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.

Coach Jamahl Mosley’s job was on the line, and the players made sure to keep him around for a little longer. 

 

The Orlando Magic put the squeeze on the Charlotte Hornets early with prison ball defense that blew up actions, plus they ravaged the lane like a band of marauders sacking a castle. Paolo Banchero atoned for Wednesday’s dreadful performance against the Philadelphia 76ers by turning into a raging bull, and Wendell Carter Jr. played a big part in breaking open the game. 

 

Perhaps it was the Magic playing like world beaters at home because they had no choice. Or maybe it was cosmic forces putting a stop to the Hornets after LaMelo Ball wiped Bam Adebayo out of Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament game, and the Miami Heat lost a close one without their captain. 

 

The game, which determined the eighth seed, was out of reach before intermission, mentally extinguishing the Hornets who were slower to react to loose balls and get back in transition. Ball was lucky the refs weren’t enforcing carrying violations, and he still followed up his go-ahead shot against the Heat by showing up when it was too late, instead of entering his first playoffs, in his sixth season. 

 

The snowball effect had Miles Bridges so frustrated he even pressed on Desmond Bane’s neck when trying to get up after going for a loose ball. This time, the officials were not blind like Tuesday’s crew and didn’t make the colossal mistake of missing something below the belt.  

 

How ugly did it get for the Hornets? Well, let’s just say a fresh carcass puts up a better fight against a shoal of piranhas. The Hornets had their seat warmers on in the charter before the third quarter was up, too.

 

Repeated trips to the line, and Goga Bitadze’s four blocks were some of the little things that kept the Magic’s motor running while they had a large lead. 

  

It should have never gotten to this point, but now the Magic will play the first-seeded Detroit Pistons — the team they were expected to be. They played with controlled rage against Charlotte, but maintaining that over a seven-game series against a team as rugged, feisty and athletic as the Pistons could be like trying to beat the feds in a RICO case.

 

With Orlando’s frontline of Banchero, Carter, and Franz Wagner, against Detroit’s Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart, round one will have heavyweight action in the trenches that fans cannot miss. 

 

The Magic will need Banchero to avoid turnovers and be unrestrainable when he puts his head down on the move. Additionally, Bane, Wagner and key reserves will need to do a lot of the heavy lifting as well. Getting all of that at the same time is practically asking for an arm and a leg because the Magic have been the opposite of a contender. 

 

They’ll have a day off before taking on the Pistons in Game 1 on Sunday. The hosts will have rested their bodies, minds and souls for six nights. Keep in mind that only six eighth seeds in NBA history have upset the favorite.

The Heat were iced in overtime by the Hornets in Charlotte and sent to the draft lottery. They went most of the game without their captain, Bam Adebayo, thanks to LaMelo Ball cheaply and flagrantly taking him out by swiping his foot while he was off balance, causing him to fall hard on his tailbone. Yet they held on until the last seconds. 

 

Kel’el Ware and Davion Mitchell stepped up being inside and outside threats, and Andrew Wiggins did all the little things in the trenches while giving them a big-time scoring punch. They even had Wiggins at center, next to Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Pelle Larsson to maintain their speed, and they defended well without fouling plus didn’t get killed on 3-pointers. 

 

Jaquez started the second half for Adebayo, setting the mood with aggression. Additionally, Ware turned into Bill Russell for a spurt, rejecting shots into transition, and Mitchell was the source of offense in the fourth quarter. 

 

Their problems were containing second-chance scoring and dribble penetration from Ball, plus Coby White’s 3-point eruption. On top of that, they made a critical mistake late in the fourth quarter while up six points by doubling Ball, allowing Brandon Miller to nail a trifecta before White made a fallway shot in the corner to tie. 

 

The Hornets controlled the pace in overtime, exposed the corner and baseline and didn’t miss a shot in the lane late. But it was all drama: Herro made a fallaway corner triple and then caused Ball to foul him in the corner immediately on the next possession when the Heat got a steal. They took the lead by one, but Ball reclaimed it for Charlotte on a curling catch-and-go move, and then Mitchell got denied on a last second fastbreak attempt by Miles Bridges.

 

The Heat lost 127-126 after 17 ties and 16 lead changes. One would’ve presumed that it was going to turn into a blowout without Adebayo’s presence, but they went down with class. Their worst stretch of the game was getting outscored by eight in the third quarter.

 

The Hornets will now play the loser of Wednesday’s seven and eight game, and the Heat are left pondering their future. If this season proved anything, it’s that they need to get better on defense by being bigger, stronger and faster. 

 

Ware can be a top-level big man with more seasoning. The next step for him is sharper pick-and-roll defense, so he and Adebayo can be a potent duo. 

 

Mitchell resembled vintage Kyle Lowry in the loss, and he has always been a keeper, who should remain the starting point guard. The prerequisites for taking that spot are superior scoring without help and on-ball disruption. 

 

Some will depart, and the right youngsters will continue to develop; the team should continue to ride it out with them instead of trading for an All-Star who will have to do more with less. They’ll now also have their highest pick since either 2019 (13th) or 2017 (14th), at least, in what is expected to be a deep draft.

 

They need to realize that there is no quick fix into getting back into contention, unless Shaquille O’Neal, the Big Three or Jimmy Butler walk through the door.

Thankfully, it’s almost over.

 

The Heat’s regular season finale was a tune-up against the Atlanta Hawks’ D-Team, in which Bam Adebayo had a scoring spree on drive-bys and jumpers. The rest of the team got their licks in, and they won an inconsequential game by 26 points despite sweating a bit in the second and third quarters because of Cory Kispert, of all people.  

 

The only weight it carried was an emotional one for the organization, being PA announcer Michael Baiamonte’s last game after 35 years. 

 

This was a season that saw them get pantsed by all the good teams and they ended the last six weeks posting the 24th ranked defense. On top of that, they get hosed, receiving a second-round pick for the “unprecedented” Terry Rozier situation, in which they traded a first-round pick for him in 2024, without the important information from the Charlotte Hornets that he was under federal and league probe.

 

Coach Erik Spoelstra said it was an unusual game, but was pleased with the team’s approach. Regarding the Play-In, he said, “It’s a Game 7. I just want our guys to take on that challenge and do whatever’s necessary.”

 

Now the Hornets in Charlotte await them for the nine and 10 Play-In game which sends the loser to the lottery. The winner of this matchup will advance to play the loser of the seven and eighth seeded game for the last playoff spot, and a chance to get mowed down by the Detroit Pistons.

 

The best thing that could happen, as has been explained in this Diary previously, is for Heat to lose on Wednesday so they can get the highest pick possible in the upcoming draft. They only have a 4.8 percent chance at landing in the top four and only one percent of getting the first pick. 

 

There is one small consolation: the Heat are not the most disappointing team in Florida because the Orlando Magic are also a Play-In Tournament squad. The Magic had sky-high expectations and their regular season was a disaster, concluding in Boston with a loss versus the background players. Injuries are not all the blame as they have been a team with poor basketball character and it might cost coach Jamahl Mosley his job.