Each NBA Team’s Hype Video For The 2018 Playoffs, Ranked

The postseason is upon us, and with the NBA playoffs comes team hype videos. It’s not enough to just make the postseason to get fans excited about the playoffs, you have to get the digital content team on the case to make some video magic. Each of the 16 NBA teams that made the postseason have a video to get folks excited about the series to come.

Some of these are more season recaps than preview videos, while others are meant to preview Game 1 of a given series. But still, we’re counting them as we rank each hype video based on just how hyped we get by watching them. These rankings are completely arbitrary, unbiased, and also completely correct. Let’s get started.

16. San Antonio Spurs

We, like everyone else, love Pau Gasol, but come on.

15. Indiana Pacers

This one needs some work. It’s short, doesn’t show a ton of action, and is basically just the Pacers trying to show up LeBron James as selfish or something. Show Victor Oladipo dunking or something! The Pacers are cool and, unfortunately, this video doesn’t quite reflect that.

14. Utah Jazz

As much as us writers would love to see the rebirth of print through the use of massive headlines recapping a full season of basketball, this video needs some work. It’s long, it’s got some funky editing, and the missteps are highlighted just as much as the triumphs.

13. Golden State Warriors

The Dubs mean well here, but this doesn’t cut it in my book. The strength of the team is the fans? It’s, uh, probably the four All-Stars they have on the roster that are trying to cement the team’s status as a dynasty.

To be clear, I get it. But show me the goods here, folks. Give me some Draymond Green swagger and or Kevin Durant dominating a game. Golden State went in an “inspirational video” direction rather than a “hype video” one, which works for some, but not for these rankings.

12. Boston Celtics

The Celtics have been through a lot this year, and having the players relive it for the sake of a hype video seems cruel. This one isn’t even all that exciting, it’s just mostly about the haters doubting Boston because they’ve lost a few big name players this year. When it’s all laid out like that, it actually seems entirely reasonable, even if they are the 2-seed.

11. Washington Wizards

I mostly like the effects here, the lens blur and all that, but it just didn’t move the needle in any way that got me excited.

10. Houston Rockets

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/984502120123531264?s=20

I liked this video more the first time I saw it, but stacked up against the other 15 teams it’s just not cutting it. It’s a cool story, but it’s not getting me fired up about the road ahead.

9. Milwaukee Bucks

This one is more of a season recap than anything, but that also means it’s far too long. There are so many Giannis dunks here, and all of them should be celebrated. The young man dunks over a dang human being at one point, it should be given the reverence it deserves. But also, I believe this video can get the point across in fewer than three minutes.

8. Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota’s story is great and the video is very good. I don’t know why, but it just made sense to put them in the middle of the pack.

7. Oklahoma City Thunder

The contrast between this and the Bucks video is pretty startling. This is downright minimalist at 19 seconds, and shows them putting up massive banners of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams on the front of the building. As much as I’d love to see some videos of Russ yamming on some fools, this strangely works at getting the point across.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers

This one is nice because some elements of it are opponent-specific, highlighting the first-round matchup with the Pacers in a better way than, well, the Pacers did. There’s a good bit of Lance Stephenson in there as well, but I can’t imagine why they’d do that.

Oh yeah.

5. Portland Trail Blazers

This is another team-specific video that I’d classify as entirely “not bad.” The music is nice here, it has momentum. This is an entirely enjoyable hype video.

4. New Orleans Pelicans

Oh hell yeah. Every team does the “no one believes in us” thing during the postseason, but the Pelicans have a really good case for being the overall winner here on the disrespect bracket. It has a healthy portion of Anthony Davis, as it should. They’re going to need him if they want people to start believing.

3. Toronto Raptors

This certainly does pump me up, and the clips of talking heads doubting the Raptors is effective here. The music is good, the clips are nice. This isn’t as good as their famous “We The North” video from 2014, which is the best NBA playoff hype video ever, but this still gets me excited for Toronto basketball.

2. Philadelphia 76ers

We can’t talk about this video until we talk about the Join Or Die Sixers logo first. It rules. It’s the best postseason debut of a logo I can remember. I want to see it everywhere, and the Sixers look well on their way to doing that because they’re smart.

It’s also smart to make the hype video about that logo, with a voiceover by head coach Brett Brown and some heavy references to how everyone doubted The Process and where they’re at now. The video itself is extremely Philadelphia, which works for them because it’s been a pretty good year for Philly sports. They deserve it, just like they deserve a video this great.

1. Miami Heat

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/981348832511438848?s=20

Easy winner here. Wire-to-wire, this is the best use of music as a classic hype video. It’s a fitting throwback to 2009, with Rick Ross’ “Hustlin'” blaring as clips fitting the lyrics to the song are shown. It’s got great Dwyane Wade nostalgia along with a good mix of the future of the team.

Also, the Heat should use their Miami Vice uniforms all postseason. Never stop the neon.

(h/t r/NBA user thosetusks for compiling all the videos in one convenient location)