🏀 The West Playoff Race is Chaos

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Top of the morning, Enjoyers! We’re in the homestretch now, as NBA teams have fewer than ten games remaining in the season. But the craziest part? It still feels like absolutely nothing has been decided… except for the fact that we’re here to give you the best NBA coverage out there (spoiler alert: that’ll never change 😉). Let’s get to it!

Today’s Lineup

Don’t Blink: …or you might miss something in the West’s tight playoff race. 🫣

Kyle & KAT = Clutch: Minnesota ended the weekend with a wild win in the Bay! 🤯 

EB Roundtable: Which of your created teams would thrive in today’s era? ✍️

PrizePicks

Do you ever wake up in the morning and think, “Hmm, I feel like Joel Embiid is going to score more than 31.5 points today. I wish there was a way I could multiply my money with this knowledge…” Well guess what? There is! It’s called PrizePicks! 

If you’re wondering why we love PrizePicks so much, here’s the breakdown. It’s quick to use, easy to understand, and is constantly offering some of the best exclusive promotions (the Taco Tuesday deals hit every time). Here’s what our card looks like for Monday’s slate—what do you think? 🤔

Sign up HERE or down below and use promo code ENJOY to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100! With the chance to 10x your money in 60 seconds or less by testing your basketball knowledge, what are you waiting for?

*PrizePicks is available to residents 18+ in AK, AR, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, MI, MN, NE, NY, NM, NC, ND, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, UT, VT, VA, WI, WY. 19+ in AL. 21+ in AZ, MA.

Friday Frenzy & Saturday’s Scenes

What should it be called when the Kings go on a huge run? SAC-valance? The reck-King-ing? Ehh, we’ll keep workshopping it. Anyway, Phoenix was victim to one of those on Friday.

In Memphis, the Grizzlies put up 151 points on a Rockets team that looked like they’d rather be at the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid. Luke Kennard went 10/11 from 3PT range in this game—honestly, why don’t guys do that more often? Just make all your shots, right?

Golden State survived a 46-point game from Joel Embiid, and the Lakers beat OKC in an important seeding game. LA traded for a bunch of good players and now they’re good. That adds up.

Brooklyn decimated Miami 129-100 on Saturday, but luckily it wasn’t an extremely important game between two teams fighting for the sixth seed in the East! Wait…

The battle of each conference’s best team turned out to be disappointingly anticlimactic. Denver came out firing and put away the Bucks before the fourth quarter even began. And it was nice to see that New Orleans did take Luke Kennard’s advice from Friday by simply not missing their shots, going 21/34 from behind the arc in a win against the Clips.

Sunday’s Best (Or Worst, Depending on Who You Cheer For)

Dallas concludes brutal weekend with 110-104 loss to Hornets

This was EXACTLY what you’d expect from a game where one team is fighting for a playoff berth and the other is simply going through the motions of a long-lost season… unfortunately for Dallas (36-39), they looked like the latter.

Luka Doncic posted 40/12/8, but the good news ends there for the Mavs. They were simply out-hustled… again… by a Charlotte (24-52) team just playing for pride. If the season ended today, Dallas would miss the play-in. Ouch.

Bulls cruise past Lakers 118-108, Le6th Man returns to lineup

The good news for Los Angeles (37-38)? LeBron James is back—he came off the bench on Sunday for just the second time in his career. The bad news? Well, they lost.

Chicago (36-38) is close to wrapping up a play-in berth as Zach LaVine continued his torrid pace through the month of March; he’s averaging 30 points on over 50% from the field and 45% from deep. 🤒 

Nets follow up great win with bad loss to Magic, 119-106

It’s a tale as old as time: a team wins a hugely important game and then falls flat in their next outing. Brooklyn (40-35) fell victim to that storyline on Sunday, despite 44 from Mikal Bridges, as they got discarded by Orlando (32-43). Eight players scored in double figures for the Magic—now that’s a total team effort.

Celtics obliterate Spurs, 137-93

Here’s your EB math lesson of the day. San Antonio (19-56) shot 37% from the field. Boston (52-23) shot 57% from the field. Jaylen Brown scored 41 points. What do you get when you add up all of those things? If you answered “a blowout”, then you’d be correct!

Cavs inch closer to third seed in East with 108-91 win over Houston

Cleveland (48-28) started the season wonderfully but then fell off a little, and now it seems like they’re very quietly sneaking their way back up. They’re just two games behind the third-place 76ers after a comfortable win against Houston (18-57). Having a 21-year-old who can do this must be fun.

Grizzlies stay hot, beat Hawks 123-119

Much like the aforementioned Cavaliers, Memphis (47-27) had a mid-season slump but have now found their rhythm in the final weeks of the regular season. Ja Morant and Desmond Bane combined for 52 points as the Grizz escaped Atlanta (37-38) late. 901 mood:

Raptors hold steady at ninth in the East, beat Wizards 114-104

The Western Conference playoff race is getting all the coverage, but the East is tight too! Toronto (37-38) got a big win Sunday and moved into a tie for eighth place with Atlanta, both of whom are only a half-game ahead of Chicago. Washington’s (33-42) postseason chances took a big hit in this one, but Johnny Davis had a career-high 15 points! That could be something!

Thunder get big road win over Blazers, 118-112

They needed it, and they got it. OKC (37-38) got some huge help in the play-in race when Charlotte beat Dallas twice in three days. And then, to cap off the weekend, the Thunder helped themselves with a win in the Rose City thanks to a balanced offensive attack. For Portland (32-42) fans, things may look a little bleak. But Shaedon Sharpe is here to quell your worries with ample dunks.

Timberwolves get huge road win, beat Warriors 99-96

The Western Conference simply refuses to be normal. Golden State (39-37) was down double-digits at least 23 times in this game but just KEPT coming back. They actually had the lead and the ball with under thirty seconds to play, and then… well… roll tape.

Minnesota (38-37) moved to a half game behind the Dubs with this W, thanks to Naz Reid (23 PTS) and Kyle Anderson (12 PTS, 10 REB). Sleep well, Wolves fans.

EB Roundtable

We know y’all love to put on your general manager hats, and that’s what we asked you to do once again in this installment of EB Roundtable! Here were the criteria:

Let’s see what you all cooked up 👨‍🍳

This team would be LETHAL. A KD and Tim Duncan duo sounds like the scariest sight you could possibly see on a basketball court, but even greater would be the locker room dynamic. Just picture Josh Giddey asking Duncan to be in a TikTok while KD fires off tweets in the corner. Wow.

Talk about a highlight factory. Imagine using all of your energy to wall off an SGA drive, just for him to dish it off to LeBron?!?! And when you finally do get the ball back, you run into two of the best young paint protectors in the NBA. This lineup doesn’t have a lethal 3PT shooter, but it does have… everything else.

Frozen Moments

• Dennis Smith Jr’s revenge weekend against his former team ended with a BANG 💥

• Where were you when Jordan Nwora became Michael Jordan?

• Jeff Green AKA Duncle Jeff will be posterizing NBA players for all of eternity.

Good Reads

Inside Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels’ Unbreakable Bond, from Australia to the NBA - David Gardner (SLAM Magazine)

What We’re Enjoying

The People You’re Paying To Be in Shorts: Last week, news broke that Michael Jordan is on the verge of selling his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. Because of that, we feel it’s only right to re-watch this hilarious and well-made documentary from Secret Base about MJ’s tenure as big boss in Charlotte. It’s worth your time, we promise.

Signing Off

And that wraps it up for us today! We say it all the time, but we truly appreciate your consistent support. One day, we’ll hug all 40,512 of you. Have a great week—talk soon.

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The most points by a rook who didn’t win ROY? Pistol Pete Maravich, who averaged 23.2 PPG in 1970-71! Maravich lost the award to Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie, who actually tied for the honors.

Before you go…