Going into the final day of the NBA regular season, 18 of the 20 seeds in the playoffs and play-in were still up for grabs, as teams jockeyed to move up (and down) in the last game of the season. In the end, things shook out just about as expected, with some tremendous games early between the Hornets and Wizards for eighth in the East and the Warriors and Grizzlies for eighth in the West.
Elsewhere, the Clippers somehow out-tanked the Thunder to stay in 4th, while Portland cruised past an unmotivated Denver team also hoping to maybe slip to 4th, securing the final playoff spot in the West and forcing the Lakers into the play-in. With L.A. in seventh and the Warriors taking eighth, the marquee matchup of the inaugural play-in tournament is set for Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET in Los Angeles (on ESPN), as LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s paths will cross once again in the postseason.
After the Lakers beat the Pelicans and knew of their fate, LeBron James spoke about once again running into Steph in the postseason and looked back on their battles, the respect they have for each other, and made a pretty passionate case for Curry to be the MVP over the presumptive winner Nikola Jokic.
"Our paths have been crossed again. There's always been a level of respect that's beyond the game of basketball." @KingJames on why he believes @StephenCurry30 is this year's NBA MVP. pic.twitter.com/w7E6v75nSO
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) May 17, 2021
It’s possible LeBron believes this strongly, but James also knows better than anyone how to craft and curate his own legacy in real time. In a year where injuries took himself out of the MVP conversation — he also noted in postgame that he felt he was playing the best basketball of his career before a “grown man” dove into his legs — the next best thing for LeBron is to build a path through the guy he thinks should be MVP, possibly meeting the actual MVP in the second round, and then likely either the team with the NBA’s best record or the in-town rival Clippers in the conference finals.
James is a wrestling fan so he knows you always put over your opponent, and on top of that he gets to stir up a little drama in the process by seeing if he can maybe swing some votes over Curry’s way who has had, undoubtedly, one of the best seasons in the NBA. James references his support for Russ to win the MVP when he first averaged a triple-double, noting that record can’t be a deciding factor when someone has an historic season. What he’s also done is ensured that the MVP debate will rage for some time longer even as the regular season comes to a close, and that Curry vs. Jokic will be one major topic of conversation — but one that comes after discussion of the latest matchup of Curry vs. LeBron.
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