With just a few days remaining in the NBA regular season, there's still a whole heck of lot yet to be decided. Six teams are battling it out for the final five playoff spots out west. Injuries to star players — Kyrie Irving included — seem to be the talk of the water cooler.
Meanwhile, a surging Philadelphia 76ers squad is apparently ready to take the Eastern Conference by storm.
Looking at the SNIPdaily NBA Top 100, we've come up with several things that people are talking about around the NBA heading into the stretch run.
LeBron James as Michael Jordan
King James just broke another one of MJ's records. This time, it came in the form of posting double-digit scoring outings in 867 consecutive games. That's just insane stuff right there.
Having earned SEVEN consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, James is looking to make it an even eight this season. Despite his Cavaliers' struggles, there's a good chance this might happen. Currently the fourth seed, Cleveland has won five of six games. It also has the ability to deal with a Kyrie Irving-less Boston Celtics squad and a struggling Toronto Raptors team in the postseason.
Markelle Fultz injures Joel Embiid
After missing pretty much his entire rookie season, Fultz made his impact known early upon his return. But not in a good way. During a game against the New York Knicks late last month, Fultz collided with All-Star center Joel Embiid, forcing his teammate from the game.
Ultimately, Embiid was diagnosed with an orbital fracture to the face and a concussion. Embiid has since undergone surgery and has no timeline for return. Given that Philadelphia heads into this weekend's action as the third seed back east, that's a major loss for a team with championship aspirations.
Lonzo Ball, Isaiah Thomas shut down for the season
The Los Angeles Lakers were surprisingly competitive this season. With a young core that includes Brandon Ingram as well as rookies Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles has already won eight more game than last season.
Though, it's the injuries to both Ball and Thomas that's the talk of Southern California basketball. Ball has missed the past four games with a knee contusion and will sit out the remainder of the regular season. He ends his rookie campaign having averaged 10.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
Meanwhile, Thomas just recently had successful hip surgery and will be out four months. Interestingly, this increases his chances of returning to the Lakers after being acquired from Cleveland back in February.
Kyrie Irving's injury
As the sixth-most popular figure in the SNIPdaily NBA Top 100 for the month, Irving is the talk of the NBA world for all the wrong reasons. Having undergone surgery on an injured knee late last month, it seemed Irving would be back in time for the playoffs. That's no longer the case.
Boston announced earlier this week that Irving will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs due to the injury. This is a major blow for a Boston team that has the No. 2 seed locked up back east. Irving was averaging 24.4 points and 5.1 rebounds on 49 percent shooting at the time of the injury.
Oklahoma-sized implosion
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are just one game ahead of Denver for the final playoff spot out west. The team has lost four out of five and might miss out on the postseason altogether. Fresh off adding Carmelo Anthony and Paul George this past summer, that would be a major disappointment.
It could also lead to the Thunder seeing George himself depart in free agency once that gets going in July. It will definitely be interesting to see how the final few games of the regular season plays out here.
Same in San Antonio
For the first time since 1998-99, the Spurs will not win 50 games this season. The backdrop here is the possibility that this team might miss out on the playoff altogether for the first time since 1996-97. Add in Kawhi Leonard's injury — currently the talk of Texas — and things just aren't going swimmingly for this squad.
Fresh off a 10-point loss to the above-mentioned Lakers, San Antonio now has three games to salvage its season. This concludes Wednesday against a New Orleans Pelicans squad that's battling it out with the Spurs for one of the final playoff spots out west.
Damian Lillard and the Blazers
Most of the talk out west come playoff time will surround Houston and Golden State, but we cannot forget about a Blazers squad that's on the verge of winning 50 games and boasts a legit MVP candidate in Lillard. Here's a dude that's averaging 26.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.
Boasting a 17-5 record since mid February, these Blazers are going to be heard from before the end of the playoffs. And a possible second-round matchup against Golden State could potentially put this squad on the map.
Sixers still riding high
Wasn't that fun? Philadelphia opened up a near 30 point first half lead against Cleveland on Friday night, only to see squander said lead in the face of LeBron James' brilliance. Though, it was the domination we saw from rookie Ben Simmons that ultimately led to Philadelphia winning its 13th consecutive game and bypassing Cleveland for the No. 3 seed back east.
Sure the Embiid' injury has been the talk of Philadelphia, but the utter brilliance we've seen from Simmons recently also hasn't gone unnoticed. Following Friday's dynamic performance, Simmons is the second-most talked about figure in the SNIPdaily NBA Top 100, behind only James himself. He's also averaging 18.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 10.9 assists and 1.7 steals during Philly's current winning streak. Whew.
Western Conference Playoff race
This is going to be pretty darn interesting. A total of two games separate six teams battling it out for the final five playoff spots out west. Utah seemingly has the upper hand as the fourth seed, one game ahead of San Antonio, Oklahoma City and New Orleans. Meanwhile, Minnesota boasts the eighth seed with a 45-35 record, just a half game ahead of Denver for that spot.
Of these teams, Utah might have the toughest remaining schedule. Two of the team's three games consist of going up against Portland and Golden State. San Antonio also doesn't have it easy with games against Portland and New Orleans, the latter of whom is also slated to take on Golden State.
In any event, the final few days of the regular season is going to be extremely interesting out west. One of these six teams will miss out on playoff basketball despite putting up 44-plus wins.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://snipdaily.com/2018/04/nbas-stretch-run-what-were-talking-about/