Surprisingly, the Atlanta Hawks are not a Doc Rivers team. 

 

One could have looked at Cory Kispert playing, realizing that they had conceded, or checked the scoreboard highlighting a 47-point disparity at halftime. That was the largest lead at intermission in NBA playoff history courtesy of the Knicks sacking State Farm Arena.

 

OG Anunoby unfastened the defense with a scourge of jumpers and the others followed his lead by going to the body without restraint. 

 

A good chunk of the crowd remained seated to get as much of their money’s worth as possible, and other Hawks fans got a headstart on traffic as the team’s starters lasted between nine and 11 more minutes before yielding undignifiedly. Former top pick Zaccharie Risacher started the inconsequential second half, and Jalen Johnson wasn’t as invisible, but it didn’t matter. Former Knicks Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Allan Houston sat next to each other, satisfied with the slaughter. 

 

Philadelphia forces Game 7 

 

Joel Embiid’s presence has changed the series after a rough stretch in Game 4. His playmaking is putting tons of pressure on the Celtics, and he has picked up his scoring accuracy, particularly outside of the lane. On the other side, the Celtics have forgotten how to convert free throws and 3-pointers in their last two outings. Notably, they’ve been awful in the corners, which is the easiest shot in the NBA. 

 

Even if the Celtics, who typically take care of business at home during Game 7s, advance, they’ve been exposed a bit by losing two games at home. Keep in mind that Tyrese Maxey and Embiid went berserk in Game 5, and their combination of speed and strength are a problem for the Cs. Game 7 is on Saturday and the winner will play the New York Knicks.

Nuggets eliminated 

 

What was supposed to be a special season ended coldly in Minnesota with the team undermanned against the depleted Timberwolves, and with Jaden McDaniels, the one who said the Nuggets were all bad defenders, emerging as the best player. It should sting the Kroenke family even more that Tim Connelly, who left Denver for Minnesota almost four years ago, is responsible for two of the last three teams that have eliminated the Nuggets.

 

Imagine if ownership had paid the big bucks to keep Connelly around. 

 

It’s been a stream of shortcomings since the Nuggets won the title in 2023, and they’ve gotten further away from what the golden era of Nuggets hoops. They’re stale and now hungrier, better teams have risen.

 

Minnesota’s pressure prevented Jamal Murray from getting loose like he had in his All-Star regular season. As a result, the team couldn’t generate enough offense around Jokić, even with Cam Johnson having one of his rare high-scoring nights, and they took 19 less shots than Minnesota. 

 

Jokić is eligible for a contract extension this summer, and he says he wants to be a Nugget forever, but putting a contender around him will only get harder. He also shielded coach David Adelman as much as he could from blame, yet he notably didn’t want to make injuries the main excuse for not advancing. 

 

Still, that doesn’t change the fact that they were always at a significant disadvantage without Aaron Gordon’s two-way presence. The concerning part for the team is that injuries have compromised him the last two seasons when he’s been needed the most. Now there’s a big decision to make if he’s still a part of the team’s future, considering everything is magnified to extend Jokić’s prime. 

 

Now the Wolves, without Anthony Edwards (left knee hyperextension), Donte DiVincenzo (torn right achilles) and Ayo Dosunmu (sore right calf), will start round two against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.

The Orlando Magic are on the verge of becoming the seventh team in NBA history to beat the first seed as the eighth. Game 4 easily became one of the most important in franchise history considering the stakes and how they handled the rough times that could have flipped the edge like a light switch. 

 

Both defenses were implacable, and as a result, 3-point makes dropped few and far between, and each felt like body shots. 

 

It was obvious the game was headed for classic territory when the Pistons shook off five straight turnovers and quickly climbed out of a 12-point ditch. Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane carried the Magic to a two-point lead at halftime, but the former only played close to seven more minutes because of a calf issue. The third period was also like a mud-wrestling match with bodies bumping and coverages yielding close to nothing. 

 

Wagner’s absence forced Jamal Cain, who had his contract converted to a standard from a two-way on March 20, to step up big-time by playing 17 second-half minutes. He jammed the dunk of the playoffs (so far) by coming up court, viciously baptizing Jalen Duren, and had a mean putback late in the game that were emotional plays that lifted the team.

 

His pressure on-ball and as a helper made him more reliable than Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva, who are not bad defenders but lack Cain’s extra level of physicality. 

 

 Bane had missed his first four shots of the fourth quarter, but redeemed himself and rescued the team, dropping a 29-foot bank-triple on a screen-roll over Isaiah Stewart. Only 76 seconds remained and the Magic held on to their six-point lead to take a gripping 3-1 advantage.

 

The series now returns to Detroit. Keep in mind that the Pistons won 15 more regular-season games yet they tied 2-2 against each other before the playoffs. Notably, Banchero missed one win and Wagner missed the other, but the Pistons did not have Cade Cunningham for the April 6 game because he was recovering from a collapsed lung.

 

The Magic had a turbulent regular season, but turned into the team they were expected to be at the right time. They had belief in themselves and a lot credit goes to coach Jamahl Mosley, whose seat has been boiling since November. He texted a friend of his before Game 1 that they were going to take it, not steal it, and that’s exactly what they did. They then atoned for getting smacked around in the second half of Game 2 by delivering the two most important wins of the season.

 

The Pistons haven’t been able to rattle the Magic because the latter can match their brutishness. That should terrify Detroit that it was true even with Wagner out. His status is in question for the remainder of the series, but the other side has a glaring issue, too: There is not enough shot creation next to Cunningham, forcing him to do too much. Eight of his team’s 20 turnovers were his.

 

The other eighth seeds to upstage the first were the 1994 Denver Nuggets, 1999 New York Knicks, 2007 Golden State Warriors, 2011 Memphis Grizzlies, 2012 Philadelphia 76ers and 2023 Miami Heat. Notably, the Magic are doing it without the favorites facing a significant injury to their best player. 

 

Pity those who are missing the action because the playoffs have been terrific, as usual. And respect to those who are sacrificing sleep to not miss a moment.

The playoffs reveal who teams really are, and for many fans, it’s a gratifying or humbling experience.

Let’s review what has stood out on the West side.

Thunder v. Suns

 

Oklahoma City has enough horsepower to get by the Phoenix Suns, but they’ll sweat a bit more in the upcoming games now that Jalen Williams is out with a left hamstring injury. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will take on more playmaking duties, but they’ll need to find some relief ball-handling in Alex Caruso or Ajax Mitchell by the time next round starts.

The Thunder have averaged 24 more points per game than Phoenix through the first two outings.

 

The Spurs’ depth is being tested without Wembanyama

 

Victor Wembanyama crash-landed through the lane with his face absorbing the worst of the contact in the Spurs’ Game 2 loss at home to the Portland Trail Blazers. Aside from it being a surprise the fall didn’t knock him out, he somehow kept his teeth. He was concussed and his status going forward is unclear.

 

The game developed into a track meet, and the Spurs dropped a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter because of an inability to cover the 3-point line. Without Wemby, the Trail Blazers have no fear of going into the lane for the bucket or kick-out pass. Luke Kornet and rookie Carter Bryant will have to survive big minutes as the big men when they are less potent than whoever Portland deploys.

 

And Wemby’s absence creates a need for more scoring. De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle will be expected to carry most of the load.

 

Keep in mind that former Spur, Tiago Splitter, is the coach on the other side. And Scoot Henderson, the third pick in the 2023 draft is turning into the player many expected him to be. He averaged 14.2 points on 41.8 percent shooting in 30 regular-season games and those numbers have jumped to 24.5 points per game on 64.3 percent accuracy as the series is tied at 1-1. Of course, maintaining that level is not possible, but no player has raised their stock more than him so far in the early action.

 

Nuggets are in danger against the Timberwolves

 

Calf and hamstring injuries have plagued Aaron Gordon over the last two years, and the former is bothering him again, which caused him to miss Game 3 in Minnesota. The team was soft on the inside without him because they got ravaged by drive-bys. It doesn’t help them that the Wolves can target Nikola Jokić when they want through screen rolls, either.

 

The Nuggets started Spencer Jones in Gordon’s place, but he lacks the two-way punch. Meanwhile, the team isn’t getting enough from Christian Braun and Cam Johnson, placing more weight on Jamal Murray and Jokić’s shoulders.

 

The Timberwolves’ defense reaches a higher level, and when their ball movement is working like it has over the last two games, they are the superior team.

 

Lakers v. Rockets

 

For those who enjoy fine wine, this is the series for them because LeBron James is averaging nearly a triple-double, in his 23rd season, as the Los Angeles Lakers have taken a 2-0 lead over the Houston Rockets. Luka Dončić (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (strained oblique), the team’s first and third best players, haven’t played since April 2. Reaves is questionable to return for Game 3 in Houston on Friday.

 

One wonders how potent the Lakers can be if they manage to get Dončić, Reaves and James all together for this postseason.

 

Kevin Durant missed the series opener for the Rockets with a knee injury, and is questionable for Game 3 with an ankle sprain.

 

It didn’t take long for Nuggets versus Timberwolves to become a special series. This is the third meeting in the last four years, which has built up animosity and on-court respect, and Game 2 should be remembered as a classic.

 

The Wolves took a bit longer to join the party at Ball Arena, going down 19 points in the first half as Jamal Murray pieced them up from short, middle and long range, plus they fouled three 3-point shots. They followed up cranking up their pressure and ball movement, which put snipers in rhythm, while Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle broke past defenders to the cup. 

 

It was a stalemate at intermission, and Nikola Jokić, who had a dormant first half, was the Terminator in the third quarter, making hooks, layups and a 3-pointer while carving up schemes with his passing. Such activities usually avert a crisis, but the Wolves kept hanging around because that was the Nuggets’ best shot of the game. 

 

Jokić and Murray subsequently went colder than blizzard as the outcome hung in the balance. Rudy Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year, deserves tons of props for slowing down Jokić to one of eight attempts, and he jammed a mean putback over him with two minutes left. On top of that, Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo’s offensive labor crushed Denver’s spirit. 

 

It gets worse. The Nuggets were down three points after Randle buried two freebies with 19 seconds left. Murray then ran a screen-roll with Jokić, but the Wolves were well prepared covering the arc, and he pulled up inside it, bricking it, which turned into DiVincenzo’s fastbreak dunk to close the curtains. 

 

The Nuggets lost 119-114 after seven ties and 15 lead changes. They got massacred in the trenches, as the Wolves scored 20 second-chance points to their three. Additionally, it didn’t help them that they stopped trusting Aaron Gordon. He’s one of the NBA’s most macho players, being irrepressible at close range so he should have got more touches. 

 

There’s no doubt, either, the epic comeback brought back memories to Nuggets players and supporters of when the Timberwolves came back from down 20 points to eliminate them in Game 7 two years ago in round two. One wonders how psychologically damaging it’ll be for the Nuggets that this team stays on them like a shadow. 

 

They now find themselves in the danger zone with home court flipping to Minnesota since Edwards can be much better from 3-point range, and the Wolves are not typically bad enough to blank 11 free throws, too (63.3 percent). Since coach David Adelman is not relying on the bench outside of Tim Hardaway Jr., and Bruce Brown, more weight is on the shoulders of the team’s top three to deliver.

There was no love lost between two rivals who eliminated each other in consecutive years (2023, 2024), and Game 1 was another archetypal affair that had the nastier defense take first blood. 

 

The Nuggets came out sluggish at home after five days of rest, and spent most of the first half digging themselves out of a hole caused by turnovers and the Timberwolves’ paint pressure. It didn’t help them that Aaron Gordon picked up his third foul late in the first quarter, and Jonas Valančiūnas was lit up in drop coverage, but they tied going into intermission.

 

They got back on track because Jamal Murray caused the first cracks in Minnesota’s lead by getting to the line, and Nikola Jokić’s playmaking and screening activated the troops like a quick whiff of smelling salts.

 

Jokić then changed the pace, turning into a scorer on a binge of paint strikes, and Murray’s flurry continued, yet Gordon’s hustle changed the tide in favor of the Nuggets. 

 

At one point, Jaden McDaniels tried to be an enforcer against Jokić, of all people, while Denver was on a 14-2 run by pushing him in the back and got penalized with an unsportsmanlike technical foul. It brought into question his temperament again, and keep in mind how he has cost himself playoff time by punching a wall, and breaking his hand, causing a season-ending fracture in 2023. His underhanded tactic only motivated the Nuggets to finish the period strong.

 

The Timberwolves subsequently found an opening back within reaching distance when Jokić took his final rest, which stagnated Denver’s ball movement. Coach David Adelman waited a few minutes into the fourth before subbing him back in, despite relying mainly on two reserves, and the Wolves successfully went at Jokić, too.

 

Yet Jokić laid some of the finishing touches by setting up his teammates, and the crew kept thriving at the charity line because of Minnesota’s inability to defend without fouling.

 

The Nuggets won 116-105 after six ties and eight lead changes. They held Minnesota’s offense to 104 points per 100 possessions, good enough for the 17th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.

Observations:

 

• Edwards scored 22 points on 36.8 percent shooting. He was previously questionable for the game with a right knee injury, which caused him to only suit up twice in the last 10 days of the regular season. He may be occasionally dealing with discomfort, which will affect his potency but still has plenty of explosion. 

 

• The Nuggets shot poorly from deep (27.8 percent) and were sloppy at times with the ball, but made up for it with strong rebounding, as five of them logged between five and 13 boards, and they made seven mid-range baskets, plus were efficient in the lane. Jokić led the team with nine paint shots, of their 21.

 

• Murray set a new career high for free throw attempts (16) and makes (16). His previous high in the playoffs was 11 for both, set in 2019. He totaled 30 points on 31.8 percent shooting, with seven assists and five rebounds. Adelman said Murray has “got lot of responsibilities with a lot of different people guarding him that are high-level defenders that had a hold of his jersey throughout the night…”

 

• Despite Jokić having five turnovers, he still had a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is excellent, and had a triple-double (25 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists), making 57.9 percent of attempts on a team high of 40 minutes.