They'll first have to get past the Memphis Grizzlies (who took out the Warriors in the final play-in game to claim the 8th seed), but let's just say it will be a pretty big shock if the Jazz fail to take care of business in seven games (or less). They enter these playoffs with the best record in the entire NBA (52-20), with French star Rudy Gobert telling us he's confident the team have banished their demons of yesteryear and will make a deeper postseason run in 2021. The Utah Jazz suffered a disappointing first-round exit in the recent 2020 playoffs, losing to the Denver Nuggets after squandering a 3-1 series lead. There are plenty of great matchups to keep an eye on in round one of the playoffs.ĭefending champions the Los Angeles Lakers - who beat the Golden State Warriors to secure the 7th seed in the West - will face a tough challenge against the No.2 seed Phoenix Suns, who won the regular season battle by two games to one.īut with four-time champion LeBron James leading the charge, Lakers fans will rightly feel they have every chance to beat the Suns and progress to the next round. The NBA Finals begin on 8 July, with the latest possible end date of 22 July, just prior to the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021 which will also feature many of the top players from the NBA and WNBA. The full dates and match-ups of the second round, as well as conference semi-finals and Finals will be announced as the playoffs progress. The 76ers-Wizards series, Jazz-Grizzlies series, Suns-Lakers series, and Knicks-Hawks series all start on Sunday. The playoffs officially start on Saturday 22 May, beginning with game one of the Nets-Celtics, Bucks-Heat, Mavericks-Clippers, and Trail Blazers-Nuggets series. The loser of this game then faced the winner of the match-up between the ninth and tenth teams - the winner of that game then clinched the eighth and final spot in the playoffs - thus finalising the 2021 NBA playoff bracket. The teams that finished seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth qualified for the play-in tournament, with teams positioned seventh and eighth playing one game, with the winner securing the seventh seed in the playoffs. The control he usually had on the court was nowhere to be seen.For the first time in league history, the 2021 NBA playoff field was finalised following a play-in tournament to determine the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern and Western conferences.Īt the end of the regular season, the top six teams in each conference clinched a playoff berth. He was rendered ineffective the entire game. However, in the playoffs, Paul just can't catch a break. It's one of the biggest reasons why the Suns rose to the top last season with him in tow. Paul's career has been built on his ability to make the team around him better. ( via ESPN Stats and Info)Ĭhris Paul finished with a +/- of -39, the worst in his NBA career, regular season or playoffs. If you're wondering, that -39 is a career-worst for CP3 in the playoffs and the regular season. Essentially, that meant that the Suns were outscored by 39 points when Paul was on the court. The Suns star was a ghastly -39 in the 31 minutes he played. However, that might not have even been the worst stat from Chris Paul's atrocious Game 7. Instead, Paul turned in one of the worst performances of his career: 10 points and just 4 assists for the entire game. With the Phoenix Suns entering a do-or-die Game 7, fans were hoping that the Point God could carry them to victory again. This has to be the worst night in Chris Paul's entire career.
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