Big-time performances? Check. Last-second finishes? Check. The best hoopers in the world? Check. This year’s NBA playoffs have it all.

Today’s Lineup

🎉 Happy birthday to Chris Kaman and KZ Okpala! 🎉

The Wild, Wild West

Nuggets beat Clippers 101-99 with Gordon’s unreal last-second dunk

If we had a nickel for every time the Clippers lost a critical playoff game on a last-second lob, we’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice!

On Saturday, the Nuggets downed the Clippers 101-99 to tie their first round series at two games apiece. But the real story is how Denver did it—with two seconds left, Nikola Jokic fired off a heavily covered step-back three that missed the rim entirely… and fell right into the waiting hands of Aaron Gordon, who slammed it home for a game-winning basket. After extensive review, the officials confirmed the bucket was good, giving Denver a much-needed win and the most dramatic one of the playoffs so far.

Despite his ill-fated final shot attempt, the Joker was fantastic on the day, racking up 36 PTS, 21 REB, and 8 AST. After dominating the third, Denver led by as many as 20, but a strong fourth quarter from L.A. (Kawhi and Norman Powell finished with 46 combined PTS) brought the Clips back and set the stage for the nail-biting finish.

Next up: a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday. 🍿

Elsewhere around the Western Conference…

• Whoever owns the fourth owns the day. The Dubs proved that to be true on Saturday, taking down the Rockets 104-93 behind a +13 margin in the fourth quarter. Despite losing Jimmy Butler to injury earlier in the series, Golden State’s offense looked just fine with Chef Curry leading the way to the tune of 36 PTS and 9 AST—Buddy “Alfred” Hield added 17 PTS and five threes off the bench. Couple that with a defense that held Houston to just 44 second-half points, and you have a recipe for success that the Warriors could use all postseason long.

• Anthony Edwards is looking to check another NBA legend off his list. After sending Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic home last postseason, Ant (43 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST) now has the Timberwolves up 3-1 on LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Lakers after Sunday’s 116-113 win in Minnesota. Luka got his (38 PTS), but with Ant playing Superman and Jaden McDaniels (16 PTS, 11 REB) making all sorts of clutch plays—including the go-ahead and-1 with 39 seconds to go—Minnesota had everything they needed to put L.A. one game away from elimination. We’ve seen crazier comebacks, but the Wolves have looked like the better team all series long. Game 4 on Wednesday!

• OKC has been the NBA’s best team for most of the season, so it’s only right that they’re the first team to earn a trip to the second round. After a legendary comeback win in G3, the Thunder kept rolling on Saturday with a 117-115 win to send Memphis packing, with SGA dropping 38 PTS for his highest-scoring game of the playoffs so far. This series will go down as one of the most unique sweeps you’ll ever see, with a historic blowout in Game 1, a historic comeback in Game 3, and another tight affair in the closeout effort. We can’t wait to see what the Grizz cook up next season with a new coach and a healthy Ja Morant—for now, we hear Thunder.

Eastern Conference Coverage

Eight Pacers score in double-figures, Indiana downs Milwaukee 129-103

When you have one of the NBA’s best facilitators in your corner, it’s easy for the whole squad to eat.

In the last game of the weekend, the Pacers went into Milwaukee and took care of business, blowing the Bucks out by 25+ and taking a 3-1 series lead. Usually, we’d give you the short list of players that led the way, but it was a laundry list of contributors for Indiana, who saw eight players score 12+ PTS. The stellar distribution of Tyrese Haliburton (17 PTS, 15 AST) certainly played a part, but the Pacers’ whole roster deserves their flowers for a full team game.

For the Bucks, Giannis went for 28 PTS and 15 REB, but his performance was overshadowed by an injury to Damian Lillard, who is feared to have suffered a torn Achilles. It’s a tough pill to swallow for Dame and fans everywhere, and though the road to recovery may be long, there’s no one we have more faith in to make it through. Prayers for the legend!

Elsewhere around the Eastern Conference…

• No game truly comes down to the last play alone, but G4 of Knicks-Pistons was as close as it gets. After big-time performances from both star point guards—32 PTS and 11 AST from Jalen Brunson and 25 PTS, 10 AST, and 10 REB from Cade Cunningham—this Motor City duel ended with the ball in the hands of Tim Hardaway Jr., who pump-faked in the corner and got Josh Hart to bite. Hart made contact but was not whistled for a foul, allowing New York to escape with a 94-93 win after erasing an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit. After the game, crew chief David Guthrie said that a foul “should have been called,” but the sting of the outcome remains for Detroit fans. 3-1, New York.

• After Boston’s loss to Orlando in G3, Jaylen Brown said there “might be a fight” if the Magic’s physical play continued: from a basketball perspective, Sunday’s game may have been the knockout punch. After missing considerable time with an injury, Jayson Tatum reintroduced himself in a major way with 37 PTS to lead Boston to a 107-98 victory. For Orlando, Paolo Banchero scored 31 PTS but converted on just 12 of his 32 shots, and an overall down shooting day (27% from three as a team) ultimately sunk the Disney crew and handed Boston a 3-1 series lead

• Whatever slump the Cavs experienced towards the end of the regular season has come to an end now that the playoffs are here. Cleveland took a commanding 3-0 lead over Miami on Saturday with a dominant 124-87 win, the largest playoff margin of defeat in Heat franchise history. There were plenty of factors at play in this big-time effort, but the most pivotal was the Cavs simply being bigger and badder than the Heat. Cleveland won the rebounding battle 46-29 and doubled Miami’s paint scoring (60-30). Having two bigs makes… well, a big difference.

Three in the Key

Signing Off

And we out! Thanks for spending a portion of your day with us. This week, try to find ways to practice mindfulness in your day-to-day life. The more you live in the moment, the easier the next moment feels. See you soon!

Walker Carnathan