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New York Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Do the Timberwolves fear the Thunder? 3 keys to winning West Finals matchup
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this date, 30 years ago, Mario Elie delivered the 'Kiss of Death' in Game 7 against the Suns. The Rockets broke a string of 20 straight home teams winning a Game 7. They also went on to win the NBA title as the lowest seed ever (No. 6) to win the title. Minnesota will now try to match that feat. The Timberwolves also have a foreign-born center. It's exactly the same thing. All season long, we've seen the Thunder overwhelm their opponents. While they answered questions about their clutch-time prowess against Denver, they also reminded everybody that things can get out of hand in the blink of an eye. Two of their wins over the Nuggets were by a combined 75 points (!!!). You kind of forget that level of dominance when you think about a seven-game series that felt like it was balanced the whole time. Advertisement Now, they face the Timberwolves, who were here a year ago. This time, it wasn't a struggle to get through to the conference finals. They smacked the Lakers around in five games. Then, they weren't really challenged by a Warriors squad missing Steph Curry for all but 13 minutes. Minnesota is fresh, ready and trying to prove it has learned from last year's Western Conference finals, when the Mavericks were simply too much. Have the Thunder learned enough from this experience to combine that with their regular-season dominance to move on to their first NBA Finals since 2012? Have the Wolves learned from last year's five-game loss to the Mavericks in order to leap into their first NBA Finals in franchise history? Let's preview the Western Conference finals! Shooting Stars The star power in this series resides in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards. We assume some time this week, the NBA might get around to announcing the MVP award. We double-assume that it will go to SGA. Edwards, while three years younger than his SGA, is trying to throw his name into the mix as a true contemporary. Over the last two seasons, SGA has put himself a cut above most of the league, but Edwards battling him toe-to-toe in this series – and even upsetting him by winning the series – would erase any doubt of them being on the same level. But it has to be proven. SGA has been nothing short of spectacular in this postseason run, thus far. The 3-point shot hasn't been there (29.3 percent), but everything else has been top notch: The flip side of that is Edwards' run through the playoffs. He injured his ankle when LeBron James rolled on it in the first round and tweaked it in the second round. But his postseason numbers have been close to brilliant, at 26.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists with 44.5/38.5/73.7 splits. Against OKC this season, Edwards wasn't as efficient or productive, though. He averaged 22.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists in four matchups, but his 36.4/31.6/82.9 splits weren't up to his usual production. With that being said, the Wolves and Thunder went 2-2 against each other, and both stars had big moments. Advertisement The beauty of this matchup is both star guards do it all. They'll both spend time defending each other. They'll both spend time dissecting defenders assigned to them. And they'll both be expected to deliver an NBA Finals berth. The turnover battle The Wolves are going to have to watch the turnovers in this series, more so than they did against Golden State last round. Minnesota was sloppy with the ball in the regular season, ranking 20th in turnover rate. There was a slight uptick in turnovers in the postseason, but that must subside against the Thunder. The latter are the best in the league at forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball. Minnesota will lose the turnover battle, but it can't get dominated in that category. In the Thunder's four-game sweep of the Grizzlies, they won the turnover battle. They won it by 46 in seven games against Denver. The Wolves turned the ball over 92 times in five games against the Warriors, after doing so 56 times against the Lakers in the same number of games. They have to eliminate the dumb mistakes. Keeping up on the perimeter The 3-point shot has completely left the Thunder during the playoff run so far. They're shooting 31.9 percent from deep in 11 games. SGA, Lu Dort and Jalen Williams are all under 30 percent in the postseason. That won't fly against Minnesota's defense. Minnesota gave up the sixth-lowest 3-point percentage (35.3) this season. That went to 35.1 percent against the Lakers and then 34.4 percent against the Warriors (remember, there was pretty much no Curry). The Wolves are great at defending the perimeter, so the Thunder have to regain their outside shooting touch to put pressure on a really good defense. Game 1 is tonight in OKC at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (You can also watch on Fubo for free!). We want to hear from you again! We have another poll for you, The Bouncers, to vote in to make your predictions for the Western Conference finals! We'll share your results for the Eastern Conference finals predictions below. Did WWE script Knicks-Pacers East finals? 💪 Royal Rumble. Wrestling paved the way for this year's East finals matchup. Grab a chair and brass knuckles! 🔮 Who wins? We've got writers here at The Athletic predicting the conference finals. Who's picking Minnesota? 🏀 The bigger picture. Chris Finch knew the plan would work if they stuck to it. The Wolves made it back. 🏀 Time for change? Is Brad Stevens ready to talk about big changes to the Celtics? Not yet. Advertisement 🧍 Standing tall. Under coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks are enjoying their deepest playoff run in a quarter century. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' previews the keys to each conference finals series. Likewise for the 'No Dunks' crew! 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. East finals predictions are now in! Yesterday, we asked you (yes, specifically you 🫵) to vote for and predict the outcome of the Eastern Conference finals and beyond. You did, so it's time to go over the results! Who will win the East finals? In how many games? Who will be the East finals MVP? Then, we had other options to receive smaller portions of the vote. We also allowed write-in votes. Mitchell Robinson got one. Frank Ntilikina, a.k.a. Frankie Smokes, who plays in the Serbian League, received a vote. And, of course, one person wrote in Thanasis Antetokounmpo, as always. I will find you someday, whoever you are. Will the winner of the East finals win the NBA Finals? Who do I have advancing, you ask? I guess if I'm asking everybody else to make predictions and we have a link to our writers making predictions, then I should put my own predictions on the line. I've thought a lot about where I think these two series will go, and what potential storylines might happen. Also, check out the latest episode of The Bounce by clicking on my moving face! Did you know this league has trade demands? During the first couple of years of the Big 3, I was casually into it. You got a little bit of nostalgia with players out of the league still giving it a go. It was my only chance to still watch Ricky Davis – one of my all-time favorites – hoop. And I was in the building when Charles Oakley 'accidentally' hit Al Harrington in the teeth with the backfist. Since then, the only time I really think about it is when Jeff Teague is discussing his experience on his podcast. I'm not trying to be dismissive about it. It still seems like a good, fun product, and people are enjoying it. It's successful. I just kind of check out of hoops during the summer to recharge my battery. Well, I saw a social media post today that definitely got me interested in it. This was from Chris Haynes, reporting that Michael Beasley (yes, that Michael Beasley) is upset that the expansion Miami Big 3 team drafted Lance Stephenson (yes, that Lance Stephenson), and is contemplating requesting a trade. This reads like 2012 basketball MadLibs. This led to one of my group chats having a lot of questions: I'm curious if Beasley will try to get traded to the Houston Rig Hands or Boston Ball Hogs or LA Riot. Yes, those are all real team names. I know it seems like I'm making fun of the Big 3, and I promise that's not the intention. I do actually want to get back into it this season. Teague's podcast has been a big part of that, and I love watching Beasley cook. That's especially so if we're about to get a big-time Beasley-Stephenson rivalry and drama either with them on the same or opposite team. Or is it just forced promotion for some one-on-one battle they're doing on the internet? (I'm not linking to it). I just need to know when Ricky Davis is getting elected into the Big 3 Hall of Fame.
New York Times
15-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Will this season's NBA champion be the healthiest (and last) team standing?
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Luke Kornet had 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots off the bench for the Celtics last night in Boston's win. At one point, my friend Ian threw 'The Charlotte Kornets' into the group chat and demanded I put that in The Bounce. I'm a great friend. Go watch his one-hour special. Should finals predictions be based on health? Unfortunately, health becomes a major talking point of any NBA postseason. We're not even through the second round of these playoffs, and we've lost Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum to Achilles tears, seen the Cavaliers miss key starters for games before their elimination and lamented Steph Curry's hamstring making us watch too many Brandin Podziemski jump shots. That's the playoffs, though. Sometimes, it's just about which team can maintain the most health to get to the finish line. Advertisement Of the teams we have left, can we devise a health meter to figure out which is headed toward being the healthiest of them all? And with that info, discern which teams might find themselves with the best chance to win the championship? First, we need to figure out how to make that health meter. The thing I think of when I hear 'health meter' is a video game. A lot of video games either have a bar of health or an increasing/decreasing number of hearts. Let's go with hearts for ours because the bar thing is just going to be annoying to try to figure out. We'll set the heart counter at 10 of these ♥️s, kind of like a 'Legend of Zelda' health bar, for the collective team. We have the Celtics, Knicks, Pacers, Timberwolves, Nuggets and Thunder left in this postseason. Let's figure out which teams are the healthiest, and if that does anything for their future title chances: Eastern Conference Celtics | Down 3-2 in the second round The devastating news about Tatum's injury definitely hurts them right now and next season. Holiday missed games with the hamstring strain in the first round, and it hasn't affected him too much in this series. Porziņģis continues to struggle with breathing, and this illness that won't go away. Needless to say, the Celtics won't have their best player the rest of the way, and that lowers their health meter significantly. Knicks | Up 3-2 in the second round In a shocking turn of events, Tom Thibodeau's Knicks are extremely healthy, aside from Brunson continuing to deal with a sore ankle from when he turned it against Detroit. He keeps tweaking it here and there, but that's pretty much it. Josh Hart just got his eyebrow split open, but we're not counting that. Pacers | In the conference finals No offense to Isaiah Jackson, who is out for the year — but he's been out since early November. The Pacers have managed to replace their backup big man enough to make up for it in that time. Mathurin and Sheppard both missed early enough in the first round that this team feels very healthy in its pursuit of the NBA Finals. Advertisement Overall, it looks like we're getting the Knicks and the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals if the Knicks can win one of their next two games against Boston. That makes sense with them being the two healthiest teams. As New York fans remember, the Knicks will need to stay healthy if they want to take down an even better Pacers team this time. Western Conference Nuggets | Down 3-2 in the second round There is still reason to be concerned about Murray's legs at all times, and Porter seems incapable of being reliable with his injured shoulder right now. He's gutting it out by playing, but you never know if he'll actually be able to contribute. At least they have Nikola Jokić. Thunder | Up 3-2 in the second round The 68-win Thunder have been completely healthy for a while. They've had bumps and bruises, but nobody is missing games. Even Chet Holmgren has stayed healthy. This team looks in top form at the right time. Timberwolves | In the conference finals The Wolves are almost completely healthy, except Edwards still doesn't seem completely fine from the ankle injury from the Lakers series he's tweaked a couple times. We're still not seeing the consistent explosiveness and finishing around the rim from him yet. But he has some time to rest now. Overall, the Wolves have time to be completely healthy before they try to make their first NBA Finals. And they'll either face a mildly banged-up Denver team with little depth and nagging injuries to two key players but not the kaiju in the middle everybody fears, or they'll face a deep, pristinely healthy Thunder squad ready to go. It looks like health is mostly shining in both conferences right now. Just check the meters! Cooper Flagg couldn't believe the lottery either 😱 Lottery reaction. What was Cooper Flagg's reaction to the Mavs getting No. 1? About like yours. 🏀 Now what? The Cavaliers had another early postseason exit. Where do they go from here? 🏀 Born in it. Nuggets coach David Adelman grew up around a pretty important NBA influence: His Hall of Fame coach dad, Rick Adelman. 🏀 New opportunities. Tatum's injury for Boston has a big impact. The East is now wide open. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' examines Jimmy Butler's impact for the Warriors as they face the offseason. 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. Celtics must migrate 3-point shooting to MSG Even without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics are still a dangerous team — especially at home. They had their backs against the wall heading into Game 5, needing a victory to keep their title defense alive. And while everybody outside of Massachusetts or the Celtics fan base is engraving the tombstone for their season, Boston still thinks it can win this series. We saw that confidence last night with a monster second-half performance to fuel the 127-102 victory. Advertisement Boston used a 32-17 third quarter to grab control of the game and then a 36-26 fourth quarter to make sure the Knicks weren't feeling frisky with some kind of comeback. The stars of that third-quarter dominance? Yep, you guessed it. Frank Stallone Derrick White and Luke Kornet. After a 19-point first half, White dropped 13 points in the third quarter, with seven of them coming at the free-throw line. The Celtics got the Knicks into foul trouble early and shot 18 free throws in that quarter alone. As for Kornet, he looked like Hakeem Olajuwon out there. No, I mean he literally looked like Olajuwon. And Dwight Howard. And Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee. Kornet joined those four players as the only guys since 1997 to have five or more rebounds and five or more blocks in a playoff quarter. He started for Kristaps Porziņģis in the quarter and dominated the entire period. The Celtics hit 22-of-49 from 3-point range in the game. It was reminiscent of their Game 3 win at Madison Square Garden when they made 20-of-40 from deep. In the regular season, they shot 19-of-39 from deep and 19-of-49 from downtown in their two wins in New York. They're going to have to mimic all of that shooting in order to force a Game 7, and, even then, they have to hope the Knicks don't bring it like they did in Game 4. Maybe putting that pressure on New York can get them to second-guess themselves and begin to crumble, but this also feels like a different Knicks team than what we're used to. Minnesota sends Warriors to summer We live in a world where the Timberwolves have now advanced to back-to-back Western Conference finals. We also live in a world where Julius Randle has completely turned his career and reputation around in the last two months by playing the best basketball we've ever seen from him — even better than the two times he made All-NBA. And we live in a world where the Warriors didn't get a chance to see if their trade-deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler could actually matter enough in the postseason to get Steph Curry and Draymond Green a fifth ring. This was supposed to be a great series. Instead, Curry's hamstring strained in the first half of Game 1, and we only saw him in street clothes on the sidelines the rest of the way. It may not have mattered anyway. This Wolves team is no joke, and they're good enough to win a championship. But without Curry on the court, it became destined that the Wolves would clinch their golden era of existence. Granted, that's a low bar to clear, but they kicked that door off the hinges like Charlie Murphy kicked Rick James. Minnesota won, 121-110, despite turning the ball over 20 times, because they dominated every other facet of the game. That's what they should do against an overmatched, wounded team. But that also won't be good enough to advance to where this team has never been before, no matter whom they face in the next round. They have to clean things up. Advertisement As for the Warriors, they enter the summer hoping to add outside shooting to space the floor, maybe a big body, and figuring out what Jonathan Kuminga's restricted free agency and status with the team should be. They ask Father Time to show mercy for just one year, and see if Butler can see a healthy Curry in the next postseason. 📬 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What's next for Celtics after Jayson Tatum's injury? And why don't we have an MVP yet?
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. We asked you, The Bouncers, if you thought the Mavericks winning the lottery with 1.8 percent odds was incredible luck or whether you believed the lottery was rigged. You voted, and 54.7 percent believe it was luck, and the remaining 45.3 percent believe it was rigged. That's a calmer result than I anticipated! Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles. What now? The big fear for Celtics star Jayson Tatum came true yesterday when it was confirmed he tore his Achilles tendon during Game 4 Monday night. He had successful surgery to repair it, and now the Celtics enter an extremely difficult summer of decisions. Whether or not they won the title, the Celtics were going to have to make tough choices on the roster with their immense luxury tax bill that far exceeds the second apron threshold. Advertisement Now with Tatum and his $54 million salary likely giving them zero production for much of, if not all of, next season, contending for a championship might be a fool's errand. It would make sense to cut salary, possibly let 38-year-old Al Horford leave in free agency while trading away Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porziņģis (the assumed contracts they could possibly jettison with Holiday being the most likely), and then hope for a healthy return for Tatum in the 2026-27 season. This terrible news for the Celtics dramatically changes the landscape of the Eastern Conference, and Boston will need to recalibrate their plan. I decided to tap in with our Celtics beat reporter, Jay King, for a Q&A about this very subject. Make sure you also check out his podcast 'Still Poddable' on the subject. Is there any reason to believe Tatum would see a second of time in a game next season, even if the Celtics have a deep playoff run? Jay: Tatum loves to play. He has often fought the Celtics to play when he's a little banged up. If he feels ready to go before the end of next season and passes all the physical tests in front of him, I would imagine he will let it be known he wants to return to the court. Of course, the organization will want to be cautious with its crown jewel. And the timeline of the injury should force him to miss at least most of next season, if not all of it. How does this affect any potential plans the Celtics had to trim payroll this summer or reconstruct the roster? Jay: My first thought went to Al Horford, an impending free agent, and Jrue Holiday, who will turn 35 next month. Will they still fit into the Celtics' plans now that Tatum is expected to miss at least much of next season? Boston was always expected to trim some salary this summer, but could consider more radical changes now that Tatum is looking at an extended absence. And Horford and Holiday won't be the only possible changes. Advertisement Do the Celtics still have enough or a way to compete for the title without Tatum next season? Jay: Maybe if Baylor Scheierman becomes an All-NBA wing overnight. For real, though, the Celtics have a net rating of minus-0.9 with Tatum on the bench so far this postseason. Though that number was much better during the regular season, they don't have enough to compete for a championship without him. They could still be dangerous, though, depending on what changes the front office makes. The Celtics still have Game 5 in Boston tonight against the Knicks at 7 p.m. ET on TNT. They're down 3-1 in the series and must win to keep their season alive. Would Mavericks trade No. 1 pick? 🏀 Wild possibilities. Your shocking lottery night might lead to big moves. Could Jaylen Brown be on the move? 💰 I got 5 on it. The Trail Blazers are going up for sale. Want to buy an NBA team? 😞 Just spectating. Steph Curry has only been able to watch most of the second round. It's a cruel trick. 👀 New favorites? After all this Tatum news and series shuffling, your new East favorites? The Knicks. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses the Pacers being uncompromising in their identity. Why is the MVP announcement so late? Why hasn't the MVP award been announced yet? We should know whether or not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Nikola Jokić is the 2024-25 regular-season MVP by now. It would be an especially dramatic storyline considering they're currently battling it out in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. And yet, we're left scratching our heads, wondering why this announcement is crawling to the pace of a 1990s schedule. I actually went back and looked at the announcement of the previous MVP awards dating back all the way to 1991. Why? Because I've got a lot of free time, and I'm a world-class procrastinator. What I found is that a later announcement like this in the '90s was actually pretty common. We typically didn't get to find out Michael Jordan won it or someone stole it from MJ until early in the conference finals. Advertisement However, since the year 2000, this has been something that typically gets announced before we reach May 10. In fact, it's pretty rare we get past May 10 without knowing who won the award. I left out the seasons shortened by labor disputes and the pandemic for the chart below. I also left out 2017-2019, when the league was doing its awards show in June. This holdup two weeks into May isn't something we've experienced in 18 years. And since we're not going to get the announcement until at least next week, that means it'll be the first MVP announced in the conference finals since Jordan won the 1998 MVP. So, why are we being robbed of this extra bit of drama to hang over Thunder-Nuggets? It feels like back in the David Stern era, the results would be stapled to the jerseys of the players. Remember Hakeem Olajuwon versus David Robinson in 1995? Asking around the league, there is no rhyme or reason being given to it. I'm not calling anybody a liar, but I also choose not to buy it. So, I'll throw out some conspiracy theories and you decide what you want to believe: The Thunder have learned to be clutch All season long, the Thunder just didn't find themselves in any clutch games. They were simply too dominant. And when they finally ended up in one against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets in Game 1, they choked away the game in a bunch of different ways. Championship knowhow fell to youthful exuberance. They got their revenge with a monster Game 2 blowout, and then lost in overtime to Denver in Game 3. Another clutch loss. After last night's 112-105 Game 5 victory, the Thunder have now run off two straight clutch game victories. OKC is actually 4-2 now in clutch games in the playoffs, winning two against the Grizzlies in the first round and pulling even to 2-2 against Denver in this round so far. It helped the Thunder take a 3-2 lead in the series because they managed to make shots as a team down the stretch of Game 5, and Big Honey was left on an island by his teammates. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 10 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter. All 10 of them came in the final 3:33. Lu Dort came to life scoring nine of his 12 points in the fourth, and the Thunder, overall, hit 55.6 percent of their shots and 3-pointers in a massive 34-19 final period to take control of this game. Advertisement As for Jokić? He had 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the final 12 minutes. He came to play. His teammates went 1-of-15 from the field. Jamal Murray was the only player to make a shot in the fourth. One single shot. Murray finished with 28 points on 27 shots. Jokić finished with 44 points on 17-of-25 shooting, 5-of-7 from deep, 5-of-5 from the line, 15 rebounds (six offensive), five assists and just two turnovers in 44 minutes. OKC was clutch. Jokić was clutch. His team was not. And now the Thunder are on the verge of their first Western Conference finals berth since 2016. As long as they can close it out. 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. Pacers send 64-win Cavaliers to Tulum The Pacers are headed back to the Eastern Conference finals after dismissing the 64-win, No. 1 seed Cavaliers in five games. Yes, the Cavs had some injuries in this series, but the Pacers punched them in the mouth in Game 1, and it never felt like Cleveland knew what to do from there. Maybe it truly is a different series if the Cavs are at full strength, because we saw them play historically good basketball this season. But it's the third straight postseason we've seen some combination of them not being ready in big moments and/or injuries taking them down. And it's the second straight postseason of the Pacers being too much for an opponent. The Pacers await their opponent between the Knicks and Celtics, but the Cavs enter the summer needing to figure out once again if this is fluke or flaw. They don't have their first-round pick. They have Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill as free agents, but this team is already projected to be in the second apron without them. And they have to figure out why their team seems to buckle mentally in these playoff series. Does it mean trading Darius Garland away? Does it mean swapping out role players like Max Strus (41.6 percent shooting in 2025 playoffs) and De'Andre Hunter (42.9 percent) for guys who are more capable of stepping up? How do you figure out why this team went from the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA to 29.4 percent in the five games against Indiana? Once again, Cleveland goes into the summer wondering whether to blame injuries or a flawed roster, because Kenny Atkinson's regular season boost didn't translate to postseason improvement. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The Celtics haven't learned from their prior mistakes. Will the Knicks capitalize?
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Rustin Dodd tried to drink coffee like Dan Campbell. To put that in perspective, imagine trying to drink beer like Wade Boggs, eat hot dogs like Joey Chestnut or have a weekend in Vegas like Dennis Rodman. If The Athletic would like to fund a story on me trying to 'eat sushi like Zach Harper,' I think the results might surprise readers! Celtics keep doing same thing, lose to Knicks We're two games into the second-round series between the Celtics and the Knicks, and if you've only seen one of those games, you've actually seen them both. In Game 1, the Celtics were up 75-55 in the third quarter before losing 108-105 in overtime. Last night, they led 73-53 in the third quarter before losing 91-90 in regulation. In Game 1, they went 15-of-60 from 3-point range (25.0 percent). In Game 2, they went 10-of-40 from deep (again, 25.0 percent!). Advertisement When it came down to needing a big bucket on the final possession of the game, one of the Celtics' stars lost the ball to Mikal Bridges, who seems to know adversity well. He took it from Jaylen Brown before Brown got a chance to put up a potential tying 3-pointer at the end of Game 1. Bridges tipped and intercepted a pass from Jayson Tatum, who was trying to scramble to get the ball to Brown, at the end of Game 2. The more the Celtics try to win these games, the more they do the exact same thing. And I have to wonder: Where is Joe Mazzulla and the veteran Celtics leadership in any of this? Not to take anything away from the Knicks, who have completely bucked the stigma of not being able to beat the three best teams in the regular season, but we have a little time moving forward to celebrate their resilience and marvel at what they're doing. Right now, I want to know why the Celtics are playing such dumb basketball. They won the championship a season ago and appear to have learned nothing from the experience. Maybe that sounds like an overreaction because they can still come back and win this series. They absolutely can. It wouldn't shock anybody if they ran off with the next four games. But they won't win this series by playing their current brand of basketball: The Celtics attacked the basket more, but there was very little semblance of team offense in those final 15 or so minutes of game time. Mazzulla can give all of the quotes he wants about liking the looks they got, but everybody else watching was wondering what the f— the Celtics were doing on offense. Boston's offense was so bad (How bad was it?!) that when Tatum drove down the middle of the lane for a wide-open dunk with 18 seconds left, everybody was shocked he didn't take a bad jumper. At a certain point, Mazzulla has to take the reins here and get his players to stop settling for bad shots when they're playing prevent offense as the Knicks gain momentum. At a certain point, Tatum and Brown have to try to win the game with sound decision-making instead of just coming across like they're practicing some cool-looking shots. The saying 'Act like you've been there before' usually pertains to people not celebrating accomplishments or moments. The Celtics should act like they've won a championship recently. Like … within the last year. And use that experience to execute in tight games. 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. How Pacers' leading man rediscovered his joy 🏀 Hali back. Tyrese Haliburton was struggling to find himself. He has his joy back, and it's fun. 🗣️ AI is bad. Not Allen Iverson — I mean using AI-generated voiceover of the late, great Jim Fagan on NBC. 'No Dunks' crew breaks it down. 🏀 Time to campaign. Steve Kerr and Chris Finch are already strategizing for this series. How? By working the refs in the media. 🏀 Upper hand? Home-court advantage in the playoffs isn't what it used to be. It's time for some 'road, sweet road.' 🤔 A new path? Brian Gregory has little NBA experience and is now the Suns' general manager. How did it happen? 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses how the Knicks pulled off another surprising big comeback in Boston. Thunder add to point-differential history When the Nuggets mounted their Game 1 comeback and Nikola Jokić's incomprehensible statline had everybody buzzing, you started getting people questioning if anything Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder did in the regular season mattered. This questioning happened last year when they lost to Dallas in the second round. Maybe Big Honey and them boys were going to give the Thunder a second shot of the same experience. Maybe OKC's big leads would disappear and the tight games the Thunder never found themselves in would simply cause too much pressure to pull through. I know these questions happened the other night because I both fielded them and asked them. Advertisement Last night, the Thunder decided to remind everybody of that regular-season dominance. After Jamal Murray hit a floater to put the Nuggets up 2-0, the Thunder proceeded to go on a 149-104 run the rest of the game to win, 149-106. Not quite wire-to-wire for the victory, but 47:05 was pretty good. The 43-point victory made even more history for the Thunder in this historic season of dominance: The Thunder channeled all of that questioning after Game 1 into taking out their frustration on the Nuggets in Game 2. And we're left wondering if the Thunder have brought back what they needed to gain control of this series in Denver. We know they're the better team, but Jokić is still the best player in the world, even if the results in Game 2 didn't have the internet questioning the assumed MVP vote like after Game 1. That talking point front was awfully quiet as Jokić fouled out in the third quarter. For OKC, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a plus-51 in 30 minutes, as he scored 34 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field and had eight assists. The history working against the OKC is that the Nuggets haven't lost a playoff series when they've won the first game. And they did accomplish what they needed to accomplish. They left OKC with home-court advantage, if that still means anything in this postseason. After all, OKC is the only team in the second round to win a home game, so far. Point differential is supposed to be an indicator of future success. Game 1 made that seem like some nerd stuff to kick around on a TI-86 calculator while the rest of us play a preloaded, choose-your-own-adventure game called 'Drug Wars' (yes, that was a real game possibility on a graphing calculator in the '90s). Game 2 reminded everybody the Thunder have the No. 1 seed for a reason. We won't learn more about what this means until we see OKC in a hostile environment over the next few days and see how the Thunder's youth handles that pressure on the road, at altitude. Then, we'll find out which questions pop up for either team. How many games will hamstring injury cost? Even though the Warriors took Game 1 on the floor of the Target Center on Tuesday night, they suffered a major loss. Steph Curry left early in the second quarter with a hamstring strain and did not return. Yesterday, he was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain, and the Warriors said he'll be re-evaluated in one week. Much like referees walking off a 10-yard penalty in a football game, let's walk off what a one-week absence would mean for Curry in this series: So, that's missing three games right there. A possible return in Game 5 would be eight days out, and that's if this timeline for re-evaluation stays on track and the injury prognosis is good enough for Curry to get back on the court. Here is some possible worse news for the Warriors though: According to injury expert Jeff Stotts, a Grade 1 strain's average time lost is roughly 10 days, not one week. If that holds true for the 37-year-old Curry, he'd be knocked out of Game 5 as well. Game 6 doesn't fall within that 10-day time frame, though. It would come 12 days from this diagnosis. It looks like we're likely seeing Curry miss three games from this series against the Wolves, at minimum. We can lock that in, barring some miracle recovery. As we've seen plenty of times before, hamstring injuries don't just get magically better once you're back. They're often nagging ailments that seem to get re-injured, especially if a player comes back early. Advertisement The questions then become: whether Curry can definitely be back and himself for Game 5, and how the Warriors survive the games without him? I'm not sure 'Just do what you did in Game 1' is an easy-to-replicate strategy. The Warriors were plus-10 with Curry on the floor in 13 minutes, and plus-one in 35 minutes without him. The Warriors shot 3-pointers well without Steph on the floor, knocking down 11 of 28, but they only made 38 percent of their 2s. They also turned the ball over 21 percent of their possessions. They have to take care of the ball, slow the pace way down, find a way to score inside (get mismatches for Jimmy Butler and post him up), get to the free-throw line and win with defense. They posted a phenomenal 100.0 defensive rating in the minutes without Curry. The Warriors must make the game slow, ugly and uncomfortable. Then, they should hope their sound outside shooting continues and doesn't go down for Minnesota. Most importantly, Golden State needs that one-week re-evaluation to mean Curry's back in a week and not any longer. 📬 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Gregg Popovich, the NBA's GOAT coach, has retired. His impact will remain unmatched
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Steph Curry has been haunting the Rockets organization and its fans for a decade now. Five series. Five wins. No mercy. He's 20-10 in the playoffs against the Rockets. He is the Boogeyman to them. They need him to retire. Gregg Popovich transitions to new Spurs role Not long after we sent our Friday edition of the newsletter, we had the breaking news that Gregg Popovich was stepping away from coaching the Spurs. Coach Pop suffered a stroke back on Nov. 2, and hasn't coached the team since. There were thoughts that he might be able to get back to the sidelines at some point during the season, but the 76-year-old has decided with the Spurs organization to transition full-time into a front office role as the president of basketball operations. Advertisement The Spurs didn't put a whole lot of drama into who will replace Popovich as the coach to lead Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox and the bevy of young talent on the roster. While many have believed this will become the most coveted coaching job in sports because of Wemby, the Spurs quickly hired Mitch Johnson for the role. Johnson was the replacement for Pop during the season while Pop was away from the team in recovery from the stroke. He's the first coaching hire for the Spurs in three decades. Popovich's résumé is about as historic as it gets: In my opinion, Popovich is the greatest NBA coach that ever existed. I understand the arguments for Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach. If you have either of them above him, I don't fault you. Pop is the greatest in my eyes. I think his adjustments, his approach, the culture he set with Tim Duncan, the systems, the adaptations to different eras and the humanitarian approach he took with his players all combined to put him above the rest. For the longest time, Popovich had this gruff, harsh exterior with the media. It was referred to as 'getting Pop'd' if he gave a snarky response to a question. I remember more than a decade ago being in Minneapolis before a Wolves, Spurs game. I was still very early in my media career, and in his pre-game media scrum, I asked Pop in the hallways of the Target Center about defending corner 3-pointers. I thought it was a smart question and maybe Pop would be impressed by my acumen. He wasn't. He looked at me and said, 'You think if I knew the answer to that, I'd tell you?' He looked back to the rest of the media members and everybody just kind of looked down or off into the distance. I kind of smiled at him and responded, 'If I asked nicely?' He gave the slightest smile out of the corner of his mouth and walked off. He wasn't scary. He just would rather go coach. His real job. Advertisement The Spurs posted a quick, 56-second glimpse into Pop's career. Draymond Green spoke for three minutes on what it meant to him to compete against Popovich. Rockets coach (and former player and assistant under Pop) Ime Udoka told a story about Pop getting emotional when the Celtics offered Udoka the coaching job in 2021. Former player Shawnelle Scott played one season under Pop and lauded the way his life was changed. Pop served our country in the Air Force, and he served the game of basketball. He spoke up for what he believed in, regardless of what it might mean for him. He's an incredibly important figure, and he'll be missed on the sidelines. We're glad he's prioritizing his health. 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. Was LeBron really going to miss playoff games? 🩼 MCL sprain. LeBron James sprained his MCL in Game 5 loss to the Wolves. He allegedly couldn't have played in a Game 6. 🏀 Just like college. Brad Stevens' days at Butler prepared him for something big: Making the Celtics champions. 🏀 Interim tag dropped. The Grizzlies have decided who their coach is. Tuomas Iisalo gets the full-time job. 🎹 Let's rock. NBC is bringing what we all wanted to their NBA coverage. 'Roundball Rock' is back. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's NBA Daily examines what went wrong for the Cavaliers in Game 1 vs. the Pacers. The five biggest storylines of second round Technically, the semifinals are already underway because the Pacers stole homecourt advantage from the Cavaliers with a 121-112 victory in Game 1. Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points, 13 assists, three blocks, one turnover and a few fourth quarter defensive stops, while Andrew Nembhard continued his trend of being a playoff performer with 23 points and 5-of-6 shooting from deep. The Cavs got 33 points on 13-of-30 shooting (1-of-11 from deep) from Donovan Mitchell, and were missing Darius Garland with that toe injury. Cleveland's defense couldn't cover Indiana and now the Cavaliers have to make sure they win Game 2. But is that the most compelling storyline of the second round of the playoffs? Here are the five biggest stories to track now that we're underway. Advertisement 1. The MVP debate gets settled in a few ways. We know the MVP award will not be announced this coming week. But it will likely be announced the following week, especially with voting done. By then, we'll have seen at least four games of the series between the Thunder and the Nuggets. Assuming we don't see a sweep in that series, we'll get to see if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić try to put any extra sauce on these games, as the two leading MVP candidates all season long. We won't quite get the Hakeem Olajuwon-David Robinson battle from the 1995 Western Conference finals. Robinson won MVP that year over Olajuwon and then averaged 23.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in six games against The Dream, who went for 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, five assists and 4.2 blocks per game to advance to his second straight NBA Finals. We'll see if Jokić ends up getting the better of SGA and the Thunder by the time this thing is announced. 2. Revenge on Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. There are a lot of storylines to track in the series between Minnesota and Golden State. Green and Rudy Gobert have a history that once involved Green choking the French center out of nowhere. Butler had his ugly breakup with the Wolves back in 2018. And, of course, you'll definitely hear that Steph Curry was passed over twice by Minnesota in the 2009 draft. The Wolves also took Anthony Edwards before the Warriors selected James Wiseman with the second pick in 2020. There's a lot going on here before we even get to them trying to get to the conference finals. 3. Can the Pacers actually do this? As we mentioned, they took Game 1. Was this an aberration, though? We've tried to prepare people for the Pacers possibly surprising everybody again. Since Jan. 1, they have the fourth-best record, sport the seventh-best offense, are tied for the ninth-best defense and have the sixth-best net rating. Cleveland was only a half-game better in this stretch. Indiana presents a lot of potential matchup issues if Cleveland isn't sharp. 4. Are the Cavs a changed playoff team? We saw the Cavs dismantle a mediocre Heat team, but they'll be truly tested in this round against Indiana. We saw them come up way short shooting the ball (9-of-38 shooting from 3). And their offense just wasn't balanced (50 of 98 shots came from Mitchell and Ty Jerome). Kenny Atkinson had them playing incredible, changed basketball all season. Let's see how they respond in the next couple of games to take back control of the series. 5. Can the Knicks survive the Celtics? The Knicks lost four games by 65 points to the defending champions this season. Boston hit 84 3-pointers in those four games, making 50 percent of its shots and 43.5 percent of its 3s. The Celtics had an offensive rating of 130.2 against New York. Everything the Knicks are vulnerable at doing, the Celtics are elite at exploiting. If Boston destroys them, is everyone's job safe? Will this roster come back intact? Can the Knicks flip a switch and surprise Boston? Rockets, Clippers: Have a good summer Two Game 7s for the Clippers and Rockets this weekend. Two frustrating and disappointing outcomes for those teams. We say farewell to both of their seasons. The Clippers were absolutely smoked by Denver in the second and third quarters, getting outscored 72-40. The Nuggets were up by as many as 35 points before winning 120-101. So, what's next for this Clippers team that excelled after being financially conscious and got a healthy Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs? Advertisement Clippers (50-32, fifth in the West) As for the Rockets, what a brilliant step forward after a 41-41 season a year ago. They know Amen Thompson is a star in the making, but what do they do after losing Game 7 at home 103-89? Rockets (52-30, second in the West) 📬 Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
