DNHQ Rooting Guide. Play-ins: CHI vs MIA and SAC vs NOP

I guess they're going to hold the rest of the playoffs anyway

See the master index at Dub Nation HQ Rooting Guide For Other Teams

Who do you want to win these series? You can vote at the end of the post.

East: (9) Chicago Bulls @ (8) Miami Heat (7 ET, ESPN) 

Chicago Bulls

Ex-Warriors

• Javonte Green played on the Santa Cruz Warriors this season before getting called up to CHI.

Friends

• None.

Unrequited Love

• Many in Dub Nation have pined for Alex Caruso.

• Dalen Terry was a sleeper pick in the 2022 Draft and made it into the 2022 DNHQ Draft Tourney People’s Choice Group.

Warriors Villains

• None.

Petty Rivalries

• None. Hard to work up any emotions about this team.

Team Grudges

• Being a joyless underachieving team is not grounds for a team grudge.

Miami HEAT

Ex-Warriors

• None.

Friends

• Jimmy Butler. Famously couldn’t get along with the Minnesota Timberwolves management, couldn’t get the most out of Andrew Wiggins through tough love, and caused so much chaos that it forced trades and moves that put MIN in such a dreadful position that MIN had to make a desperation move to keep Karl-Anthony Towns from leaving: the glorious trade of Andrew Wiggins and the 2021 Top 3 protected 1st round pick (#7 Kuminga) for KAT’s pal D’Angelo Russell. Thanks, Jimmy.

• Kevin Love. Childhood pal of Klay Thompson. Legendary near-trade target for Klay Thompson, (then recent all-star) David Lee and Harrison Barnes. The #2 free agent whom LeBron grabbed for his Superfriends 2.0 (v 1.0 in CLE), who became a scapegoat for all CLE’s problems.

Unrequited Love

• Jaime Jaquez, Jr. Drafted ONE pick before GSW’s pick. Runaway winner of our 2023 DNHQ Draft Tourney Bonus Group B. We’ll never know if JJ was higher than Brandin Podziemski on GSW’s big board, but it was all but certain they GSW would take one of them.

Warriors Villains

• None yet.

Petty Rivalries

• Udonis Haslem. Raised a whole fuss about Draymond picking the Celtics to advance.

Team Grudges

• None really. They did have the annoying LeBron / Wade / Bosh Super Friends team, but that one underperformed so much that it provided some entertainment. Dwyane Wade has been pretty cool in retirement, and they also got dumped by LeBron after he strip-mined the town, so it’s hard to hold a grudge. They also gave the Lakers a scare in the 2020 Disney Cup despite a rash of Heat injures, and also got within one shot of upsetting the Celtics in 2022, and finished the job with the huge upset over BOS in 2023.

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West: (9) Sacramento Kings @ (8) New Orleans Pelicans (9:30 ET, TNT) 

Sacramento Kings

Ex-Warriors

• Head Coach Mike Brown was the top assistant coach at GSW.

• Harrison Barnes was a big contributor to the GSW dynasty start from 2013-2016. Some fans are still bitter about Harrison’s grim 2016 Finals Game 7.

• Javale McGee was a big bench contributor in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.

Unrequited Love

• Small parts of Dub Nation really wanted to acquire Davion Mitchell.

• E.J. Liddell was the winner of the 2022 DNHQ Draft Tournament. He missed the season with a torn ACL and is now on a NOP two-way contract.

Warriors Villains

• Domantas Sabonis. Got on Dub Nation’s bad side when he spent the 2023 Playoffs baiting Draymond Green with an array of flops and slimy cheap shots, peaking with his leg grab of Draymond leading to the “stomp” and suspension.

Petty Rivalries

• None.

Team Grudges

• Now the SAC has knocked GSW out of the Play-in (and also had some infuriating random ending wins this season), Dub Nation might start to hold a grudge. Of course, the 2023 series was a classic and Game 7 produced one of Steph’s greatest games.

New Orleans Pelicans

Ex-Warriors

• Head Coach Willie Green got his start on the GSW coaching staff. He brought in ex-GSW coaches Aaron Miles and Jarron Collins.

Unrequited Love

• Parts of Dub Nation really wanted to acquire Trey Murphy III.

• Jordan Hawkins was our runner-up in our 2023 DNHQ Draft Tourney.

• E.J. Liddell was the winner of the 2022 DNHQ Draft Tournament. He missed the season with a torn ACL and is now on a NOP two-way contract.

Warriors Villains

• None.

Petty Rivalries

• GM David Griffin was the architect of the LeBron Cavs 2.0. In retrospect, he had quite a lot on his plate, with LeBron extorting the Cavs to go all in every year, with Kyrie Irving being Kyrie, and controversial owner Dan Gilbert. He managed to handle the Anthony Davis extortion smoothly, rebuilding the team almost instantly.

• CJ McCollum. Had Dynasty-era KD on a podcast and then kept stirring the pot on Twitter. 

• Jose Alvarado should be drifting into Annoying territory, but he seems to mostly use his powers to irritate Chris Paul, so he’s okay with us.

• Larry Nance Jr played a minor role on the LeBron Cavs superteam.

Team Grudges

• None?

Who do you want to win?