The One NBA Team Proving the Play-In Tournament Is Working

SGA and the Thunder are making the most of their opportunity, while it may be time for the Raptors to make some major changes.

The Bulls and Thunder survived. The Raptors’ and Pelicans’ seasons are over. Here are some thoughts from the second night of what’s been a wildly entertaining play-in tournament, which saw two road teams—Chicago and Oklahoma City—advance to the final leg for a shot at the postseason.

1. The Bulls’ defense is legit.

Chicago gave up only 47 points to Toronto in the second half of its 109–105 win. As much as there was the offensive explosion from Zach LaVine, the Bulls’ defense was a key to their come-from-behind victory. Alex Caruso may be the most underpaid player in the NBA right now. His defense on and off the ball was spectacular Wednesday. As a team, Chicago was incredibly effective in swarming the ball in the second half, crowding Toronto’s perimeter players with expertly timed double teams and help defense. For a roster that can’t shoot threes well, that kind of defensive intensity is essential. Chicago had the best defense in the league after the All-Star break. That didn’t seem like a fluke against the Raptors.

2. The Raptors finally have to make some changes now, right?

Nick Nurse’s name is already being floated in coaching rumors, which doesn’t exactly portend a rosy future with his current club. The Raptors decided to buy instead of sell (as widely expected) at the trade deadline, and they still couldn’t make it to the final round of the play-in let alone the actual playoffs. It was a risky decision and now could prove to be costly. Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. will likely enter unrestricted free agency this summer. Pascal Siakam will now be in the last year of his deal. Jakob Poeltl—the team’s deadline acquisition—needs a new contract. OG Anunoby is also almost certainly entering an expiring year because he has a player option after next season. These are all interesting pieces, except they’ve underachieved as a group. And making trades will be slightly more difficult now because of the contract situations.

If this roster couldn’t hold a 19-point lead against an in-play opponent people were calling to be dismantled a couple of months into the season, does it really have a high ceiling? It may seem silly to make franchise-altering decisions based on one game. At the same time, Wednesday was an opportunity for the current Raptors to show they had some kind of big-game magic waiting to be deployed in the postseason. Instead, the team fell flat. I’m not sure why you don’t try to make some significant changes and take some big swings after such a disappointing finish.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points to help the Thunder advance :: Rick Bowmer/AP

3. Don’t sleep on the Bulls vs. the Heat.

Chicago swept Miami in the regular season. The Bulls’ defense is a terrible matchup for the Heat’s plodding, moribund offense. I’m picking Chicago to advance to the first round.

4. The Pelicans and Thunder put on a show.

Josh Giddey had 31 points feasting off all the defensive attention placed on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 32 of his own. Brandon Ingram almost willed a hobbled Pelicans team to victory with 30 points, six boards and seven assists. SGA’s performance was especially impressive.

If you’ve watched him all season, Gilgeous-Alexander’s stat line was not surprising. But it does show how far he’s come in his young career. In the last do-or-die game he played in, SGA was a second-year player for the Thunder in their Game 7 loss to the Rockets in the 2020 playoffs, and he looked a little tentative late in a two-point loss. In that series as a whole, SGA was inconsistent and ultimately underperformed based on what he’d done that season. Against New Orleans, Gilgeous-Alexander was confident. Even after taking a while to get his scoring going in the fourth, he coolly hit the eventual game-winning shot, a tough, fading jumper in the face of a great defender in Herb Jones. Only 24 years old, Gilgeous-Alexander should have a long, fruitful playoff career ahead of him, even if the Thunder can’t get past the Timberwolves.

5. The Thunder are the latest proof the play-in is working, by the way.

Oklahoma City screamed tank squad before the year when No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren went down with a season-ending foot injury in August. The Thunder could have packed it up and tried to enter the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. Instead, the team was frisky to start the season—thanks in large part to Gilgeous-Alexander—and hung around long enough that making the playoffs via the play-in became a very realistic goal. Even with some rest for SGA down the stretch of the season, the Thunder didn’t go the way of the Trail Blazers and Mavericks and shut things down.

Ascending teams should want a taste of the postseason, even if it comes via the play-in and potentially puts them at the end of the lottery. Sure, it helps the Thunder have Holmgren and enough draft picks to survive a nuclear apocalypse waiting in the wings. Still, this is exactly one of the scenarios the NBA likely dreamed of when making this tournament. As opposed to a young team leaning into losses, we got to see budding stars start to make a name for themselves in a playoff-like atmosphere.