For the second straight playoff season, the Atlanta Hawks are finding out how miserable an experience it is to face the Cleveland Cavaliers.
David Blatt’s defense last year, Tyronn Lue’s offense this year – it doesn’t matter. An elite Kyle Korver last year, a mediocre version this year – it hasn’t made a dime’s worth of difference. A 60-win team or a 48-win team – it hasn’t changed the fundamental dynamic for Atlanta against Cleveland in the month of May.
We’re led to an obvious conclusion: The Hawks reached the first Eastern Conference Finals in franchise history because they steered clear of the Cavs in the first two rounds of the 2015 playoffs. Accordingly, the Hawks will not return to the East Finals this year because they couldn’t remove themselves from Cleveland’s half of the East bracket.
Are the Hawks victims of bad luck? One could have made the case IF the NBA used a reseeded playoff format, AND either the Indiana Pacers or Charlotte Hornets had been able to win in the first round. Under that scenario, a re-seed of the East field would have put Indiana or Charlotte as the lowest seed in the conference, thereby making them play Cleveland in round two. Atlanta – with a series win from either the Pacers or Hornets – would have avoided Cleveland in the second round.
Yet, that’s not the playoff format we have, and the Hawks didn’t get the results which would have enabled that format to matter.
Things being what they were, the Hawks had every chance to reshape their destiny, at least in the conference semifinal round. The final opportunity to bend the bracket in their direction came in Game 82 against a Washington Wizards team which had been eliminated from playoff competition. If Atlanta had merely defeated the Wizards on the final night of the regular season, the Hawks would have gained the third seed in the East. They’d be facing the struggling Toronto Raptors right now, and would surely have a better chance of advancing to the East Finals.
No, the Hawks wouldn’t have altered their championship fate, but they would have given themselves a realistic path to another series win, and all the public goodwill and home-date revenue such an achievement creates. It’s no small thing, even though it’s not everything.
Ergo, for the second straight season, Game 82 of the regular season has mattered.
When the Spurs lost Game 82 to the Pelicans last year, their playoff fortunes were undeniably altered.
Remember the final night of the 2015 season? The West was a bumper-car derby, and the San Antonio Spurs had a chance to snag the No. 2 seed in the playoff race. The New Orleans Pelicans were playing for the right to make the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West, but the Spurs knew that they could in fact fall to the sixth seed with a loss. The difference between a 2 and a 6 is profound, and so when San Antonio lost Game 82 to an inferior team, the playoff bracket was reshaped in ways which caught up with the (then-) defending NBA champions.
The Spurs lost home-court advantage for two rounds, while simultaneously having to face the loaded Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. The Spurs actually did well on the Clippers’ home floor, winning two of the first three games in Staples Center. However, when they were pushed to a Game 7, the adrenaline of playing at home carried a wounded Chris Paul to the finish line. The Clippers eliminated the Spurs, but a Game 82 loss had a lot to do with the abbreviated nature of San Antonio’s playoff run.
In so many ways, the regular season doesn’t matter. Cleveland can coast without cost. Toronto can soar without significance. In the case of the Clippers, regular season success can be undone by a dramatic choke (2015) or rash of injuries (2016). Yet, for all of those realities, there remains a special resonance about Game 82. Falling into – or out of – the right seeding slot on the final night of the season carries genuine and profound consequences for the teams involved.
San Antonio-New Orleans 2015 and Atlanta-Washington 2016 have both affirmed the truth of that claim.
Yes, some teams should lose a Game 82, so that they don’t lower their lottery odds or move up from the 6 seed to the 5 and draw an elite-level No. 1 seed a round sooner. Yet, the larger point should be obvious: If you need to win Game 82, don’t think that the playoffs can compensate for a failure. A shortcoming in Game 82 can and does alter the length of a playoff run.
Keep this in mind, teams which are exhausted after Game 81. Next season and beyond, you don’t want to relax until Game 82 is safely in the win column (in the event that a win is beneficial, of course).
