When the sting of another lopsided conference finals loss subsides, Minnesota Timberwolves fans w...

When the sting of another lopsided conference finals loss subsides, Minnesota Timberwolves fans will hopefully be left with the same perspective on their team's latest playoff run that their franchise player <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3293161" href="https://thescore.com/news/3293161">had already adopted</a> by the time the buzzer sounded on Wednesday's Game 5 Oklahoma City Thunder rout."It's exciting for me," Anthony Edwards told reporters from the dais, shortly after Minnesota's season ended the same way it did a year ago. "I'm 23. I get to do it a whole bunch of times." Unbridled self-belief has been a major part of Edwards' brand since he entered the league, but no one can say he hasn't earned it. Atop his foundation of preposterous physical gifts, he's built out a beautiful and ruthlessly effective game to the point that he's firmly a top-10 player in the world five seasons into his career.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>In the process, he's transformed a franchise that won two playoff series in its first 34 years of existence. With him at the reins, the Wolves tripled that total in just the last two years by conquering the likes of Luka Doncic and LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. The team's whole identity has flowed out from his fearlessness, his swagger, his assertiveness, and his willingness to get his hands dirty on defense.The series against the Thunder certainly wasn't Edwards' best, but it may have been the most illuminating because of the particular ways it challenged him - and the way he largely rose to meet those challenges. Throughout the series, he dealt with relentless pressure on and off the ball from a revolving door of all-world defenders. Any time he managed to shake one of them, he was met by one or two others. He was given no airspace, and none of his teammates were able to give him the reprieve he needed as a creator. Still, until he ran out of gas in Game 5, he continued looking for every opportunity to plunge into the belly of OKC's <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3293223" href="https://thescore.com/news/3293223">beastly defense</a> despite the suboptimal spacing around him.He'd already <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2025/05/28/nba/anthony-edwards-minnesota-timberwolves-footwork-nba-playoffs-2025">honed the footwork</a> required to navigate those tight corridors, but the sturdiness of his handle in traffic might've been the most important and encouraging development of these playoffs for Minnesota. That was reflected in the fact that he saw only a tiny blip in his turnover rate against a team that rips more steals than any team in the 21st century. Against one of the best and most help-heavy interior defenses of the pace-and-space era, he shot 63% from 2-point range, including 74% on his drives.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/cropped_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/w220xh124_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/w320xh180_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/w640xh360_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/w768xh432_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787897/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2217574954.jpg?ts=1748548115 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> William Purnell / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>It was the culmination of a postseason in which Edwards navigated a variety of schemes designed to throw him out of rhythm and limit the damage he could inflict as a scorer. Almost without fail, he found the pressure points in those coverages and attacked them in the most effective way possible, whether that meant finding avenues to score or leaning into his evolving playmaking capabilities. He didn't nail every read against OKC, but he never stopped trusting the pass or creating great looks for his teammates by getting off the ball early and often. To wit: he passed out of 44% of his drives in the series, up from 33% in the regular season and 31% in the first two rounds of the playoffs, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?DateTo=&amp;PORound=3&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=DRIVES">NBA Advanced Stats</a>.All told, his rim frequency leapt from 26% during the regular season to 35% in the playoffs. That's particularly notable because getting to the cup gets more difficult in the postseason (league-wide frequency dipped from 31.2% to 29.1% this year, per Cleaning the Glass). His ability to finish came and went as he dealt with heavy traffic in front of the basket, and he sometimes tried to force things because he didn't trust his mid-ranger enough, but the overall impact of his downhill pressure was massively positive. He also shot 55% from floater range, finding an important counter in an area of the court he'd struggled with for most of his entire career.Edwards is still far from a fully formed player. To get past the conference final stage, he'll need to become a more proactive playmaker rather than just a reactive one, continue developing his in-between game, and grow into a more proficient post operator, on top of making micro-improvements in areas where he already excels.But given the strides we've seen him take every year, it's easy to believe that he'll do everything to hit every item on that checklist. It's easy to believe him when he says, "Nobody's going to work harder than me this summer." And it's easy to believe that he'll have the Wolves back here again soon, with a great chance to clear the final two hurdles in their path.Joe Wolfond writes about the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31423258/related

Anthony Edwards' maturation was on full display this postseason

Early in the first quarter of Game 5 of the West finals Wednesday, Minnesota Timberwolves forward...

Early in the first quarter of Game 5 of the West finals Wednesday, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle tried to run a pick-and-roll from the left wing. First, he got a screen from Mike Conley, which did absolutely nothing to dislodge Jalen Williams, the bruising Oklahoma City Thunder wing draped all over Randle. Then Randle got another screen from Rudy Gobert, which succeeded in bumping Williams off but invited an even bigger irritant into the action.Alex Caruso, the 6-foot-5 Thunder guard who regularly defends centers like Gobert, leapt out and snatched the ball from Randle between dribbles, then took it the other way and pitched it back to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a dunk.A few minutes later, Randle caught the ball on the right wing and tried to attack the middle with his dominant left hand. Caruso, now guarding stretchier big man Naz Reid at the top of the arc, slid down to cut off Randle's driving gap. Randle immediately looked to kick the ball back out to Reid, but Caruso was moving back in that direction before the ball was out of Randle's hands. He picked off the pass and was once again off to the races, drawing free throws at the other end.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Things continued in that vein as OKC rolled to a 33-point halftime lead in its series-clinching victory. Reid tried to post up the smaller Cason Wallace, but Wallace took away his left shoulder, and when Reid tried to spin right, OKC center Isaiah Hartenstein was waiting to rip the ball out of his hands. Shortly thereafter, Reid tried to drive from the top, but Williams swiped the ball away with a strong-side stunt. Later, Conley was pressured by Gilgeous-Alexander along the sideline, tried to reverse course with an escape dribble, and had the ball poked away from behind. Another turnover, another run-out, two more points on the board for the Thunder. It went on and on.All the while, Wolves superstar Anthony Edwards struggled to find an inch of space while being face-guarded by Lu Dort and seeing waves of bodies the instant he put the ball on the floor. By the time the first-half buzzer sounded, Minnesota had 14 turnovers compared to just 12 made field goals, and OKC led 65-32. The rest was academic. The Thunder cruised to victory and punched their ticket to the NBA Finals, where they await the winner of Pacers-Knicks.It was a return to form and identity for an all-time great defense that got shredded in both games in Minnesota. The Thunder were demolished in Game 3 and only survived Game 4 because they put forth one of their best offensive showings of the year, with Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams combining for 74 points. Then they came back home and closed things out by doing what they'd done to opponents all year: overwhelming them with ball pressure and physicality, making every decision feel rushed, putting multiple sets of hands in every driving and passing lane, turning the middle of the floor into one big bear trap.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/cropped_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/w220xh124_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/w320xh180_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/w640xh360_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/w768xh432_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787839/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2217575551.jpg?ts=1748533151 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Matthew Stockman / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Edwards did all he could in the series, but he ultimately wore down because nobody else on the Wolves could puncture OKC's shell or maintain a live dribble in the middle of the floor. Randle and Reid couldn't find any mismatches to attack. Conley couldn't get anywhere or do anything. Gobert, who isn't the most polished offensive player at the best of times, was such a liability on the short roll that the Wolves had to stop passing him the ball entirely. Even in a second-round series that didn't feel comfortable until the second half of Game 7, OKC made Nikola Jokic's life miserable and held the Denver Nuggets to a 103.9 offensive rating. That's 15 points per 100 possessions below their regular-season average and the worst mark for any team in the conference semis.This iteration of the Thunder has <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2909861">never abided by the unwritten rules</a> of NBA defense. Coach Mark Daigneault and his staff know that in this age of unprecedented offensive sophistication and firepower, the worst thing a defense can be is predictable. So OKC changes its help patterns from possession to possession, constantly keeping opponents guessing. Helping off the strong-side corner is supposed to be a no-no, but the Thunder do it all the time. They'll help from anywhere, off of anyone, and then scramble like maniacs to close whatever windows temporarily opened.They can "have (their) cake and eat it too, in terms of disruption and also discipline," Daigneault <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3217411" href="https://thescore.com/news/3217411">told me</a> earlier this season. They're "15 puppets on one string," as Edwards described them after Game 5. This is the Thunder's superpower, their cheat code, the thing that made them one of the most dominant regular-season teams of all time and catapulted them to a Finals in which they'll be heavily favored no matter who comes out of the East.This is how a team that looked rickety at the offensive end at various points during this playoff run, a team that had ice-cold stretches from 3-point range and crumbled in the face of Denver's 2-3 zone, a team that had tentative moments underscoring its youth and inexperience, still won the West with a plus-11.2 net rating. For now, that's the third-best mark for any Finals team in the play-by-play data era behind only the 2017 Warriors and 2001 Lakers.Anyone who continues to insist that defense doesn't matter in today's NBA hasn't watched this Thunder team. This is the best defensive unit we've seen in a long time, and it's four wins away from reinforcing the fact that defense still very much wins championships.Joe Wolfond writes about the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31421247/related

The Thunder's defense makes them nearly invincible

In an Eastern Conference final that's been wildly unpredictable from game to game, quarter to qua...

In an Eastern Conference final that's been wildly unpredictable from game to game, quarter to quarter, and minute to minute, the one surety is that the Indiana Pacers will find ways to poke and prod at Jalen Brunson's defense whenever the New York Knicks' diminutive point guard is on the floor. It's a big part of the reason the Pacers are up 3-1 in the series, one win away from their first Finals appearance in 25 years.It's notable that the Knicks' biggest runs in the series have come with Brunson on the bench. In Game 1, it was a 17-2 fourth-quarter stretch that would've won them the game if not for Aaron Nesmith's ungodly late-game heater. In Game 3, it was a 16-6 run spanning the last couple minutes of the third and the first couple minutes of the fourth, which gave the Knicks the lead in a game they'd once trailed by 20. In their nine-point Game 4 loss, they outscored the Pacers by seven in the 12 minutes Brunson sat.Those runs were defined by lockdown defense, enabled by Deuce McBride (and, in Game 3, Delon Wright) stepping in for Brunson and doing all the things he doesn't or can't: applying intense ball pressure up and down the floor, peel switching with speed and precision, stunting aggressively in the gaps, and recovering out to shooters with great closeouts. New York has a 129 defensive rating with Brunson on the floor in the series. It's 98.3 with him on the bench.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>It's a credit to Indiana's offense that it's managed to make New York's most important player a borderline liability. (It's also a credit to Tyrese Haliburton's vastly improved defense that New York hasn't been able to do the same to him.) Long story short: The Knicks can't win this series without a healthy dose of Brunson, but they also can't win unless they figure out how to minimize the damage the Pacers are inflicting by repeatedly attacking him.Of course, there's a reason Brunson can't defend with the same energy as the team's other guards. He's carrying an enormous offensive workload, leading all players in the conference finals in usage rate (36.4%) and time of possession per game (8.6 minutes). He's averaging 33.3 points and 5.5 assists on 62% true shooting against the Pacers. The late-game exploits that earned him Clutch Player of the Year honors this season are a huge reason the Knicks are where they are right now.Needless to say, they heavily rely on Brunson's on-ball orchestration and his ability to conjure buckets out of thin air in a myriad of ways. He's such a dangerous scoring threat with his back to the basket that the Pacers have occasionally hard-doubled him - a player measuring 6-foot-2 in shoes - in the post.For as much as his defensive deficiencies have hurt the Knicks in this series, he's carried them for long stretches at the other end of the floor. Their Game 3 win was particularly illustrative of this push and pull. Brunson re-entered the game early in the fourth quarter after New York made its big push to take the lead, then exited 90 seconds later after picking up his fifth foul. Over the next six minutes, the Knicks allowed just 10 points but scored only nine. Brunson checked back in and immediately hit a tough runner that wound up being the game-winning bucket.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/cropped_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/w220xh124_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/w320xh180_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/w640xh360_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/w768xh432_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/787649/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2216838208.jpg?ts=1748450058 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David L. Nemec / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Pacers aren't your typical mismatch-hunting offense. They aren't above doing it, but they usually try to find those opportunities organically in the flow of their quick-hitting offense, rather than clearing out for a one-on-one attack. Their aim in roping Brunson into screening actions is less about creating individual matchup advantages than about putting the whole Knicks defense in rotation.If Brunson switches, it's a quick dribble attack to score or collapse New York's shell. Otherwise, it's a quick pass to beat the help layered behind him because the Knicks don't trust him enough to leave him on an island against the likes of Haliburton or Pascal Siakam. If he hedges to stay out of the switch, either the corner gets turned or the ball starts zipping and the blender gets turned on. Brunson is stout and strong, but he isn't especially quick laterally, and his hedges get lazier and more perfunctory as games go along. Indiana has gotten some of its best looks by attacking his show-and-recover coverage.The Knicks tried a different approach in Game 4. On several occasions, particularly when the Pacers involved him in double-drag action, Brunson remained stapled to his man (mostly Nesmith) when that player screened for Haliburton. That's a tactic you'll see a lot of defenses deploy when Nikola Jokic sets ball screens. (Nesmith certainly isn't Jokic, but he is shooting 62% from 3-point range this series.) It hinges on the defenders on the back line stepping up to deter the ball-handler at the rim.That didn't happen for New York, especially when Karl-Anthony Towns was the lone big man on the floor and pressed up on Myles Turner on the perimeter. The coverage directly led to four driving layups for Haliburton, along with a lay-down pass to Turner for an easy score. And that was far from the only way the Pacers exploited Brunson defensively.Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin both burned him on cuts from the slot. On one possession late in the third quarter, when Brunson ceded the switch onto Haliburton, Obi Toppin came up to set a ghost screen. That peeled Brunson (who was clearly anxious to switch back out of that matchup) far enough away to gift Haliburton a pull-up three. Toppin's game-sealing triple in the final minute materialized when Brunson and Mikal Bridges miscommunicated a switch on a baseline out-of-bounds play. Bridges made it clear who he felt was responsible for the mix-up, staring down and jawing at Brunson afterward.There have been enough pops of self-creation from Towns, Bridges, and OG Anunoby to make you wonder if New York could stand to scale back Brunson's offensive responsibilities just a bit to preserve him. The Knicks need more effort from him defensively, and they also need to find ways to better protect him, which is much easier said than done. More pre-switching could help, but the Pacers make that difficult with how early they get into their actions.It's a little late in the game to expect any major shifts in the Knicks' play style; they aren't suddenly going to start playing a ton of zone defense to hide Brunson, or run their offense through Towns in the high post. But coach Tom Thibodeau has at least shown a willingness to make tweaks to his lineups and sub patterns in this series. He'll likely have to showcase even more adaptability if he's to help his team climb out of this 3-1 hole.Joe Wolfond writes about the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31413801/related

Brunson dilemma has Knicks on the brink of elimination

Midway through the fourth quarter, down 17 points, fumbling their way through a number of mental ...

Midway through the fourth quarter, down 17 points, fumbling their way through a number of mental miscues and seemingly running out of gas, there was nothing to indicate that the Indiana Pacers were going to win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. Nothing, except for the fact that they're the Pacers, and we'd already seen them steal games <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3282220" href="https://thescore.com/news/3282220">in historically improbable fashion</a> from the Bucks and Cavaliers in the playoffs' first two rounds.Even so, it didn't feel like the New York Knicks - who conjured their own incredible comeback magic to topple the heavily favored Celtics in the second round - were about to become Indiana's latest victims. They'd ratcheted up their defense, were executing with precision offensively, and had taken control of a previously nip-and-tuck game by putting together a 17-2 run with star point guard Jalen Brunson on the bench in foul trouble. Even as New York went into prevent offense mode late, Aaron Nesmith started banging threes to eat into the lead, and that familiar Pacers feeling began to creep in, it was clear the clock was going to run out on this comeback bid.The Knicks were still making shots, after all, scoring 12 points in the last four minutes of regulation. They still led by 14 with under three minutes to play, and by nine inside the final minute. Unfortunately for them, Nesmith downed a bottle of Steph's Secret Stuff before checking into the game with exactly five minutes to play and took the court as the greatest shooter to ever touch a basketball. He scored 20 points across those five minutes, shooting 6-for-6 from deep and canning two free throws after OG Anunoby intentionally fouled him in the corner as the Knicks clung to a three-point lead with 12 seconds to play.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The Knicks almost threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds play when Brunson got trapped in the backcourt, but his prayer of a pass trickled to Anunoby, who was quickly fouled. He split the pair of the free throws, which set the stage for Tyrese Haliburton to do this:<figure class="article-segment--embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
HALI DOES IT AGAIN 😱😱😱 INDY FORCES OT IN THE GARDEN! <a href="https://t.co/WKFxuuaPYV">pic.twitter.com/WKFxuuaPYV</a>— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1925384851043111020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2025</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></figure>It was Nesmith who got the Pacers back in the game, but of course it had to be Haliburton who completed the comeback, like he did against Milwaukee and Cleveland. That shot was the 11th Haliburton made <a href="https://x.com/pitlessball/status/1925397248357077135">this season</a> with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes ... in 12 attempts. The fact the ball kicked off the heel and careened 15 feet in the air before dropping through the net this time merely added to the aura of absurdity and inevitability surrounding him and the Pacers this postseason.His toe grazed the 3-point line when he launched it, taking some of the magic out of what otherwise would've been one of the most iconic endings in NBA history - complete with the Reggie Miller callback, with Miller watching from the broadcast table in the same building he silenced in similar fashion 30 years ago. Instead of icing the win, the shot merely forced overtime, but that just set the stage for more end-of-game Pacers theatrics.The Knicks scored the first two buckets of the extra frame and looked primed to stretch their lead to six points with Brunson driving down a seam. Then Myles Turner swooped in to block (or possibly goaltend) the layup attempt, and Andrew Nembhard drilled a three at the other end. The teams traded buckets from there until Nembhard (another frequent hero of these comebacks and this playoff run) slipped free of a spacey Josh Hart with a slot cut and finished a layup off a slick feed from Haliburton. At the other end, he shot the gap to deflect the Knicks' inbounds pass off Brunson and out of bounds. And then Rick Carlisle drew up a side-out play that sprung Obi Toppin for an insane double-clutch dunk. Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns missed pretty decent 3-point looks to tie, and Indiana somehow walked off victorious. Again.Coming into this postseason, only one team in the play-by-play era (which dates back to 1997) had ever come back to win a playoff game after being down three possessions in the final minute of regulation or overtime: the 2014 Thunder against the Clippers in the infamous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycppm8f3Qto">Chris Paul meltdown game</a>. The Pacers have quadrupled that total in three weeks.Games in which they've erased deficits of 20, 20, 19, and now 17 points account for four of their nine playoff wins. They might singlehandedly force a recalibration of a whole bunch of win-probability models, because in what universe can a team overcome 99% odds of defeat multiple times the same postseason? How can you watch any of their remaining games in these playoffs and ever think they're out of it?In searching for comparisons to this team, the only one I could come up with was the 2011 Dallas Mavericks, who authored multiple double-digit fourth-quarter comebacks of their own (albeit none this dramatic in the final minute) en route to the championship. These Pacers obviously have a long way to go if they want to enshrine their legacy in the same fashion, but their coach knows a thing or two about that:<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/cropped_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/w220xh124_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/w320xh180_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/w640xh360_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/w768xh432_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786851/w1080xh607_GettyImages-115951968.jpg?ts=1747926852 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Those Mavericks hold the record for playoff clutch-time point differential in the play-by-play era, putting up a plus-71 in 50 such minutes. Dirk Nowitzki scored 66 points on 76.8% true shooting in those 50 minutes. Haliburton and the Pacers may not reach those raw totals, but for now they're 6-0 in games involving clutch time with a 56.3 net rating (Dallas finished at 60.3), and they're building a similar sense of inevitability.Whether or not the Pacers manage to keep this going and finish the job, this is a run that's going to be remembered for a long, long time. We've never seen anything quite like it.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31360845/related

We've never seen a team like these Pacers

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal, and every year, those 29 teams ask themselv...

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal, and every year, those 29 teams ask themselves how they can take the next step.We previously looked at how the first-round outs in the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3279346" href="https://thescore.com/news/3279346">East</a> and <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3281141" href="https://thescore.com/news/3281141">West</a> might go about answering that question and examined the decisions on the horizon for the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3286936" href="https://thescore.com/news/3286936">East's top two seeds</a> after their seasons ended in the second round. Now that the West semis are complete, here's a look at how two of the conference's last three champions can move forward after being eliminated.<h3>Golden State Warriors </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/cropped_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/w220xh124_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/w320xh180_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/w640xh360_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/w768xh432_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/774471/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2201403240.jpg?ts=1747692294 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Noah Graham / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Warriors were bitterly disappointed by their five-game elimination at the Minnesota Timberwolves' hands, but few teams have as clear a vision as Golden State does right now. The mandate: Win another championship during the two-year window in which Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green are all under contract for a combined average of $143.4 million per season.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The three future Hall of Famers are all 35-37 years old with justifiable questions about their durability. Curry's absence did the team in against the Timberwolves, Butler hasn't suited up for 65 games in a season since 2018-19, and Green has reached the 70-game mark once in the last seven years. Still, even with those age-related concerns and Butler's diminishing offensive game, I'd take a healthy Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond against most teams' top three. Golden State went 23-7 (a 62-win pace) with Curry and Butler in the lineup down the stretch.If the Warriors can just get those legends to the spring in one piece, they'll have a legitimate chance to raise another banner before Curry retires. Accomplishing that starts with shoring up the rest of the rotation, preferably by adding some size and athleticism.The biggest question is what to do with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, who has a big fan in team owner Joe Lacob but has often fallen out of favor with head coach Steve Kerr (though Kuminga did play well when he returned to the rotation during the second round). If he's retained at a reasonable price and can find some consistency, Kuminga can energize the aging core. But the best result for both parties seems to be Kuminga landing elsewhere in a sign-and-trade that delivers something of value for the Warriors too.Golden State just doesn't have enough dependable rotation pieces, let alone game-changers. Brandin Podziemski and Buddy Hield provide spacing; the former is younger, more defensively capable, and a better playmaker, but not necessarily more consistent. Moses Moody is probably the most underrated youngster on the roster, which leaves me wondering if the Warriors would be better served putting Podziemski on the trade market and Moody on the court.Trayce Jackson-Davis is a decent depth piece further down the bench and Gui Santos and Quinten Post were nice finds, but none of those three will alter Golden State's trajectory.If the Warriors can find a way to turn some of that middling talent into even a couple more playoff-proof rotation players, they'll be in good shape. They also have up to four first-round draft picks (plus swaps) to package with those players if they want to make a bigger splash. That seems unlikely, but never count the Warriors out of such discussions - they've got about $17.4 million worth of wiggle room under the luxury-tax threshold and roughly $25 million worth of space under the first apron. - Joseph Casciaro <h3>Denver Nuggets </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/cropped_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/w220xh124_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/w320xh180_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/w640xh360_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/w768xh432_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786356/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2215278228.jpg?ts=1747692490 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> AAron Ontiveroz / Denver Post / Getty</figcaption></figure>This is a hugely consequential offseason in Denver with a ton of important decisions to make at every level of the organization. First: Finding the person who will make the rest of the decisions. Whoever steps into Calvin Booth's vacant role as general manager will quickly have to figure out how to make the necessary personnel adjustments while also deciding whether to conduct an external coaching search or make David Adelman's interim position permanent. (Adelman's performance after taking over with a week remaining in the regular season was a pretty persuasive job application.)In overcoming a very good LA Clippers team and then pushing the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink, the Nuggets proved they're still a threat to win any series with a Nikola Jokic-Jamal Murray-Aaron Gordon nucleus. Jokic is a one-man offense who somehow got even better this year. Murray shook off a tough start to have a strong second half and a sporadically brilliant postseason. Gordon patched every defensive hole, bludgeoned his way to copious offensive rebounds and paint buckets, and hit some of the clutchest shots of the playoffs.But it also became abundantly clear, if it wasn't already, that the Nuggets need to make changes around that core trio if their championship window is to remain open while the 30-year-old Jokic is still in his prime.Outside of Gordon and Christian Braun, the roster distinctly lacks two-way players. This year's Nuggets had the best offense of the Jokic era teams despite ranking last in 3-point attempt rate, but that limiting factor became harder to overcome against playoff defenses that ignored about half the members of their eight-man rotation. Their bench was once again a complete disaster, with no reliable backup center or 3-and-D wing. That eight-man rotation was basically a 5.5-man rotation by postseason's end.What's less clear is how feasible the necessary changes are. If Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric pick up their player options (the former would likely be fine with Denver, the latter will be as damaging as it is inevitable), the Nuggets will be about $15 million over the tax line, $7 million over the first apron, and $5 million below the second apron with 13 of 15 roster spots filled. As things stand, they won't have access to the mid-level or bi-annual exception, nor will they be able to take back more salary than they send out in a trade. Plus, the only first-rounder they can currently include in a deal is their 2031 pick.Whether Michael Porter Jr. remains part of the aforementioned core might be the most pressing roster question. Porter's been a key piece of the Nuggets for the last six years. He played a vital role in the team's championship two years ago and brings the specific skill (shooting) that's in shortest supply in Denver. But his precarious health, shaky defense, and near-$40-million-a-year salary make him the most natural starter to trade. The problem is that those same factors would also depress his market. He might still be more valuable to the Nuggets than he is to anyone else.Braun made a strong case in his third season (and especially these playoffs) to be part of the team's long-term plans. He's extension-eligible this summer, and the Nuggets will surely try hard to come to an agreement with him. You can say everyone else should be on the table, but guys like Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther are about as likely to develop into the players Denver needs as they are to bring back those players in trades. The Nuggets would probably have to attach an asset to get off Zeke Nnaji's deal, which is worth doing if they can get any kind of competent rotation player in return (and possibly even if they can't). Maybe DaRon Holmes II can finally provide some stability at the backup five spot.For the Nuggets' next GM, the opportunity to retool around Jokic is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you can explore some unconventional possibilities knowing Jokic will find a way to elevate everyone around him and keep the team competitive. On the other hand, you'll be under immense pressure to meaningfully improve the roster while Jokic is still playing at this level, but you'll have limited pathways to do so.Nothing less than the legacy of one of the greatest players of this or any generation may depend on how that incoming GM navigates these next few months. - Joe Wolfond

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31340747/related

What's next: Where the Warriors and Nuggets go from here

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal. And every year, those 29 teams ask themselv...

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal. And every year, those 29 teams ask themselves how they take that next step.Here's a look at how the East's top two seeds might go about answering that question after both got bounced ahead of the conference finals.<h3>Boston Celtics </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/cropped_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/w220xh124_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/w320xh180_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/w640xh360_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/w768xh432_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786002/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2213149460.jpg?ts=1747432975 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Boston Globe / Getty</figcaption></figure>Boston's title defense ended earlier than anyone expected, but the real story of the Celtics' second-round loss to the Knicks was Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury. The Eastern Conference semifinal didn't just see a champion dethroned - it immediately threw the franchise's future into doubt and shifted the league's balance of power.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>First and foremost, it's a shame for Tatum, a 27-year-old ironman who's never missed more than 10 games in a season and has logged 1,500 more minutes than any other player since his NBA debut (regular season and playoffs). As the best player on the defending champions and a two-way force who's been the backbone of this decade's most consistent contender, the Celtics will fall off without him. There were already questions about how long Boston's new owners would stomach massive luxury tax payments and second-apron penalties. By the time Tatum returns, the roster might look a lot different.However, Tatum's injury could change the calculus regarding his long-term partnership with Jaylen Brown. Trading Brown to maintain a financially feasible contender around Tatum would've made some sense before the latter's Achilles gave out. Boston should now look to take a step back in 2025-26, shedding salary in the short term to again build around Tatum and Brown in 2026-27 and beyond.Letting Al Horford walk as a free agent will be tough, but ultimately necessary. Ditto for trading Jrue Holiday, who's owed up to $104.4 million over the next three years and will likely be 36 years old when Tatum returns. If the Celtics can extract any value from Holiday's contract and Kristaps Porzingis' expiring ($30.7-million) deal, they should, no matter how many wins it costs them next season.If Boston can do that without taking on any long-term money, it could drastically improve its financial flexibility. Instead of sitting roughly $20 million above the second apron in 2025-26, the Celtics could position themselves with over $45 million worth of wiggle room under the first apron in 2026-27. And they'd still have Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser (plus Neemias Queta, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh) under contract. Boston also controls five of its seven first-round picks between 2026 and 2032.Tatum's injury was a <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3285701" href="https://thescore.com/news/3285701">disheartening reminder</a> of how fleeting success and windows of contention can be, but it doesn't have to be the last chapter for the Two Jays era in Boston. The Celtics just have to make a few shrewd decisions today to restart their course tomorrow. - Joseph Casciaro <h3>Cleveland Cavaliers </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/cropped_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/w220xh124_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/w320xh180_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/w640xh360_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/w768xh432_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/786003/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1747433257 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brian Sevald / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The 2024-25 Cavaliers won 64 games and produced the 16th-best relative offensive rating in NBA history. Kenny Atkinson won Coach of the Year in his first season on the sidelines. Evan Mobley made a major offensive leap and became the fifth-youngest player ever to take home Defensive Player of the Year honors. Darius Garland had a massive bounce-back campaign and earned his second All-Star nod. Donovan Mitchell will probably make the All-NBA first team. And every member of Cleveland's regular rotation besides Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill is under contract for next season. That's the good news.The bad news is that all those regular-season accomplishments didn't save the Cavs from a familiar fate in the spring. Their second-round faceplant against a fast, physical, relentless Indiana Pacers squad marked the third straight year their core four has experienced some degree of playoff disappointment. In light of those recurring letdowns, there will naturally be calls for the front office to break this thing up.The counterargument would be that serious mitigating factors contributed to Cleveland's demise, namely the injuries that sidelined and/or significantly hampered four of its five most important players in the series. Garland missed the first two games (both home losses) due to a toe injury and never looked right after returning. Mobley sat out Game 2 with a sprained ankle and didn't resemble himself again until Game 5. De'Andre Hunter dislocated the thumb on his shooting hand in Game 1 and was a disaster from that point on. Mitchell carried the offense with some heroic performances before succumbing to calf and ankle injuries and running out of gas.It was a particularly exasperating way for the Cavs' campaign to end considering how much they prioritized depth and managing their stars' workloads throughout the year. No one on the team averaged more than 31.4 minutes per game, which contributed to them being one of the healthiest squads in the league ... right up until they weren't. After injuries prevented it from taking a legitimate run at the Celtics in the second round last postseason, this was supposed to be the chance for Cleveland's core to prove its growth since an embarrassing first-round showing against the Knicks in 2023. Instead, the front office is again left to sift through a mess of conflicting information as it tries to determine what these guys are actually capable of.Some troubling issues cropped up in the series that Cleveland can't entirely overlook. The Cavs' beautiful offensive system broke down into a muddy puddle of isolations when things got tough. At the other end, Indiana gashed a defense that was supposed to be one of Cleveland's chief strengths, doing particularly vicious damage against switches and eventually solving the team's fail-safe zone. The lights again seemed a bit brighter than expected for Jarrett Allen, as he managed just 11 points and six rebounds combined over the final two games and was soundly outplayed by Myles Turner. And Jerome, who played a huge role in the team's regular-season success and finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting, was exposed for his defensive limitations and reliance on tough pull-ups and long floaters.The Cavs can spend the summer thinking about how things might've been different if they'd stayed healthy or held onto huge leads in Games 2 and 5. But all that matters now is what Koby Altman and Co. decide to take away from all this, and how their interpretation of events shapes the club's course of action this summer. That could mean marginal moves like letting Jerome walk and handing over backup point guard duties to Craig Porter Jr., or trying to trade someone like Isaac Okoro to trim down their luxury-tax bill. Or it could result in something more significant, like moving out one of the core four.Cleveland can also just run it all back and enter next season as one of the clear favorites in a destabilized Eastern Conference. Mitchell is a proven superstar and a playoff riser, Garland and Mobley are still getting better, Allen is a top-10 two-way center in the league, and the wing corps is stronger than it's been at any point in this era. Last summer, the front office resisted the urge to make changes for the sake of changes, and the team <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3129495" href="https://thescore.com/news/3129495">wound up organically changing quite a bit</a>.Sometimes, the most courageous thing an organization can do after a disappointing result is ... nothing. No overreactions, no rash personnel moves - just a show of faith in the infrastructure that engendered enough success to establish expectations in the first place. We're about to find out how much or how little that faith has been shaken in Cleveland. - Joe Wolfond

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31324005/related

What's next: Where the Celtics and Cavs go from here

The Denver Nuggets' win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 on Thursday pushed the second ro...

The Denver Nuggets' win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 on Thursday pushed the second round's best series the distance. Game 7 in OKC on Sunday will be the biggest game of the postseason so far and the biggest test yet for this exceptional young Thunder core. Here are five questions whose answers will determine how the momentous contest shakes out.<h3>What's left to throw at Jokic?</h3>The Nuggets' biggest advantage in this win-or-go-home contest is that they have the best player - in this or any matchup - in Nikola Jokic. The Thunder, though, are one of the best defensive teams in modern NBA history and for about four games managed to give Jokic all he could handle.They threw everything including the kitchen sink at him, toggling individual matchups, mixing up pick-and-roll coverages, and scrambling his post reads with omni-directional stunts and double-teams. Jokic had <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3282220" href="https://thescore.com/news/3282220">a monster Game 1</a>, but after that, OKC learned not to let him attack Chet Holmgren without another big man on the floor, be it Isaiah Hartenstein or Jaylin Williams. Over the next three games, Jokic shot 33% from the field. Through Game 4, he had more turnovers in the series (23) than assists (21).<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>It was a different story in Games 5 and 6, as Jokic digested the coverages he was seeing (like he always does) and figured out how to attack them. The doubles stopped flustering him. He started attacking more from the top of the floor as a driver and pick-and-roll ball-handler. He started running more four-five action with Aaron Gordon, drawing both Thunder bigs away from the basket. (OKC ultimately tried to negate this by putting Holmgren on a wing instead.) Jokic scored 73 points on 26-of-39 shooting with just three total turnovers across the two games. This series might have been over already if his teammates had managed to convert more than five of his 20 potential assists into points in Game 5.Now the Thunder must figure out how to once again unsettle the genius who's gotten all too comfortable against their pressure. OKC's defense possesses a deep bag of tricks, and it'll have to burn through the whole thing in order to keep Jokic at bay in Game 7. <h3>Can OKC solve Denver's zone?</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/cropped_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/w220xh124_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/w320xh180_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/w640xh360_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/w768xh432_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784160/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2203876094.jpg?ts=1747421451 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Zach Beeker / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>At the other end of the floor, the Nuggets have stuck to a pretty clear formula when jamming up OKC's offense. They've played zone on 19.2% of their defensive possessions, including 28.6% over the last three games, according to Synergy. For reference, the Heat had the highest zone usage during the regular season at 13.9%, and the Nuggets used it just 4.1% of the time.The zone benefits Denver by keeping Jokic from having to directly guard ball-screen action, but it's also tailored to crowd Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's airspace, especially in the middle of the floor. The defensive shell bends and moves with him, with a second defender shading over anytime he touches the ball. The Nuggets are more than willing to concede shots to role players like Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, and Aaron Wiggins if it means curtailing Gilgeous-Alexander's drives at the free-throw line.It's worked like a charm; the Thunder, who typically average about 1.05 points per half-court possession, have seen that number dip to 0.92 points on possessions against zone this series, per Synergy. That's the biggest reason the Nuggets' 21st-ranked regular-season defense has managed to hold the league's third-ranked offense 7.4 points per 100 possessions below its usual standard despite conceding 149 points in Game 2. Another indicator of how well it's working: OKC's driving the ball five fewer times per game than it did during the regular season, and it's converting those drives into points at a rate of just 48.5% (the lowest mark of any second-round team) compared to 60.3% during the season, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/drives?PORound=2&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=DRIVE_PTS_PCT">NBA Advanced Stats</a>.The Thunder have applied all the conventional screen-the-zone counters, but because of their 3-point struggles (32.6% in the series) they haven't come up with a real solution other than attacking fast enough to prevent Denver from establishing the zone to begin with. Much of their fate in Game 7 rests on their ability to crack that coverage.<h3>Is J-Dub ready for this? </h3>Considering the way Gilgeous-Alexander is being guarded, and how desperate the Thunder have been for any kind of supplemental scoring or on-ball creation punch, you could make a strong argument that Jalen Williams has been the most disappointing player of the second round. His defense has remained extremely strong, which has been a vital ingredient in OKC's wins, but offensively he's looked completely lost and unprepared to meet the moment.He's struggled to figure out how to puncture the aforementioned zone, seems to have lost all confidence in his jumper, and can't locate his touch around the basket. He's shooting 40% from 2-point range (including 41% at the rim) and 21% from deep in the series. Things reached a nadir in Game 6, when he shot 3-of-16 and missed his last 10 field-goal attempts - many of which were either open threes or point-blank looks.There are a lot of reasons OKC hasn't looked like the same team that tore through the regular season (many of which have to do with Denver), but the biggest reason by far is that its second-best player can't put the ball in the basket. Gilgeous-Alexander has struggled with his jumper at points but has mostly pulled his weight. Holmgren had a tough start to the series but has steadily improved as it's gone along. Williams is the guy who most needs to rise to the occasion in Game 7. If he can't, there's a good chance the Thunder will be cleaning out their lockers Monday.<h3>Do the Nuggets have enough bodies?</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/cropped_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/w220xh124_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/w320xh180_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/w640xh360_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/w768xh432_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785969/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2214700853.jpg?ts=1747421611 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Bart Young / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>OKC had the clear depth advantage in this matchup even before injuries and illness started to further tax Denver's shallow rotation. Michael Porter Jr. has been playing through a shoulder sprain that's completely squashed his most important skill; he's shooting 28% from three and 33% on mid-rangers in the series, and as a result has played fewer than 30 minutes in four of the six games. Making matters worse, Aaron Gordon, who's been a monster at both ends of the floor this postseason, tweaked his hamstring late in Game 6.The Nuggets' bench has been a liability all year, so the team isn't really built to sustain this kind of attrition to its starting unit. In Game 5, a desperate David Adelman opted to play both Jokic and Jamal Murray the entire fourth quarter instead of getting them their customary staggered rest, and while Jokic almost made the gamble pay off, Murray ran out of gas down the stretch. In Game 6, Denver got performances from Christian Braun and Julian Strawther that were tantamount to manna from heaven.With Gordon struggling, Braun - who had single-digit scoring outputs in three of the first five games of the series - stepped up with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Strawther came off the bench and chipped in 15 points, which was more than he scored in Games 1-5 combined. Adelman gave him a bunch of Porter's minutes, and his flurry at the end of the third quarter turned out to be arguably the most important stretch of the game; it gave the Nuggets some separation and bought Jokic a few minutes of rest to start the fourth.The odds of Denver getting contributions like that from those guys in Game 7 are slim, but there aren't many other places to turn. Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson will bring energy and make big plays on defense, but their shooting woes make them major offensive liabilities. They combined to shoot 4-of-15 and were the only Nuggets with negative net ratings in Game 6. One way or another, someone outside the team's core three will have to step up, especially if Gordon is hampered in any way. As great as Jokic and Murray are, even they can't overcome a team as deep and talented as OKC without significant help.<h3>Who wins the possession battle? </h3>The Thunder produced the greatest turnover differential of all time this season (plus-5.3 per game), and they've showcased that aspect of their identity in this series. Through six games, they've committed 33 fewer turnovers than Denver has. The Nuggets have made up for some of that with their offensive rebounding advantage, but OKC still holds a significant edge in shooting possessions.That said, the last three games marked a significant shift. With Denver - and especially Jokic - getting their turnovers under control, the possession battle has been played to a virtual draw. Considering how much the Thunder have struggled to score against Denver's set defense, it's imperative for the Nuggets to continue that recent trend of ball retention to mute their opponents' transition attack. On the other side, OKC must control the defensive glass and limit extra chances for a Denver team with an 88.5 offensive rating on first-shot half-court possessions.This has become a critical battleground across the NBA in recent years, and it's going to have a huge hand in determining which of these teams advances to the West finals.Joe Wolfond writes about the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31314170/related

5 burning questions ahead of Thunder-Nuggets Game 7

In my most anxious and introspective moments, I mostly just think about how fragile everything is...

In my most anxious and introspective moments, I mostly just think about how fragile everything is; how nothing lasts, health is precarious, accidents happen, and lives can be permanently altered in a microsecond. Most of the time, though, I live in the moment and push my existential dread into the recesses of my brain. I wouldn't be able to function otherwise.That's what life as an NBA fan can be like, too: living game to game, riding the ups and downs of each season, all the while trying to keep worst-case doomerism out of the frame. Given how hard it is for teams to pry open championship windows and how quickly we've seen so many of those windows slam shut, it's a lot easier to be a fatalist than an optimist. But fandom doesn't really work without optimism, so we do our best to ignore the voice in the back of our minds whispering that any flicker of joy is bound to be temporary.Then you see Jayson Tatum crumple to the floor after trying to push off his back leg while lunging for a loose ball, and that sense of fragility immediately returns to the forefront. Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon on a freak play with three minutes remaining in Monday's Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks. In an instant, the 27-year-old lost at least one season of his Hall of Fame prime while his Boston Celtics lost their shot at another championship - not only this year, but quite possibly for the foreseeable future.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>It's devastating for Tatum, first and foremost. He was in the midst of one of his signature playoff performances, racking up 42 points (on 29 shooting possessions), eight rebounds, four assists, four steals, and two blocks before having to be carried off the court. He's worked tirelessly to turn himself into a top-five player in the sport, with a fourth straight first-team All-NBA nod surely coming his way.He's added layer upon layer to his game, complementing his shooting and finishing ability with pristine footwork in tight spaces, increasingly sharp playmaking reads against every type of pick-and-roll coverage, and a hearty embrace of screen-setting that's rare for star perimeter players. At the defensive end, he's made Boston's cross-match-heavy scheme sing with his ability to defend opposing centers, jockeying in the post and battling on the boards while staying prepared to switch onto the opponent's primary ball-handler at any moment.Availability has been one of his greatest abilities as well; he's never missed more than 10 games in any of his eight seasons. Tatum is young enough, skilled enough, big enough, and, at least to this point, durable enough to convince you he won't be totally railroaded by an injury that's railroaded so many careers in the past. Even so, some kind of physical tax has to be accounted for when projecting what he'll look like when he returns. Will he have the same burst going to the rim or finishing through contact? Will he be able to create as much separation on his side-step jumpers? Will he have the same pop as a weak-side rim-protector? Will he ever be this good again?<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/cropped_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/w220xh124_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/w320xh180_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/w640xh360_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/w768xh432_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/785372/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2214786703.jpg?ts=1747228806 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Elsa / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Every star injury is consequential, but not since the double whammy of Kevin Durant's torn Achilles and Klay Thompson's torn ACL during the 2019 Finals have we seen one with this kind of potential to destabilize a perennial contender. The Celtics are the defending champs, and they entered this postseason as betting favorites to repeat. Even if they'd gone on to lose their second-round series to the Knicks (which wouldn't have been a foregone conclusion even down 3-1, but certainly feels like one now), they'd have entered next season as one of the top three or four favorites to win the 2026 title with a healthy Tatum.Despite only having the one banner to show for it, the Celtics have been the paragon of sustained excellence in the NBA for the last eight years, having won more regular-season games and playoff series than any other team since Tatum was drafted. They came up a win short of the Finals in his rookie season, and he led the team in scoring in those playoffs. Over the next six years, he and the Celtics went back to the East finals four times and the Finals twice, with Jaylen Brown being the only other constant - a run that finally culminated in last year's ring.That run seemed as though it would continue in some fashion for a few more years, even with aging contributors on the roster and uncomfortable payroll decisions on the horizon. It was hard to imagine the Celtics drifting too far from the title picture as long as they had Tatum performing at this level. Now they're decidedly out of that mix, and it's not clear what kind of roster he'll return to when he's ready to take the court again for the 2026-27 campaign.Al Horford, who remains a shockingly important piece for this team, will be 40 years old by then. Will he still be around, let alone effective? Jrue Holiday is already in decline at age 34; what will he look like at 36? Kristaps Porzingis' health and availability will only become bigger question marks as he ages, and he's a free agent after next season. Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard will probably still be in Boston and performing at high levels, but everything else feels up in the air.Most pertinently, unless the Celtics shed significant salary this offseason, they'll become a repeat second-apron team with a luxury-tax hit that dwarfs the payroll of every NBA roster - including their own. That might have been palatable for Boston's new ownership group if the team was coming off a spirited repeat bid and looked primed to be firmly in the championship mix once again. That expenditure will be much harder to swallow for a team that could be hovering around play-in territory.In an age of parity that's now poised to produce a seventh different champion in the last seven years, these Celtics had a chance to stamp themselves as an all-time team. And while it's possible Tatum comes back 17 months from now looking no worse for wear, and Boston picks up right where it left off, there's a greater chance that he'll return a slightly diminished player for a significantly diminished team, and this era of Celtics basketball as we know it is over.If so, it was an awfully abrupt ending, but sometimes that's how these things go. In the NBA, as in life, you never have as much time as you feel like you're supposed to have. And you don't appreciate your best days quite enough while you're living them because you tend to imagine the future as more of the same. Tatum's injury was a stark reminder of how fragile all of this is, and, by the same token, a reminder not to take anything for granted.Joe Wolfond writes about the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31285327/related

Tatum's injury reminds us how fragile careers, teams are

Monday night's NBA draft lottery stirred up a lot of complicated feelings as the Dallas Mavericks...

Monday night's NBA draft lottery stirred up a lot of complicated feelings as the Dallas Mavericks were awarded the No. 1 pick and the right to draft Cooper Flagg despite having a mere 1.8% chance to do so going in.On one hand, not many of the league's fan bases needed it more. On the other hand, no front office or ownership group deserved it less. These are the same people who just traded a 25-year-old superstar mere months after he led their team to the Finals; the same people who only seriously engaged with one other team in the process, ultimately accepted a package headlined by a lesser star on the wrong side of 30 and one measly draft pick, and then offered up half-baked justifications for their approach while repeatedly throwing their erstwhile franchise player under the bus.For Dallas fans, this was the only possible way to heal the psychic wounds inflicted by the Luka Doncic trade. Before the moment the lottery machine improbably spat out one of their team's combinations, they had no path to any kind of recovery anytime soon. Not only was Doncic gone, but Kyrie Irving suffered a torn ACL that'll sideline him until he's a 34-year-old impending free agent, and Anthony Davis is already a 32-year-old walking injury risk. That was on top of the fact that the aforementioned front office ceded control of all its own first-round picks between 2027 and 2030 in an effort to build around the guy they ultimately traded against his will. There was no hope for the team's present and even less for the future. So, yeah, Mavericks fans needed this.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>I've seen some people argue that the Mavs deserved this more than some of the NBA's most shameless tankers because, rather than throwing in the towel after their catastrophic rash of injuries in the immediate wake of the Doncic trade, their skeleton crew played incredibly hard to secure a play-in spot and even win a game. So kudos to Naji Marshall, I guess. He earned this.But for neutral observers, fans of 29 other teams in the league, and probably even those recently disillusioned Mavericks fans, it just doesn't sit right that Dallas owner Patrick Dumont and general manager Nico Harrison get to feel like their galaxy-brained plan worked out. Their reward for casting aside a prime-aged, transcendent talent in the middle of a championship window is the chance to draft an 18-year-old prodigy four months later. And one who plays defense, no less! Where's the justice in that?<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/cropped_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/w220xh124_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/w320xh180_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/w640xh360_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/w768xh432_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/779154/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2208740549.jpg?ts=1743957212 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos / Getty</figcaption></figure>Of course, when bouncing pingpong balls decide the fate of franchises, justice isn't meant to be part of the equation. But no matter the extent to which we intellectually grasp that reality, in our heart of hearts, part of us always wants to believe some degree of cosmic retribution is guiding this ridiculous enterprise. Not so long ago, it felt like the Mavs had <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3233078" href="https://thescore.com/news/3233078">cursed themselves</a>. So much for that.As for how landing the top pick will shape the team, it's almost as big a lifeline as the Mavs <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3207817" href="https://thescore.com/news/3207817">gifted the Lakers</a> back in February. Flagg has the makings of a two-way star, marrying elite physical tools with slick ball skills and advanced playmaking and defensive feel. Suddenly, the future in Dallas looks pretty bright.The big question is how this will change the front office's plans for the present day. The purpose of the team as currently constructed was to try to compete for championships over the next two or three years, but Irving's injury essentially nuked that plan. Flagg's arrival offers an opportunity to seamlessly change course, should the Mavs choose to do so.The Duke product should be able to make a positive impact as a rookie, but he won't instantly yank Dallas back into contention with Irving on the sidelines. There's obvious roster-building tension in wedging a teenaged cornerstone next to a 13-year vet in Davis on a team that likely won't compete for anything meaningful in 2025-26. At the moment, 21-year-old center Dereck Lively II is the only other high-end prospect on the roster. Would the Mavs consider moving Davis, despite what they gave up to get him, in order to rebuild from scratch around Flagg and Lively?That's not to say continuing on their current path would necessarily be a bad idea. The hope in that scenario would be that Flagg is good enough right away to essentially fuse two timelines into one. But if that is indeed the plan, Dallas will need to do some work to reshuffle a roster that's almost entirely bereft of guards and logjammed in the frontcourt.As fun as it sounds to watch gargantuan lineups featuring all of Flagg, Davis, Lively, and P.J. Washington - and as defensively suffocating as those lineups would be - the Mavs clearly need a lead ball-handler. Irving's likely going to miss all of next season, and there's no guarantee he'll be close to the same player when he returns. Dallas is almost certainly going to have to cash in some of its big-man depth in order to bolster its backcourt.Those are tomorrow's problems, though. The bottom line is the Mavericks now have real, viable, genuinely exciting options that they decidedly lacked 24 hours ago. They've been busted out of a prison of their own making, benefiting from one of the most egregious deus ex machinas in NBA history.All fan bases feel that they're owed something - even the most spoiled ones - and most wind up disappointed the vast majority of the time. Any of them would react to a rare win of this magnitude by finding a way to say, "We deserve this." And although we all know deserve's got nothing to do with it, that won't stop Mavs fans from reveling in this feeling of salvation a few months after experiencing the depths of helplessness and betrayal.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31276745/related

Fortune favors the foolish: Lottery luck saves Mavs from themselves

It's hard to be surprised by anything at this point in these topsy-turvy playoffs, considering we...

It's hard to be surprised by anything at this point in these topsy-turvy playoffs, considering we're barely a quarter of the way through and have already seen more blown 20-point leads than in any other postseason in NBA history, and seven games in which the eventual losing team at one point had an implied win probability as high as 94%. Even so, what transpired in the first two games of Celtics-Knicks was difficult to believe. The fact the defending champs are heading to the Mecca in an 0-2 series hole against a team they swept in the regular season (with an average victory margin of 16.2 points) is surprising enough on its own. That they're doing so despite having led each of the first two games by 20 points in the third quarter is almost inconceivable.The way those losses took shape - with Boston shooting a combined 25-for-100 from long distance, continuing to hoist and clank away while their leads disappeared - ignited a familiar debate about the viability of a jumper-heavy approach that contributed to a championship less than 11 months ago. The usual handwringing about the Celtics' unimaginative offense and 3-point infatuation was met with the usual counterpoints about shot quality and shooting variance:<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><figure class="article-segment--embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Boston underperformed its expected eFG by 15% in Game 1 vs. the Knicks, per GeniusIQ, its worst performance all season. Then the Celtics were 17% below expectation in Game 2. Blame the lack of offensive variation, sure, but this is also dreadful shooting luck.— Zach Kram (@zachkram) <a href="https://twitter.com/zachkram/status/1920298364534403394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2025</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></figure>Reasonable people can disagree about the level of luck involved here, but one thing we can say for sure is that the Celtics are going to live with the variance. Not only because they have proof of concept in the form of a Larry O'Brien Trophy, but because Joe Mazzulla is a process-oriented coach whose belief in his team's core identity runs bone deep. Even with their backs against the wall, these guys aren't going to fundamentally change who they are. They will, however, need to be much better versions of themselves for a full 48 minutes.Glass half full: The Celtics lost Games 1 and 2 by a combined four points despite catastrophic shooting that wasn't confined only to the 3-point line (they also shot 29% on non-rim 2-pointers). They generated good looks by hunting the Knicks' weakest links - namely Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns - which will matter more when they start shooting better than 25% on wide-open threes. And their defense, their most reliable calling card throughout this contention window, held the Knicks to a point per possession.The Celtics know how good they can be, and they've shot the ball better on the road all season, so they should be as optimistic about their chances of coming back as any team could reasonably feel after dropping the first two at home. They can come back to Boston tied simply by virtue of a few more open jumpers and floaters finding the bottom of the net. At the same time, the Celtics can't just bank on that possibility in the face of their current reality, which is that their margin for error has evaporated in a matchup that's clearly making them uncomfortable.New York's defense deserves a lot of the credit for Boston's scoring woes. OG Anunoby's done an unbelievable job hounding Jayson Tatum. Josh Hart's done strong work jockeying with Jaylen Brown. Mikal Bridges has unfurled his pterodactyl wings to come up with some huge defensive plays in crunch time, both on and off the ball. Mitchell Robinson's come in off the bench and locked down the paint to the point the Celtics have resorted to hacking him to get him out of the game.The Knicks are switching a lot more liberally than usual, even when that means leaving Brunson or Towns on an island with Tatum or Brown, and both those guys are battling their tails off to keep the defense out of rotation. What the Celtics really want is to get into their drive-and-kick game to create catch-and-shoot threes, because they don't actually shoot pull-ups all that well. But the Knicks aren't cooperating, and because of how they're defending, a way higher proportion of Boston's threes have come off the dribble in this series than they did during the regular season.The most pressing issue, though, is that Tatum and Brown simply haven't been good enough, not at punishing mismatches in isolation nor at creating for others when they draw help. They combined for nearly as many turnovers (16) as assists (17) in the first two games, combined to shoot 5-for-32 outside the restricted area in the second halves, and didn't get to the rim enough to offset how poorly they shot from everywhere else.To be fair, while they made some questionable decisions (like whatever Tatum tried to do on the final Game 2 possession), a few of their misses came on looks where they had enough time to check the wind and tie their shoelaces before letting it fly:<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/cropped_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/w220xh124_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/w320xh180_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/w640xh360_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/w768xh432_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784802/w1080xh607_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_9.49.30_AM.jpg?ts=1746798604 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> TNT</figcaption></figure><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/cropped_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/w220xh124_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/w320xh180_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/w640xh360_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/w768xh432_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784803/w1080xh607_Screenshot_2025-05-09_at_12.16.12_AM.jpg?ts=1746798614 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> TNT</figcaption></figure>In fact, almost all of the 14 consecutive field goals the Celtics missed during the fourth-quarter stretch that doomed them in Game 2 were objectively good shots in a vacuum. But watching all those empty trips one after another, it felt like the psychic baggage was piling up faster than the Celtics could wade through it. It felt like they needed to veer off course to escape a predicament of their own making, but only knew how to keep going straight. Attacking vulnerable defenders with your big wing creators is generally a great idea, but when those guys are struggling like Tatum and Brown are, it may be worthwhile to mix in more weak-side activity to try and make the defense move a bit more.Curling up into no-pass offense basically as soon as the Knicks start chipping away at their lead makes it seem like they don't trust themselves to execute well enough to maintain or build separation. It feels unbefitting of a team with Boston's pedigree and big-game experience, even acknowledging that these types of offensive droughts have been part of said experience.In both games, the Celtics eventually let the frustration of all their misses snowball into a lack of focus, a lack of cohesion, and a lack of calm. They let it bleed into their defense, which has surrendered a 127.9 offensive rating in fourth quarters in the series compared to 92.9 across the first three frames. You can't just chalk that up to the Celtics' own litany of missed shots, either, seeing as the Knicks have scored only 0.7 points per possession when <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/context?season=2024&amp;seasontype=playoffs&amp;start=05/5/2025&amp;end=10/15/2025#tab-offense_transition">running off of live rebounds</a>.Nothing better illustrated Boston's late-game skittishness than watching all-world defender Jrue Holiday pick up a senseless reaching foul that gifted Brunson the Game 2-winning free throws immediately after Tatum punched home a driving dunk to retake the lead.The Celtics can absolutely come back to win this series; they just need to play the way they know they're capable of playing and resist the urge to panic when they hit a rough patch. That won't be easy to do in what will likely be a ridiculously raucous MSG, but they should remind themselves they're still the champs and still the superior team in this matchup, and that the only thing they have to fear is fear itself.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31237240/related

The Celtics don't need to panic ... unless they keep panicking

What on earth is happening?   We're just four days into the conference semifinals, and already th...

What on earth is happening? We're just four days into the conference semifinals, and already this feels like one of the wildest second rounds we've ever seen. If your head is spinning from everything that's already transpired, here's a rundown of five more things you need to know. (Check out Wednesday's initial <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3282220" href="https://thescore.com/news/3282220">five takeaways</a>. I'll have more on Knicks-Celtics tomorrow.)<h3>Cleveland's season deserves a better ending </h3>The one thing that put a damper on the Pacers' dramatic Game 2 win is that it came against an opponent missing three of its five most important players. Injuries are helping to pave Indiana's path to the East finals for a second straight year, which is a shame because the Pacers are good enough to challenge or maybe even topple the Cavs at full strength.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>More than that, it's devastating that a Cleveland team coming off a magical 64-win regular season is facing the prospect of a premature playoff exit because it got banged up at the wrong time. The Cavs were one of the league's healthiest teams this season by <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured/_/year/2024/view/team">total man games lost</a>, especially when factoring in the value of the players who missed time. Their core four combined to miss just 29 contests, a year after combining to miss 89.But now All-Stars Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are on the shelf, along with super sub (and frequent closer) De'Andre Hunter. It's unclear whether any of them will be available or have much to give as Cleveland tries to climb out of an 0-2 hole on the road. After how dominant they looked all year, and the way they pancaked Miami in the first round, the Cavs had real championship aspirations. At this point, though, it might take some <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3282220" href="https://thescore.com/news/3282220">Pacers-level magic</a> to keep their season alive.<h3>Donovan Mitchell is giving everything he has </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/cropped_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/w220xh124_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/w320xh180_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/w640xh360_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/w768xh432_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784532/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2213813351.jpg?ts=1746641038 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jason Miller / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>If anyone's capable of conjuring that magic, it's the guy who carried the Cavs to the brink of victory with 48 points in Game 2. All season, Mitchell has sacrificed individual stats and on-ball touches to <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3129495" href="https://thescore.com/news/3129495">facilitate a healthier team ecosystem</a>. But without Garland, Mobley, or Hunter by his side, and with Ty Jerome struggling under the increased burden (1-for-14 shooting), Mitchell had no choice but to play the brand of hero ball he was known for in the past. And boy, did he prove worthy of the cape.He was looking to get downhill and absorb contact from the opening tip. Over and over, he tore through the Pacers' first line of defense (shedding excellent point-of-attack defenders in Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith) and either finished over, got fouled by, or passed around their second wave of defenders. He <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*donovan%20mitchell&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=DRIVES">drove 26 times</a> and scored 31 points off those drives. He shot 9-for-16 at the rim, 5-for-6 from floater range, and 17-for-21 from the free-throw line. If you factor in his nine assists, six of which set up 3-balls, he directly created 72 of the 98 points Cleveland scored with him on the floor.Mitchell's 46.2% usage rate in the game is tied for the highest from a player with at least 20 minutes played in any game in the last four postseasons. The only guy to equal that mark was … Mitchell, when he scored 50 of Cleveland's 96 points in Game 6 of the first round against Orlando last year. His 28 points in the paint Tuesday night were also tied for the second most by a guard in a playoff game in the play-by-play era. (Luka Doncic had the same total against the Clippers in the bubble. First on the list? You guessed it: Mitchell himself, with 36 in that Game 6 against the Magic.)It was a superhuman performance, and Mitchell did it on a balky calf. The Cavs won his 36 minutes by 13 points and lost their 12 minutes without him by 14. Some might wonder why Atkinson didn't just play him for longer; most coaches extend their stars' minutes to 40-plus in games of this magnitude. But given his usage load and the high-impact way he was scoring, those were 36 of the most arduous minutes you'll see, and Mitchell looked burnt out by game's end.Does he have another game like that in him? The Cavs have relied on their depth all year, but that may now be their only hope.<h3>Tyrese Haliburton is underrated </h3>Mitchell should've been the hero of Game 2, but instead it wound up being the guy who got showered with "OVERRATED!" chants before burying the game-winner. Those chants were fueled by an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6296394/2025/04/22/anonymous-nba-player-poll-2025-mvp-sga-jokic-analytics/">anonymous poll in The Athletic</a> in which Haliburton was the leading vote-getter among his peers for the title of the league's most overrated player.It's hard to settle on who's overrated, underrated, or properly rated without relying on the most anecdotal evidence of who rates whom how highly. Everyone should know by now how good Haliburton is, having witnessed the latest cold-blooded dagger from the league's <a href="https://x.com/Carsobi/status/1919935901276287153">clutchest shot-maker</a>. That's on top of everything else that makes him a special offensive talent: the sublime hit-ahead passing, the simultaneously frenetic and controlled pace he plays at, his remarkably assured decision-making and abnormally low turnover rate. But it's the way Haliburton's been defending this postseason that I think deserves more attention.He's long had a justified reputation as a minus defender, but in the past two series, he's been a legitimate plus. He's been a menace on the weak side, jumping gaps and deflecting passes left and right. He still gets hunted relentlessly in ball-screen action because he's the most sensible target in a starting lineup featuring Nemhard, Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner. But he's holding his own in those scenarios - whether hedging or switching onto the ball - and he's generally doing a much better job of keeping his man in front of him. He's averaging more than a block per game. Multiple times down the stretch of Games 1 and 2, a Cavs guard tried to attack him to no avail.To quote the man himself: "Overrate that!" <h3>Minnesota might want to remember how to shoot </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/cropped_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/w220xh124_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/w320xh180_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/w640xh360_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/w768xh432_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784112/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2197144688.jpg?ts=1746641289 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Berding / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>When the Timberwolves went 7-for-47 from 3-point range in their Game 5 closeout against the Lakers last round, they set a new record for most missed threes in a postseason game. (That record has since been eclipsed by the Celtics.) They managed to win regardless, but they couldn't survive an 0-for-16 start en route to a 5-for-29 finish from downtown in Game 1 of the second round, falling to a Warriors team that lost Steph Curry to a hamstring strain early in the second quarter. It's the worst two-game 3-point shooting stretch for any team in playoff history.There's no great explanation for it. The Wolves ranked fourth in the league in 3-point percentage (37.7%) during the regular season, and were at 38.1% in the playoffs before their last two games. In those games, they shot 23.7% on wide-open threes, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/shots-closest-defender?CloseDefDistRange=6%20%20Feet%20-%20Wide%20Open&amp;LastNGames=2&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=FG3_PCT">NBA Advanced Stats</a>. As I <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3278053" href="https://thescore.com/news/3278053">wrote last round</a>, when a team plays center-less - as the Lakers did and the Warriors often do - that usually means they collapse aggressively to the middle of the floor and try to protect the rim by committee. The Wolves ranked 15th of 16 teams in at-rim field-goal percentage (59.8%) in the first round. They shot 17-for-32 (53.1%) at the rim in Game 1 against Golden State. They need to keep driving to put pressure on the Warriors' tiny frontcourt, and they can certainly finish more effectively, but they really need to hit their threes to punish that style of defense. Especially because Draymond Green is a much better rim protector than anyone on L.A., and he looks extremely locked in right now. That said ...<h3>Steph's injury could be curtains for the Warriors </h3>Curry's injury cast a major pall over Golden State's spirited Game 1 win, and he's already been ruled out for Games 2, 3, and 4. It's impossible to know if he can recover in time to return to this series because this is somehow the first significant hamstring injury of his 16-year career, according to <a href="https://x.com/InStreetClothes/status/1919951272657965328">Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes</a>.The Warriors showed that they can win without Curry by relying on their hyperactive defense and getting just enough creation and shot-making from Green, Jimmy Butler, and Buddy Hield. But the Wolves will probably start making threes at some point, and Green probably won't make four of them again. Butler is still great, but he can't impact games like the Playoff Jimmy of old.The Warriors performed 13.1 points per 100 possessions worse without Curry on the floor during the regular season, and 20.4 points per 100 worse with him on the bench in the first round of the playoffs. They played to an 83.5 half-court offensive rating in Game 1 against Minnesota. Absent his unparalleled gravity, their lineups with two or three non-shooters just don't really work. The hope is they can keep the Wolves at bay long enough for Curry to return and save them, but it's hard to see how they'll score enough to do that.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31227536/related

5 more takeaways from a bonkers start to the 2nd round

What on earth is happening?   We're just three days into the conference semifinals, and already t...

What on earth is happening? We're just three days into the conference semifinals, and already this feels like one of the wildest second rounds we've ever seen. If your head is spinning from everything that's transpired, here's a rundown of five things you need to know, with five more coming tomorrow.Note: I'll have more on Knicks-Celtics later in the week, so that series doesn't feature as prominently here. And I'll have thoughts on Warriors-Timberwolves and Cavaliers-Pacers in Thursday's takeaways.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><h3>There's no place like road </h3>Since the NBA moved to a 16-team playoff format in 1984, there's never been a second round in which the road teams won every Game 1. At least that was the case until Indiana, New York, Denver, and Golden State pulled off the feat this week. With the Pacers also stealing a second game in Cleveland on Tuesday night, visiting teams are now 5-0 to start the conference semis.But what's made this round feel so wild and unpredictable isn't just that all the lower-seeded teams have immediately snatched home-court advantage - it's how those games have been won.<h3>Crazy comebacks and endgame fiascos</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/cropped_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/w220xh124_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/w320xh180_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/w640xh360_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/w768xh432_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784555/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2213152947.jpg?ts=1746646342 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Boston Globe / Getty</figcaption></figure>We're not even halfway into the playoffs, and we've already seen <a href="https://x.com/keerthikau/status/1919933955467317464">more 20-point comebacks</a> than in any other postseason in the play-by-by era, which dates back to 1997. Two of those came in the last two days, with the Knicks and Pacers both roaring back from 20 down to stun the Celtics and Cavaliers, respectively. And while the Nuggets never faced quite that large a deficit in their Game 1 win in Oklahoma City, their comeback was nearly as unthinkable. To put some numbers to it, let's use Inpredictable's <a href="https://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/wpBox_live.php">win probability tracker</a>. The Celtics' Game 1 win probability peaked at 96.8%, when Derrick White hit a three to give them a 75-55 lead with under six minutes to play in the third quarter. The Thunder's probability reached as high as 97.5%, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander buried a step-back that put them up 11 with just over four minutes left in the fourth. And the Cavaliers' likelihood of victory in their Game 2 crested at 99.6%, in the split-second between Pacers forward Pascal Siakam missing a free throw and Aaron Nesmith ramming home a putback dunk with Indiana trailing by seven and 47 seconds remaining.The wild swings in those games were defined not only by clutch shot-making and pristine execution by the winning teams, but by sloppy play and catastrophic decision-making by the losers. The Thunder's inflexible endgame strategy backfired spectacularly, as we covered <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3281423" href="https://thescore.com/news/3281423">here</a>. The Celtics missed a cavalcade of threes and completely let go of the rope at the defensive end, surrendering run-outs, back cuts, and clean catch-and-shoot looks. Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday miscommunicated a switch to gift Jalen Brunson a wide-open three that put the Knicks up six late in regulation. After Boston came back to tie it, Brown made the disastrous decision to double OG Anunoby from the strong side on a post-up against Jayson Tatum, conceding a Mikal Bridges three that held up as the winning bucket in overtime. (Brown had a rough game all around).But Indiana's comeback - or Cleveland's collapse, depending on how you look at it - deserves its own category.<h3>Pacers' devil magic</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/cropped_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/w220xh124_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/w320xh180_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/w640xh360_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/w768xh432_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784529/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2213222495.jpg?ts=1746640888 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Liam Kyle / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Miami Heat had a good run, but a different team now wields the sorcery capable of crafting inexplicable playoff outcomes.Up until a week ago, only one team in the play-by-play era had ever come back to win a playoff game after being down three possessions in the final minute of regulation or overtime - the 2014 Thunder against the Clippers in the infamous <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycppm8f3Qto">Chris Paul meltdown game</a>. In over 1,500 such scenarios, every other team had lost. The Pacers have since made that comeback twice in three games, first to close out the Bucks and then to go up 2-0 on the Cavs.As mentioned above, Cleveland led Game 2 by seven with 47 seconds on the game clock when Siakam missed the second of two free throws. Here's what happened after that:<ul>
<li>Nesmith putback dunk, five-point game</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell offensive foul in the backcourt, Pacers ball, Mitchell to the bench</li>
<li>Jarrett Allen blocks Tyrese Haliburton, Cavs can't corral the loose ball, Pacers retain possession</li>
<li>Siakam driving layup, three-point game</li>
<li>Kenny Atkinson calls his final timeout to reinsert Mitchell, Cavs throw the ensuing inbounds pass right to the Pacers</li>
<li>Mitchell called for a questionable foul on Haliburton, Cavs can't challenge because they're out of timeouts</li>
<li>Haliburton makes the first free throw, two-point game</li>
<li>He (intentionally?) misses the second, Myles Turner taps the rebound back to him, he dribbles it out to isolate against Ty Jerome and hits a go-ahead step-back three with 1.1 seconds to go</li>
<li>Cavs can't advance the ball (again, no timeouts left), Sam Merrill's heave isn't close, ballgame over</li>
</ul>Take nothing away from the Pacers, who have done everything right on these last-minute possessions with zero margin for error. But they've also needed some fortuitous bounces, on top of their opponents completely falling apart mentally and physically, for their comebacks to be possible. Indiana's an undeniably skilled team, but was it skill that caused Gary Trent Jr. to forget how to hold a basketball? Or the Cavs to forget how to box out or inbound the ball? Nah, that was pure voodoo.<h3>Nikola Jokic is best at this</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/cropped_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/w220xh124_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/w320xh180_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/w640xh360_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/w768xh432_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784533/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2213104604.jpg?ts=1746641165 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> AAron Ontiveroz / Denver Post / Getty</figcaption></figure>Simply put, everyone in the second round has been outshined by Jokic. That'll happen when the three-time MVP goes for 42 points and 22 rebounds in a stunning upset against one of the best defensive teams in modern NBA history.The Thunder tried everything under the sun in their attempts to slow Jokic down. They put Chet Holmgren on him while Isaiah Hartenstein roamed off Aaron Gordon, they tried Hartenstein on him while Holmgren roamed off Gordon, they pre-rotated to try and take away his short rolls, they veer-switched smaller guys onto him to take away his pick-and-pops, they had wings stunting and digging down on his dribble, they tried hard-doubling and soft-doubling him in the post. They forced him into seven turnovers. But pivot after reverse pivot, push shot after push shot, offensive rebound after offensive rebound, he kept finding his way to his sweet spots and kept Denver in the game long enough for OKC to collapse. This series is a clash of the two overwhelming MVP favorites, and while it shouldn't be a referendum on who wins the regular-season award - there's a strong case to be made that Gilgeous-Alexander had the better campaign - it's perfectly fine to use it as evidence that Jokic is undoubtedly still the best player in the world. That may not be enough to win the Nuggets the series, but it should be enough to put the fear of God in the 68-win Thunder.<h3>SGA's co-stars are back under the microscope </h3>Even if he wasn't on Jokic's level, Gilgeous-Alexander was brilliant in his own right in Game 1, pouring in 33 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists and making a handful of big shots down the stretch. It was his two co-stars, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who faded while the Nuggets stormed back.Williams was characteristically awesome defensively, but he shot 1-for-7 in the fourth quarter and 5-for-20 in the game, missing badly on his jumpers when he wasn't barreling into traffic without a plan. Holmgren barely touched the ball in the final frame and struggled throughout the game to get anything going when the Nuggets defended him with wings and stashed Jokic elsewhere. At the other end, he blocked four shots but also got physically overwhelmed by both Jokic and Gordon at points, contributing to Denver's 21 offensive rebounds. He also missed a pair of free throws to set the stage for Gordon's game-winning three. It wouldn't have been so disconcerting if it didn't look so similar to last year's second round, when Gilgeous-Alexander pulled his weight but couldn't get his teammates to come along for the ride. Williams and Holmgren, in particular, need to be able to relieve the pressure on him. Until they prove they can, the pressure will also be squarely on them.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31220526/related

5 takeaways from an absolutely bonkers start to the 2nd round

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal, and every year, those 29 teams ask themselves how they can take the next step.We've already looked at how the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3279346" href="https://thescore.com/news/3279346">Eastern Conference's four eliminated teams</a> may go about answering that question. Here's what's on tap for the first-round outs from the West.<h3>Houston Rockets </h3>The Rockets should feel as good as possible for a 2-seed that was bounced in the first round. They were a 22-win tire fire just two years ago. This season, they won 52 games in a loaded Western Conference, had the league's fourth-ranked defense, and pushed a pedigreed Warriors team led by three future Hall of Famers to a Game 7. While veterans Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Steven Adams had huge hands in Houston's success, the team was also powered by a talented youth brigade for whom the future looks very bright.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Big man Alperen Sengun was an All-Star at 22 and had a strong playoff showing despite struggling with his touch all year. Sophomore Amen Thompson, the most explosive athlete in the league outside of his twin brother Ausar, broke out as a two-way stud with legitimate superstar potential. Jabari Smith Jr., a versatile third-year forward who's even younger than Thompson, continued to establish himself as an ideal gap-filling role player. Tari Eason kept growing into one of the best defensive playmakers in the league. <figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/cropped_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/w220xh124_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/w320xh180_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/w640xh360_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/w768xh432_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/784175/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2212190173.jpg?ts=1746471280 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Logan Riely / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>That said, the Rockets' loss to Golden State - and their season as a whole - provided some obvious lessons they'll carry into a fascinating offseason. Above all, the offense needs to improve dramatically. They finished bottom 10 in shooting percentage from every quadrant on the floor: 21st from 3-point range, 23rd from long mid-range, 26th from floater range, and 22nd at the rim. And though their 22nd-ranked half-court offense was buoyed by the league's best offensive rebound rate and a top-10 transition attack, that wasn't enough to overcome a 92.4 offensive rating on first-shot possessions against a set Warriors defense.The front office's big decision comes down to whether it believes the necessary improvements can come from within or whether the team has to look externally. Houston's biggest need is upgrading its off-the-dribble shot creation, and as good as Sengun and Thompson are - and can eventually become - the internal options seem unlikely to address that deficiency.Jalen Green's place in the team's future feels particularly hazy as he enters the first year of a three-year extension. While he's innately talented and has made strides in the last couple years, his shot selection and overall decision-making remain far too erratic for him to be relied upon by a contending team. The Rockets wouldn't be wrong to exercise patience with the 23-year-old, but they'd also be justified in cutting bait if there's a market for his services.This team looks ripe for a consolidation trade: Houston's got more intriguing young players than its rotation can currently accommodate (looking at you, Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore) and a bundle of surplus draft picks including three unprotected first-rounders from the beleaguered Suns and one from the even more beleaguered Mavericks. The possibility of trading those picks back to Phoenix makes the Rockets a sensible landing spot for Kevin Durant or (in a more ideal scenario) Devin Booker. Giannis Antetokounmpo could also be available this summer, and while he wouldn't fix their shooting woes, he'd still launch them into a different stratum of contention because he's Giannis Antetokounmpo.The front office also has to decide whether to pick up VanVleet's $45-million team option after a regular season in which he shot under 38% from the field followed by a playoff series in which he was Houston's most important offensive player. The Rockets are already dangerously light on ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and they wouldn't be able to replace VanVleet's value via this barren free-agent class. But opening up cap space by renouncing him could allow them to absorb a star in a trade without having to send back matching salary. They could also just try to re-sign VanVleet to a longer-term deal with a lower average annual value.Adams, who was instrumental in pushing the Warriors to seven and had the best individual net rating (plus-14.1) in the series, is a free agent as well. Smith and Eason are eligible for extensions. That's a lot of consequential decisions to make in a short amount of time, and while there aren't many bad choices for a team in Houston's position, this feels like a potential fork-in-the-road summer that could lead the team in any number of directions. - Joe Wolfond <h3>Los Angeles Lakers </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/cropped_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/w220xh124_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/w320xh180_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/w640xh360_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/w768xh432_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780153/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2208313373.jpg?ts=1746471314 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Joe Murphy / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Although it can be hard to see the forest for the trees in the immediate, emotional aftermath of a disappointing postseason elimination, the Lakers are in great shape. Turning Anthony Davis into Luka Doncic brought immediate promise, but this team was always going to be incomplete in the short term, especially when Los Angeles' deadline-day deal for fragile Hornets center Mark Williams fell through.The real work to build a genuine contender around Doncic and LeBron James begins now. Assuming James is back (the 40-year-old has a $52.6-million player option for next season), there are a couple ways the Lakers can go about this. First, they could run it back with a trio of Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves while filling their glaring hole at center and adding some quality depth. That's the more conservative path. Some might argue the Lakers should be more aggressive to maximize what could be James' last year or two, but they've also got a Doncic-led future to plan for. Plus, a team featuring Doncic, James, and Reaves with a more balanced supporting cast would enter next season as a fringe contender at worst.The more aggressive option would be to dangle Reaves, salary filler, and draft picks on the trade market. In addition to swap rights in 2026, 2028, and 2030, the Lakers still have their 2031 first-rounder and will get access to their 2032 first-rounder once this year's draft is complete. That might not be enough to land another superstar, but the Lakers don't need one. It surely is enough to land an impact player - perhaps one who's a better fit between Doncic and James than Reaves. - Joseph Casciaro <h3>LA Clippers</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/cropped_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/w220xh124_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/w320xh180_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/w640xh360_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/w768xh432_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783634/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2212092486.jpg?ts=1746471526 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Juan Ocampo / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>For the first time since Kawhi Leonard tore his ACL partway through the second round in 2021, things seemed to be lined up for the Clippers to make noise in the postseason. Leonard was healthy and operating near the peak of his powers, James Harden still had gas in the tank, and the surrounding roster was deep and versatile. They finished the regular season as the hottest team in the league, and their first-round opponent was a comparatively thin outfit that had fired its head coach two weeks earlier. There's a reason the Clippers were one of the teams <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3256715" href="https://thescore.com/news/3256715">under the most pressure</a> entering the playoffs. Because if not now, when? That's the question the Clippers and their fans have to ask themselves after a seven-game loss to the Denver Nuggets marked another early exit for a team that's won just three series since signing Leonard six years ago. For this, they stripped themselves of every shred of prospect capital and relinquished control of all their own first-round picks between now and 2030. That's going to make executing any kind of pivot very challenging. And it takes a measure of blind faith to believe this same team can come back and produce a better result next year.Leonard will turn 34 this summer, and it's hard to imagine he has many kicks at the can left given his injury history. Harden will turn 36 with the ability to become a free agent by declining a $36-million player option. Another rough Game 7 notwithstanding, he produced an awesome season in which he played all but three games and kept the team's offense afloat with Leonard on the shelf for three months. Considering L.A. can ill afford to let another star walk for nothing, odds are he'll be able to negotiate another one-plus-one or two-plus-one type of deal. But at his age, can we expect even one more season like the one he just had?It's a good thing Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell are locked up on team-friendly deals (it'll be interesting to see whether Powell's willing to extend his), because any upward mobility is contingent on those guys continuing to build on their late-career breakthroughs. Even then, L.A. will probably need youngish guys like Amir Coffey (if he re-signs), Jordan Miller, and Kobe Brown to make strides. And startlingly important 36-year-old Nic Batum to return for one last hurrah. But none of that even matters unless Leonard can stay healthy and Harden can sustain an All-Star level.I've been <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2934216" href="https://thescore.com/news/2934216">wrong about the Clippers</a> before, and this is a creative front office, but it really does feel like they've run out of cards to play. Let's see if they have one more up their sleeve. - Wolfond<h3>Memphis Grizzlies </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/cropped_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/w220xh124_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/w320xh180_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/w640xh360_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/w768xh432_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/760330/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2188847815.jpg?ts=1746471407 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Joe Murphy / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Grizzlies are one of the toughest teams to get a read on.On one hand, Memphis is still one of the league's youngest teams, already has some valuable postseason experience, and boasts an enviable trio of Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr., the latter of whom is extension eligible this summer (Morant and Bane are under contract through 2028 and 2029, respectively). The Grizzlies also have an intriguing mix of youngsters that includes Zach Edey, Jaylen Wells, Scotty Pippen Jr., restricted free agent Santi Aldama, Vince Williams Jr., and GG Jackson. It's easy to argue that teams in this position should either ride the wave or make a consolidation trade to boost their immediate title hopes.On the other hand, the Grizzlies feel more like a fading contender than a young team on the rise. Morant has gone from future face of the league to one of the league's most unreliable stars. A reported disconnect over offensive philosophies led general manager Zach Kleiman to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins mere weeks before the playoffs despite Memphis sitting fifth in the tough Western Conference. Is it possible new coach Tuomas Iisalo and some better injury luck create a resurgence that propels the Grizzlies back up the West hierarchy? Sure, but it feels like something has to give.Don't be surprised if the Grizzlies shop Morant - or any member of the team's Big Three - more heavily than they shop the youngsters and picks. - Casciaro

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31201424/related

What's next: Where the West's 1st-round outs go from here

One image always immediately jumps to mind when I think of Gregg Popovich coaching on the San Ant...

One image always immediately jumps to mind when I think of Gregg Popovich coaching on the San Antonio Spurs' sideline. It's of him grinning ear to ear and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYSGp4Jp_9E&amp;t=0">giving Shaquille O'Neal a double thumbs-up</a> after instructing Michael Finley to intentionally foul the then-Suns center 5 seconds into the 2008-09 season.O'Neal griped about the Spurs' Hack-a-Shaq tactic during the teams' first-round playoff meeting the year prior, calling it a "coward move." Popovich responding by taking the piss out of him stands out to me not just because it was one of the funniest things I've seen on an NBA court, but because it was one of those rare instances we saw the playful and jovial side of Pop peek out from behind his shroud of curmudgeounry. He always had an acerbic deadpan wit, but rarely expressed outright goofiness like that.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/cropped_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/w220xh124_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/w320xh180_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/w640xh360_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/w768xh432_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783730/w1080xh607_Screenshot_2025-05-02_at_3.12.48_PM.jpg?ts=1746216822 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> ESPN</figcaption></figure>That was the duality of Pop, though. He could be dead serious about his job without taking the enterprise as a whole too seriously. He could be hard on players but he also cared deeply about them as people, and knew when to apply a softer touch. He obviously loved to coach, clearly lived and breathed this stuff, but also had enough perspective to recognize the absurdity of living and breathing this stuff.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Those who played for or worked under him tended to talk less about his tactical acumen and feel for in-game adjustments (which he obviously had in spades) than his love of wine and lively team dinners, his famed offseason coaching retreats, his eclectic interests outside basketball, and his sense of what was truly important in life.The 76-year-old announced Friday he's stepping away from the sidelines and transitioning to a role as Spurs president of basketball operations. He'd already been absent for nearly the entire 2024-25 season after suffering a stroke in November. The announcement ends the most successful and most prolific coaching tenure in league history: 29 years with one team, with 1,592 combined regular-season and playoff wins, both NBA records by considerable margins.In this era where the average coaching stint lasts just 2.5 seasons, it's hard to imagine we'll ever see anything even approaching that level of longevity or success again. The accolades dried up in recent years as San Antonio underwent a rebuild, but over a span of 22 years under Popovich's stewardship, the Spurs made the playoffs every season, amassed the best winning percentage of any team in North American pro sports, won 50-plus games 19 times (with one of the others being a lottery-shortened season in which they went 37-13), and won five championships.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/cropped_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/w220xh124_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/w320xh180_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/w640xh360_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/w768xh432_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783731/w1080xh607_GettyImages-84574828.jpg?ts=1746216951 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> D. Clarke Evans / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>At the center of it all was, well, Tim Duncan, but also a coach who had the courage and conviction to zag while the rest of the league zigged. What defined the Spurs stylistically during Popovich's historic tenure wasn't their ability to perfect one particular brand of basketball, but their facility for shapeshifting to best suit their personnel. Between his first championship and his fifth, Popovich's offense evolved from being a walk-it-up affair built around rote Duncan post-ups to a free-flowing, uptempo, improvisational motion system that the rest of the NBA quickly tried to emulate. When I talked to coaches around the league about <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2883055/how-modern-offenses-blend-old-school-tactics-with-new-age-skills">how offenses have evolved</a> in recent years, almost all of them cited Pop's Spurs as their inspiration. Popovich was ahead of the curve on concepts like advantage basketball and the value of corner threes, but sometimes he swam against the currents he himself helped set in motion. Like when San Antonio signed LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015 and reverted to an old-school, post-centric, mid-range-heavy style en route to back-to-back 60-plus-win seasons.At their best, his Spurs teams reimagined what was possible through collective selflessness and hivemind-like intuition. Their defense was defined by discipline, communication, and attention to detail: Year after year, they managed to avoid fouling, reduce second-chance opportunities, bust it back in transition, and lock down the paint. During that 22-year playoff streak, they never finished lower than 11th in defensive efficiency and finished top three 17 times.Popovic also saw the big picture when it came to preserving players and getting the most out of an entire group, whether that meant limiting his stars' minutes or bringing one of them off the bench. We'll probably never see a more balanced ensemble win a championship than the 2014 Spurs. That team didn't have a single player crack 30 minutes per game during the regular season, and its leading scorer averaged 16.7 points per game. It's a shame we won't get to see Pop get another chance to coach a contender helmed by yet another transformative big man in Victor Wembanyama. But it's nice to know he'll still be involved with the organization. His legacy will continue to live on for decades not only through the Spurs, but through a <a href="https://x.com/CrumpledJumper/status/1918347492128956731">coaching tree</a> that looks more like a coaching forest at this point.While he'll presumably continue to be active behind the scenes, his presence in the scenes will be sorely missed. He was one of one. Salute to an absolute legend.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31182281/related

We'll never see another coach like Gregg Popovich 

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal, and every year those 29 teams ask themselve...

Every year, 29 teams fall short of the ultimate goal, and every year those 29 teams ask themselves how they can take the next step.With the Eastern Conference's first round in the books, here's a look at how the four eliminated teams may go about answering that question.<h3>Orlando Magic </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/cropped_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/w220xh124_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/w320xh180_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/w640xh360_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/w768xh432_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782902/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2211377099.jpg?ts=1746203135 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Fernando Medina / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Magic are in a great spot for a .500 team bounced from the playoffs in five games. They have two tentpole stars in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, archetypal jumbo playmaking wings who are only 22 and 23 years old. They have maybe the NBA's best defensive guard in Jalen Suggs, also only 23. They have an identity built on size and toughness, and they've finished top three in defensive efficiency in each of the last two seasons.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>They dealt with a brutal spate of injuries this year - Wagner missed 22 games, Banchero 36, Suggs missed 47 plus the playoffs, and dynamic backup center Mo Wagner suffered a torn ACL 30 games in - and still had a strong finish to the regular season, a dominant play-in victory, and a respectable first-round showing against the defending champs. The entire rotation is under contract for 2025-26, with extensions set to kick in for Suggs and Franz Wagner and a max extension surely coming Banchero's way this summer.It's also abundantly clear what the Magic need to add in order to take the next step, which makes their path ahead relatively straightforward. They finished 27th in points per possession this season, with the third-worst relative offensive rating in franchise history. And we're talking about a franchise that's finished with a bottom-10 offense for 13 consecutive years. Injuries played a big part, but it's not like the Magic were built to scorch the nets even when fully healthy. Their 31.8% mark from 3-point range was the worst for any team since the 2015-16 Lakers (who won 17 games), and that sunk to 26.3% in the playoffs.Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was brought in to help fix that issue but instead had his worst shooting season in nine years. Wagner developed a hitch in his jumper and shot below 30% from deep for a second straight year. The Magic can hope for those guys to figure things out, but they can't bank on it. They must be aggressive in trying to bolster their offense.More than anything, they need a true lead guard. Banchero and Wagner are great playmakers for their positions, but not good enough to be tasked with the level of initiation they're currently carrying. Suggs has made meaningful strides on the other end, but he hasn't demonstrated the ball-handling or pull-up shooting chops to pilot an above-average offense. The Magic own all their own first-round picks, which they can package with some of their frontcourt depth to get the backcourt help they need. Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr., Mo Wagner, Goga Bitadze, Tristan Da Silva, Jett Howard, and even Anthony Black should all be on the table.They'd obviously love to find a creator/shooter who won't undercut their identity, but if they can't acquire that type of player, they'll still have the defensive infrastructure to absorb a small guard like, say, Trae Young. Or Anfernee Simons. Or Coby White. They should also have some maneuverability under the tax to add another piece using the MLE. Bottom line: The foundation of a contending team is in place. It's time to commit to finishing the house. - Joe Wolfond <h3>Detroit Pistons</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/cropped_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/w220xh124_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/w320xh180_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/w640xh360_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/w768xh432_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/775046/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2196399181.jpg?ts=1741887430 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Chris Schwegler / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>The Pistons took a monumental step forward this season, going from last-place laughingstock to legitimate playoff team on the rise. The biggest development was the emergence of 2021 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham as a genuine franchise star, giving Detroit the most important building block in constructing a contender.It's possible the Pistons fast-track their ascent with a win-now type of move, but my money's on the team leaning on internal improvement for now. That's not a bad strategy when Cunningham is surrounded by youngsters like Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, defensive big man Isaiah Stewart, and Marcus Sasser. Thompson in particular looks poised for a breakout with a little more seasoning, and I won't be shocked if he makes the kind of leap twin brother Amen did in Houston this year.However, it's worth noting that Cunningham, Duren, and Thompson were the only members of the Pistons' young core who earned valuable postseason rotation minutes during the team's first-round loss to New York (Stewart would have, but sat out Games 2-6 with a knee injury). Detroit relied on the contributions of veterans who won't be around long term, so it's possible the Pistons take a step back at some point rather than enjoying a linear ascent up the East standings.Of the team's three veteran free agents - Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schroder - Beasley's the most indispensable. The 28-year-old set a franchise record with 319 made 3-pointers this season, shooting better than 41% from deep for the second straight season while earning only $6 million. Beasley's in line for quite the raise, and priority one for the Pistons this summer is retaining him. Then they can start to think about a consolidation trade. - Joseph Casciaro<h3>Milwaukee Bucks </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/cropped_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/w220xh124_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/w320xh180_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/w640xh360_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/w768xh432_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782900/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2206954859.jpg?ts=1746203225 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jeremy Chen / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>There isn't a muckier team-building quagmire in the NBA than the one Milwaukee is mired in, nor is there a more fraught offseason ahead. The Bucks lost to the Pacers in the first round for the second straight year, but more consequentially, they lost Damian Lillard - not only for all of next season but likely for good as a star-caliber player. That basically leaves Giannis Antetokounmpo gazing at his barren surroundings like a "Fresh Prince" meme come to life.Who's the second-best player on this team now? Kyle Kuzma? AJ Green? Anyone else conceivably in the mix for that backhanded distinction is set to become a free agent. That includes 37-year-old center Brook Lopez, who's been a core piece of the team's identity throughout the Giannis era but just effectively got played out of the Pacers series. The mercurial Bobby Portis has a $13-million player option. Gary Trent Jr. is headed to free agency after nearly shooting the Bucks to a season-saving Game 5 win in Indiana before literally fumbling them out of it.There's no move that can salvage this for Milwaukee; the front office fired every last bullet in an effort to maximize Antetokounmpo's prime. And kudos to them, they won the franchise's first championship in 50 years, but it's over now. The Bucks have almost no young talent, don't control any of their own picks (first or second-rounders) from now until 2031, and owe 35% of their salary cap to a player who won't touch the floor next season. Even if they let Lopez walk, renounce all their other cap holds, have Portis decline his player option, and Jedi mind-trick Pat Connaughton into declining his, they won't have the cap space to bring in meaningful help. All of which is to say: No team's trading anything of substance for anything on this roster ... other than Antetokoumpo. And as depressing as it may be for the Bucks organization and fan base to consider the nuclear option - especially considering they don't have a path to getting their own picks back for tanking purposes - there's no other way out of this corner. Having Giannis fritter away another precious prime season or two in a hopeless situation, while getting closer to free agency and thus diminishing his trade value, won't do anyone any good.It's time for both parties to move on. All that's left to determine is how big a haul Milwaukee can bring back in what should be an insane bidding war, and whether that return will be enough to bridge the franchise to a new era with a shred of hope. - Wolfond<h3>Miami Heat</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/cropped_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/w220xh124_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/w320xh180_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/w640xh360_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/w768xh432_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625482/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1758800173.jpg?ts=1746203279 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Issac Baldizon / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Between the advantage and lure of South Beach, plus team president Pat Riley's superstars-or-bust mantra, the Heat operate in a different stratosphere than most other NBA teams, for better or worse.The average club may look at the pile of mediocrity left amid the rubble of the Jimmy Butler era and decide it's time to hit the reset button, but the Heat aren't your average team. Miami's surely eyeing starry free-agent classes in 2026 and 2027, with Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo serving as solid supporting cast members for the next leading man who wants to call Dade County home. But that still leaves the 2025-26 season to figure out.The Heat could get in the mix for the next disgruntled star eyeing a sunnier destination, but they simply don't have the goods to outbid more asset-rich competitors (unless a rival GM gets a case of the Nico Harrisons and decides to negotiate exclusively with them). The likeliest outcome is the Heat mostly run it back next season in what amounts to a bridge year before it's time to hit the gas again.As presently constructed, the Heat once again project as a play-in caliber team (as they've been for the last three years), no matter how much head coach Erik Spoelstra squeezes out of another overmatched squad. - Casciaro

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31171109/related

What's next? Where the East's 1st-round outs go from here

They say styles make fights, and that's rarely more evident than it is during playoff basketball....

They say styles make fights, and that's rarely more evident than it is during playoff basketball. For proof, look no further than the thrilling first-round series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, which the T-Wolves lead 3-1 after a nail-biting Game 4 win.Countless plot points have emerged in the series - Anthony Edwards' latest superstar turn, Julius Randle's redemption arc, the heroic shotmaking of Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels, LeBron James still playing elite back-line defense at age 40, JJ Redick shrinking his rotation to an extent that would make Tom Thibodeau envious - but almost all of those developments tie back to the stylistic clash at the heart of this matchup: the very different ways the two teams are constructed, and the ways their respective constructions are forcing or allowing them to play at either end of the floor.The differences mainly come down to size, depth, defensive acumen, and, by extension, lineup and schematic flexibility - distinctions that basically all favor Minnesota. The hope for L.A. coming into the series was that the combined scoring and shot-creating prowess of James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves would be enough to overcome any inherent matchup disadvantages. That hope wasn't unfounded; the Lakers entered the fourth quarter of Game 4 with a 10-point lead, 12 minutes away from reclaiming home-court advantage in what would've become a best-of-three.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Instead, they'll have to win three straight elimination games against a hungry and dialed-in opponent. But the T-Wolves certainly aren't out of the woods yet, and you can never count out a team with James and Doncic at the reins. So, let's look at how the series ended up here and what the Lakers are up against as they look to claw their way back.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/cropped_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/w220xh124_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/w320xh180_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/w640xh360_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/w768xh432_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783290/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2211796477.jpg?ts=1746022595 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / Getty</figcaption></figure>Before the playoffs, I <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3267708" href="https://thescore.com/news/3267708">wondered</a> which style would win out when a T-Wolves team that likes to play multiple bigs went up against a Lakers team that frequently plays none. I also wondered how short a leash Minnesota would have on its biggest player, Rudy Gobert, if this matchup proved challenging for him. We've gotten some interesting answers to those questions.The Lakers, for their part, decided very early on that they couldn't trust their lone big man in Jaxson Hayes. They've played him 31 total minutes across the first four games of the series and have been outscored by 17 points in those minutes. They've been center-less the rest of the time, with James and/or Dorian Finney-Smith serving as their nominal five.In spite of that, the T-Wolves are shooting just 53.6% inside the restricted area, which ranks <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/shots?season=2024&amp;seasontype=playoffs&amp;start=10/1/2024&amp;end=10/15/2025#tab-offense_shooting_accuracy">dead last</a> among all playoff teams. That's a credit to the work James has done as a sweeper on the back line. He's held Minnesota to 36.4% at the rim when he's in the vicinity, second to only Draymond Green among players contesting at least five rim shots per game in the playoffs, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4745#tab-shooting_frequency">NBA Advanced Stats</a>.It's really been a full team effort, though. Ever since trading Anthony Davis for Doncic, the Lakers have had to rely on rim protection by committee, making up for their lack of one true anchor with the sheer volume of bodies they jam onto the strong side of the floor. They switch almost every screen, aiming to flatten out opposing offenses and willing to live with a bad matchup as long as they have layers of help waiting behind it. While that's worked well to limit the damage at the rim in this series, it's also led to them conceding a lot of clean catch-and-shoot threes, with Minnesota canning 45.8% of them.The Timberwolves also have a 35% offensive rebound rate, and they're winning the overall possession battle by about five shooting possessions per game. And it's not like they're just doing that with their jumbo frontcourts; Gobert's averaging only 26 minutes because of his complete inability to utilize his height advantage at the offensive end. The bigger story is that Minnesota's been much better than L.A. at playing small. The Randle-Reid frontcourt has outscored the Lakers by 14.6 points per 100 possessions across 70 minutes, per <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612750&amp;Season=2024-25&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;PlayerIds=203497,1629675,203944">PBP Stats</a>.The T-Wolves' defense has allowed about three fewer points per 100 possessions with Gobert <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612750/onoffcourt-advanced?dir=D&amp;sort=NET_RATING">on the floor</a>, but their offense has scored about nine fewer points per 100 with him out there. They've still won his minutes because of how stout he's been on the glass and in ball-screen coverage, which really speaks to the options coach Chris Finch has at his disposal. Where Finch can mix and match personnel and scheme as the situation dictates, the Lakers don't have much choice but to play the way they're playing. (Though Redick surely could've found a couple minutes to squeeze in a sixth or seventh man in the second half of Game 4.)<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/cropped_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/w220xh124_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/w320xh180_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/w640xh360_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/w768xh432_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783291/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2212030306.jpg?ts=1746022691 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Berding / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>All of which brings us to Edwards and Doncic. There's been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6320037/2025/04/29/anthony-edwards-luka-doncic-brandin-podziemski-tyrese-haliburton-discussionnba-playoffs/?campaign=13379903&amp;source=athletic_targeted_email&amp;userId=11755">a lot of talk</a> about how the two No. 1 options have performed relative to one another, a particularly juicy storyline given that Doncic's Mavericks eliminated Edwards and the T-Wolves in last year's West finals. One thing that really stands out is that Edwards is averaging more assists than Doncic despite the latter being a vastly superior passer. And that can't only be chalked up to Edwards' teammates making more shots.For one thing, he's delivered more assists to the rim than Doncic has. For another, the two are virtually even in potential assists, with Doncic holding a tiny 10.5 to 10.3 edge, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing?SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=POTENTIAL_AST">NBA Advanced Stats</a>. (Doncic averaged 13.4 during the regular season, compared to Edwards' 8.4.) Tack on the fact that Edwards has just six turnovers in the series while Doncic has 18, and it's hard to dispute the fact that Edwards has been the more effective playmaker.Of course, nothing on an NBA court happens in a vacuum, and you can't separate those numbers from the type of defense each player is facing. Edwards, for example, is starting games with Reaves as his primary defender, while Doncic has to deal with the octopus-armed McDaniels. Knowing the Lakers are switching everything, Edwards can basically pick out any matchup he wants, with better options to choose from than Doncic has. He's been particularly cruel to Doncic himself, torching him for 39 points on 15-for-25 shooting with six assists and zero turnovers, according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1630162/head-to-head?Matchup=Offense&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=PLAYER_PTS">NBA.com's matchup data</a>. So, while Edwards' poise as a decision-maker in this series is a monumental development, the real separator in a star-versus-star comparison would be that he's been a major component of his team's ironclad defensive unit, while Doncic has been a weak link who's been targeted and exploited.Because the Lakers are less concerned with who's guarding the ball than with who's helping in the gaps away from it, they've been too content to concede switches with Doncic and Rui Hachimura. It's either leading to high-value shots for Edwards or prompting overloads that lead to skip passes, kickouts, or lay-downs to guys like McDaniels, Reid, and Randle. Those guys are shooting a combined 12-for-25 from deep off of Edwards' passes. (Randle is also taking major advantage of L.A.'s switch-happy tendencies.)<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/cropped_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/w220xh124_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/w320xh180_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/w640xh360_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/w768xh432_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/783288/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2212036157.jpg?ts=1746022324 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Berding / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Edwards is playing smart, patient, and ruthlessly opportunistic basketball - sometimes attacking right away, sometimes probing with a live dribble or stringing out a double-team until a seam opens up. He isn't settling, but he isn't forcing anything either. His rim frequency is up from 26% in the regular season to <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4745#tab-shooting_frequency">33% in this series</a>, which is particularly impressive considering league-wide rim volume plummets in the postseason.He's shooting only 50% when he gets there because of all the traffic the Lakers are putting in front of the basket, but repeatedly collapsing the defense is still hugely benefiting Minnesota's offense, especially given the way he's passing the ball. His <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?PerMode=PerGame&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=DRIVES">drives are up</a> from 13.2 to 16.8 per game, and he's more than doubled his average number of assists out of those drives, from 1.1 to a league-leading 2.3. After running a negative assist-to-turnover ratio on drives during the regular season, he has a 3-to-1 ratio against the Lakers.The T-Wolves have the luxury of being more conservative in their coverages against Doncic, both because they have better individual rim protection and because they can trust most of their defenders to handle that matchup with minimal help. Also, contrary to the Lakers' soft-switching approach, McDaniels has fought pretty hard to get around screens and maintain his Doncic assignment.While they've mixed things up a lot, the Timberwolves have largely tried to play Doncic's pick-and-rolls two-on-two and his isolations straight up, even when that means leaving Gobert or Reid on an island. (Reid's been passable in those situations, while Gobert's been genuinely good.) They've essentially invited him to be a scorer, and, the generational scorer that he is, Doncic has taken them up on the invitation; he's averaging 30.8 points on 62% true shooting in the series. But the T-Wolves will happily live with that if they can keep limiting his impact as a passer.L.A.'s 5-out alignment has given Minnesota problems at times, most notably in Game 4 when Hachimura banged five threes with Gobert trying to get out to him. But Doncic is clearly missing the presence of a roll man. That alone accounts for a good portion of his assist drop-off. It also helps explain why the Lakers rank 14th out of 16 playoff teams in rim finishing after Doncic's Mavericks ranked third last postseason.Take it all together, and you have two teams and two superstars whose performances are being shaped by a stylistic tug-of-war. The T-Wolves have pulled the Lakers to the brink. Now let's see if the Lakers can pull themselves back.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31150352/related

How a stylistic tug-of-war is dictating Wolves-Lakers

All sports injuries are tough, but some of them feel crueler than others.   Watching Damian Lilla...

All sports injuries are tough, but some of them feel crueler than others. Watching Damian Lillard crumple to the floor and grab at his heel in Game 4 of his Milwaukee Bucks' first-round series against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, knowing what that type of noncontact injury entails, was particularly difficult to stomach. As he was helped off the court, it was hard not to think about everything that led up to that moment.There were all those years Lillard spent trying to lift so-so Trail Blazers teams to a higher purpose, putting up some of the best offensive seasons we've ever seen from a guard and hitting some of the <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/1762884">most iconic shots</a> in playoff history. He did this despite never sharing the court with another All-Star teammate after LaMarcus Aldridge left in 2015.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>There was the 2023 offseason when he finally decided, with his runway as an elite player shrinking, that it was time to maneuver his way to a more competitive situation.Then there was the trade that sent him to Milwaukee, which wasn't his preferred destination but paired him with by far the best teammate he's ever had. It seemed to offer the promise of championship contention in the twilight of his prime. His first season with the Bucks was choppy, as he <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2757879">struggled initially</a> to sync up with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court, dealt with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5857347/2024/10/22/damian-lillard-bucks-year-2/">personal challenges</a> off the court, and navigated all manner of coaching turmoil.He still managed to put up a huge first round against Indiana, which went for naught because Antetokounmpo sat out the series. Lillard himself missed multiple games with a strain in the same Achilles tendon he'd eventually tear.Lillard was better this season than last, and he and Antetokounmpo fine-tuned their two-man synergy. It still wasn't enough to make the Bucks championship contenders because the infrastructure around them continued to crumble. Brook Lopez, now 37, finally started to show his age. Khris Middleton couldn't stay healthy and was traded for an ineffectual Kyle Kuzma. The team's depth was nonexistent. Then Lillard developed a blood clot in late March that <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3251497" href="https://thescore.com/news/3251497">seemed certain</a> to end both his season and his team's.That he managed to return four weeks later from a condition that typically takes at least three months to fully treat was miraculous. That he did so only to suffer a career-altering injury five days later is devastating. We haven't seen the last of Lillard, but we've very likely seen the last of him as an All-Star-caliber player. He'll turn 35 this summer, and there's just no history of players his age coming back from Achilles tears and still playing like stars.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/cropped_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/w220xh124_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/w320xh180_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/w640xh360_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/w768xh432_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782861/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2212314331.jpg?ts=1745871174 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Stacy Revere / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Shooting is a resilient skill, and Lillard is one of the greatest shooters of all time. But his secret superpower has always been his driving ability, and the way he's been able to play the threat of his drive against the threat of his pull-up jumper. It's hard to imagine him being able to do that as effectively in the wake of this injury. The 2025-26 season is already a write-off. He'll be 36 when he next takes the court. Who knows what the Bucks will even look like by then.The franchise would've been in dire straits even if Lillard had made it through the playoffs unscathed, having relinquished control of all its own first- and second-round picks through 2030 for a win-now roster that looked unlikely to escape the first round anyway. Now, Milwaukee will be allocating 82% of the salary cap to one player actually on the court.There are no prospects in the pipeline ready to break out and pry the window back open. Lopez, who's been as foundational as anyone to the team's identity during the Giannis era, is about to become a free agent and is currently being played out of the Pacers series. It's well and truly over for this iteration of the Bucks.Loyalty has become nearly as central to Antetokounmpo's NBA persona as it was to Lillard's in Portland, but there comes a point at which even the most steadfast superstar sees the writing on the wall. Milwaukee has zero hope of contending next season without Lillard, and not much more hope of doing so with a compromised version of him after that.Antetokounmpo's commitment to the Bucks is admirable, and I'm usually not one to advocate for players demanding trades. But the cold reality is that any season he remains with the team from here on out will be a waste of one of the precious prime years remaining to him now that he's turned 30. And if he's looking for a cautionary tale about waiting too long to end a partnership that no longer has a future, he needn't look further than Lillard.It sucks to say this about Lillard, a guy who was often a refreshing voice during an era of superstar nomadism; a guy who once <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fygMo2TjQoA">said</a>, "Something that's missing in our league is the character and the fight and the passion and pride about not just the name on the back, but the name on the front." At this point, though, it's hard not to feel that Lillard was cheated a bit, and that his career deserved a more dignified second act than this.He wasn't a perfect player by any means and was sometimes the author of his own misfortune. His defensive deficiencies were part of the reason his teams were often capped with second-round ceilings. He also had some real playoff stinkers, including four straight rough showings from 2015 to 2018. But you could never lay too much blame at his feet given how thin his margin for error was.His Blazers teams peaked with a 2019 Western Conference finals berth, but Lillard kept pouring in monster production even as they failed to win a series thereafter. He had the best playoff performance of his career in 2021, featuring the <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/game_score.html">single best game score</a> of any postseason game ever, and the Blazers still lost to the Jamal Murray-less Nuggets in the first round. Two years later, he averaged over 32 points on nearly 65% true shooting - <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=1947&amp;qual=mp_per_g_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=30&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=0.645&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=ts_pct">one of five players</a> in NBA history to score that much on that level of efficiency - and Portland didn't even sniff the play-in.If those Blazers teams failed to live up to expectations, it was only because Lillard's unparalleled gifts as a pick-and-roll operator set the expectations higher than they should've been in the first place. He spent his prime years adding layers to his game and meticulously honing his craft, all while hoping for a championship-caliber cast of teammates that never materialized. Then, when he finally got a chance to team up with a Grade-A superstar, everything went to hell.Here's hoping that, against the odds, there's a more heartening final chapter to his career still waiting to be written. Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31132511/related

Damian Lillard's career deserved a better 2nd act

When Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac checked out with a little over four minutes remaining in the f...

When Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac checked out with a little over four minutes remaining in the first quarter of Thursday's Game 3, their Los Angeles Clippers trailed the Denver Nuggets 24-19. By the time they checked back in to start the second, the Clippers turned that deficit into a seven-point lead.L.A. finished the opening frame on a 16-4 run despite Nikola Jokic playing the whole quarter for Denver. The Clippers never looked back, running away with a 117-83 win to take a 2-1 lead in the blockbuster first-round series.Leonard was merely very good in the game, as opposed to being a transcendental specter floating above the court and tossing in line-drive middies from the astral plane, like he was in Game 2. He scored 21 points on 20 shooting possessions and dished six assists as the Nuggets shaded aggressive help in his direction. The Clippers still made their opponents look totally overmatched, because everyone around Leonard picked up the slack and because their defense held the league's fourth-ranked offense to 92.2 points per 100 possessions - its second-lowest mark of the season.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The initial run that gave the Clippers control was led primarily by James Harden. During that Leonard-less stretch at the end of the first quarter, he went 4-for-4 on scoring attempts against Jokic in the pick-and-roll, splashing three pull-up threes and finishing a snaking drive with a layup. But that run was also enabled by Nic Batum and Ben Simmons, the bench guys who subbed in for Leonard and Zubac.Simmons gamely took on the Jokic assignment, drawing a charge in one instance and in others simply standing up Jokic long enough for late help to arrive. As usual, Simmons didn't even try to score himself, but he set great screens for Harden, came up with a steal and a block, and generally looked the part of a competent backup center. The Clippers won his nine minutes by nine points.The 36-year-old Batum somehow looked fresh as a daisy, and he was everywhere on defense, cooling off Aaron Gordon after a hot start while also making massive help plays around the rim. Batum sprung timely double-teams on Jokic, was in the lane to force kickouts on drives, blocked a pair of layups while zoning up the weak side, and even blew up a Jokic lob attempt while sprinting back in transition. At the other end, Batum shot 4-of-6 from deep, eluding closeouts with his patented no-dip threes. He wound up playing 27 minutes and finished plus-23, second only to Harden for the game.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/cropped_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/w220xh124_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/w320xh180_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/w640xh360_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/w768xh432_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782504/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2211367977.jpg?ts=1745643682 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Matthew Stockman / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>What was particularly notable about that pair's contributions was the fact they ranked ninth and 10th in minutes per game among Clippers players who finished the season with the team. L.A.'s ability to get productive minutes out of guys that deep in the rotation stood in stark contrast to Denver, which got a total of six points on 2-for-14 shooting from its bench in Game 3.Jokic is the best player in the series, Jamal Murray has played about as well as you could've hoped coming off a late-season hamstring injury, and Gordon has played his role to near perfection at both ends. But the Nuggets are going to be hard-pressed to win this series - especially with Michael Porter Jr. nursing a sprained shoulder - against a team that can almost match them for top-end talent while sending different varieties of role players at them in waves.This was the Clippers' vision when they opted to let Paul George walk in the offseason and build out their rotation around Leonard and Harden, adding defensive-minded role players like Batum, Kris Dunn, and Derrick Jones Jr. Dunn's been a monster on defense all season, and especially in this series. He's not only hounding Murray up and down the court while dodging screens left and right, he's also giving Jokic trouble with instinctual digs and proactive weak-side rotations. He's done just enough on offense (by shooting 5-of-13 from deep) to stay on the court for extended minutes. When he comes out, Jones Jr. fills the same role. And when the Clippers need an offensive spark off the bench, they can turn to Bogdan Bogdanovic.Bogdanovic hasn't gotten anything going in this series, yet he still commands enough respect as a shooter to draw two to the ball and create buckets for others. No one on Denver's bench can bend the defense that way. At all.All told, the Clippers won the 3-point battle by a score of 54-21, which has been a common problem for the Nuggets this season. L.A. almost never has more than one shaky-shooting perimeter player on the floor at a time, whereas Denver often has three. Even with Gordon stepping up early in Game 3<a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&amp;CFPARAMS=&amp;ContextMeasure=FG3M&amp;EndPeriod=0&amp;EndRange=28800&amp;GameID=0042400173&amp;PlayerID=203932&amp;RangeType=0&amp;Season=2024-25&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;StartPeriod=0&amp;StartRange=0&amp;TeamID=1610612743&amp;flag=3&amp;sct=plot&amp;section=game"> as the movement 3-point shooter</a> <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/rip-dho-6b36f142cf21">in one of their pet plays</a>, it didn't really change how the Clippers guarded him.They're still comfortable leaving him open to shrink the middle of the floor for Jokic and Murray, just as they're comfortable doing with Christian Braun and - to a much greater extent - Peyton Watson and Russell Westbrook. The Nuggets rely on Watson for his defense and athleticism, but they have a 75.8 offensive rating with him on the court in the series.Denver's been able to <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3203018" href="https://thescore.com/news/3203018">overcome these limitations</a> throughout the season thanks to Jokic's singular genius, but against a team as deep, talented, and well-prepared as L.A., those limitations are starting to feel too significant to conquer.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31100738/related

The Clippers' depth is overwhelming the paper-thin Nuggets

The 2025 playoffs are in full swing, and it's already given us plenty to digest. With each series...

The 2025 playoffs are in full swing, and it's already given us plenty to digest. With each series having completed two games, here are four observations from the first round.<h3>Clippers-Nuggets a battle of wills, defensive tactics</h3>The best series of the opening round has featured two contests decided by a grand total of five points, with each side taking one of them on the strength of a brilliant performance from its unique superstar. Nikola Jokic put up 29 points, nine rebounds, 12 assists, and three steals to lead Denver to a 112-110 overtime win in Game 1. Kawhi Leonard responded with a preposterous shooting display, scoring 39 points on 15-of-19 from the field (with just one of those attempts coming at the rim and five inside the paint) to carry L.A. to a series-tying 105-102 triumph in Game 2.While those two are the series' main characters, the fun of this matchup is seeing how the other pieces on the board interact with and respond to them. For Game 2, the Clippers devised and executed a solid game plan for slowing down Jokic as a roll man in his two-man actions with Jamal Murray, which burned L.A. (as they have so many other teams over the years) in Game 1. This time out, Jokic was consistently met with early, aggressive, high tags before his short roll could take him anywhere dangerous.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Here's Kris Dunn intercepting him from the high slot: <figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/cropped_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/w220xh124_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/w320xh180_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/w640xh360_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/w768xh432_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782071/w1080xh607_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.56.31_PM.jpg?ts=1745456264 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> TNT</figcaption></figure>And here's Leonard doing so after sprinting up from the corner: <figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/cropped_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/w220xh124_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/w320xh180_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/w640xh360_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/w768xh432_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782072/w1080xh607_Screenshot_2025-04-23_at_8.55.38_PM.jpg?ts=1745456275 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> TNT</figcaption></figure>You can see how crowded the paint is as the Clippers collectively shrink in off Denver's myriad non-shooters. As a result, Jokic attempted just eight 2-pointers after taking 20 in Game 1, and his elbow touches plummeted from 15 to four. He responded by popping to the 3-point line a lot more and starting more possessions with the ball in his hands. That was reflected in his average touch time, which went from 2.6 seconds in <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*joki&amp;DateTo=04/20/2025">Game 1</a> to 3.5 seconds in <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*joki&amp;LastNGames=1">Game 2</a> as the Clippers took away a lot of the quick-hitting stuff he and the Nuggets thrive on.The fact that he was able to counter by shooting 4-of-8 from deep and turning into more of a pick-and-roll ball-handler and drive-and-kick attacker is the reason he's Nikola freaking Jokic. But the Clippers also did a great job defending him in those scenarios, with Ivica Zubac deserving the lion's share of the credit. Jokic passed up a lot of the pick-and-pop 3-point looks L.A. conceded and committed seven turnovers while driving into traffic. He'll be prepared with more counters in Game 3, and I'd expect Denver as a team to be more dialed in with its weak-side cuts to punish the three-on-two pick-and-roll coverage.Meanwhile, after committing seven turnovers of his own in Game 1, Leonard decided he didn't want to bring a second defender his way unless it was an overly switch-happy Murray, who Leonard could subsequently attack in isolation. He seldom drew Jokic into the action by having Zubac screen, leaving that responsibility to James Harden, who's also been tremendous in the series. On that note, one important defensive counter from Denver in Game 2 was to try to keep Jokic out of Harden's pick-and-rolls by pre-switching and having him play a one-man zone on the back line.After getting burned in single coverage throughout the game, the Nuggets finally started throwing switch-doubles at Leonard late in the fourth, or just indiscriminately running a second defender at him 25 feet from the hoop. They'll probably go to that earlier in Game 3 if Leonard stays hot. And even though Leonard gave Aaron Gordon buckets just like everyone else, Denver needs to work harder to maintain that matchup.Ultimately, there's no coverage these stars haven't seen and can't dissect. The razor-thin margins of this series hinge not only on their dueling shot-making genius but also on how well they and their respective teams can problem-solve for each other on the fly.<h3>A familiar problem for KAT </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/cropped_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/w220xh124_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/w320xh180_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/w640xh360_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/w768xh432_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782103/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2211353026.jpg?ts=1745464083 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Al Bello / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Stop me if you've heard this before: A playoff opponent is using a wing to defend Karl-Anthony Towns while sticking a big on one of his non-shooting teammates, and Towns is struggling to assert himself offensively as a result. It's a phenomenon that dates back at least <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2344343">four postseasons</a>. And, as ever, it's an issue that falls partly on Towns and partly on his teammates and coaches.Much credit is also owed to the Detroit Pistons' <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3241332" href="https://thescore.com/news/3241332">vastly improved defense</a>, which bottled up Towns and his New York Knicks en route to a 100-94 Game 2 win that sent them home with a hard-earned split. In that contest, Towns went scoreless with no assists in the second half. He attempted just three shots after halftime, the last one coming midway through the third quarter.The Pistons had Tobias Harris on Towns, working hard to deny him deep position on his catches and never straying too far from him when he set ball screens for Jalen Brunson. Detroit also had 6-foot-7 menace Ausar Thompson guarding Brunson much of the time, so switching didn't gift Towns much of an advantage, either. That's always been the best way to neutralize Towns as a pick-and-pop threat. And because the Pistons' centers were guarding Josh Hart, that's who Brunson often used as his screening partner down the stretch, while Towns spotted up at the 3-point line or hung out in the dunker spot.That's a sensible approach to any individual possession, but when it amounts to your second-best (at worst) offensive player being completely sidelined for an entire half, something needs to change. Even in a much more assertive Game 1 performance, Towns' 15.7% usage rate was his lowest in any contest this season. In the second half of Game 2, it was 7%. Brunson's, by comparison, was 46%. Though Brunson was the only Knick finding any rhythm against Detroit's defense - and Towns struggled to make his infrequent touches count - that imbalance plays into the Pistons' hands. It's strange the Knicks weren't better prepared for this coverage, considering opponents have been guarding them this way <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3195631" href="https://thescore.com/news/3195631">all season</a>.I don't think the answer is necessarily to force-feed Towns more post touches; having a center roaming off Hart and ready to help on the back side makes that difficult. But there are other ways to keep Towns involved in the offense, even when Detroit is scheming to take him out of it. The Knicks could run more action through him at the elbow or sprinkle in more inverted pick-and-rolls with Brunson screening (they had success on the rare occasions they ran those in Game 2). They could also get Towns in motion as a cutter or have smalls set flare screens and corner pindowns to catapult him into space or force even smaller defenders to switch onto him.Again, a lot of that is contingent on Towns staying engaged and finding other entry points when his bread-and-butter play types are taken away. As heretical as this might sound to Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, it also might be worth scaling back Hart's minutes to see if playing Deuce McBride in his place can open up the offense a bit more.<h3>Healthy Bucks still can't keep up with Pacers</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/cropped_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/w220xh124_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/w320xh180_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/w640xh360_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/w768xh432_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782105/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2150434441.jpg?ts=1745464239 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Dylan Buell / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>It was encouraging to see Damian Lillard make a surprisingly quick return from deep vein thrombosis to suit up for Milwaukee in Game 2 against Indiana on Tuesday night. In addition to the implications for his health, Lillard's presence makes the series more interesting.The Bucks were drawing dead without him, starved for any kind of secondary offensive creation that could aid Giannis Antetokounmpo in his Sisyphean endeavor. And though he shot poorly and didn't score a ton, Lillard did help their offense with his pull-up gravity and ability to dribble the ball into the teeth of the Pacers' defense.The thing is, Lillard's return also aided Indiana's offense quite a bit. The Pacers were ruthless in how they targeted him, both on and off the ball. When they weren't attacking him directly on switches, they were attacking the space he conceded while trying to peel out to the corner to avoid getting stuck switched onto a big man:<figure class="article-segment--embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Bucks are trying to switch actions then scram switch Lillard out of mismatches and the Pacers are just all over them and timing things perfectly. First one they get Toppin backdoor for a dunk, second easy corner kickout to Nesmith for 3. Pacers are just hammering them. <a href="https://t.co/L99brg9Bwa">pic.twitter.com/L99brg9Bwa</a>— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/1914840648806752768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></figure>Milwaukee had a 130.3 defensive rating with Lillard on the floor in the 123-115 loss, and Indiana shot 9-of-12 from the field with him as the primary defender, according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/203081/head-to-head?dir=D&amp;sort=MATCHUP_FGA">NBA.com's matchup data</a>. That data can be wonky, but it matches the eye test perfectly in this case.The Bucks managed to make Game 2 somewhat competitive with a late push powered by Antetokounmpo's relentlessness, a healthy dash of zone, and an absolute flurry from Bobby Portis. Milwaukee winning both games at home to level the series wouldn't necessarily be a surprise. But the Bucks actually pulling off the series win feels like a stretch, given how old, slow, and unathletic they look in the face of the Pacers' rip-roaring tempo, ball movement, and shooting.Lillard wasn't the only one getting picked on. Despite blocking four shots, Brook Lopez played only 16 minutes because of how sluggish and exploitable he was in ball-screen coverage. Kyle Kuzma got put on skates anytime he switched onto Tyrese Haliburton. Even Antetokounmpo hasn't had much fun trying to track Pascal Siakam in space.Last year, Indiana benefited by playing a badly banged-up Milwaukee squad that was without Antetokounmpo for the whole series, eking by in six games. This time around, the Pacers look like the much better team. It's been a steady march for the Bucks to this place. Even at full strength, it feels like they just don't have the juice.<h3>Playoff mudball</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/cropped_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/w220xh124_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/w320xh180_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/w640xh360_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/w768xh432_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/782106/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2211013687.jpg?ts=1745464623 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Juan Ocampo / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>If you've been watching the postseason and thinking that the brand of basketball looks a lot different than it did during the regular season, your eyes aren't deceiving you. These games are slower, more physical, more defense-oriented, and altogether grimier than before the festivities kicked off last weekend.Offensive rating is down from 114.5 during the regular season to 112.7 through this first batch of playoff games, per <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2025.html">Basketball-Reference</a>. Pace has seen a particularly steep decline, from an average of 98.8 possessions per 48 minutes to 92.7, which is fewer possessions than you'd see in an average regular-season contest in 1999-2000. Transition frequency has dipped from 15.2% to 13.2% of all possessions.Offensive rebound rate is up. Free-throw attempt rate is down. With referees swallowing their whistles more, scoring has become particularly difficult around the rim. During the regular season, teams took 31.2% of their shots inside the restricted area and hit 66.3% of them, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/shots?season=2024&amp;seasontype=playoffs&amp;start=04/19/2025&amp;end=10/15/2025#tab-offense_shooting_accuracy">Cleaning the Glass</a>. In the playoffs, that frequency has dropped to 26% (with all of those shots being moved back to floater or mid range), while the accuracy has slipped to 63.7%. In short, these games are in the mud.There's validity to gripes about the regular-season product from those who prefer the aesthetics of playoff ball, but I'd argue this is how things are supposed to be. Nothing about this would be sustainable over 82 games. The playoffs are supposed to look and feel different. They're supposed to demand a different level of focus, physicality, skill, and resilience. That's what sets this time of year apart. That's what makes it special. We'll see how all this plays out over the next two months. For now, the slog is on. Let's get muddy.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31073517/related

4 major observations from the NBA's 1st round

NBA players and teams all come into each season with their own set of internal and external expec...

NBA players and teams all come into each season with their own set of internal and external expectations. Everyone is chasing the same goal, but different circumstances produce drastically different stakes. Playoff runs and championship chases aren't created equal.Here are the players and teams who are under the greatest pressure to deliver - the ones who stand to gain or lose the most - this postseason. <h3>Oklahoma City Thunder </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/cropped_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/w220xh124_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/w320xh180_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/w640xh360_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/w768xh432_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754274/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2176977444.jpg?ts=1744909335 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Zach Beeker / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Some Thunder players are under more pressure than others this spring. For example, while MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has already proven his worth on some of the game's biggest stages, secondary stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren must show they're ready to serve as championship-level No. 2s. But I went with the team as a whole because franchises don't get better chances to win a title than the opportunity staring Oklahoma City in the face.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Sure, the Thunder are seemingly built to last, with a perfectly fitting young star trio and one of the league's most enviable collections of draft capital. But OKC doesn't need to be <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/OKC/2012.html">reminded</a> that sometimes a team's first real chance at a title ends up being its best chance - or its only chance.The Thunder finished 16 games ahead of the second-place Rockets in the Western Conference standings, becoming just the seventh team in the NBA's 79-year history to win at least 68 games. The last three to do so all made the Finals. No team has ever posted a better point differential, and the historic teams that own the second- through fifth-best point differentials all won championships. They have a top-tier superstar in his absolute prime and own the best league-adjusted defense of the last five years. They have home-court advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs. The time is now.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="High achievers" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-mdgje" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mdgje/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="386" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}();
</script></figure>That point is magnified by the fact that the small-market Thunder will soon get mighty expensive in an <a href="https://www.thescore.com/news/2940429">apron</a> world, with Williams and Holmgren eligible for extensions this summer. - Joseph Casciaro <h3>Cavaliers' core 4</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/cropped_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/w220xh124_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/w320xh180_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/w640xh360_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/w768xh432_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781077/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2206765602.jpg?ts=1744909497 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brian Sevald / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Individually, every member of the Cavs' main quartet has had nice playoff moments. Darius Garland was a bright spot in an otherwise ugly first-round loss to the Knicks in 2023. Donovan Mitchell has produced some monster series over the years, and he almost single-handedly dragged Cleveland through a first-round war against Orlando last year. The lights didn't prove too bright for Jarrett Allen in that Magic series, though he was sidelined with a rib injury after four games. Evan Mobley showed out in the ensuing second-round series against Boston, especially after Mitchell joined Allen on the shelf.Collectively, though, this group has been a major postseason disappointment. Cleveland's core four has been tentative, skittish, and physically overwhelmed on this stage. That Celtics series turned out to be a write-off, but the Cavs should've been more competitive against the Knicks and should've had a much easier time dispatching the Magic. You can blame inexperience for what happened two years ago and injuries for what happened last year, but there are no excuses this time around.The Cavs just won 64 games and cruised to the East's No. 1 seed with a top-20 net rating in NBA history. Offense was their big playoff bugaboo the last two years, but they led the league on that side of the ball this season and ranked 16th all time when adjusting for era. Mobley made a big offensive leap and might win Defensive Player of the Year. Garland has clearly put last year's jaw injury behind him and is back to playing like an All-Star. Mitchell has a shot to make All-NBA first team. Allen has been rock-solid in the middle and played in all 82 games after being questioned by teammates for sitting out last spring. And they finally have an ideal big wing to slot between them, De'Andre Hunter.They have an easy first-round matchup against Atlanta/Miami that they should take care of in five games or fewer. Then they'll face a tougher but still winnable series against Indiana or Milwaukee. Anything less than a competitive conference finals loss to the Celtics will feel like a letdown for a team that <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3267849" href="https://thescore.com/news/3267849">ticks every box</a> as a championship contender. If the Cavs fall short of that, after the regular season they just had, the noise surrounding this core's playoff viability will get extremely loud. - Joe Wolfond <h3>Karl-Anthony Towns </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/cropped_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/w220xh124_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/w320xh180_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/w640xh360_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/w768xh432_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/777425/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2206500013.jpg?ts=1744910800 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David L. Nemec / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Few roles come with more pressure than that of Knicks savior. You could argue Jalen Brunson actually shoulders that responsibility, or point out that New York surrendered more to acquire Mikal Bridges. But Towns - a tri-state area native - was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle, the finishing touch on a contender years in the making.Towns delivered in his first season with the Knicks, averaging 24.4 points and a career-high 12.8 rebounds on 63% true shooting, putting him in contention for a third career All-NBA selection. But the regular season (and offensive production) has never been an issue for Towns. The postseason is where his demons reveal themselves, and this time, they'll be waiting for him next to the many ghosts that have haunted the Knicks over the decades since their last championship in 1973.For New York to end its 52-year title drought and for Towns to silence his critics - which it appeared he'd done in leading Minnesota over Denver last year before unraveling in the West final - he'll have to avoid the rushed offense, sketchy decision-making, and jittery, foul-happy defense that's plagued his postseason career.The Knicks' defense has been better since center Mitchell Robinson returned to the lineup, but he's unlikely to start, meaning there'll still be plenty of minutes for New York to survive with Towns at the five. That could be a problem, as The Big Bodega has neither the footwork to defend in space nor the track record of a rim-protector. - Casciaro<h3>Julius Randle </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/cropped_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/w220xh124_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/w320xh180_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/w640xh360_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/w768xh432_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/781082/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2179617980.jpg?ts=1744910960 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Icon Sportswire / Getty</figcaption></figure>There are a lot of reasons why the Timberwolves haven't performed as well this season as they did last, and why they might not go as deep in the playoffs. But considering how little else about their roster has changed, here's the one people are most likely to glom onto if things go poorly: Last year, the Wolves started Towns at power forward and reached the conference finals; this year, they start Randle at the four and might get bounced in the first round.That's obviously unfair to Randle, who's been adaptable and mostly very good in Minnesota. But it's the reality of the position he was put in when he got traded for Towns, a pillar of Minnesota's best team in 20 years. I'd argue Randle has even more to prove; Towns at least has two gold stars on his postseason resume after how he played in series wins over Phoenix and Denver last year. There's no way to sugarcoat Randle's two playoff appearances with the Knicks. He shot 39% from 2-point range and 28% from deep across 15 games, with more turnovers than assists. It was an abject disaster for a guy named All-NBA in both seasons.The Wolves badly need regular-season Randle to show up to have a hope of knocking off the Lakers in the first round. They need the guy who committed to moving the ball, making quick decisions, and defending with focus <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3242001" href="https://thescore.com/news/3242001">in the second half of the season</a>, not the one who holds the ball and jab-steps and loses track of his defensive assignment. If they get the former, they can beat L.A. and put themselves in position to return to the West finals.The Lakers' interior defense is vulnerable, and Randle is the type of driver and finisher who can exploit that vulnerability - if he's intentional about it. JJ Redick's defensive scheme will bend heavily toward Anthony Edwards, and more than anyone else, Randle will be relied upon to capitalize. Oh yeah, he'll also start out as the primary defender on LeBron James. No pressure. - Wolfond<h3>Jimmy Butler </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/cropped_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/w220xh124_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/w320xh180_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/w640xh360_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/w768xh432_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/780755/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2201633035.jpg?ts=1744911033 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Butler has nothing left to prove as a playoff performer. He's the ultimate big-game player, with multiple Finals runs in Miami where he dragged inferior teams to the brink of championships to prove it. But he hasn't won the whole darn thing yet, and he's burned bridges at every stop along the way of his Hall of Fame career, using chaos as leverage in plotting each departure. Butler once again got his way in landing with the Warriors, and he got paid, with Golden State tethering his contract to those of franchise pillars Steph Curry and Draymond Green.Butler appears on this list because of what he represents for the Warriors. He was brought to The Bay to extend Golden State's championship window and maximize what's left of Curry's career. Butler's in-between game, off-ball activity, playmaking, and general basketball IQ are precisely what the Warriors needed in their quest for a secondary star. And the way he elevated the Warriors during the regular season - plus his impressive performance in Tuesday's play-in victory - indicates he's up to the task. But he's 35 years old, can sometimes be too passive offensively, and not quite what he once was defensively.The Warriors need Butler fully engaged and at his best just to get out of the first round, let alone to win a fifth title in 11 years. It's time for Butler to write a new ending - to prove once and for all that he's been worth every headache over the last decade, and every dollar of his new $113-million extension. - Casciaro <h3>LA Clippers </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/cropped_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/w220xh124_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/w320xh180_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/w640xh360_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/w768xh432_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/610436/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1851382594.jpg?ts=1744911253 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Harry How / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>The Clippers have already exceeded expectations by winning 50 games and nabbing a top-five seed, so they're arguably under less pressure now than they were in previous postseasons during the Kawhi Leonard era. In many people's minds, their window had already closed. That said, these guys aren't exactly playing with house money. This is still a win-now team with aging stars, major injury risks, and limited long-term upside.As gracefully as the Clippers pivoted from letting Paul George walk (and boy, was I <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2934216" href="https://thescore.com/news/2934216">wrong about that decision</a>), there are no moral victories for a franchise that's relinquished control of all its own first-round picks between now and 2030. And while the mid-career leaps from 28-year-old Ivica Zubac and 31-year-old Norm Powell have been heartening, it's not like the pipeline is bursting with exciting young talent. This may be the last best chance for the current iteration of the team to make a real run.Leonard is healthy and peaking at the right time, James Harden has put forth one more (perhaps final) great season at age 35, and the Clippers are entering the playoffs as one of the league's hottest teams, having won eight straight and 18 of their last 21. There'd be no shame in losing a second-round series to the Thunder, but L.A. should be favored in its first-round matchup against a Denver Nuggets team in disarray. The Nuggets have home-court advantage and the best player in the world, but the Clippers are deeper and have much better two-way balance.Adding to the sense of stakes is the fact that Denver's been something of a boogeyman for L.A. in recent years. The last time the Clippers got a healthy playoff run from Leonard, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray led a comeback from 3-1 down to bounce them from the bubble. Kawhi and Co. now have a chance to exorcise those demons and shed some serious psychic baggage. They can't afford to squander it. - Wolfond

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/31008821/related

Playoff pressure index: 3 teams and 3 players with the most to prove

https://rich-content.thescore.com/authors/joe-wolfond/content_cards

Joe Wolfond

Features Writer

https://rich-content.thescore.com/authors/joseph-casciaro/content_cards