🏀 The Playoffs are BACK!

Plus, our favorite picks from Monday’s WNBA draft.

Watch it, drink it in, savor it. Playoff basketball is back.

Us watching playoff hoops for the first time in a year:

Today’s Lineup

🤩 The Playoffs are BACK!
LA advanced and SacTown survived… is the Steph/Klay/Dray era over?

📰 Hoops News Roundup
An injury update, a Coach of the Year selection, and more.

🏀 Draft Night in the W
Breaking down a few of our favorite picks from Monday’s WNBA draft!

Full-Court Coverage: Play-In Edition

Brutal Zion injury halts Pelicans’ surge, Lakers hang on 110-106

We can tell this is going to be one of those “what-if” games that fans will talk about for years. Down 18 in the third, New Orleans stormed back into this game on the back of Spartanburg, South Carolina’s finest. Zion Williamson powered his way to the rim again and again down the stretch, as his season-high 40 points (along with a couple deeeep Trey Murphy threes) helped the Pels tie the game up with under 5 minutes remaining. 

Then, disaster struck. Zion grimaced in pain after a make and headed to the locker room with an apparent hamstring injury. Despite a valiant effort, New Orleans just wasn't able to hang with LA without Z, as DLo hit the game-sealing dagger right in front of the Pelicans bench: 🥶

But don't let the injury discredit the Lakers’ performance! LeBron couldn't seem to get anything to fall late, but he still controlled the game with some cerebral playmaking (plus this sweet throwback move) and AD imposed his will on the boards at critical moments all night to secure the W. It’s on to Denver for the Lakers! 💪

🏀 🏀 🏀

Kings demolish Warriors 118-94 to keep playoff hopes alive

A year after losing game seven on their home court, the Kings got the sweetest of revenge on Golden State. 

From the opening tip, Sacramento took control of this game and really never looked back. De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis both had their usual stellar moments, but the real star of the show was without a doubt Keegan Murray. The sophomore out of Iowa rained threes with impunity, burying eight of them things on his way to 32 points. 🔥 

But more than anything they did with the rock, it was the Kings’ Herculean effort on defense to get the ball out of Steph Curry's hands that really made the difference. And this is where we have to to give a standing ovation to Keon Ellis, who stuck on the NBA's three point king like glue all night. From playing in less than 20 games last season to clamping a legend and dropping 15-4-5 with six stocks in the play-in—what a difference a year can make!

It was great to see the Beam Team thrive, but it's hard as basketball fans not to be at least a little bittersweet knowing this might be the last time we ever seen Steph, Klay, and Draymond share the court. Four rings and countless memories later—thanks for everything, y'all. 🙏

Kings vs Pelicans for the 8 seed, who you got?

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🧠 Daily Trivia 🧠 

Since LeBron entered the league in 2003-04, which team has won the most playoff games? 🤔

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Hoops News Roundup

A Freak-ish Injury Update: Good news and bad news, Bucks fans. After suffering a calf strain last week against Boston, Giannis will not be ready for the start of Milwaukee’s first-round matchup against the Pacers. But there is hope that the Greek Freak will be able to return later in the series! 🙏

Coach of the Year… kind of: After leading the Thunder to 57 wins and the first seed out West, Mark Daigneault is your 2024 NBA Coach of the Year! Okay… it isn’t the official official award, but it is the one that’s voted on by the rest of the NBA’s coaches, so that has to count for something! From 24 to 40 to 57 wins, Daigneault has consistently gotten the most out of his young OKC squads, all the while helping Shai Gilgeous-Alexander blossom into a bona fide MVP candidate. Not saying we called it, but… we totally called it.

Our first look at Team USA: The USA men’s basketball roster is set to be better than ever for this summer’s 2024 Paris Olympics, with basically every eligible superstar signing up to avenge America's loss at last year’s FIBA World Cup:

  • Guards: Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton

  • Forwards: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Kawhi Leonard,

  • Bigs: Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo

The only question is… who was the biggest snub? 🤔

Who was the biggest snub from the US Olympic team? 🦅

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Draft Night in the W 🎆

Monday night brought us the most highly anticipated WNBA draft in a longggg time, so let’s go through some of our favorite picks:

Clark Goes #1: We all knew Caitlin Clark was going first overall to the Indiana Fever, but we didn’t know she’d do it with this much style. The former Hawkeye star was fitted head to toe in Prada on draft night, and it was the first time the luxury clothing brand had dressed anyone for the NBA or WNBA drafts. Oh, and her Fever jersey had the fastest-selling debut in Fanatics history. 🤧

Twin Towers in Chi-Town: We’re getting major Tim Duncan and David Robinson vibes from the Chicago Sky’s two first-round picks. South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso (3rd overall) and LSU’s Angel Reese (7th overall) were two of the best bigs in college basketball last season, and they should provide a lethal one-two punch in the Windy City for decades to come. No rebound is safe from these two.

A Sleeper in Seattle: And in the second round, you couldn’t have asked for a better type of player to join a Seattle Storm squad in desperate need of a lead guard than Nika Muhl. The Croatian sensation left UConn as the Huskies’ all-time assists leader and with back-to-back Big East DPOYs under her belt. Can we make this Muhl’s official nickname?

Three in the Key

🏀 4-Point Play for Steph
Chef Curry leaves us with one last highlight to end the year

2️⃣ The Fever’s Finest
Aliyah Boston interviewed her future teammate before the draft.

🔥 Anuel AA x Connect the Dots
The Puerto Rican rapper talked about his love of hoops and more!

What We’re Enjoying

The Bench Seat: You already know we had to shout out certified Enjoyer Georges Niang on his new project! Niang teamed up with content creator Kevin Speez to launch a podcast called The Bench Seat, and we’re loving every minute of it. Check out their latest episode with a special guest you just may have heard of…

Signing Off

Time to bounce, y’all! Even though the playoffs are about to take up a ton of our time, don’t forget to save some time for yourself every day. Whether it’s playing some games, getting some shots up, or just calling up one of your friends, carve out moments every day for the simple things that make you happy. 🙏

Talk soon!

In your best Mike Breen impression, what did you think of today's newsletter?

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