
Sixers' Tyrese Maxey reacts to Thunder preparing for Timberwolves
Sixers' Tyrese Maxey reacts to Thunder preparing for Timberwolves
The final four teams in the NBA Playoffs are set after the Oklahoma City Thunder took care of the Denver Nuggets 125-93 in Game 7 on Sunday afternoon. The Thunder will now advance to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals as the two teams battle it out for a spot in the finals.
Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey, who has been watching the playoffs from home for the first time in his NBA career, has been active on Twitter throughout the postseason. The All-Star guard has gave his reactions to some of the games and on Sunday, he brought back an old tweet from earlier in the season.
Back on New Year's Eve, Maxey tweeted out his reaction to watching Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards as "good hoops". After the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets, Maxey brought back his old tweet with intrigue.
Maxey and the Sixers will be looking to get back in the postseason in the 2025-26 season. After a miserable year ravaged by injuries, the Sixers will be looking to bounce back in a big way when they take the court again in October.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How OKC Thunder gave Denver Nuggets hope in Game 6, 'most dangerous thing' in NBA Playoffs
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They were always going to come out and throw punches and haymakers tonight. Jamal Murray flexing to the crowd — you can see the emotion and energy that they were playing with.' The door of hope was thrust open as soon as the second quarter. Advertisement MUSSATTO: OKC Thunder needs more from Jalen Williams to oust Nuggets from NBA Playoffs in Game 7 DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 15: Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets greets fans after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-107 in Game Six of the Western Conference Second Round NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena on May 15, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. Inside the period, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams each picked up their third foul. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth. In all non-Game 2 performances this series — when he played 30 minutes in a blowout Thunder win — SGA has played at least 38 minutes. He played 35 on Thursday. Contact and time were his greatest enemies, a 32-point, six-assist night on 11-of-16 shooting to show for it. His fourth whistle was preventable, a swipe at Jokic after losing the ball. A handful of Jaylin Williams and Hartenstein's fouls stemmed from jumping near Jokic — who finished with an efficient 29 points and 14 boards, attempting 12 free throws — while he made his way to the rim in slow motion. Advertisement SGA and Hartenstein opened the half seemingly avoiding drivers underneath the rim like they were attempting to dodge a laser security system. 'We had some dumb fouls that we could've prevented,' Jaylin Williams told The Oklahoman. 'Nothing really changed. We just gotta be smarter with our contact.' And yet, OKC still found itself in the driver's seat after that: a 12-point lead with two minutes to play in the first half in a game where that kind of deficit felt worth a fortune. That lead was erased in those two minutes. With a pair of Christian Braun 3-pointers. With a steady flow of rim attempts from Denver. Advertisement CARLSON: OKC Thunder falls into cauldron of a Game 7 after failing to eliminate Denver Nuggets Belief seemingly coursed through Murray's bloodstream before Mucinex ever got the chance to. He began Thursday listed as questionable with an illness, something coach David Adelman apparently caught wind of earlier that morning. Murray finished the night with 27 points, seven assists and eight rebounds. He dazzled with marvelous shotmaking, without a jumper worth sneezing at. Perhaps the sideline was contaminated when he nearly crowd surfed at the end of the third quarter; he flexed and grimaced in their air space after a 10-second sequence saw him score a fastbreak layup and draw a pivotal foul to swing the end of the third. He wore the emotions of Denver's Game 6 push. But they all floated to the top with the way the Nuggets closed that third quarter. Advertisement If potential elimination games call for an unsung hero, Nuggets guard Julian Strawther was that. Twice in this series, Strawther played less than five minutes. Once he picked up a DNP. But Thursday, he pumped air into Denver's season. In just over a minute, he scored eight points: two 3s and a funky lob. Arson-worthy for the Denver faithful, migraine-inducing for a Thunder squad aiming to wipe its hands with this round. The Nuggets' lead went from three. To five. To eight. To 10. All in lung-crushing time. 'When halftime ends, you get 24 minutes to play your best, regardless of what just happened,' Daigneault said. 'We had that opportunity. So did they. They outplayed us in the second half.' 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He sat hidden behind his Thunder teammates while the final seconds dwindled, his towel wrapped over his head, his stare stuck on his process. Advertisement The Nuggets won and cheered, the Thunder swallowed defeat and filed to the back halls — all while Williams remained glued to the bench. Unsatisfied. Stuck like stone. 'I just hurt us tonight not making shots,' he said postgame. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder couldn't outplay hope. Now it's all they have. About as much as they can count on. The Thunder can scrape together three Game 7s between this core. Its eventful, historically great, record-shattering season depends on appearing as competent Sunday as it had through those 82 games. On shoving the idea that they're too prepubescent for the moment, the bright lights, down the throats of their detractors. Advertisement That's all they can believe in Sunday. 'Just gotta go for it,' Caruso said. 'There's no time to be timid. There's no time to second guess. You've gotta just throw your best punch and go for the win. That's probably gonna be our message. 'Do the things that we've done all year to be a great team and go for it.' Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@ or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Support Joel's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at Advertisement REPORT CARD: Thunder vs Nuggets grades: Julian Strawther, foul trouble spell trouble for OKC in Game 6 Game 7: Thunder vs. Nuggets TIPOFF: 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Paycom Center (ABC) This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder gave Denver Nuggets 'most dangerous thing' in NBA Playoffs


USA Today
33 minutes ago
- USA Today
Tyrese Haliburton embraces Pacers' underdog role against Thunder in 2025 NBA Finals
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(Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) Edmonton Oilers general Manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch speak to media during a news conference, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, ahead of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final series against the Florida Panthers. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) Edmonton Oilers general Manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch speak to media during a news conference, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, ahead of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final series against the Florida Panthers. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) during the third period of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Florida Panthers' Aleksander Barkov (16) skates over to accept the Prince of Wales Trophy following Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker) Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (C) and NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, right, pose with the Prince of Wales trophy at the end of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. They advance to the Stanley Cup finals. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) speaks to media during a news conference, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, ahead of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final series against the Florida Panthers. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) Edmonton Oilers general Manager Stan Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch speak to media during a news conference, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, ahead of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final series against the Florida Panthers. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers meet again in the Stanley Cup Final, a cross-continental showdown of the NHL's last teams left standing. The Panthers are aiming to be back-to-back champions, while Oilers captain Connor McDavid is looking to hoist the Cup for the first time in his dominant career. Game 1 is Wednesday night at Edmonton. Advertisement Here's a look at the series by the numbers: 11 This is the 11th rematch in the final in league history and the first since Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2009. Edmonton and the New York Islanders also had one in 1984. Each of those series saw the result flip from the previous year. The other two rematches since the expansion era began in 1967 were Montreal sweeps of Boston in 1977 and '78 and St. Louis in '68 and '69. 3 The Panthers are in the final for a third consecutive season, matching cross-state rival Tampa Bay's trio of trips from 2020-22. The Lightning won back to back on their first two runs, then lost their third to Colorado. Advertisement Since Paul Maurice was hired as coach and Florida acquired Matthew Tkachuk in a trade in the summer of 2022, the team has won 10 of 11 playoff series. 51 McDavid and longtime running mate Leon Draisaitl lead all scorers in the playoffs with 26 and 25 points, respectively. This is their seventh playoff run together and the sixth year in a row. Since their postseason debuts in 2017, McDavid has 143 points and Draisaitl 133, first and second of all players in that time. All that is missing is the Stanley Cup. 2.11 Sergei Bobrovsky has again backstopped the Panthers to the final, going 12-5 with a 2.11 goals-against average and .912 save percentage through three rounds. Advertisement Counterpart Stuart Skinner lost his starting job after allowing 11 goals in Games 1 and 2 of the first round and only got it back in the second when Calvin Pickard was injured. Since returning to the net, Skinner is 6-2 with a 1.73 GAA and a .931 save percentage. 2,543 The 2,543 miles (4,092 kilometers) between Sunrise, Florida, and Edmonton, Alberta, is — for the second year in a row — the longest distance between finalists in NHL history. It's a roughly six-hour flight each way for the teams, which will be especially challenging going back to western Canada for Game 5 without an extra travel day after Game 4. ___ AP NHL playoffs: and