🏀 Anthony Edwards. Cold-Blooded.

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Good morning! Thanks for kicking off your week with us. 🫡 We’re in the thick of it now, folks. Playoff basketball every day. And we know your lives are busy! Don’t feel bad if you missed some hoops— that’s why we exist. Make yourself comfortable for a bit and let’s talk about everything that went down this weekend.

Today’s Lineup

Ant-Man And The Clutch Bucket: Minnesota lives to see another day 🐜

Dubs Hang On: Steph and Golden State even series vs. Kings in nail-biter 😬

Paul Reed Victory Tour: Embiid-less 76ers complete sweep of Brooklyn 🧹

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Friday’s Fun

Hey Atlanta, welcome to the playoffs! Trae Young, it’s nice to see you again. After scoring 40 points on 40 shots in Games 1 and 2 in this series, 🧊 Trae looked a little more like himself as Atlanta protected home court with a 130-122 win over Boston. The transition from watching that game to watching Knicks/Cavs—an event that can only loosely be described as a basketball game—was slightly jarring. Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks had Cleveland’s offense in a blender all night, holding them to under 80 points (a first in the NBA this season) and capturing a 2-1 series lead with a 99-79 dub. Thibs masterclass.

In Minnesota, Denver looked really good. Again. Michael Porter Jr. was getting his shots whenever (and from wherever) he wanted, Nikola Jokic posted a triple-double, and the Nugs took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Denver is kind of just going about their business without a ton of the spotlight on them right now—but they look every part a championship team right now.

Sweeping Sixers & Sweet Shooting in South Beach

No Joel Embiid for the 76ers on Saturday meant one thing; the Paul Reed victory tour marched on. 10 points, 15 rebounds, a block, and a steal for the 23-year-old’s first-ever playoff double-double. Tobias Harris (25 & 12) delivered all series for Philly, too.

Speaking of tours, the Russell Westbrook Redemption Tour continued its run through the Western US. Brodie scored 37 points, which would normally be enough to will a team to victory. But normal teams don’t have Devin Booker & Kevin Durant (61 combined points), and Phoenix took a 2-1 lead after a 112-100 win.

Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks looked a little lost at both ends of the court. Makes sense! Another methodical, efficient Jimmy Butler playoff game and hot shooting from Duncan Robinson (he can still do that!) let Miami cruise to a 121-99 win and a 2-1 series lead. And to cap off the night, LeBron James continued to laugh in the face of Father Time. Kind of rude! But also kind of cool when it looks like:

An Important Sunday Of Hoops

How do we go about making everyday Sunday and the playoffs last year-round? Maybe that would kind of ruin the idea of playoffs…you know what we mean.

Brunson, Barrett grind Knicks to 3-1 series lead with 102-93 win over Cavs

This Knicks team absolutely does not care how it looks. If there’s a “W” next to the game after it’s done, then it was a successful game. They’ve held a very potent Cavs offense under 95 points in two straight games and are now on the precipice of their first series win since the year JR Smith won 6MOY for them. Jalen Brunson paced the team again, and RJ Barrett (26 points) had his best game of the series by far.

Warriors beat Kings 126-125 in thriller as series shifts back to Sacramento

Us during Game 36 of this series because we all called Adam Silver and demanded more games between these two teams:

Steph Curry did some very Steph Curry-esque things in this game—like score 32 points and hit a bunch of threes. He also did one very not-Steph Curry-like thing (call a timeout when his team doesn’t have one and allow the opposing team to cut a five-point lead down to one with under a minute remaining.) Golden State still pulled out the victory and evened the series up at two games a piece.

Celtics push Hawks to brink, win Game 4 129-121 and take 3-1 lead in series

It really can’t be very fun to play Boston. They kind of just keep coming at you—they’ll burn you from deep if you let them, and they have plenty of guys who are just as happy with taking you off the dribble if you try to lock down the arc. Take this game; they had 56 points in the paint and still made 16 threes at a 40% clip. Trae Young finished with 35 & 15 assists, but Boston is a machine. The C’s can close this series out at home on Tuesday.

Ant comes up clutch as Wolves avoid sweep, beat Nugs 114-108 in Game 4

Denver looked a little uninspired for a lot of this game; no judgement, of course. Doing your job well enough to get by but not really blow anyone away is a skill in itself… Or so we’ve been told. Down 96-84 with under three minutes left, Denver appeared to suddenly remember that everyone on their team is really good, and rattled off 12 straight points to force OT. But Anthony Edwards and Minnesota weren’t ready to call it a season quite yet.

Victor Oladipo Tears Tendon In Knee

Injuries, Please, PLEASE, Stop! The NBA Playoffs have been phenomenal. The injuries are trying to ruin everything. Victor Oladipo, who has persevered through so many injuries, tore the patellar tendon in his knee on an awkward fall with just four minutes left in Miami’s win over Milwaukee.

Unsung Heroes: Playoff Edition

In the modern NBA, a player scoring 27 points in four games is seldom noteworthy. But what Mitchell Robinson is doing on the defensive end and on the boards for New York in their series against Brooklyn cannot go unnoticed. Robinson posted a double-double plus two blocks on Sunday, making game-shifting plays throughout the entire game. Robinson isn’t the Knicks star or a go-to player on offense. But this series would almost certainly not be 3-1 Knicks right now without Robinson’s impact.

Frozen Moments

• Yes, that is Duncan Robinson taking Jrue Holiday off the dribble.

• That sounds really nice, Josh…

• We actually made this shot in pickup today, but there’s no video of it…

What We’re Enjoying

Barry: Each episode of HBO’s Barry is around a half-hour, but they feel about six minutes long when you’re watching them because of how gripping and thrilling every single one manages to be. Season 4 just kicked off a few weeks ago, but if you’ve never watched an episode, don’t fear; this is one of the most binge-able shows out there. You’ll be caught up before you know it.

Signing Off

And we’re out of here! If your team is still in the playoffs, good luck to you. If your team isn’t in the playoffs, and now your life feels a little more empty…we feel you. Go stand under a tree this week and look up at all the branches. It’s so much more fulfilling than you think. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The most double-doubles in playoff history? That distinction belongs to The Big Fundamental, Tim Duncan!

Before you go…