BBNBA: Keldon Johnson shines, East Playoff race heats up

Not a ton of NBA action on Saturday, but let’s celebrate our man Keldon Johnson and break down the race for the Eastern Conference one-seed.

Johnson leads Spurs over Pelicans in pivotal play-in matchup

New Orleans and San Antonio are jostling for the final play-in spot with the Pelicans occupying the 10-seed while the Spurs are 11th. Thanks to Saturday’s 107-103 win, San Antonio is just one game back from nabbing a play-in spot with a 3-1 advantage in the season series to give themselves the tie-breaker as well. Realistically, both teams actually could make it if the Lakers continue to…well…suck like they have all season. New Orleans is a half-game back and the Spurs are a game-and-a-half behind LAL, and the Lakers face a gauntlet of a schedule the rest of the way. Including two games against the Pelicans that could very well decide who’s in and who’s out of the play-in tournament.

Back to Saturday’s game, though, where Keldon Johnson led the way in a four-point win by scoring 21 and grabbing eight rebounds in 35 minutes of action. I feel bad that I haven’t given KJ as much love this season as some of our other former ‘Cats even though he’s playing extremely well in his third year. A product of playing in those awful gray jerseys on the most boring team in the NBA I suppose.

KJ led the way in NOLA 🔥

📊: 21 PTS | 8 REB | 2 BLK pic.twitter.com/cffzXFXovu

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 27, 2022

The last few months were particularly productive from Johnson. Since February 4th, he’s second on the team in scoring at 20.1 points a night to go along with 6.2 rebounds a game. He’s also shot the ball as well as any wing in the NBA, making north of 40% of his threes on just over five attempts per game. A real well-rounded ball player for San Antonio. A staple for that rebuild going forward.

Heat lose to Nets to send Eastern Conference into pandemonium

Miami spent the majority of this season in first place in the Eastern Conference. But Saturday’s loss to the Nets gave way to the Sixers in the East standings. Philly’s in first as of this morning with the Heat second, but the Celtics and Bucks are hot on their tails as the season winds down.

It’s anyone’s race with a ton of variance. One day you’re clear ahead of everyone in first and the next you could be fourth place. High stakes battles coming to close out the season.

Miami particularly needs to watch out. Obviously tempers boiled over in that very public spat between head coach and star player in their last home game, and then Saturday they failed to reach 100 points in their fourth straight loss. Surely they’ll get back on track against a Fox-less Sacramento next time out but the time is now to snap out of their funk before they find themselves in fourth place heading into the postseason.

Trey Lyles: Glass Eater

Glass Eater has become a term for gnarly offensive lineman. But perhaps it also applies to Trey Lyles, who devoured the glass in Saturday’s win over Orlando. Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter were no match for Lyles, who snagged a career-high 18 rebounds in Orlando on Saturday.

.@TreyLyles pulled down a career-high 18 boards against the Magic 👑 #KingsFTW pic.twitter.com/BPhNnZjV5K

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 27, 2022

Lyles was on the fringe of the league heading into 2022, but he’s performed well enough to earn rotation minutes at two different stops this season. He had such a tremendous December and January in Detroit that Sacramento traded for him right before the deadline. Since joining the Kings, he’s started 13 games and scores just under 10 a night. That $2.6 million team option for 2023 looks awfully enticing now that Lyles has shown he can still contribute offensively and dominate the boards.

Statistics

Player	Result	Points	FG(3PA)	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers	Minutes	+/-
Keldon Johnson (SAS)	107-103 W @ NOP	21	9-17 (1-5)	8	1	0	2	1	35	+8
Bam Adebayo (MIA)	110-95 L vs. BKN	14	5-8 (0-1)	6	2	1	2	4	24	-21
Tyler Herro (MIA)	110-95 L vs. BKN	13	5-14 (0-5)	4	3	3	0	5	31	-25
Trey Lyles (SAC)	114-110 W (OT) @ ORL	11	3-12 (1-3)	18	3	0	0	1	36	+11
DeMarcus Cousins (DEN)	113-107 W vs. OKC	7	2-4 (1-2)	8	0	0	0	2	13	-13
Olivier Sarr (OKC)	113-107 L @ DEN	5	2-4 (1-1)	2	2	0	0	0	19	-1
Isaiah Jackson (IND)	131-91 L @ TOR	DNP – Headache	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Rajón Rondo (CLE)	98-94 L vs. CHI	DNP – Ankle	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Today in the NBA

3:30 p.m. Knicks (Randle, Quickley, Noel*) @ Pistons (Diallo)

6:00 p.m. Timberwolves (Towns, Vanderbilt) @ Celtics

6:00 p.m. Warriors @ Wizards

6:00 p.m. 76ers (Maxey) @ Suns (Booker)

7:00 p.m. Lakers (Monk, Gabriel, Davis*) @ Pelicans

7:30 p.m. (NBATV) Hornets (Washington, Richards) @ Nets

7:30 p.m. Jazz @ Mavericks

* — Inactive