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Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Enjoyers! Whether you’re holding a cookout with a big group of family and friends, going to see the nearest Memorial Day parade, or hosting the biggest fireworks show your town has ever seen, we hope you have a weekend full of fun.

But first, let’s talk basketball.

Today’s Lineup

Full-Court Coverage

Celtics win 126-110, take 2-0 lead as ECF heads to Indiana

The great thing about this Celtics roster is that, even though Kristaps Porzingis is still out and Jayson Tatum had a relatively low-volume night (23 PTS, 1-7 3PT), Boston has yet another impact player that can drop 30+ on any given night. Jaylen Brown (40 PTS, 5 REB) sliced and diced the Pacers’ defense all night en route to a confortable Celtics win as the Eastern Conference Finals ride on into Indianapolis for Game 3. Also contributing in a big way for the Celtics were Derrick White (23 PTS, 6 AST) and Jrue Holiday (15 PTS, 10 AST), proving this roster is deep enough to match up with ANY of the teams remaining this postseason.

Despite the loss, the Pacers benefitted from an incredible night from Pascal Siakam (28 PTS, 13-17 FG) and some pretty efficient shooting across the board. We’re just hoping that Tyrese Haliburton is able to come back healthy for Game 3, as the All-NBA 3rd Team guard (more on that later) left the game early with hamstring soreness—the same hamstring that kept him out of ten games earlier this season.

Luka and Kyrie shine, Mavericks open WCF with 108-105 win

A lot of people discredited the Mavericks as serious contenders this year because of their relative lack of depth. But when your top two stars (the best offensive duo in history, according to some) can do what they did on Wednesday, that becomes just a liiiittle bit less of a problem.

Luka Doncic (33 PTS, 8 AST, 6 REB) and Kyrie Irving (30 PTS, 5 REB, 4 AST) took turns driving Dallas’ offensive attack against Minnesota in Game 1—Kyrie had 24 in the first half while Luka turned on the jets in the second half and poured in 19 on 50% shooting. Three-point shooting was an issue for the Mavs throughout the game, but they pulled out the win despite that thanks to their ability to out-rebound Minnesota’s Triple Towers 48 to 40.

Speaking of Minnesota, they faltered in part due to poor shooting nights from both Anthony Edwards (19 PTS, 5-12 FG) and Karl-Anthony Towns (16 PTS, 6-20 FG, 2-9 3PT). Jaden McDaniels tried to will the Timberwolves back into this one with 24 points of his own (including six threes), but Minnesota won’t be able to win this series if they don’t shoot the ball more efficiently as a team than they have over their past few games.

An Inside Scoop…

Remember Myles Turner and Donte DiVincenzo's friendly little chat last week? Well, we got the inside scoop on what they were actually saying…

Myles: Great shooting out there, Donte! If Scott Foster wasn’t right in between us, I’d come over and let you know that only 1% of Enjoy Basketball readers have referred the newsletter to a friend.

Donte: That’s crazy! Don’t they know they can get free swag by sharing their custom referral link?

Myles: Not to mention bonus content, including Enjoy Basketball’s bi-weekly newsletter about the business, fashion, and off-the-court aspects of the hoops world called Out Of Bounds.

Donte: Duh! Anyways, I appreciate the heads up—I’ll tell the Villanova guys to start sharing their links.

Thanks for the shout-out, Myles! All you have to do is share your custom link at the bottom of this email with someone who would Enjoy it and get rewarded! Track your progress by signing into your account and navigating to “Referrals”—it’s that easy.

Hoops News Roundup

All-NBA, All-Defensive Teams announced

The time has finally come to reveal the 2023-24 All-NBA and All-Defensive teams! Check them out here: ⬇️

• All-NBA First Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL), Luka Doncic (DAL), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Nikola Jokic (DEN), Jayson Tatum (BOS)

• All-NBA Second Team: Jalen Brunson (NYK), Anthony Davis (LAL), Kevin Durant (PHX), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Kawhi Leonard (LAC)

• All-NBA Third Team: Devin Booker (PHX), Steph Curry (GSW), Tyrese Haliburton (IND), LeBron James (LAL), Domantas Sabonis (SAC)

Shout-out to the first-time All-NBA selections: Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, and Tyrese Haliburton! Now, let’s talk defense.

• All-Defensive First Team: Bam Adebayo (MIA), Anthony Davis (LAL), Rudy Gobert (MIN), Herb Jones (NOP), Victor Wembanyama (SAS)

• All-Defensive Second Team: Alex Caruso (CHI), Jrue Holiday (BOS), Jaden McDaniels (MIN), Jalen Suggs (ORL), Derrick White (BOS)

Herb Jones, Jalen Suggs, and Jaden McDaniels received their first career All-Defensive nods—keep clamping, fellas! A special shoutout also goes to Anthony Davis, the only player to be named to an All-NBA and All-Defensive team.

And lastly, let’s take a second to appreciate the fact that LeBron James has been named to an All-NBA team in every season since 2004-05. The longevity is crazy. 😦

Cavaliers fire head coach J.B. Bickerstaff

Let the NBA coaching carousel begin! The Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff (as reported by Woj yesterday) after a 170-159 cumulative record over five seasons with the team. Bickerstaff led the team to two playoff berths during his tenure: a first round exit at the hands of the Knicks last season and this year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals loss to the Boston Celtics.

And according to various reports, the Cavaliers are targeting two main candidates to fill their new head coaching vacancy—Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, who coached the Nets from 2016-2020, and Pelicans assistant James Borrego, who coached the Hornets from 2018-2022.

Three in the Key

Signing Off

Thanks for being with us this week! And to any Enjoyers who are about to (or just did) graduate high school or college, congratulations! You’ve got a lot ahead of you, but be sure to take a second to just sit and feel good about all the work you’ve done so far. See you on Monday!

-Austin Zeglis