differently. But, for now, the league is fighting an uphill battle from an aesthetic standpoint. Some of these bright colors just hurt the eyes too much to focus on a basketball game.
It's not necessarily impossible to make the playoffs at 0-6. The Lakers were 0-5 (and then 2-10) early last season and reached the Western Conference Finals. The Kings were 0-4 and earned the No. 3 seed. But, remember, those teams had their full rosters at their disposals. The Grizzlies are 0-6 and won't get Ja Morant back for 19 games. Steven Adams isn't coming back, period.
The Lakers and Kings needed a historically packed Western Conference to make their runs last season. The Western Conference remains dominant, but with better health and a heavier top, it's just not especially likely that 45 wins earns a top-4 seed. If the Grizzlies can even rally their way back to .500 or so, their best case scenario is probably a play-in route to the playoffs. More likely, this is a lottery team.
That might not be the worst thing. With Adams injured and Morant needing to re-earn the organization's trust, a gap year in which the team can assess the rest of the roster before regrouping over the summer could be beneficial. Right now, the Grizzlies don't have the talent to compete for a playoff spot. If a loss to the lowly Blazers doesn't prove that, then nothing will.
Portland finishes this one off, 115-113, and the Grizzlies, two-time reigning No. 2 seed, are suddenly 0-6. Their season, and in their In-Season Tournament hopes, are now on life support.
As improbable as it would have sounded before the season, it looks like the Memphis Grizzlies are headed for an 0-6 start. Jerami Grant just sank a 3 to put the Blazers up 112-108, and the Grizzlies have only eight points in the last eight minutes.
Jackson ties us up with 90 seconds remaining on that layup. This game refuses to end. There's a very real chance we get our first double-overtime game of the season here.
We saw no scoring for the first two minutes of overtime, but Deandre Ayton gives Portland the lead on a putback. That's his fourth double-double of the season, and Memphis turns it over with an illegal screen. It is all Portland right now, and the Grizzlies are in serious danger of an 0-6 start.
The Nuggets finish off the Mavericks behind a 33-14-9 stat line from Nikola Jokic, who is now shooting 64.5% from the floor this season. Luka Doncic was nearly as good, but in the early battle of the MVP favorites, Jokic comes out on top.
WOW! That is the best defensive highlight of Shaedon Sharpe's young career. He flies in out of nowhere to block Luke Kennard's game-winning short and send this game to overtime.
As unbelievable as it sounds, the Blazers have overcome a 10-point deficit with 201 seconds remaining on the clock. This game is now tied, 102 apiece, with 8.3 seconds left. The Grizzlies need a bucket to earn their first win of the season and stave off an 0.6 record.
Shaedon Sharpe can tie this thing up with 8.3 seconds remaining. This is a big spot for the second-year pro, but exactly the sort of high-pressure rep the Blazers hoped this tournament would give him.
Jerami Grant goes in-and-out from the corner. Fortunately, they hold possession as the ball goes out of bounds. With 15.3 seconds left down two, this game is very much available to them after trailing by 10 three minutes ago.
Memphis led this game by 10 with 3:21 left. Suddenly it's a four-point game with 45.6 seconds left on the clock. Now Malcolm Brogdon can cut it two at the line. Can Memphis hold on?
Big replay win for the Grizzlies, as that Marcus Smart foul is overturned. That's two points off the board for Portland, and quickly, two on the board for Memphis thanks to Desmond Bane. It's an eight-point game, one that is slowly slipping away from the Trail Blazers.
Dallas cut the Denver lead to nine, but five quick points from Christian Braun has it back up to 14. Normally, Dallas is about as well-equipped to overcome such a lead as any team in basketball. But their opportunity is dwindling here. You have to dominate the Jokic bench minutes to beat Denver, and it won't be long now before the best player in the world returns to the floor.
Jerami Grant just got called for flopping, and that gave Desmond Bane a free throw to push the lead up to 94-87. Six points is hardly an insurmountable lead, but for a young team like the Blazers, coming back in crunch time is no easy task.
These are the minutes you have to win to beat the Nuggets: when Nikola Jokic goes to the bench. Sure enough, Dallas is +9 when the Finals MVP is on the bench, right now it's a single-digit game at 104-95. Denver needs its best player to put the Mavericks away.
Back and forth this game goes, where it will stop, nobody knows. A wild 3-pointer by Jaren Jackson Jr., his third of the night, ties us up at 80. Since the 8:46 mark of the third quarter, neither team has led by more than five points.
Grizzlies 77, Blazers 76 through three quarters. I won't lie, I didn't expect to be more interested in that game than Nuggets-Mavericks down the stretch, but they're forcing my hand.
