The 2024 NBA Playoffs were mostly magical.
But they weren't perfect.
As a viewing experience, it's hard to find much to complain about with what the basketball gods have offered thus far. However, there are some areas where they can improve when it comes to on-court execution.
We will focus on finding one thing each remaining participant in the postseason can do better.
Boston has accomplished a lot already this season, but there's one big question that remains unanswered. Can the Celtics ultimately rely on him when it counts?
Their previous playoff appearances have often been marred by ill-timed injuries. Movement of the ball and players becomes stagnant. Attacks become too predictable and not efficient at all. Boston played 40 clutch minutes in last year's playoffs and lost by 11.4 points per 100 possessions. In the 2022 postseason, the Celtics' net rating was -14.2.
The roster may be different, but Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the two main culprits for the late-game blunder, are still central figures in this series. They will be handling the bulk of Boston's biggest assets, and while they have enough talent to utilize them, they will have to deliver in ways they haven't seen before.
It took the Cavaliers five playoff games to record their first triple-digit performance. With all due respect to the very stingy Orlando Magic defense, with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland in the same backcourt, the scoring battle shouldn't be as tough.
But Garland was something of an afterthought in the first four contests, taking just 11 shots on any tilt. He eventually overcame this a bit with 16 attempts in Game 5 and immediately produced his best games in the postseason and in Cleveland's entire offense. Garland entered the contest at -45 and was a plus-9, scoring 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting overall, 3-of-5 shooting, and five assists against two turnovers. Recorded.
“When (Garland) is like that, there's a different spark,” Mitchell told reporters afterward. “…At the end of the day, he's a talented player. He's an All-Star level player and he should shoot the ball.”
Mitchell may be enough to carry this offense on his own, but when Garland is actively playing the co-star role, it's really hard to stop Cleveland. Game 5 was the 16th time this season he scored 23 or more points. The Cavaliers won 10 of those games.
With leading scorers Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in the same starting lineup, the Mavericks always have a chance to force opponents off the floor early in the contest. That's basically what they did during the regular season. Bolstered by the eighth-most efficient first-quarter offense, Dallas won by averaging 3.2 points per 100 possessions in the first 10 minutes.
However, through five games against the Clippers, things slowed down significantly. The Mavs struggled mightily in the first frame statistically, managing just 88.1 points per 100 possessions and enduring a borderline unconscionable -30.7 net rating. His 25 points in the first quarter of Game 5 were the most in the series. The 123 points they scored in this overwhelming victory was no coincidence.
Dallas needs to go full throttle from the start. Once this offense gets going early, the Mavs can rely on their defense (7th in the final month of the season and 5th in the playoffs so far) to do the rest.
It's not often that a team gets physically crushed while trying to win a 4-1 series, but that's exactly what happened to the Nuggets. Although they controlled most elements in the first round game against the Los Angeles Lakers, they had no answer to Los Angeles' interior attack.
The Lakers got everything they wanted around the basket. Their 57.2 paint points per game easily leads all playoff participants. The Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves (Denver's conference semifinal opponent) are the only teams averaging more than 46 points. LA, which isn't blessed with youthful energy or explosive athleticism, averaged 15.4 fastbreak points (tied for third). and converted 66.9 percent of his attempts in the restricted area (sixth-best).
The Nuggets aren't defending their title while defending like this. If he can't improve his level of defensive activity and physicality in the paint, he could be easily chased by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Its huge frontcourt and turbocharged star Anthony Edwards are both well-equipped to exploit this weakness.
The best version of this Pacers team…well, it looks a lot like Indy Car. Indiana is a nightmare matchup for everyone when Tyrese Haliburton runs up the floor and provides all the scoring threat around him. The Pacers scored 130 points or more 25 times this season and won 22 of those games.
He tends to slow down in the playoffs, but Indiana may have gotten a little too excited about his fastball in the first round. The Pacers were second this season with 102.2 possessions per 48 minutes, but were held to just 92.9 possessions per 48 minutes. In this context, they also failed to reach 100 points twice, which they achieved only once during the 82-game marathon.
Indiana isn't built to repeat half-court offense and defense. The Pacers don't have the defense (24th in the regular season, 12th in the playoffs) needed to win these types of games. Their goal is to score points like an avalanche quickly and kill their opponents, and they can do that if they can break out and run.
The Timberwolves are one of three teams this postseason with a point differential of at least 15 points per game. (For context, no one else is above plus 7.2.) Boston and Oklahoma City, the top seeds in each conference, did so against lower-seeded teams in the postseason. Meanwhile, Minnesota demolished a Phoenix Suns team built around Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.
In other words, it's hard to point to pretty much everything the Timberwolves are working on right now, but it's fair to wonder if they can squeeze a little more out of Karl-Anthony Towns. They have largely controlled his playing time thus far (28.3 games per game), considering he missed most of March and the first half of April with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. is perfectly reasonable.
But with the defending champions next in line, Minnesota can no longer slow play against the big man. And given how he looked in Game 4 (28 points on 11-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes), he doesn't need to anyway. If the Timberwolves are going to beat the Nuggets, they'll need more offensive power than even rising superstar Anthony Edwards can provide. They need the best from Towns, even if it's a matchup that often brings the worst results.
Despite Jalen Brunson proving his superstar status this postseason, the Knicks are not a team that can overwhelm opponents with star power. They take every last-minute win they can get, whether it's by playing stifling defense, getting to every loose ball available, or most importantly, winning battles on the boards. I need it.
Even with Julius Randle out of action due to shoulder surgery, New York has enough charm to enjoy a glass. However, in the first round, although he was good at offensive rebounding (2nd in offensive rebounding rate), he was forced by his opponent (14th in defensive rebounding rate).
The only game in which New York rebounded against the Philadelphia 76ers was a two-game loss in the first round. The Knicks need Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Mitchell Robinson to make sure this never happens again. Finishing off the defensive stops will be extremely important for the offense we'll see going forward.
The Thunder used 11 different players in each of their four games against the New Orleans Pelicans. That feels like two too many.
Sure, the idea of getting something out of Gordon Hayward is interesting, but Kenrich Williams is a long-underrated piece of the puzzle. But the truth is, Oklahoma City doesn't need anything from them. Manager Marc Daigneault has made it clear he wants to maximize his depth, but that can be done without going that deep on the bench – even if he doesn't agree.
“We understand there are norms, but we want to know that we are the best team we can be,” Denault told reporters after the series opener. “We want to do things a little differently.”
But even if Daigneault trimmed his postseason rotation to nine players, it would still be a different approach than most skippers. As the level of competition increases, the Thunder will need to plan to focus more on their best players.
Orlando's offense ranked 22nd this season, the worst among postseason participants (including play-in losers). Their first-round opponent, Cleveland, had the seventh-best defense of the season. The series has played out pretty much as expected, with the Magic struggling to find consistency on offense.
That is often a problem for a club that is overwhelmed with both scoring support and adequate spacing. Therefore, the less time Magic spends attacking the set's defenses, the better. Scramble to find his score is almost always required.
Their fastbreak scoring has been up this series (14 points per game), but they haven't generated as many points off turnovers (15.6 points) or offensive rebounds (12.8 points). Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are essentially invisible in this offense, so it's hard to imagine Orlando getting by without producing more opportunistic buckets.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are provided courtesy of Basketball Reference Up until the current game played on NBA.com and Thursday.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him with X @mtk_nba.