🏀 Interconference Thrillers Galore

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Happy Monday, folks! Let’s make this week a great one. This weekend, we saw a buzzer-beater from a superstar, a thriller in San Francisco, and we capped off the weekend with a bi-coastal battle. Why wait? Let’s get into it!

Today’s Lineup

Joel Em-Buzzer Beater: The NBA’s leading scorer makes it look easy 😲

The Plan All Along? Probably not, but Brooklyn has still won 5 of 6 🔥

Unsung Heroes: He’s been a surprise spark for a team with big aspirations ☀️

PrizePicks

Think about the most exciting parts of watching basketball. Now, multiply that by like a million. That’s basically how it feels to play PrizePicks. You know we rock with PrizePicks, and that’s because it’s the easiest, quickest way to get your money up, not your funny up.

PrizePicks doesn’t make things complicated. All you have to do is choose 2-6 players, guess if they will get more or less than their projection for a given stat, and you’re done. Yes, it’s that simple. Yes, you can 10X your money that quickly! Here’s what we’re rocking with tomorrow. What do y’all think?

Sign up HERE and use promo code ENJOY to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100! With the chance to 10x your money in 60 seconds or less by testing your basketball knowledge, there’s really no reason not to!

*PrizePicks is available to residents 18+ in AK, AR, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, MI, MN, NE, NY, NM, NC, ND, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, UT, VT, VA, WI, WY. 19+ in AL. 21+ in AZ, MA.

Friday Frenzy / Saturday Madness

Joel Embiid completely ruined the Matisse Thybulle revenge game on Friday by hitting a fadeaway game-winner against Portland with one second left. How dare he? Kidding! The 76ers superstar has been simply unstoppable recently (and pretty much always, to be honest.)

Brooklyn escaped Minnesota with a one-point win of their own thanks to a D&B special…that’s Dinwiddie (29 & 11) and Bridges (34 points), not Dave & Buster's, by the way. But shoutout to Dave & Buster's anyway.

Saturday kicked off with a third-straight Clippers win, who have responded nicely after falling to .500 a week ago. Kawhi Leonard is as good as he’s ever been—and that’s saying something. Saturday concluded with…chaos!

It was Bedlam in the Bay as Steph Curry stepped up late on both ends, hitting clutch threes (as he does) and coming up with a huge last-second block in regulation (which he does too, sometimes!) If Golden State can just pretend that every arena is Chase Center, they’ll probably win another championship. In the desert, the stars were out, but the biggest shot of the night came from Kessler Edwards in another explosive Kings win. The NBA is the best.

Sunday’s Slate

Want to dive deeper into Sunday’s stats? Check out the box scores here.

Nets beat Nuggets 122-120 in Mile High Matinee

Brooklyn (39-29) is playing 8D chess, you guys just don’t understand. The plan all along was to sign three superstars, eventually trade them all, and then build back up with Mikal Bridges (25 PTS), Dorian Finney-Smith (5/7 3PM), and Spencer Dinwiddie (15 PTS, career-high 16 AST) as their centerpieces. They won their fifth game in six tries by beating a suddenly struggling Denver (46-22) team despite 35/20/11 (tha't’s not normal) from Nikola Jokic, whose fadeaway three-point attempt just missed as time expired.

Mitchell steps up late, Cavs beat Hornets 114-108

Charlotte (22-48) was thankfully able to pull out a loss in this one; they can’t afford many more wins at this point. Donovan Mitchell poured in 10 of the Cavs' last 15 points as Cleveland (43-27) bounced back with a win after blowing a lead on Friday, so they keep a three-game stiff-arm on Brooklyn for the fourth seed in the East. They should reward themselves with a trip to Cornhenge.

Trey Murphy goes nuclear, Pelicans demolish Blazers 127-110

Portland (31-37) as Trey Murphy III just kept hitting threes when the Pelicans were already up 35:

Murphy went 9/14 from deep and finished with 41 points as New Orleans (33-35) pretty much had this game won in the first quarter. Is any team more of a wild card come playoff time than the Pels?

Embiid scores 34, 76ers handle Wizards 112-93

Okay, to answer the question above, Philadelphia (45-22) always seems to be a wildcard. But there was nothing wild about a methodical, wire-to-wire win against Washington (31-37) on Sunday. Joel Embiid was masterful as always, and James Harden (18/14) has 65 assists in his last five games.

Williams continues to impress, Thunder beat Spurs 102-90

Jalen Williams isn’t just a “good rookie” anymore, he’s a really good NBA player. The Santa Clara product put up 20+ points again (fifth time in six games) to accompany his 10 assists in OKC’s (33-35) win over San Antonio (17-50). Ousmane Dieng always seemed like he’d be that guy who disappears for a few years while he develops and then pops back up as a productive role player. He scored a career-high 17.

Knicks survive D-Lo’s big night, beat Lakers 112-108

New York (40-30) needed a win. New York got a win. The sailing hasn’t been nearly as smooth with Jalen Brunson sidelined, but a road win almost 3,000 miles from home against the Lakers (33-35) will allow Knicks fans at least one comfy night's sleep. LA got a great shooting performance from D’Angelo Russell (6/11 3PT) but couldn’t finish this one out. We’d say it’s “just one game,” but every game in the West feels supremely important eight now…

Unsung Heroes

The Phoenix Suns are, by all intents and purposes, a powerhouse. But as we all know, once the playoffs come around, the importance of role players magnifies tenfold. Having a do-it-all energy guy can swing a series one way or the other. Josh Okogie might be that guy. After being pretty much a non-factor for the first two months of the season, Okogie has become a huge part of the Suns' gameplan.

Known up to this point as a defensive specialist, Okogie has showcased some serious offensive improvement, posting five games of 15+ points in the past month. His shooting numbers are all career-highs or near career-highs, and he is a consistent energy player as well. Who saw this coming?

Frozen Moments

• “Remember me?” -THT, probably. The Jazz youngster had 37/10/8 on Saturday

• A great play from Kai Jones and an even better call from Eric Collins.

• As long as the Grizzlies have David Roddy, they’re going to be a problem. We’ve always said that.

Good Reads

Inside The NBA’s Great Generation War - Alex Wong (GQ Sports)

Brook Lopez Is More Than Just A Floor-Spacer Offensively - Jackson Frank (SB Nation)

What We’re Enjoying

No Ceilings: Whether your team is in the Wemby sweepstakes, you’re curious about late-round sleepers, or you want to know which teams in March Madness have the most intriguing prospects, No Ceilings is your go-to college/NBA draft destination. The research is second to none, the writing is high-quality and accessible, the podcasts are informative: they simply do it all. Go subscribe, and become the person at your draft party who (correctly) says “That’s a steal” when like, the Pacers take some Russian guy with pick #58.

Signing Off

And we’re out! Remember that you deserve good things in your life. Give yourself a treat this week. Enjoy Basketball. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: A bit of a surprise here! Karl-Anthony Towns wasn’t the leading scorer in his one year at Kentucky, he was second on the team to the legend Aaron Harrison.

Before you go…