We’re right in the thick of the first round, so before we get started with today’s newsletter we want to know which series has been your favorite to watch so far!

Today’s Lineup

Full-Court Coverage

Butler-less Heat steal 111-101 W in Boston, tie series 1-1

Before this series started, it wouldn’t have been crazy to say that Miami was gonna take a game against Boston They’re the Heat, after all, and the playoffs are the playoffs! But winning in Boston without Jimmy Butler? This one was unexpected, and we’re here for it.

Caleb Martin shocked the fans at the TD Garden on Wednesday with 21 points (including five threes) and Tyler Herro led the way for Miami with 14 assists to go along with 24 points of his own. And outside of Jayson Tatum (28 PTS, 8 REB) and Jaylen Brown (33 PTS, 8 REB), the Celtics just couldn’t get enough shots to fall and ended up succumbing to the Heat’s energetic defense.

OKC wins 124-92 to jump out to 2-0 series lead over New Orleans

This game was close in the early going, but once the Thunder went up 15-14 with seven minutes left in the first quarter, they held the lead for the rest of the game and never looked back. SGA poured in an efficient 33 points (13-19 FG, 3-5 3PT) while Chet (26 PTS) and J-Dub (21 PTS) had twenty-pieces of their own in Wednesday’s matchup. When Chet is hitting threes like this, the Thunder look darn near unbeatable.

Embiid’s 50 propels Philly over NY 125-114 for first win of series

After being questionable to appear in this game AND while dealing with a recent Bell’s Palsy diagnosis, Joel Embiid (playoff-high 50 PTS, 13-19 FG, 5-7 3PT) defied every single hater out there and propelled Philly to a HUGE Game 3 win against New York last night. Despite a questionable interaction with Mitchell Robinson that ended up causing MitchRob to leave the arena in a boot, Embiid’s 50 points were the fourth-highest all-time playoff performance by a Sixer. It’s the first Philly-50-Playoff-Piece since Allen Iverson in 2003.

On the Knicks’ side, Jalen Brunson (39 PTS, 13 AST) did everything he could scoring and passing the ball to try and lift New York over Embiid’s monolith performance (including whatever this was). Needless to say, the big man was just too much.

Magic dominate Cleveland at home 121-83

31 points and 14 rebounds from Paolo Banchero? 24 points on 81.8%/60%/100% shooting from Jalen Suggs? Holding the Cavaliers’ offense to just 83 points? Play the song!

In all seriousness, this was a great performance on both sides of the ball from the Magic, who won this series’ first game in Orlando last night to stay alive against Cleveland. The Cavaliers only shot 39% from the field and 23.5% from three in this one, proving just why Magic fans think a certain shooting guard deserves an All-Defensive team berth...

Nuggets take dominating 3-0 series lead with 112-105 win over LA

Despite a big night from Anthony Davis (33 PTS, 15 REB), the Lakers now face elimination in Saturday’s Game 4 matchup against the Nuggets thanks to an all around solid performance from Nikola Jokic (24 PTS, 15 REB, 9 AST) and an impressive stand-out game from Aaron Gordon (29 PTS, 15 REB) in Game 3 last night.

Los Angeles led during the first half of this game, but they got cold at exactly the wrong time and the Nuggets never looked back. Maybe someone lost confidence because of this, Lakers fans?

🏆 Awards Time!

We went over MIP on Wednesday, but there have been a few more awards given out since then — let’s go through the two other selections that have been announced:

Sixth Man of the Year: Naz Reid, Minnesota Timberwolves

Stats: 13.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 47.7%/41.4%/73.6%

Naz Reid. Just like the towel says.

But in all seriousness, what a season for Minnesota’s fifth-year undrafted gem! Reid has slowly but surely become one of the most underrated yet super impactful players in the NBA, and his consistent offensive output off the bench has been a big part of why the Wolves made the jump from mediocre to GREAT as quickly as they did.

Other finalists: Malik Monk (SAC), Bobby Portis (MIL)

Clutch Player of the Year - Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors

Stats: 26.4 PPG, NBA-best 189 clutch points scored, NBA-best 59 clutch field goals, NBA-best 32 clutch three-pointers

Many have doubted Steph Curry’s ability to deliver in the clutch throughout his career, but there’s no questioning what he was able to do this season in big moments. Golden State played in 48 clutch games this year—the highest mark in the league—and the above stats show exactly how Chef Curry cooked in those situations all year. The real question, however, is this…

Other finalists: DeMar DeRozan (CHI), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)

Three in the Key

Sign-Off

Thanks for rocking with us this week! Try and keep your head up this weekend, but don’t forget that it’s never a problem to take time for yourself and work on whatever you might be struggling with. Self-improvement is key! Talk soon.

-Austin Zeglis