A 65-win pace, the youngest core in the bracket and home court locked through the conference finals — the season has gone exactly to script.
League executives polled this week were split on the question, but the consensus was clear on one point: the price of standing still in this conference is higher than the price of overpaying. The teams at the top are not waiting around.
Scouts who have tracked this draft class since last summer keep coming back to the same word: physicality. The lottery names carry NBA frames already, and the workout circuit is only sharpening the separation at the top of the board.
Home crowds have been worth real points this spring. The building was loud from the opening tip, and the third-quarter surge that decided the game was fueled by three straight defensive stops that brought the arena to its feet.
