Six teams with major momentum

Tyler Herro said something over All-Star weekend, can’t get it out of my head.

The young man swore that his Miami Heat were “not contenders right now,” and while momentarily accurate, this isn’t the tone to work with, not now.

Snow melts all around us, days grow longer, boys will eventually return to town, playoff brackets will emerge. The NBA swims in parity and the Heat are one of several teams with a chance for a splash so as long as they hold their breath way, way longer than anyone thinks they can.

This season isn’t over, certain championship runs have yet to commence. Cleveland won’t always line up those fourth quarter three-point swishes so splendidly. Boston is creaky and aged and hasn’t earned an easy bucket since John Bagley was backup point guard. The Thunder may own a historical point differential but they can’t trade a first-round pick for a guaranteed, unconditional, heart.

What, they can? The Thunder just dealt the rights to the Clippers’ 2027 first-rounder to the NBA Retired Players Association for James Posey’s mettle and Matt Bullard’s mirthful locker room modulation?

What does the NBARPA need with the a first-round draft pick? And the Thunder shoulda got way more for the Clippers pick, at least hold out for Michael Cooper’s ornery outlook.

Well, beyond that, these teams can be toppled.

We have proof. Behold, the fearsome momentum behind:

MINNESOTA

32-27, No. 7 in the West, virtually tied with the Clippers for No. 6

The Wolves were well on the way toward a fifth loss in six games on Monday night. Down 24 early in the fourth period. On the road in Oklahoma City against the best gosh darn team in the NBA, still working without the injured triptych (Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo) it dealt a somewhat frightening lineup (Walker Kessler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Keyonte George) for, alongside three future first-round picks and a swap.

Talk yourself into that measure of full while you’re missing the comeback, the one which started when Wolves coach Chris Finch realized fresh legs were the way to fly:

(Also realized, leave Alex Caruso open.)

Minnesota and the Thunder worked a back-to-back in Minneapolis and Oklahoma City on Sunday and Monday and why.

Why do we think 800 miles is acceptable travel in the 24 hours between games?

Scratch that, Monday’s game stared 90 minutes earlier than Sunday’s.

So what do the Wolves do? Hang around, upstairs, in spite of the score. Remove a mentally exhausted Anthony Edwards and add rookies who don’t know better, the type to look past obstacle and/or embarrassment.

I did my part for Timberwolves fans and didn’t move from my seat for the entire comeback, barely reacting as I played the same licks over and over on guitar. Felt as if Ant were talking to me once the buzzer sounded:

Yeah, I guess I was hooping, too.

I sit in the same chair and play the same licks over and over for failed comebacks, too.

The Wolves are 7-6 ever since Josh Minott left his man and Jaylen Clark entered the rotation on Jan. 29.

A sound mark considering the competition (Houston twice, the Bucks and Cavs, three Thunder games), and the Wolves built something along the way: Minnesota is the team that can beat the Thunder.

Whether they truly are Thunder topplers or not is nobody’s business, the Timberwolves know they can take OKC’s best hit and stay standing. Like Elton John, in that video where he looks really hungover and probably is.

And the Timberwolves don’t mind talking shit.

Minnesota is No. 7 but percentage points behind the No. 6 slot, an awfully achievable goal. Playoffs? This means Memphis, then Denver, long before OKC in the third round.

The West is tough, and the Timberwolves are penalized for performing but a mile or two left of the Mississippi River. This could still be the spring, though, as long as we keep Josh Minott off the court.

MIAMI

26-30, No. 9 in the East, virtually tied with Atlanta for No. 8

Confused as to why Pat Riley didn’t issue a press release to counter Herro’s statement. Tyler’s candid comments are not what Heat Culture represents. Heat Culture knows the Pistons (No. 6, five games ahead of the Heat) may have Miami licked in the race for a guaranteed playoff spot, fine, maybe the Nets have Miami’s number, maybe the Bulls, definitely the Bucks, whatever. HC, it lives. It has to.

Heat Culture shouldn’t want the Heat to win the Play-In straightaway, anyway. Lose to Orlando in the opening round instead, topple the Bulls or Hawks in the second contest, earn the eighth seed, take on the Cavaliers. Miami’s lost twice in two meetings with Cleveland so far this season, but only by a total of 29 points. That’s do-able.

If it ain’t, in defeat the Heat may take on the hating form of the 2011 Atlanta Hawks or 2015 Brooklyn Nets, revealing to the rest of the bracket exactly which nagging doubts exist within the laundry room of the top seed.

These weren’t an easy few days for the 2024-25 Heat, the last hours of the five-game road trip, finishing with back-to-back losing performances in Milwaukee and Atlanta, 800 miles apart. On Sunday the Heat developed an early lead over the Bucks, a Heat hallmark, before missing shots, before Milwaukee started ramming it into the paint. Or, Milwaukee rammed it into the paint and Miami’s half-court offense started missing shots. Basketball has a real chicken or egg thing going on most of the time.

Atlanta had the huevos on Monday, winning 98-86, but that’s the worst of it. Miami will work 18 of its final 26 games in Miami, with road gimmies in Chicago, New Orleans, Washington and Philadelphia.

There is much to answer to at home.

Nikola Jovic has a fractured right (shooting, soup-spooning) hand, Alec Burks stepped into Jovic’s minutes with brimmin’ alacrity on Monday night, if not grinnin’ efficiency (1-12 from the floor). Terry Rozier and Haywood Highsmith picked up DNPs against the Hawks, Highsmith’s fifth in sixth games, Rozier’s first. Terry worked ten minutes in Milwaukee, ohfer four from the floor.

The recent list of conquests does not impress: Toronto in overtime, the shitbag Sixers, the struggling Spurs twice, the sans-Suggs Magic in a second overtime.

But: Andrew Wiggins gets to the line, looked better in Atlanta in spite of the Hawks wresting the ball from his hands a few times, AW will improve at home.

But: Kel’el Ware screws up a lot, will screw up less in March and April, he now averages a double-double with a block as a starter.

But: Davion Mitchell as starting point guard intrigues. The move forces Tyler Herro to create more but the defensive help could enhance Herro’s end o’ game stamina. Mitchell cannot shoot, dribble or pass but he really gets after it.

Fortune favors the cultured, and where other lesser seeds might give way, the Heat are prepared to prevail when the favored set sprains a few ankles. We wouldn’t trust anyone else in the Play-In to do what’s correct and cruel in the face of an unexpected superstar injury that bums out the entire NBA.

Don’t despair, Tyler. You’re still in the lead amongst the pack of vultures. Dinosaurs, really.

L.A. CLIPPERS

31-26, No. 6 in the West, four games behind the Rockets/Lakers

The Clippers, unsurprisingly, do not look like trash with Kawhi Leonard out, the group remains rather competitive. Unsurprising is also Kawhi’s absence, sore left foot. The Clippers don’t want Kawhi to add a Jones fracture to his career-long tally, but the competitive Clippers don’t have the horses to run winning laps without him.

Terrance Mann is in Atlanta, 31-year old Norman Powell has a sore knee and hasn’t played for two weeks, Ben Simmons sat Monday’s loss with an aching back. This is the playmaking, scoring, and defensive depth that was supposed to save the Clippers, but L.A. is down three of the first four games of its road trip, with only an overtime win over the Jazz to show.

One more game on Wednesday, those stupid Bulls, then back home for two “road” games against the Lakers on Friday, Sunday. That pairing won’t turn the season around, but even without a win, the Clippers should stem the tide in California.

Though Leonard and Powell and to a lesser degree Simmons are no guarantee to return soon, we can’t quit the Clippers until Kawhi is ruled out for the season. This team defends too well even in its beleaguered shape. Playoff spacing plus extended postseason rest and limited travel could go a long way toward the juggle, the toss to turn in a predictive postseason for Leonard and James Harden.

It is a flicker, and it ain’t out yet, but these are not the setbacks teams want to mind after the extended All-Star break. Powell’s knee woes now clarified as “left patellar tendinopathy” instead of his previous diagnosis, the comparatively bland, general “knee soreness.” Norm’s knee hurts, Leonard’s foot stings, Simmons’ back is busted.

Ben sat Monday’s loss, he has one turnover in 71 minutes with the Clippers. In his first 71 minutes with the Nets in 2024-25, Ben turned it over a dozen times. Some men are meant to steal money in California.

GOLDEN STATE

30-27, No. 9 in the West, half-game behind Dallas, game behind Minnesota

The Warriors used to enjoy warming up, taking their time, stinking right through the first half of their games.

Not with Jimmy, not with Butler.

The team ran up 15 points over Houston by halftime on Feb. 13, 15 points over the Kings at the half in Sacramento on Friday. Golden State ran up a 17-point lead over Dallas on Sunday before half of ABC’s viewing audience flipped from Kendrick Perkins over to NatGeo to find Gordon Ramsay clinging from a crag, swinging a mini-machete at some mollusk sucking for dear life to its soaked rock. Hasn’t this Frutti Di Mare enough protein already, Gordon?

Draymond Green already beat me to the championship prediction because what else is Draymond Green going to say? He’s got podcast fodder to talk to himself over for four more months. Yes, I know Baron Davis is Draymond’s new co-host. Dray’s still talking to himself.

Golden State stuck three cranky old men in the balcony and I want to watch them moan, whine and preen. Give Steve Kerr a ticket to the same box, because our man is full of passive pauses prior to furious microaggressions.

Draymond’s All-Star Game kvetch over drive-then-kick basketball comes directly from Kerr’s clipboard. It ain’t smug, but it is different from the other 29:

Maybe it is smug, he earned it. The Warriors never gave in, refused to set up like every other team.

This team does not need a pep talk. If one requires any insight into this club’s interior machinations, simply listen (if one can stand it) to Green’s podcast. Parse through the projection and pay close attention to the instances he sometimes kinda not really apologizes for something Dray may have said in a huddle or locker room a week before.

The Warriors have 25 games left and want to win 20 of them. This unit wants nothing to do with extra Play-In contests and wants everything to do with catching the No. 6 Clippers (GSW is one game back), No. 4 Lakers and No. 5 Rockets (five games back). Draymond Green wants to face No. 3 Memphis, Green has a weird thing going on with Zach Edey, perhaps leftover from watching Edey average a dozen free throws per game against Michigan State for four years.

MEMPHIS

37-20, No. 3, half-game behind Denver, two atop the No. 4/No. 5 Lakers/Rockets

The trade deadline was a minor embarrassment, so what, the Grizz didn’t hurt themselves by dealing Luke Kennard, Memphis admitted a mistake and moved on from Marcus Smart while an opportunity existed. GG Jackson II is young, Zach Edey is older than Jackson but still a rookie. We have no idea what Desmond Bane loses out there while covering for Jaylen Wells.

The Grizzlies own the two most unstoppable moves in the NBA: Jaren Jackson Jr.’s tumble into a rolling hook, and whatever the hell Ja Morant wants to do. That’s the foundation, surround it with leak-outs, easy buckets off mistakes Memphis wouldn’t let pass.

Wells and Edey and Jackson (GG is 63 games into his career, ostensible rook) will look wholly different in two months. At the moment, moments each novice keeps up with, the triptych works among the league’s fastest pace. Not only are they taking night classes, they’re speed-reading through the text. The defense is so-so at the moment, but by April?

The games, they are great. And while there is no snow on my lawn, we are watching basketball in February, we gotta give these guys a break.

Give yourself a break, too.

NEW YORK

37-20, No. 3 in the East, 4.5 games up on Milwaukee and Indiana

It is understandable to be tired, even after the All-Star relief. It is especially understandable for the top-heavy Knicks to teeter through the season’s fourth month. It is OK to go to the OT hilt with the visiting Bulls. It is common to be washed the next night, no NBA team has legs the evening after after an overtime contest. It is tolerable to be down by 42 in Cleveland, the Cavaliers are on a mission, the Knicks are not.

It is to be expected that the Knicks prefer the playoffs begin tomorrow, the regular season end yesterday. The Knicks aren’t over last spring, how they were a few bumps and bruises away from a shot at the Celtics, the real Finals, a team they’d thumped in Boston a month before.

It isn’t OK to be bad at 1 PM games.

If the Knicks want to win a dozen games in the Eastern bracket, there will be several, perhaps many, 1 PM starts. Improve the afternoons, New York.

Get used to 9 AM pregame naps. Sleep with blinds open, billboards peering inside.

New York split its last six but squared so many nuts before winter that the Knicks can’t help but cling to the East’s No. 3 seed. Only a severe collapse and unexpected run from two different outfits (the Bucks and Pacers are 4.5 games behind New York, Pistons 5.5 back) knocks New York out of home-court in the opening round.

There is digestible space between playoff games, teams stick in the same city for days at a time, work against familiar opponents. Exactly the sort of setting a short-rotation, sweet-shooting Knicks should thrive within, one series after another until there’s a Finals logo on the floor of Madison Square Garden again.

But “the Knicks” aren’t the story anymore, that was last year, the Knicks aren’t the story even with Karl-Anthony Towns in the City. However, Karl-Anthony’s increasingly noticeable defensive ineptitude long ago developed into the drift du jour, saved from the backpage by Juan Soto’s rather striking swing.

Does the impending return of Mitchell Robinson change any of this? How long will Mitchell Robinson’s return last? How long until Mitchell Robinson’s return once again becomes Mitchell Robinson’s impending return?

Once returned, planting two bigs does not make the other three players taller. Yet I can’t pull away from New York’s chances, three counting for more than two, one hot night after another.

Afternoons, too. Get better at afternoon games, Knicks. No David Wells-shit, staying out all night with Chris Kattan and A.J. Benza. Basketball is a real sport.

HERE COMES MY BABY

Another Vivino special. Got this one from Napster but I’m pretty sure the statute expired by now.

Thanks for reading!

NEXT: Nets, PHILA, Detroit, Suns, Raptors.