"Fear The Deer" 2021-22 NBA Season for Statis-Pro Basketball
2020-21-Eastern-Conference.pdf
2020-21-Western-Conference.pdf
Other Statis-Pro Basketball Links
3 and D Rules and Small Ball Guidelines
(Carded for the 3 and D ruleset I used for the 2020-21 Season) Note- this was the pandemic era, and so regular home court advantage was affected by this disruption.
Here in May 2026, the early NBA Playoffs, the Story is how Kevin Durant has underachieved in the first round yet again, as his team, the Houston Rockets fell to 0-3 in their opening series against the injury depleted Los Angeles Lakers. Rockets management may respond to to an early playoff departure with firings and trades, but a big part of the story for them has been injuries. Fred VanVleet, Steven Adams and Durant have simply not been consistently heathy enough to compete; it's easiest to blame the team’s star player, but there's usually enough blame to go around a failed roster and their coaches.
But Durant's struggles harken back to an earlier time, where he was part of a particularly fragile superteam. The 2020-2021 Brooklyn Nets had Durant (26.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 5.6 apg), James Harden (24.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 10.9 apg) and Kyrie Irving (26.9 ppg, 6.0 apg), and they forged their way to a 48-24 record in spite of the fact they were able to spend time on the court together in only 15 regular season games. Brooklyn was loaded with shooters, with Joe Harris ("Joey Buckets"), Jeff Green,LaMarcus Aldrige, and Blake Griffin also on the roster, and they finished second in the league in points per game, trailing only the eventual champion, Milwaukee. These two teams faced each other in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, with both Irving and Harden out, and in Game Seven of their series Durant nearly put his team in the next round single handedly, as a potential game winning three pointer was waved off after review to just a game-tying two point basket, and Brooklyn lost in overtime. With just a slightly smaller sneaker Durant would have won this series. Thus began The Story of How Durant Has Failed in the Postseason Without Steph, a story that continues today, unfair as this might be. But one thing that becomes apparent to the Statis-Pro replayer is that a lot of teams in this set can win this playoff slate. Brooklyn, given any health at all, is one of them, although getting the ball in everyone's hands efficiently is a challenge on offense, in the game, just as it was in real life.
2020-2021 NBA Playoffs
milw 4 mi 1 milw 4 bkln 3 milw4 atl 2 milw 4 pho 2
blln 4 bos 1
atlanta 4 knicks 1 atlanta 4 philly 3
philly 4 wash 0
denver 4 portland 2
pho4 lakers2 pho 4 den 0 pho 4 clippers 2
clippers 4 dallas 3 clippers 4 utah 2
utah 4 grizzlies 1
Eastern Conference - Seedings
1 - Philadelphia (49-23) 1st Place, Atlantic Division
This was the era of "The Process" where studious attention to the standings (i.e. tanking) gave Philadelphia a pair of back to back high draft picks, C Joel Embiid and PG Ben Simmons. The plan was to build an eventual champion, and to Tobias Harris, Danny Green and Seth Curry they had added Embid, Simmons, Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle. Up until the aecond round of the playoffs, it looked like The Process was being followed. The 76ers were second in the league in defense, but, tellingly 13th on offense, and this turned out to be fatal to their hopes. The Sixers handled business 4-1 over the Wizards in round one. But Philadephia had not made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in twenty years, and they missed again, as they were upset in humiliating fashion in the second round of the playoffs by the fifth seed Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks rallied from 18 down to win Game 4 and tie the series 2-2, and then they led Game 5 by as much as 26 points before the Hawks came back from 104-94 points behind with 4 minutes to go with a 13-0 run to win again. Philadelphia took Game 6, but lost at home in a tight affair in Game 7. A collapse like this needs a scapegoat, and in this case it was Philadelphia Simmons, who was criticized by NBA observers for scoring only 5 points with 13 assists in the key loss. Late in the game Simmons passed up a wide open dunk with his team trailing by two; later his coach, Doc Rivers expressed doubt in Simmons as a Championship-level floor leader under post-game questioning. Simmons had played in three All-Star games and was an outstanding defender and playmaker, but he held out the next year rather than playing for the 76ers. Game 7 would be the last game Simmons, Andre Drummond and Seth Curry would play for Philadelphia, and since the 2021 poost-seaspn collapse, the 76ers are still looking for that elusive Conference Finals with Joel Embiid as their leader.
Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid
2 - Brooklyn (48-24) 2nd Place, Atlantic Division
The Nets were brimming with talent, but unable to stay healthy during the season and the playoffs. The Big Three of James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant played just 8 regular season games together. No team had won a championship with their top three scorers playing together in less than 10 games since the 2000-2001 Lakers with Kobe, Derek Fisher and Shaq. The key man was Harden, who came over in a January trade and had the Nets playing at an 18-2 clip in clutch time with a 59 pct effective field goal percentage. Brooklyn was only 9-11 when he sat. The playoffs began with a 4-1 series win over the seventh seed Boston Celtics, with Harden and Durant leading the way. This set up a semi-final match between the Nets and the also offensively powerful Milwaukee Bucks, and both teams held serve at home to set up a brilliant Game 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In the final seconds of regulation Durant hit what looked like a clutch three point fadeaway to give the Nets the lead with a second to play. But a replay showed that a toe was on the line; the game went to overtime. The Nets held a two point lead with 90 seconds to go but the Bucks scored twoce to take a 113-111 lead with forty seconds left. This time Durant, who had scored 48 points in the game, shot an airball, and Milwaukee held on for their first Game 7 win in a playoff series, having lost in seven previous tries.
By just this much the Nets missed advancing
3 - Milwaukee (46-26) 1st Place, Central Division
To win a championship, you need a deep roster, and some unlikely heroes. Milwaukee blended both to field the highest scoring outfit in the NBA, and they were the first team to average 120 ppg since the 1984-85 Nuggets. The Bucks were led by Center Giannis Antetokounampo and small forward Khris Middleton, but point guard Jrue Holiday saw his two-way stock rise throughout the playoffs, while outside sharpshooters such as Bobby Portis, Bryn Forbes, Donte DiVincenzo, Jeff Teague and Pat Connaughton reeled off three after three to fend teams off. Holiday came over in the offseason from the Pelicans in a tracde for Eric Caruso and was every bit the upgrade, while PJ Tucker came over at the deadline to add versatility. The Bucks swept the Heat in the first round, overcame Brooklyn in seven games in the second round. They defeated the Atlanta Hawks after losing Giannis to a left knee hyperextension in the Eastern Conference Finals, and finally topped the the Phoenix Suns for their first NBA Championship in fifty years. Giannis returned for the Finals and closed out the series with a historical performance, scoring 50 points with 14 rebounds to win Finals MVP. Nobody felt better about the outcome than coach Mike Budenholzer, who had been outflanked by adjustments by Toronto's Nick Nurse and Miami's Eric Spoelstra in last year's playoffs.
Giannis won Finals MVP with the Bucks
4 - New York Knicks (41-31) 3rd Place, Atlantic Division
New team president Leon Rose and new coach Tom Thibodeau took the Knicks to their first postseason berth since the Carmelo Anthony era. The Knicks were led on court by first-team All-Star PF Julius Randle, who led the squad in scoring, assists, and usage, and they made great use of rotational players such as RJ Barrett, sixth man Derrick Rose, and sharpshooter Reggie Bullock. They got back to their hard-nosed defensive ways, having held opponents under 100 points 24 times in the regular season, and leading the NBA in points allowed at 104.7 ppg. They had a favirable first round match-up; the Knicks had beaten Atlanta in all three regular season meetings. But the team lacked playoff experience, and the Hawks' G Trae Young beat them in Game 1 at the Garden on a last-second floater, setting up a 4-1 series loss. As the two most difficult series match-ups for New York, Young would score 21 or more and Atlanta C Clint Capela corralled at least 12 rebounds or more in every contest.
5 - Atlanta Hawks (41-31) 1st Place, Southeastern Division
The Hawks were seemingly out of the playoff picture at 14-20 when they fired their coach in mid-season, but new interim coach Nate McMillan turned them around in time to make their first playoffs since 2017 and only their second Conference Finals since 1970, when they were in the West. They finished 27-11 behind the sharpshooting of G Trae Young and reserve Bogdan Bogdanovich and faced New York in round 1, where Young got hot and torched the defensive-minded Knicks while the Hawk defense did not allow 100 points at State Farm Arena. The Hawks were then the architects of Philadelphia's demise, something that was not predicted before the playoffs due to their inexperience.
Unfortunately for the Hawks they ran into a buzzsaw in the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, who downed them in six games. The key was Game 3 where Atlanta lost their hard-fought home field advantage to Khris Middleton's fourth quarter 20 point outburst, and they lost Trae Young to a foot injury. A very competitive series turned into a 2-1 Bucks lead. With Young hobbled, Milwaukee C Brook Lopez and Middleton helped carry Milwaukee to a clinching Game 6 win in Atlanta. Their progress from also-ran to one of the NBA's top four teams earned McMillan an off-season extension.
Trae Young was Lethal in the 2021 Postseason
6 - Miami Heat (40-32) 2nd Place, Southeast Division
The Heat had some great pieces- F Jimmy Butler, C Bam Adebayo and G Victor Oladipo and G-F Duncan Robinson provided some long range support. With Butler in the lineup Miami was 33-19, and they held opponents to 106.1 ppg. But Miami had nowhere near enough three point firepower to keep up with Milwaukee in Round 1. They had hoped that their prior playoff-tested defensive approach would be able to hold Giannis in check, but that was not to be. Jrue Holiday also gave Butler a matchup he did not see in the prior year. The Bubble Hangover from last year's extended playoff run also hit Tyler Herro hard, and he struggled throughout the season to find his shot.
7 - Boston Celtics (36-36) 4th Place, Atlantic Division
Boston had two All Stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but they lost Brown to a wrist injury right before the playoffs, and the back end of the roster, comprised of recent draft picks, did not provide much hope for consistent production. Their reward for winning the first playoff game was the seventh seed and a meeting with the mighty Nets, where the fans were at least treated to a Tatum-Durant scoring duel. But the Nets had James Harden scoring 30 too, and they won convincingly in Round 1, 4-1. Marcus Smart emerged as a point guard during the series, however.
8 - Washington Wizards (34-38) 3rd Place, Southeast Division
The Wizards earned the 8th seed with a 142-115 Play-In victory over the Indiana Pacers (34-38). The Wizards were powered by a vintage Russell Westbrook performance, as he averaged a season-long Triple Double: 22.2 ppg, 11.5 rebounds, and he led the league with 11.7 assists per game. This was the fourth and last time in his career that Westbrook turned this trick. Westbrook had a partner in scoring points, young SG Bradley Beal, who led the league in mid range fieldgoal attempts and averaged 31.3 points per game. The real story here was the first round matchup between Westbrook and Joel Embiid. There was bad blood between them. But Philadelphia was too much, in spite of Beal's scoring touch in a 4-1 Wizards series loss.
Russell Westbrook
Western Conference- Seedings
1- Utah Jazz (52-20) 1st Place, Northwest Division
The Jazz had the league's best record for most of the season and the longest winning streak in the NBA at 11 games, along with two 9 game winning streaks. But they were very reliant on three point shooting, making 16.7 triples pergame while averaging only 6.2 midrange shots, and this made them vulnerable to teams that played good switching defense. They would become overly reliant on SG Donovan Mitchell (26.4 ppg); the team was only 1-6 when he shot more than 25 times. On defense C Rudy Gobert qon his 3rd DPOY as he patrolled the baseline and specialized in double doubles. Gobert, Mitchell and PG Mike Conley were Western All Stars and Jordan Clarkson won Sixth Man of the Year while averaging 18.4 ppg off the bench. They easily handled the Memphis Grizzlies 4-1, but lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 4-2 after taking a 2-0 lead in the series. The real issue was the team's playoff defense- tops in the NBA against threes in the regular season, they stumbled to 117.7 ppg in the postseason. Utah beat the Grizzlies in the first round 4 games to 1 but they faltered against the Clippers and Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
A young Donovan Mitchell
2 - Phoenix Suns (51-21) 1st Place, Pacific Division
The Suns closed well last season, with an 8-0 run in the Bubble before just missing the playoffs. They were ready to make the jump to contenders, and so they went out and obtained Chris Paul. The Point God played at an All-NBA level, and he core of Paul, Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges combined to miss only 6 games for the season. The Suns played at a 35-10 clip from February to April as Paul and Booker gave Phoenix an unmatched mid-range game. The Suns ousted the defending Champion Lakers behind the tough shooting of G Devin Booker and then swept the Nuggets to make it to their first Conference Finals since 2010. There they met the Clippers, and advanced to their first NVA finals since 1993 behind a clutch 51 point performace by the Point God, Chris Paul. Milwaukee and Giannis turned out to be too much for them, as they lost the Finals in six. Phoenix would win 64 games the next year, and clinch their fist number 1 spot in the West for the first time since 2005.
Chris Paul, The Point God
3 - Denver Nuggets (45-27) 2nd Place, Northwest Division
After their run to the Western Conference Finals in 2020, the Nuggets started only 6-7, but C Nikola Jokic launched his 2021 MVP campaign with four triple doubles in the first six games. They picked up Orlando's Aaron Gordon to provide front court support and defense at the trade deadline, and even losing PG Jamal Murray to an ACL injury could not prevent the team from finishing with the third seed. They were rewarded with a rematch of last year's playoff series with the Portland Trailblazers. An overtime 147-140 win in Game 5 for the Nuggets, overcoming 55 points from Damian Lillard, allowed Denver to advance, as they won the series in 6 games. But the Nuggets were swept by the scorching Suns in the second round.
The Joker won his first MVP in 2021
4 - LA Clippers (45-27) 2nd Place, Pacific Division
The Clippers shot the three at a historic pace, with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard looking like a dominant duo, and when they were locked in and passing well, too, nobody shot the three better than the Clippers. Their first round matchup was the Mavericks- a team they had lost to by fifty one points earlier in the year. the Mavs moved out to a 2-0 series lead behind a pair of Luka Doncik 30 plus point efforts, but Leonhard pulled the Clippers even by winning two in Dallas. The Mavs won their third at the Staples Center, but Leonard and George combined to take the last two games for a 4-3 series win. Against Utah, Kawhi Leonard matched up with Donovan Mitchell, and it was Paul George who won the key game 5 in Utah with 36 points and 16 rebounds. The Clippers trailed by as many as 22 points at home in Game 6 in the third quarter, but bounced back to enter the fourth quarter down by only 3. LA carried on to win game 6 and became the first team to recover from being down 2-0 in the same playoffs, reaching their first Confernece Finals in franchise history. There the Suns held serve in games 1 and 2, winning on a last second inbound pass and dunk and 29 points from Cameron Payne in game 2. The Clippers won game 3, but missed twelve straight shots in the fourth quaeter that would have tied the game in a 84-80 loss. The Clippers won game 5, but Phoenix won game 6 on Chris Paul's career high 41 points. A great run by the Clippers came up just short of the NBA Finals.
Paul George
5 - Dallas Mavericks (42-30) 1st Place, Southwest Division
The Mavericks were hit hard by COVID and were five games under .500 in early February before finally righting the ship to play .673 ball to finish in the middle of the Western playoff slate. Luka Doncic was an efficient floor leader, joining only the Trailblazers' Damian Lillard as the only men in the top 10 in both scoring (27.7 ppg) and assists (8.6 a/g). Doncic was aided by the hot shooting of Tim Hardaway Jr down the stretch. Jalen Brunson and Dorien Finney-Smith established key roles in the Dallas rotation, helping to overcome the frequent injury absences of Kristaps Porzingis. The Maveriscks were able to win three games at the Staples Center, but failed to protect their home court in the first round, losing three games at American Airlines Center in spite of 35.7 points per game from Doncic. In the end, he did not have enough help from the rest of the lineup. After the season GM Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle stepped down, and the team began a massive overhaul.
6 - Portland Trailblazers (42-30) 3rd Place, Northwest Division
Portland dealt with season-long frequent injuries to CJ McCollum and Josuf Nurkic. In response Damon Lilliard took the burden, and he took it brilliantly, correcting the team's trajectory and placing them in the playoffs. The issue was the bench, as they continued to search for their best seven or eight players even into the post season. Players such as Enes Kanter and Carmelo Anthony could provide some punch when Dame left the lineup to rest, but the team's defense would suffer. This led to a first round 4-2 exit versus the Mavericks and Luka Doncic.
7 - Los Angeles Lakers (42-30) 3rd Place, Pacific Division
The Lakers had just 71 days to celebrate their Bubble championship run before the 2021-21 season started, and LeBron James got off to a very hot start to his 18th NBA season. The Lakers were at or near the top of the standings early in the year before Anthony Davis suffered a calf injury and achilles tendinosis in hid right leg that sidelined him for nine weeks. James suffered a right leg injury that cost him six weeks. The front office battled with guard Dennis Schroder, and his inavailability cost the Lakers playoff seding; they had to win a play-in game to qualify to meet the Suns. As a seventh seed, the defending champs faced a daunting task as only two seventh seeds had made it to the Finals since 1987 (87 Seattle and 99 NY Knicks).
LeBron was still at the top of his game in his 18th season in the NBA
8 - Memphis Grizzlies (38-34) 2nd Place, Southwest Division
With cornerstone Jaren Jackson Jr. sidelined, Memphis second year point guard Ja Morant and C Jonas Valanciunas (17.1 ppg, 12.5 rpg) were the keys to the team's hopes. They managed to oust San Antonio and the Warriors in the play in tournament including a great overtime win in San Francisco, but they were only 15-23 against .500 and above teams. Dillon Brooks managed to keep Utah's Donovan Mitchell off balance in his return to the court in 16 games in the first game of their series in a 112-109 upset, but after that it was all that Jazz as Utah won the series 4-1.
Original Date of Publication - 5/24/2026
Fred J. Bobberts
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