I'd just like to start this award ceremony update by profusely thanking the person who invented the auto-saving post drafts for forums. I don't even want to contemplate how much work it has saved me - from my own bumbling mistakes, of course. Actually, there's no contemplation required; I just have to remember what it was like before it was a thing.
Anyway, let's get this show on the road.
Final standings
I'm pretty sure this is the strongest the East has ever been. Actually, scratch that: I'm pretty sure this is the strongest any conference has ever been! Ten teams have both a winning record and a positive MOV (margin of victory). There are, simply put, no bad teams on their side of the playoff bracket this year. We've also got three great teams at the top, in the Hawks (Skizzlet), Nets (Nobbers & BenitwoSTARRLET) and the Knicks (Two Nil & reelworld II). Any of those could easily win the championship.
But then you've got, at the very least, three teams below them that could beat any of the other teams on a good day - and maybe even go on a run: the Pacers (Sonius), the 76ers (Dan II) and the Bucks (Pepper Bailly). If the Heat (sontodevil) and the Celtics make it through the play-in, they're also teams with great records since the last update. The biggest argument against them having a realistic shot is that they'd have to play either Atlanta or Brooklyn in the 1st Round.
Oh yeah, and the Atlanta Hawks just casually went 41-0 at home, setting a new NBA record. They're ostensibly not prohibitively better than either the Nets or the Knicks, either by record or MOV, but they'll have home court advantage in every single series.
Speaking of how historically great the East is, here's the historically bad West! I have to assume a total of three teams with winning records is also some kind of NBA record. And of those the only actually impressive team is the Clippers; the 2-seed Lakers would have been in the play-in tournament in the East. We've got some Cafites in it, though. Dr. Junior's Grizzlies may not an amazing record, but keep in mind that they also don't have the best form. I'm not sure where I was going with that, but they're in the playoffs at least. Also in the playoffs are Heine and SebJr, after superstar Scottie Barnes just about recovered from his torn ACL in time. Finally, The Cub has a chance to make it back to the playoffs. The Nuggets aren't very good, but then neither is any of the other teams around them.
Given all the negative things I've said about the West so far, it should come as a profound shock that the Houston Rockets aren't even in the play-in. I'm actually not sure how that happened. Injury problems, maybe, or just the fact that everyone who isn't named weeweetee or Lil' V.O. is absolute garbage. Lil-Nut's Timberwolves also miss out, but the next 6 best players after the Cafite are all 23 or younger. Given they also have their own pick plus that of Portland, I'd venture the team might look quite different next year.
Play-in tournament
The Cub is back in the playoffs! This will be only his 4th time, despite consistently being one of the best players in the league for practically his entire career. This win also means they'll be the 7-seed instead of the 8-seed, which might turn out to be decisive given there's basically only one properly good in the entire East, the Clippers, and they'll play the 8-seed.
sontodevil takes the Heat so very close to beating the Celtics, even scoring a rare 11 points. They'll have to play the winner of Chicago v Washington to get through. And neither of those is a bad team.
Now that's a surprise! sontodevil goes out injured in the first quarter, and his Miami teammates still manage to finish off Washington. I guess it didn't hurt that Trae Young and Terry Taylor shot a combined 3-26. Our man will go into the 1st Round with a small injury, but he'll be able to play through it.
Whoops, I just copied the tags from the last update, but that one didn't include everyone. My deepest apologies to @Stobzilla, @The Cat, @Dan and @reelworld.
Splitting this one into 1-3 and 4-7 again, since there's so damn many of you. Even then I had to combine a few screenshots. You only have yourselves to blame.
The Pelicans demolishing the Thunder, that's not how I expected this one to start out.
Dr. Junior leads the Grizzlies to a solid win over the Suns, but The Cub isn't quite able to replicate his fellow Cafite's feat in his own series opener against the Lakers. It was quite close, mind, and the Lakers are heavy favourites.
One close game and one decidedly not close game. Two Nil with a monstrous 35/20/11. Equally important is the fact that reelworld II doesn't start out the playoffs shooting poorly, as has been the case so many times.
The Nets and the Hawks dominating the opposition, as expected. The Heat never stood a chance with sontodevil picking up a minor injury just a few minutes into it.
The Thunder strike back, led by a scintillating performance from Scottie Barnes. They really did miss him during his long regular season injury absence. SebJr also deciding that he's not just a passer.
Only 2 points in it, but the Suns are even! I think this Michael Jordan kid might have a bright future ahead of him.
Easier for the Lakers this time. The Nuggets are going to need to pull out something special to have a chance at turning this one around.
Not one to remember for sontodevil, who might be feeling the effects of the knock he picked up last time. The odds are decidedly stacked against him here, to be fair. Skizzlet with another solid playoff game.
Big win for the Pacers! Is this one over already? Sonius with surely one of his best playoff performances yet. Just imagine how good it would be if he hit any of those distance shots. Dan II with a net positive game, but clearly the 76ers need more than that.
The Bucks bring it back to square one! Pepper Bailly with a "some of everything" game - including fouls.
The Nets are already prohibitive favourites; the Celtics aren't going to have any chance at all if they can't avoid injuries. It feels like BenitwoSTARRLET should maybe be getting more than 2 3P shots, given she's the reigning (and five-time) 3P contest champion.
Another Scottie Barnes masterclass, and the Thunder needed every bit of it. Not much of a champion performance from Heine, for someone who has been the champion so many times.
Phoenix blowing Memphis away, and taking the series lead in the process! Completely outclassed.
Another close game, but also another Lakers win. The Cub is fighting back, but there's just a very clear difference in firepower here. First sweep incoming?
Well, that'll be it, then? Practically no one but Skizzlet having a good game, but he had a great one. But it's hard to see Miami coming back with Nikola Topic picking up a torn meniscus. That injury has actually instantly stunted his development a little bit, though he'll still be a good player. Next season.
A good game from Skizzlet, and 10+ points from 6 different Indiana players, and yet the Philadelphia 76ers will go into the next update only 1 game behind in the series. Much better shooting this time from Dan II. 22 points in 21 minutes, and it would have been more (of both) if he hadn't picked up 5 quick fouls.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the points, reelworld II with the assists and Two Nil with the rebounds. That's one way of winning games, I suppose.
A very narrow win, but that's all it takes to put this series beyond reach for Boston. Surely?
Easy win for the Thunder! Heine with a solid all-round performance, and SebJr proving why they (?) call (?) him the assist king.
Dr. Junior and the Grizzlies nearly blow a 15 point lead heading into the 4th quarter, but they hold on and tie the series at 2-2. 38-year old Kevin Durant turns back the clock and gets 28 crucial points in 22 minutes of play. He's still got it.
It's the first sweep of the playoffs! The Nuggets truthfully never stood much of a chance against the Lakers, but at least The Cub got to experience it again. He'll take whatever he can get at this point, I suspect.
Another sweep! The injury might have hurt sontodevil more than I expected, as the Heat needed a lot more from their best player if they were to have any chance. Skizzlet had a very efficient performance.
The 76ers bring it back to square one. Dan II with a crucial scoring clinic. Sonius played really well too, 10 blocks ensuring him the triple double, but it wasn't quite enough from the rest of the team.
I think the Knicks just have too much for the Bucks to deal with here. Pepper Bailly has a decent game in everything except scoring, but Milwaukee really needed the points this game. Particularly when New York have SGA dropping 43.
And that's our third sweep of the first round! The Celtics aren't bad, but the Nets just might be great.
Clippers 109-101 Warriors
This one is done! It seemed easy for the Thunder, at times, despite the Pelicans being the nominal favourites. Of course, the only reason the Thunder didn't finish with a much better was the loss of Scottie Barnes during half the regular season, and he's certainly putting in a shift now.
Josh Giddey with one of the greatest playoff performances ever. 47/18/13 is stupidly good. Dr. Junior merely had a very good performance himself, but put those together and it results in an easy series lead for Memphis. 6 turnovers for Michael Jordan - I'm not sure this kid has any end product.
This series is extremely close! This time the Pacers win, and by the fewest possible points. Clearly Indiana needed every little bit of Sonius' magnificent performance. Dan II will be disappointed that his 32 points couldn't secure the series lead.
Milwaukee put up a fair struggle this series, but in the end the New York Knicks were just too strong. It'll be extremely interesting to see how they match up against the Nets. We'll have two clear championship contenders already in the 2nd Round.
Clippers (WIN) 123-103 Warriors
The bright future Suns may have Elvin Hayes, Cooper Flagg and Michael Jordan, but they're not quite there yet. The Memphis Grizzlies get through them with relative ease, though they'll need to be even better to beat the Lakers in the 2nd Round.
An untimely injury to an Indiana starter, and the 76ers capitalize. This one is going to game 7!
The Pacers win! It's actually the least close game of the entire series, despite Sonius going off after only 21 minutes. He was having a very strong shooting performance too. Dan II does what he can, but LeBron James and Devin Booker can't match him to make this interesting.
I'd say the Atlanta Hawks are favourites, but it's damn close. Anyone from the East could win it, honestly. I wouldn't think most of the West can compete, but last year proved that anything can happen. The Clippers are significantly better than they were last year too, so underestimate them at your own peril!
Yes, I'm splitting this one up too. Sue me don't sue me. I'm going to try to hurry it along a bit, so that we can finish the experiment before next year. The speed will pick up once you lot start retiring. After nearly a year of constant alerts, you're almost free of me.
Almost.
The underdogs take game 1! It's a very promising sign that Heine can have a pretty bad game, and the Thunder can still win comfortably. Scottie Barnes with a monster game and SebJr with a very efficient performance off the bench didn't hurt.
Across town, the Lakers take down the Grizzlies after a dominating performance in the 2nd quarter. Dr. Junior with only 9 points.
Well, that's Atlanta's perfect home record gone! They haven't lost a single home game all season, and in the end it took a truly special performance from Sonius to get it down. A wild triple double, particularly considering it was accomplished with 10 blocks. Oh, and 33 points and 36 rebounds. That's the highest in recorded NBA Playoff history, with only sontodevil beating it in the regular season (with 39 ) and altodevil matching it. It's also Sonius' highest GameScore ever, and he's only the 8th person to have a score of 49 or higher in the playoffs (previously achieved by Kevin Durant (5x), Jerry Stackhouse, Nobbers (2x), weeweetee, Josh Giddey, Solius and reelworld II.
And it still came down to 7 points.
The local rivalry is on, and the Nets draw first blood! Nobbers reminds us that he used to be the best player in the world by getting 45 points. BenitwoSTARRLET plays okay, but fouls out. 1 block is very low for what she's capable of, but they got the win anyway. For the Knicks, it wasn't really a case of the stars failing the team. They all had decent games, though perhaps one could expect even more than that, under the circumstances.
The Clippers strike back!
And the Grizzlies! Dr. Junior with a much better performance than in the game 1 defeat. This one basically came down to the fact that two Grizzlies players had very good games, while only one Clippers player did.
A very low-scoring playoff game, indeed! Sonius only took 3 fewer shots than last game, but scored 23 fewer points. And it's not like the Hawks had such an incredible game either. Skizzlet got into early foul trouble and as a consequence sat a lot of the game out.
2-0 to Brooklyn! Nobbers with another great performance, and several of his teammates contributed to the victory as well. This is the reverse of the Atlanta-Indiana game: both teams had good games in this case. The biggest difference seems to be the Nets getting more luck with the whistle (or perhaps the Knicks were too careless with their fouling).
A great performance from Scottie Barnes, but he can't stop the Clippers from turning the series around. Heine and particularly SebJr with games to forget, although the former is supposed to be the superstar and the latter is the bench veteran.
A very close win, but the Grizzlies take the series lead all the same! I'm not sure how to interpret NBA stats, but something tells me allowing a 47.8 ORB% is not ideal if you want to win playoff games. Which makes it all the more impressive that they did win. Dr. Junior didn't do much on the board, but he's got the passes and points thing down to an art. Oh, and also Josh Giddey. Of course.
We've seen what Sonius is capable of, now we see that Skizzlet can match him. It's not quite the legendary performance that his opponent supplied in game 1, but 23/24/2, with great defence, was plenty enough this time.
The Knicks take game 3! It was a close one, but now they'll avoid going into game 4 with a 0-3 series deficit. Getting 20+ points from 4 different starters is impressive. Although they could do without the injury to Ayton, I'm sure.
I should have reserved the 3rd post as well. I'm pretty damn close to the 40k character limit in both posts. What am I supposed to do, not organize every update with links? Do I look like a barbarian?
Despite Heine's triple double, the Clippers take a decisive 3-1 lead! He played very well, though being blocked 6 times is not ideal. SebJr also proved that he's still got it.
3-1 to the Grizzlies! Dr. Junior has a good game, but again it's Josh Giddey who plays the superstar role. This one might not last for much longer.
After the incredible road win from the Pacers in game 1, the Hawks have proven why they were the favourites by winning three in a row. This time there are no stand-out performances on the Atlanta side, but there are enough goodenough performances to overcome Sonius' very good game.
The Knicks tie the series up, but was it worth losing Two Nil? He'll be back soon, but he'll be playing at a reduced pace. New York managed to beat Brooklyn (mostly) without him this time, but except for Nobbers there were no half-way good performances for the Nets. There's no guarantee that stays the case. reelworld II will have to be at his best, that's for sure.
Another good (or great) game from Heine, and the Thunder are still in this! I also just noticed that the Thunder have two players named Jaxson in the starting line-up, and that's cool.
There's only one point in it, but the Grizzlies have beaten the Lakers and will move on to the Conference Finals! It's hard to see how Memphis won just by looking at the player stats, but the only thing that matters is that they did. They'll face either the Clippers or the Thunder there, so let's find out who.
This one is done. It looked like the Pacers might have a chance after their game 1 win, but maybe the fact that it took a truly historic performance from Sonius was an indication that the Hawks were always going to come out on top. Sonius having merely a good game isn't enough, as we can see here again. Skizzlet has a performance to match, and several of his teammates do the same.
A monster game by SGA, but it's not enough to compensate for the loss of Two Nil, and the Nets take the lead back. Good games by both Nobbers and BenitwoSTARRLET here.
A massive win for the Thunder, and it means we'll get a game 7! SebJr really turning back the clock with that performance as well.
It's the Nets! Two Nil was back, but no doubt still suffering from his injury. reelworld II with one of his worst playoff performances yet. He didn't get much of a chance to improve it either, as his 5 early fouls kept him on the bench for long stretches. Nobbers and BenitwoSTARRLET are having consistently good performances here, which definitely makes them championship contenders.
The comeback is off! The Clippers take game 7, and will move on to face the Grizzlies in the Conference Finals. They were supposedly heavy favourites at the outset, but it will still be a bitter experience for the Thunder. Particularly considering Scottie Barnes was knocked out of the game with a minor injury. Still, they've got every chance of being back next year.
We have our final 4. I'd say the Memphis Grizzlies are heavy outsiders to win, but any of the other three are very plausible champions. My money is still on Atlanta, due to their sheer depth.