The NBA regular season is a grind. But things change in the playoffs. Players start playing defense at a much more intense level and the wide-open shots are suddenly not so wide open. Teams also begin to scout other teams since they play them multiple games in a row. Offensive sets that used to generate points now struggle to do so.

So what does the game become? Lots and lots of on-Ball screens and basically one-on-one play from your star player. It becomes a difficult thing to guard and certain guys rise to the occasion and certain guys don’t.

This happened with the Jazz series against the Nuggets and it became Donovan Mitchell versus Jamal Murray. Murray ended up winning that match-up. I think part of the reason the Jazz face some skepticism still is because no one is sure if they have the guy that can put the team on his back against the Lakers. Is Mitchell ready to take his game to that level?

We saw something similar with the Bucks last year. Cruising through the regular season with a great record. But when it became playoff basketball, guys weren’t getting open threes and Giannis couldn’t just go 1-on-1 because of his lack of outside shooting.

Love this team and I hope they prove everyone wrong. But regular season success doesn’t necessarily mean post-season success in today’s NBA.