2026 Play-In Elimination Ruminations: Warriors, Clippers, Heat, Hornets

 WARRIORS (1-1)

Here's how influential Steph Curry is.  Now that he can no longer consistently win games on some miracle 3-pointer shit, the whole entire rest of the league is shifting back towards the inside game.  When he's on, everyone is encouraged.  And when he's off, they come back down to reality.

This is something I've been predicting for awhile.  The world moves in cycles, and it was only a matter of time before NBAers began realizing the value of attacking the paint again.  However, I thought it would be due to emergence of a dominant big, not the decline of Steph and the rise of SGA.

All Steph appears to need, even at this aged stage of his career, is a all-star level player on the side.  In their first game of the Play-Ins, when they knocked off the Clippers, that player was Porzingis.

Kristaps has also been a recurring subject on this blog over the years.  When he's on, he's undoubtedly on of the best players in the league - a European version of Wembanyama(?), if you will   The thing tho is his health is such that you can't even rely on him for two games in a row.  Remember that when the Celtics won their championship is 2024, he didn't even play in like half of the postseason games.

So if you revisit that loss to the Suns, when Curry was walking off the court afterwards crying, shaking the hands of all of his teammates, you'll notice that he sneered at Porzingis.  It isn't his fault, Steph.  If as a team you find yourself relying on Kristaps's consistently for whatevr reason, then you're doomed.  And Golden State's braintrust has long lost their marbles, even gambling on the health of a late-30s Jimmy Butler.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (0-1)

I hope Kawhi isn't forced to leave or whatever TF is going on out there.  I would argue that the Clippers are a better team than the Warriors but unfortunately caught the latter on a hot night, when Porzingis surprisingly decided to show up.

Sometimes, I don't think Leonard even realizes how good he actually is.  He's an alpha who doesn't even need to be on a superteam.  That last championship he won, he was the undisputed alpha.

I understand that he's another player whose health you can't rely on.  But I think the Clippers should continue to build a team that can without him though without adding someone who would minimize his leadership.

So if the Clippers do retain his services, I'm hoping that Los Angeles doesn't go out looking for another perennial allstar unless maybe Giannis.  But if he does leave, it'll be interesting to see him go to the Nuggets, who look like they're about ot embark on some type of rebuild.

MIAMI HEAT (0-1)

I'm just going to go ahead and say it - the Heat could've really used Terry Rozier who, despite not being an allstar, is an above-average scoring point.  I know the temptation must be great, but sometimes when dudes go out doing their thing, wearing x-ray glasses to poker games and shit like that, they need to think about their teams also, like how they'll be affected once you're caught.

You can't just go out and replace a player like Rozier without giving up something in return.  Maybe the NBA will introduce a "Felon's Exception", so that teams whose players are in trouble with the law can get a little bit of extra dough to replace them.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS (1-1)

Entering the postseason, the ROY was Knueppel's to lose, and lose it he did.  Dude just totally disappeared when his team needed him most.

I didn't really see enough of those games to understand why.  Maybe it was the jitters?  Maybe his teammates were so amped up that they ignored him?  Maybe a little bit of both?  I don't know.

Charlotte can be considered one of those teams that's built for perimeter play.  So now you have someone like Banchero - finally being incepted maybe - using his big, strong body attacking the rim instead of playing pansy jumpshot.  Even Franz Wagner was attacking the rim.  And the result?  The Hornets were not equipped to do anything about it.

In any event, taking for granted they'll make the postseason next year, this team needs to focus on keeping Kon involved, even in big games.  Maybe he'll mature enough on his own in the meantime to learn how to make his presence felt.

Finally, the Hornets were able to turn things around and look formidable, after like decades in obscurity, only to win one postseason game due to the opposing squad losing their best player and then getting blown out in the next.  Reason for optimism?  I don't know, but this looks like a team that can finally start focusing on its frontcourt instead of always adding guards.