The NBA playoffs were to begin early this morning Taiwan time, with many eyes on favored Phoenix.
Suns player Devin Booker does not take having another chance at an NBA championship lightly.
Over his first four years in Phoenix, among players who appeared in at least 200 games spanning the 2015-2016 through the 2018-2019 seasons, nobody in the NBA experienced more losing than Booker did. He appeared in 272 games in those years, with the Suns losing 197 of them.
Photo: AFP
“A lot has shifted since then,” Booker said. “We’ve watched it grow. We’ve watched it develop. I obviously don’t forget those days. All those times make now even better, make now even more important.”
The Suns enter as the overwhelming favorites to become the team who take the Larry O’Brien Trophy from NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hands in June.
The Western Conference’s and the NBA’s No. 1 side the Suns are to play the New Orleans Pelicans (No. 8 in the West) in their best-of-seven round 1 series.
Photo: AFP
“People don’t understand what it really takes to win a championship,” said Suns center JaVale McGee, a three-time NBA champion and part of the team who won Olympic gold for the US at the Tokyo Games last year. “They think, like, you compile all the best players together and there it is. It’s not. There’s definitely a percentage of luck, and by luck I mean staying healthy.”
The first games on the official playoff slate — the play-in games do not count, officially — were to begin after press time last night.
The other round 1 Western Conference series are the Memphis Grizzlies (No. 2) against the Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 7), the Golden State Warriors (No. 3) against the Denver Nuggets (No. 6) and the Dallas Mavericks (No. 4) against the Utah Jazz (No. 5).
The longest active run of post-season appearances belongs to the Boston Celtics, in the playoffs now for an eighth consecutive year.
The Celtics (No. 2 in the Eastern Conference) get a round 1 showdown against the Brooklyn Nets (No. 7).
“Excited for the opportunity,” Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said.
The other Eastern Conference round 1 matchups are the Miami Heat (No. 1) against the Atlanta Hawks (No. 8), the Milwaukee Bucks (No. 3) versus the Chicago Bulls (No. 6) and the Philadelphia 76ers (No. 4) against the Toronto Raptors (No. 5).
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