NBA ‘villain’ taunts crowd with savage act as playoffs locked in

A young star cemented his status as a love-or-hate villain with a stone cold act as the NBA playoff picture was locked in.

Trae Young waved goodbye to the Cleveland crowd.

Get ready basketball fans, the NBA playoffs are finally here.

After 82 games of regular season action, 16 teams will battle it out over the next couple of months to determine who will be crowned NBA champions.

To claim the title, the eventual champions will have to win four best-of-seven series.

Watch Live Coverage of The 2022 NBA Playoffs with ESPN on Kayo including every game of The Conference Finals and The Finals. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

After the Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and LA Clippers were eliminated in the play-in tournament, the playoffs properly begin on Sunday (AEST) with six games.

The first round match-ups were locked in after the Atlanta Hawks ended Cleveland’s season with a 107-101 win on Saturday.

Hawks guard Trae Young scored 38 points and further cemented his status as the NBA’s love-or-hate villain by waving to the Cleveland crowd after the victory.

Cleveland stood up to give their team a standing ovation sendoff after a great season and Trae waved them goodbye. the villain we need. pic.twitter.com/OL8CL2DPDV

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 16, 2022

Young famously shooshed the crowd at New York’s Madison Square and taunted Philadelphia 76ers fans during last year’s playoffs.

NBA playoffs picture locked in

The Phoenix Suns are the favourites to come out of the Western Conference, while it will take something special to knock reigning champions the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, out of the Eastern Conference.

It will be a repeat of last year’s NBA Finals if the Suns and Bucks meet again in the decider.

Elsewhere, the Golden State Warriors started the season in red-hot form but faded at the end and will have to regain some form to contend for the title.

The Brooklyn Nets loom as a serious wildcard with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but the star duo will have to be on fire against the ultra-deep Boston Celtics in their mouth-watering first-round series.

Devin Booker’s Phoenix Suns are one of the favourites for the NBA championship. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

All eyes will be on the Philadelphia 76ers to see if Joel Embiid and James Harden have what it takes to win the franchise’s first championship since 1983.

They come up against the Toronto Raptors in the first round, who have the talent and depth to upset the Sixers in what would be an unmitigated disaster for Philly after it traded Ben Simmons for Harden.

One team that won’t be featuring in the playoffs is the LA Lakers, who had a trainwreck of a season and even missed the play-in tournament despite a superb individual season from LeBron James.

But Lakers fans can reflect on the glory days thanks to Binge and Kayo Sports, who have made episode 1 of the new drama series, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, available to stream for free.

James Harden and Joel Embiid are under huge pressure to perform for Philly. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

BINGE will make the opening episode of the new hit series based on the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers — one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — available to stream on Kayo Freebies on the eve of the NBA Playoffs.

The 10-episode drama series, produced by Adam McKay (Succession, Step Brothers), streaming on BINGE (new episodes dropping weekly), is based on the book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” written by Jeff Pearlman, and stars John C. Reilly as Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

The ensemble cast includes Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Jason Segel as Paul Westhead, Julianne Nicholson as Cranny McKinney, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Australian Jason Clarke as Jerry West and Sally Field as Jessie Buss.

Kayo Sports Executive Director, Cate Hefele, said: “As the go-to destination for streaming the world’s best sports, we are seeing huge interest in basketball on Kayo, for both our domestic competitions and international leagues. NBA viewership has grown 31 per cent this year, and we expect even further growth as the Playoffs tip off this weekend, with ESPN on Kayo the place to watch the NBA Playoffs plus every game live of the NBA Conference Finals and NBA Finals.

LeBron James won’t feature in this season’s playoffs. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

“So we are thrilled to bring to our basketball-loving fans the first episode of this global hit drama series, on Kayo Freebies in collaboration with BINGE.”

Episode 1 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty will be available to watch on Kayo Freebies from Thursday 14 April for 30 days.

All 10 episodes will be available to stream on BINGE with new episodes dropping weekly. Sports fans can access Kayo Freebies by simply downloading the Kayo App and registering for a Freebies account at kayosports.com.au/freebies.

Kayo Freebies are free, and no credit card details are required to sign up and start streaming.

NBA Eastern Conference match-ups

Miami Heat (1) vs Atlanta Hawks (8)

Boston Celtics (2) vs Brooklyn Nets (7)

Milwaukee Bucks (3) vs Chicago Bulls (6)

Philadelphia 76ers (4) vs Toronto Raptors (5)

NBA Western Conference match-ups

Phoenix Suns (1) vs New Orleans Pelicans (8)

Memphis Grizzlies (2) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (7)

Golden State Warriors (3) vs Denver Nuggets (6)

Dallas Mavericks (4) vs Utah Jazz (5)

Originally published as NBA ‘villain’ taunts crowd with savage act as playoffs locked in