Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The NBA Playoffs have delivered unexpected performances just days into the opening round, reshaping expectations for several teams.
- Luke Kennard has emerged as an unexpected hero, single-handedly shifting momentum in the Lakers' favor with remarkable accuracy.
- CJ McCollum, previously viewed as a salary-matching placeholder, has stepped into a leadership role and is now driving the Hawks toward a potential upset.
Everybody loves surprises. Birthday parties, cake, presents, visits from your aunt Marie on a Tuesday at 3 p.m. and the dog is barking and ... okay maybe not all surprises are good. But the NBA Playoffs are full of them, good and bad, and this has been a surprise-laden first round less than a week into the festivities. So who should we be celebrating, and who is Aunt Marie?
1. Luke Kennard
I had a fun Luke Kennard-based conversation before the NBA Playoffs began with my Lakers-fan friend who asked me “why did we get Luke Kennard for free? (it was a second-round pick and Gabe Vincent but I took his point) If I’m reading these stats right, he’s one of the best shooters of all time.” And it’s true: Kennard has the second-highest career 3-point percentage in NBA history, behind only Steve Kerr, who played three of his best years when the 3-point line was almost two feet closer. Adjusted for 1994-1997 being rigged? Greatest shooter ever, surely.
Well, no (of course), because the problem with Kennard has always been volume and staying on the court. Sure, he’s a career 44 percent shooter from beyond the arc, but that’s only on just over four attempts per game. So he’ll get you 2-4 from 3 … but that’s like, six points. What good is that when you’re a below-average defender and cannot and will not go to the rim?
I explained to my Lakers friend that uncountable coaches, GMs and fans like him had talked themselves into Luke Kennard throughout his nine-year NBA career, only to be greeted with 8 points-per-game and tears. So imagine my surprise when he scored a game-high 27 points, sunk the Houston Rockets by himself in Game 1 and even made some layups. Layups!
Kennard is the NBA’s modern mercenary; a pure shooter (and I do mean absolutely pure, we are not doing anything else offensively) who can only survive in the league because teams shoot more threes than ever — like most mercenaries, those who hire him often end up disappointed at what they spent money on. But he is, weirdly, exactly what the Houston Rockets need right now: a catch-and-shoot, motion shooter who can get hot and make the number on the scoreboard go up. If the shots aren’t falling, the hook will be swift and unapologetic. But a truly surprising and honestly very fun performance. Good for Luke Kennard, queue applause.
2. CJ McCollum
Shams Charania wrote a 1028-word article on the Trae Young-to-the-Wizards trade, which coincidentally sent CJ McCollum to the Atlanta Hawks to match salary. Here is every time CJ McCollum’s name is mentioned in that article apart from the opening sentence with the trade details:
“McCollum serves as a valuable plug-and-play veteran leader for the Hawks while holding a $30.6 million expiring contract.”
Well, that very same $30.6 million expiring contract just walked into Madison Square Garden and dropped 32, made every clutch shot down the stretch and has stolen home court advantage for the Hawks. He played great in their Game 1 loss, too, and now the Hawks are favored in Game 3 on Thursday. In short, HotLanta is back, and CJ is driving the bus.
In the fourth quarter of Game 2, Atlanta staged a jewel-heist comeback. Nobody in the building even knew what was going on until the Hawks took a one-point lead and held on by a thread to tie up the series. MSG was shocked to the bone. I don’t even think anyone there even considered they could lose until there were 30 seconds left. And McCollum, who missed two critical free throws in the final minutes (which is all he wanted to talk about postgame), was by far the biggest reason why.
It was a major Knicks collapse, but this is a legitimately crazy McCollumaissance. He was nothing but an expiring $30 million for a rebuilding team, and now he’s captaining a playoff team causing a major upset watch. I recently ranked the Top 50 players in the NBA Playoffs, and I didn’t even think to include McCollum. But I should have known, I mean … this is the 2016 Most Improved Player we’re talking about.
3. Brandon Ingram (not a good surprise)
Enough of this positivity and glee. This isn’t a surprise birthday party or a Christmas present, this is an intervention. Sit down, shut up, what is going on with Brandon Ingram?
I was ready for the Brandon Ingramaissance! I was enjoying it this season, when he got back to the All-Star game and stayed healthy the whole year. He’s Toronto’s most important scorer, and he has had absolutely nothing in their first two games. 24 total points, and only seven in Game 2 on 3-15 shooting and five turnovers. I am not happy about this.
Ingram has only attempted four threes this series and made one. Meanwhile, he’s not really getting to the free-throw line at all; frankly, if Ingram isn’t scoring, he isn’t impacting the game positively — he’s not a particularly rangy defender nor a committed rebounder. He’s too slight to deal with more physical offensive players, which makes this a nightmare series for him whenever he has to square up with James Harden, one of the strongest scoring guards of all time.
Toronto looks pretty lost out there against Cleveland, and while Atlanta was better than them all year, I felt like the Raptors were my most likely Eastern Conference upset going in because of my questions about Cleveland. Now, I have questions about Toronto, who is looking dead on arrival while Orlando and Atlanta ride off into the sunset.
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