The National Basketball Association (NBA) has seen seismic changes over the last three decades with salaries ballooning to an average 10 times higher than it was during the early 1990s and games getting tossed and tilted because of coach challenges and official reviews, which give referees the ability to use replay to overturn or confirm calls they’ve made. But by far the most impactful difference has been the explosion of three-point shooting, which didn’t even exist in the NBA until the 1979/80 season.

This proliferation of shooting from beyond the arc has resulted in a significant uptick in the number of shots attempted (and made), especially in the last 10 seasons — the average number of three-point field goal attempts per team per game has risen from 18.1 to 32.0, while the average number of threes made per team per game has risen from 6.4 to 11.4.

This churning of offence from three-point territory has led to a historic number of double-digit, late-game comeback wins over the last few years and especially these play-offs where the Memphis Grizzlies set a NBA record for the most fourth-quarter, double-digit comeback victories in a play-off series (3) — outscoring the Minnesota Timberwolves by a combined 62 points in the fourth quarter in the opening series (the best fourth-quarter differential in any series in NBA history).

After getting past Minnesota, the Grizzlies were then tasked with the uphill battle of getting past the Golden State Warriors without the contribution of talisman Ja Morant who picked up a knee injury during Game 3 last Saturday (May 7), with the series interestingly poised at one game each. Morant was omitted from the line-up for Game 4, and it is very likely that the injury will be long term — A bitter end to a very successful year for the 2021/22 KIA NBA Most Improved Player.

However, even against a Morant-less Memphis team, the Warriors have had to lean heavily on their experience and resilience. The Warriors missed their first 15 three-point attempts in Game 4 last Monday night (May 9) and committed 11 turnovers in the first half, trailing through most of the game until the last 45 seconds. Golden State took their first lead at 94-93 and showed their championship mettle, grinding out a narrow 101-98 victory with a 32-point contribution from Stephen Curry.

This week, the winners of the KIA NBA Coach of the Year and the KIA NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) were determined, Monty Williams and Nikola Jokic, respectively.

Williams, in his third year in Phoenix, led the Suns to an NBA-best (and franchise-best) 64–18 record this regular season and he’s compiled a 149–78 record since joining the franchise, including 20-12 in the postseason. He beat out the Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Grizzlies’ Taylor Jenkins as other finalists.

Just last season, the Suns won 51 games and earned the No 2 seed in the Western Conference on their way to an NBA Finals appearance but fell short to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Williams was named the All-Star Game’s coach for the first time in his career this year and won his second National Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year Award as well.

Phoenix’s turnaround has been one of the most remarkable stories in the NBA over the past couple seasons. The Suns hadn’t made the play-offs since 2009/10 prior to their run to the Finals last season, going a combined 272-450 from 2010-2019. They were particularly terrible in the years directly preceding Williams’ tenure, going 87-241 and winning no more than 24 games in any season from 2015-2019. In 2019/20, his first year in Phoenix, the Suns went 34-39.

Denver Nuggets’ centre Nikola Jokic has been voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for a second-consecutive season and managed to improve upon his per-game averages in every major statistical category in the just concluded regular season. He finished with career highs in points (27.1), rebounds (13.8), blocks (0.9) and steals (1.5) per game. He also made a career-high 58.3 per cent of his field goals, and while he did not match his career high in free throw or three-point percentage, he did set highs in total free throws (379) and three-pointers (97) made.

Jokic became the first player in league history to record more than 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season — numbers never before seen in NBA history. Not from Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan nor LeBron James. The other finalists were Philadelphia 76ers’ centre Joel Embiid, who led the league in scoring average, and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks.

Jokic is the 12th player to win consecutive MVP awards, joining the select list of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is the only Nugget to be voted as the NBA MVP, though Spencer Haywood won an American Basketball Association (ABA) MVP award (1969/70) when the team was still known as the Denver Rockets.

Jokic’s Nuggets were eliminated in the first round by the Warriors, but the MVP lifted Denver to a 48-34 record (No 6 in the Western Conference) and into the play-offs without star teammates Jamal Murray, who did not play a single game this season, and No 3 option Michael Porter Jr, who played only nine games. He was missing a lot of help but still managed a league-leading 19 triple-doubles for the season for a total of 76 in his career, which trails only Chamberlain (78) among centres.

The play-offs are still on in earnest and it’s anybody’s guess who will emerge champions. Stay tuned as the action promises to be stupendous.

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2021/22 NBA Champion

TeamOdds

Golden State Warriors3.10

Phoenix Suns3.40

Boston Celtics5.25

Miami Heat6.50

Milwaukee Bucks9.00

Philadelphia 76ers36.00

Dallas Mavericks41.00

Memphis Grizzlies91.00

*Odds are subject to change