1 Fix Every 2023 NBA Playoff Team Desperately Needs to Make

A successful NBA playoff run is basically a string of successful adjustments and readjustments.

These strategic chess matches never stop. They operate almost like a prize fight, as one power punch is followed by a counter. The pattern repeats itself until only one team is left standing.

Although it's still early in the 2023 NBA playoffs, there are already issues that teams need to fix or things they could do better. We'll spotlight a fix for every team as things stand heading into Thursday night's slate.

To put up a real fight against the second-seeded Boston Celtics, the Atlanta Hawks need Trae Young to work his magic.

Through two games—both 13-point wins by Boston—Young hasn't been able to summon much of anything beyond a slew of errant shots and a turnover total (10) that nearly matches his assists (14).

The Hawks aren't built to win like this. Their offensive system orbits around Young's dual threat as a pull-up shooter and prolific playmaker. If he isn't on top of his game, everything crumbles around him.

When he is playing like this—the same number of shots and points (40 each), a dismal 3-of-13 showing from distance—Atlanta is effectively drawing dead. If the Hawks can't get their normally prolific point guard going, they might as well start planning their summer vacations.

The Boston Celtics haven't needed more than 22.3 minutes per night out of Robert Williams III, who's been coming off the bench, to handle the Atlanta Hawks.

But the Shamrocks have much bigger dreams beyond getting past the first round. To make those a reality, they'll need Williams on the floor as much as possible.

In last year's Finals, the bouncy big man was easily Boston's leader in plus/minus (plus-30). The next-closest was Aaron Nesmith at plus-11.

That aligns with the eye test, as the Celtics don't have another interior anchor like Williams. His shot-blocking, lob-finishing and activity on the glass are all elements that Boston can't get from its other bigs.

The Celtics don't need to alter his minutes to handle the Hawks, but expanding his role now could make it easier for him to take on the substantial floor time he'll have to receive as the competition level rises going forward.

Through two games against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Brooklyn Nets' offense has averaged an anemic 101.6 points per 100 possessions. For context, the Charlotte Hornets had the regular season's least efficient offense at 108.4 points per 100 possessions.

So, why have the Nets given Cam Thomas only four minutes of mop-up duty? Couldn't his quick-strike scoring—he had five 30-point outings this season, including a string of three consecutive 40-plus-point performances—help this group snap out of its funk?

"If I felt like we were struggling to get looks, maybe that could be an answer," Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters after Game 2. "But I thought that we got looks, and I thought they were makeable shots."

The Nets don't have many off-the-dribble scoring threats, and maybe their best one, Spencer Dinwiddie, is not having a good series (38.5/25.0/50.0 shooting slash). This attack is in dire need of a spark, and Thomas has already proved he can provide exactly that.

All season long, the Cleveland Cavaliers have searched for the right answer at small forward. After their more-lopsided-than-it-sounds 17-point victory over the New York Knicks in Game 2 on Tuesday night, the answer is obvious.

Caris LeVert is by far the most complete offensive player in Cleveland's wing collection. He puts opponents into pick-your-poison scenarios that are impossible to get right. The veteran swingman pumped in 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting (4-of-9 from three) over his 40 minutes, which Cleveland won by 23 points.

"You got Darius [Garland] and Donovan [Mitchell] in space, so now teams have tough decisions to make on who they're going to help off of," Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters after Game 2. "And Caris has the ability to playmake, he has the ability to find open guys, but then you know what he's capable of as a scorer as well. So it just puts people in a tough spot."

More than anything, LeVert makes life easier on Garland and Mitchell, since they can't be crowded the way they are when Cleveland has a non-threat like Isaac Okoro on the wing. If teams leave LeVert unattended, he'll make them pay in a way Okoro can't. While LeVert isn't the same level of defender as Okoro, the Cavs still have Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the front line to plug up any perimeter leaks.

Not to mention, with the modern NBA skewing toward offense, it's easier to cover for a more generous defender than it is to play 4-on-5 offense. The Cavs don't have to worry about the latter with LeVert.

The Denver Nuggets, which paced the West with 53 wins this season, certainly looked the part of championship-level juggernaut on Sunday in their 29-point rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Denver appeared on course for a repeat Wednesday night, as it built up a nine-point lead in the first quarter and stretched the advantage to 15 points by halftime.

But the Nuggets finally showed some vulnerability during a disastrous third quarter in Game 2 that saw that 15-point edge become a two-point deficit. As they grasped for straws in that period, they never even looked in the direction of Michael Porter Jr., their third-leading scorer in the regular season. He didn't even put up a shot in the quarter.

Porter's lack of involvement stretched beyond those 12 minutes, though. For the game, he only took seven shots, his fewest since early March. As good as the Nikola Jokić-Jamal Murray two-man game is, this offense doesn't have nearly the same punch without Porter.

While he has made strides with the non-scoring portions of his game, getting buckets is still his calling card. And frankly, it's one of the best things going with this entire attack. There aren't many defenses that have a great way of handling a 6'10" three-level scorer. Getting him more involved feels like an obvious example of working smarter not harder.

For the first time in the Stephen Curry era, the Golden State Warriors have fallen into an 0-2 series hole. Climbing out of it will require conquering this core's longstanding battle with the turnover bug.

Golden State has coughed up a playoff-worst 37 giveaways so far. That not only short-circuits its own attack, but it also directly juices up the Sacramento Kings' transition game. It takes Sacramento's 24th-ranked defense off the hook, too.

Under head coach Steve Kerr, the Warriors have long walked the tightrope between playing loose and playing careless. Even when they've had moments of recklessness, they've counted on timely shooting and defensive stops to bail them out.

It's possible that Golden State, which won only 44 games this season and struggled mightily away from home (11 road wins, fourth-fewest in the league), simply no longer has the counter-punching power to overcome these mistakes. If the Dubs can't clean up their execution soon, their attempt to defend their throne could be over before it ever really started.

In the analytically driven NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers played by modern mathematical rules on Tuesday night.

They made the most threes (11 to 10). They sank more than twice as many free throws (28 to 13). They doubled up the Suns in restricted-area field goals (16 to eight).

None of that mattered, because Phoenix buried L.A. from the analytical dead zone known as the mid-range. The Suns went an absurd 21-of-29 from there, burying the Clippers with one pull-up jumper after the next.

"They're mid-range shooters," Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said afterward, per The Athletic's Law Murray. "They're great at it. It's like layups for them."

Winning in the playoffs means taking teams out of their comfort zone. The Suns—in particular, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton—just happen to be comfortable where most modern teams aren't.

Even though mathematicians might have appreciated how the Clippers played, they have to take these shots away from Phoenix.

The Los Angeles Lakers swished and splashed their way to a 16-point triumph over the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in the series opener. Expecting a sequel was never a wise decision.

Their shooters were all-caps AWESOME in Game 1, hitting a combined 16 triples on 37 attempts (43.2 percent). But even after addressing their perimeter woes at the trade deadline, the Lakers are far from boasting an elite three-point attack. After the All-Star break, they finished only 19th in made threes (11.7 per game) and 13th in accuracy (36.9 percent).

L.A.'s shooters crashed back to earth in Game 2, going just 7-of-26 from range.

The Lakers need to get downhill more often against a frontcourt missing both Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke. They attempted only 34 drives in Game 1, or about 10 fewer than they did in the regular season (44.2). In Game 2, that number dipped to 27.

Upping their aggressiveness could have all kinds of benefits.

If the Lakers can get to the rim, they'll find some premium scoring chances. If they can collapse Memphis' defense, they'll have cleaner looks from three. If they can take the attack right to Jaren Jackson Jr., they could exploit perhaps the Defensive Player of the Year's biggest flaw: foul trouble. And if they can draw enough whistles to force Jackson off the floor, they should press the gas pedal even harder.

During the regular season, only the Indiana Pacers scored more fast-break points than the Memphis Grizzlies. Two games into the playoffs, seven teams are ahead of the Grizzlies in the category, including the Lakers.

Memphis isn't built to win this way.

The Grizzlies are at their best when playing with speed and force. Get them in the half court, and things can bog down. Memphis was 22nd in half-court efficiency this season. The Grizzlies found a workaround by sprinting in the open court and crashing the offensive boards. They can't really do the latter with Steven Adams sidelined by a knee injury. After sitting sixth in second-chance points in the regular season, they're down to 13th in the playoffs.

They have to get their transition attack going, which admittedly should be easier when they get Ja Morant back from a hand injury.

The Miami Heat were hurting for offense even before losing third-leading scorer Tyler Herro to a broken hand. Their 112.3 offensive rating this season ranked 25th overall and last among postseason participants (including the play-in teams).

It made sense, then, for Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to have the offensive end in mind when he started Duncan Robinson in Herro's place in Game 2. But the same limitations in Robinson's game that squeezed him out of the rotation in the regular season make him tough to play in this series. He has major defensive deficiencies, and the Bucks have more than enough firepower to exploit them.

That's why the Heat should call upon Victor Oladipo instead. He isn't the same caliber of three-point threat—not when Robinson is on, at least—but Miami needs Oladipo's point-of-attack defense and off-the-dribble offense more.

Oladipo played seldomly down the stretch and didn't even make it off the bench in Game 1. That doesn't matter. The Heat need to fix a problem they didn't anticipate having, and Oladipo seems like the best solution.

The Milwaukee Bucks entered this series with a chance to bury the offensively challenged Miami Heat underneath a barrage of buckets. But the Bucks seemed to prioritize defense more in Game 1.

Jevon Carter, Wesley Matthews and Jae Crowder—players who all do their best work on the defensive end—logged a combined 53 minutes off of the bench. Joe Ingles, meanwhile, saw just 15 minutes of action. Pat Connaughton never made hit the hardwood.

The script flipped in Game 2. Crowder and Carter saw a combined 29 minutes of action. Matthews sat with a calf strain. Ingles and Connaughton logged 25 minutes each, totaling 39 points while shooting a combined 11-of-16 from three.

This is how Milwaukee should continue to approach this series. If the Bucks lean on their scorers and shooters, they'll hit point totals the Herro-less Heat can't match.

It's worth noting here the Minnesota Timberwolves are fighting up a weight class (or more) against the top-seeded Nuggets. It's possible the Wolves simply don't have enough to escape this round regardless of how they try to fix this.

After Wednesday night's second half, though, one thing is obvious: Minnesota's best bet is fully unleashing Anthony Edwards and hoping for the best.

The dynamic swingman was spectacular after intermission, erupting for 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting while going 3-of-6 from range and converting all four of his free throws. He also tallied two assists, one block and one steal while playing 23 minutes without a turnover.

His effort wasn't enough because his teammates didn't provide enough help, but the Wolves can't be worried about that. Their lone hope for advancing is that Edwards goes absolutely berserk. That's a lot to ask, yet it feels more doable than suddenly getting Karl-Anthony Towns on track or not having Rudy Gobert be the poor on-court fit he's been since landing in the Gopher State last summer.

Three New York Knicks players have averaged more than 30 minutes per game through the first two games of their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. One is Julius Randle, who returned to All-Star form this season. Another is Jalen Brunson, who had All-Star-caliber numbers and was named a Most Improved Player award finalist.

The third is RJ Barrett, whose biggest claim to fame through four NBA seasons still might be the fact he was the No. 3 pick in 2019.

Take Barrett's draft pedigree out of the equation, and you'll struggle to rationalize his floor time. He has been nothing short of abysmal in this series, shooting a disastrous 24 percent overall and an awful 1-of-8 from three. You can't argue that he's getting run for his defense, either, since his matchups have shot 9-of-18 from the field and 5-of-7 from long range.

Calls for decreasing Barrett's role might be louder if Immanuel Quickley (30.8 percent shooting) and Quentin Grimes (16.7) were playing better. Regardless, he's getting too much burn as the default option.

It shouldn't be this easy to nitpick the Philadelphia 76ers after they opened the playoffs with back-to-back double-digit wins over the Nets, but it is.

If James Harden can't get back to being more of a scoring threat, their championship dreams will be dashed. His passing has been top-notch (20 assists), but when he has called his own number, almost nothing good has happened. He's averaging only 15.5 points on 32.4 percent shooting and has yet to attempt a free throw this postseason.

"Best playmaker in the league by far, but we don't want him, and certainly me, I don't want him to fall in love with just that," Joel Embiid said after Game 1, per The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov. "He needs to be more aggressive. ... By him attacking, it collapses the defense and creates more open shots for everybody else."

Embiid issued these comments after Harden had 23 points on 21 shots in the series opener, In Game 2, the Beard managed only eight points on 13 field-goal attempts.

Perhaps Harden is still feeling the effects of the Achilles soreness that bothered him down the stretch of the regular season. If he is, Philly needs him to heal up in a hurry. The Sixers' championship formula requires Harden to handle a co-starring role.

As soon as the Phoenix Suns brokered their blockbuster deal for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline, some concerns were raised about their resulting depth—or lack thereof, rather.

In Game 1, Phoenix seemed to try to silence those concerns. The Suns gave at least four minutes to 11 different players and trotted out two different lineups with Devin Booker playing alongside four reserves. Those lineups saw only four minutes of action, but Phoenix lost them by nine points in a five-point win for the Clippers.

In Game 2, the Suns gave four-plus minutes to only eight players. Phoenix played most of the night with at least three of Booker, Durant, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton on the floor. The only lineup that didn't have at least two of those players was the all-bench mop-up unit that handled the final minute.

This is how the Suns need to play. They sacrificed their depth to gain superior star power, which almost always makes sense since stars win biggest in this league.

As long as their stars stay healthy, Phoenix should let them shine as bright as possible. It won't win many (if any) bench battles this postseason, but its top-tier talent is good enough to take the title without those triumphs.

Despite making their first playoff appearance since 2006, the Sacramento Kings aren't simply happy to be here. They have designs on advancing deeper into the postseason, and they could be on their way toward granting their own wish.

It's not just the fact they have built up a 2-0 lead against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. It's that the Kings have an obvious path toward improvement. Their offense is so prolific that they're averaging 120 points and are still leaving points on the board.

Collectively, the Kings are shooting only 6-of-20 from deep (30 percent) when they have four-to-six feet of space. They've been even worse when they've had six-plus feet of open real estate (13-of-45, 28.9 percent). Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes and Keegan Murray have gone a combined 0-of-13 on wide-open threes.

Once this course-corrects, the Kings will be even harder to handle.

Statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com and accurate through Wednesday's games.

Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.