Five NBA playoff storylines to watch this weekend. Plus, awards season is here!
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Hey, it's the 500th edition of The Bounce newsletter! One player scored exactly 500 points in their career. It's Timberwolves legend Reggie Jordan. Matt Maloney and Guerschon Yabusele have exactly 500 rebounds. Paul Mokeski and Donald Royal have exactly 500 assists. Scott Skiles has exactly 500 steals, Wayman Tisdale has exactly 500 blocks, and Michael Olowokandi has exactly 500 games played. Are those interesting facts? Probably not, but I looked them up.
Knicks, Clippers take control of their series
On Wednesday night, Jalen Brunson won Clutch Player of the Year. However, through the first two games of this series against the Pistons, the Knicks star was having a tough one. They were physical with him. They were knocking him around. And his play wasn't nearly as good or effective as his numbers. Maybe getting the actual Clutch award got him back on track.
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Game 3 was a whole lot of chaos between the Pistons and Knicks. They were pushing and trash talking and arguing with the refs all night. Big swings happened throughout the game. But through it all, Brunson was calm. He played the way we've seen from him in the past and expect of him in the present. He scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, with all 12 coming in the final 4:10 of the game. Ten of those came in the final 1:24 to close out a messy finish. And we almost had an incredibly controversial moment:
The Knicks took a 2-1 series lead with a 118-116 victory. Karl-Anthony Towns redeemed himself with 31 points, and the Knicks overcame a 24-point, 11-assist night from Cade Cunningham. Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨🚨 for Detroit.
Clippers christen Intuit Dome's first playoff game with win
The series between the Clippers and Nuggets has been the best series in the first week of the playoffs. This game didn't quite follow the greatness of the first two games. After the first quarter of Game 3, the Clippers obliterated the Nuggets.
They lit Denver up for 18 3-pointers on their way to a 117-83 victory to go up 2-1 in the series. Kawhi Leonard had 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. James Harden had 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds. And Nicolas Batum seemed to demolish every action the Nuggets wanted to do. How did the Clippers Wall try to psych out Nikola Jokić?
Thunder were mean to the Grizzlies as Morant got hurt
I don't know if the Grizzlies were set to give the Thunder a series when they were blowing them out in the first half of Game 3, but they were at least going to avoid being completely embarrassed. Scotty Pippen Jr. was having a career game, everything was clicking for Memphis and the Grizzlies were leading by as many as 29 points in the first half. Toward the end of the second quarter, a freak play happened on a fast break with Ja Morant that led to him exiting the game.
Lu Dort tried to recover to defend Morant, slipped on the turn and accidentally upended Morant as he was going for a dunk. He landed hard on his hip and was down for several minutes. He would eventually make his way to shoot free throws before exiting the game for good. Memphis took a 26-point lead into halftime.
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By the end of the third, it was down to an eight-point lead. Chet Holmgren had 16 of his 24 points in the third to help lead them back. Then, the Grizzlies spent much of the fourth quarter trying to get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his sixth foul, instead of just scoring in their offense. Alex Caruso terrorized them on defense, and the Thunder closed it out to complete the NBA's second-biggest comeback since 1997. The biggest was the Clippers coming back from down 31 to the Warriors in 2019. SGA was also involved in that game. OKC is up 3-0, and we don't know Morant's status for Game 4. Playoff Panic Meter: 🧹🧹🧹🧹 for Memphis.
Update on Warriors star's big fall
🏀 Good news. Jimmy Butler had an MRI, and there isn't any structural damage from his fall. Questionable for Game 3 with pelvic contusion.
🐜 Role model. David Aldridge has some great perspective on the words and image Anthony Edwards portrays. They matter, even if you don't want them to.
🗣️ Unforgettable. These five quotes from Nico Harrison will stick with Mavericks fans. Kyrie Irving's contract situation is interesting.
🏀 Adjustments! John Hollinger has adjustments for every series! How do the Wolves slow down Luka Dončić?
🤝 Bucks extension. The Bucks are keeping general manager Jon Horst around. He's getting a multiyear extension.
⚽ No Kidd'ing. Mavs coach Jason Kidd has joined the ownership group for Premier League club Everton. He even put a u in 'honored' in his statement.
🙏 Prayers for Alijah. Very scary reports about Alijah Arenas, a five-star USC recruit and son of Gilbert Arenas, getting in a car crash. Stable condition when hospitalized.
🎧 Tuning in. Today's NBA Daily discusses how the Pistons can get back into their series against the Knicks.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.
The story of the greatest players in NBA history.
Cavs' Mobley named NBA's best defender
Last night, the NBA gave out the Defensive Player of the Year award. It went to Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley. The other finalists were Warriors and one-time winner Draymond Green, and third-year guard for the Hawks, Dyson Daniels.
This was the closest DPOY race since Marcus Smart beat out Mikal Bridges by 55 voting points (15 first-place votes) in 2022. The closest DPOY race in recent memory was in 2015, when Kawhi Leonard beat out Green by 16 voting points despite having eight fewer first-place votes. This was how the voting broke down for the top three in this year's race:
I had Mobley first and Green second on my official ballot. However, Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Grizzlies was third on my ballot, which was really difficult to pick. For me, big men just have that greater responsibility, but Daniels was awesome this year. So were Amen Thompson and Dort. Mobley had the best season from start to finish, as he anchored Cleveland's defense.
Daniels led the NBA in steals with three per game, the first person to do that since Alvin Robertson in 1991. The lack of team success for Daniels hurt his chances of winning. Green had another great season, helping the Warriors finish seventh in defensive rating. However, he didn't really start making noise for the award until after the team took off due to the Butler trade.
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Mobley won it in just his fourth season in the NBA. He's the quickest to win it since Leonard won it in his fourth season in that 2014-15 race. Many thought 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama was the runaway favorite, before his deep vein thrombosis ended his campaign.
The NBA will announce the Hustle Award winner tonight. Yes, that's a thing. The media doesn't vote on it. The league just gives it out.
Five playoff storylines to watch
We've got three games tonight on the schedule to warm us up for some weekend playoff basketball. The Celtics are at the Magic (7 p.m. ET on ESPN, and on Fubo for free. Try here!), the Pacers are at the Bucks (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/NBA TV) and the Lakers are at the Wolves (9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN). Then, we've got four games on Saturday and four games on Sunday. Here are the five biggest storylines to track throughout the action.
1. Are the Lakers big enough? The Wolves took Game 1 in Los Angeles and then seemed just fine with their split as the Lakers were all over them in Game 2. Now that we're back in Minneapolis, we'll start to see which game was more telling about the series unfolding. Can the Lakers actually hang with the Wolves' size? Or are Edwards and the Wolves' frontline simply too large to keep this going?
2. Did Doc Rivers jinx the Bucks last month? Remember in late March when Rivers said he deserves credit for getting to three wins before his teams blew 3-1 leads in playoff series, and then bragged that the best coaches in history have been swept but his teams never have? Well, the Pacers seem to have the Bucks' number, and Indiana has the chance to do the funniest thing possible this weekend. By the end of Sunday, the brooms could be out against Milwaukee and Doc might have to revise that.
3. Is Leonard the best player in his series? OK, obviously Jokić is still the best. Duh. But Leonard has been unreal. It's reminding everybody of the dominance he had in 2019, except he's not dragging his leg. For years now, I've said his season should start Jan. 1 because his body simply can't handle a whole season anymore. His first game this season was Jan. 4. Look at how Aaron Gordon and the Nuggets have nothing for him.
4. The Knicks and Pistons really don't like each other. The first three games have been tight and contentious in this series. And the trash talk has been escalating. Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris and Dennis Schröder are jawing at the Knicks. The Knicks are giving it right back. And thankfully for New York, Isaiah Stewart isn't in uniform to make them physically pay. Game 4 on Sunday will have fireworks.
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5. Is Butler's tuchis OK? All eyes are on Butler's pelvic contusion (yes, I absolutely could've used better phrasing there) going into Saturday's Game 3 showdown between the Warriors and Rockets. This is the difference between the Warriors looking like contenders and playoff bottom-feeders. Houston can easily crack the code without him on the floor and leave the Chase Center faithful bummed out on the ride home.
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