The NBA Playoffs, Explained: Part 3

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we are back with the NBA Playoffs explained recapping the entire NBA playoffs from the first round to the NBA finals last video we wrapped up on April 23rd since then 15 days have passed a lot has happened in the NBA playoffs and officially the first round is over so by the end of this video you will be all caught up going in to the conference semis for each conference let’s get right into it the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics game two in Boston the first half was back and forth but in the third quarter the Miami Heat would pull away upsetting the number one seed and best record in the entire NBA on the back of a franchise playoff record 23 team threes stealing homec Court from the number one seed and giving Miami Heat fans hope that they could potentially do the impossible again upset and eight seed in route two an NBA Finals run without their star Jimmy Butler Tyler hero and Bam adabo were brilliant in this one Tyler had 24 points 14 assists bam 21- 10 and Caleb Martin had 21 points as well KP had a rough game for the Celtics 1 for n from the field six points a minus 32 plus minus nobody saw this one coming we all thought this was going to be a sweep maybe a five-game series at best but after this game I wonder if Boston is going to have a harder out in the heat than they thought this video is was brought to you by autograph autograph is the first app to recognize and reward fans turning their passion into access and experience and I’m teaming up with them for the NBA Playoffs I’ll be releasing an exclusive game recap of the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday on their app so download using Code hardwood or the link in the description together we’re also giving away tickets to the Eastern or Western Conference Finals so once you download and use code hardwood make sure to claim that offer in the app hopefully it’s my Minnesota Timberwolves you’ll get a chance to see in the Western Conference Finals so download it now using Code hardwood I’ll see you over there in the other game on this Wednesday slate the Pelicans and the Thunder after a very competitive and tightly contested game one the Thunder would take care of business blowing out the Pelicans 124 to 92 each one of the Thunder starters were plus 24 or higher plus minus and SGA would finish with 33 points five assists on 13 for 19 from the field Chad holgren was also phenomenal 26 points on 9 for 13 from the field and seven rebounds maybe this series won’t be all that close on Thursday April 25th we would have a three- game slate starting with the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers the magic have looked awful in their first two games scoring 83 and 86 points respectively their offense has to figure it out and the young core in Orlando would do just that blowing out the Cavaliers 121 to 83 limiting Donovan Mitchell to just 13 points on 6 for6 from the field Jaylen sugs bald in this game 24 points on 9 for 11 from the field and Paulo of course 31 and 14 this was huge for Orlando it looked like they were headed towards a disaster of a first playoff series for these guys and although at the end of the day as an Orlando fan you’re excited for the future you still want to see in their first playoff series some fight our second game of the evening the Sixers versus the Knicks the Knicks lead this series 2 to zero and although the Sixers were in both of those games having a lead late in that second one in a game they should have won massive third quarter for Philadelphia outscoring the Knicks 43-27 being the difference in that game Joel embiid was phenomenal but as much as I admire his fight in this series his knee is clearly bothering him and he’s dealing with a case of B’s py in the left side of his face regardless Philadelphia gets a much needed win escaping a 3oh deficit and instead going down 2 to one in this series and our final game of the night 9 for 13 from the field 15 boards and nine assists Jamal Murray continues to struggle shooting in this series going 8 for 21 Aaron Gordon had a surprising 29 and 15 on 12 for 18 from the field and outside of those three guys and mpj nobody on this nuggets team team scored more than five points they absolutely rely on this starting lineup Anthony Davis would finish with 33 and 15 LeBron James 26 – six and D’Angelo Russell had zero points on 0 for seven from the field I said this ingame one you need an A+ series out of D’Angelo Russell in order to have a chance to win this one this type of stuff just will not cut it the Lakers don’t have enough talent and although they shot five for 27 from three which you can say they’ll shoot better in the future the Nuggets shot 5 for 28 I’m sorry to say it this series is over the Lakers are not coming back Denver leads 3 to Z bringing us to our Friday April 26th slate three games again starting with the Timberwolves and the Suns the Wolves lead this series 2 to zero going to Phoenix in game three Grayson Allen sprained his ankle in the first two games of this series is out in game three which is a massive loss for a Suns team that has zero depth they start Royce O’Neal but it’s actually Eric Gordon that got it going in the first quarter scoring 10 points and going two for two from three in just 6 minutes of play they’re going to need Eric Gordon in Grayson Allen’s absence but the Wolves again would just slowly wear this Phoenix Suns team down being up 59 to 53 at the end of the first half and in the third quarter they would outscore them 36- 20 on the back of four three-pointers from the Keel Alexander Walker Phoenix would have one last effort trying trying to cut into this 22-point lead getting it to 12 but Anthony Edwards would close the door scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter the Minnesota Timberwolves win 126 to 109 leading the series 3 to0 for the first time in franchise history Anthony Edwards finishes with 36 points nine rebounds five assists 12 for 23 from the field and nil Alexander Walker Off the Bench 16 points a plus 23 Plus minus which is a team high and Rudy goar with 19 points and 14 rebounds just remember everyone was picking this Phoenix Suns team to beat the Wolves I myself included as a wolves fan I was terrified to play this team and Minnesota has just absolutely dominated every single game this series is all but over as well we’ll see if Minnesota can get it done in four instead of going back home for game five our next game on tonight’s slate was Pacers bucks it was is tied one to one heading into Indianapolis Damian Lillard got injured early in this game and although he came back and played you could tell he just was not the same and with Giannis still out that left Chris Middleton to be the guy for Milwaukee he absolutely delivered hitting this three-pointer sending this game into overtime Aon Nesmith would hit this three putting the Pacers up three points with 15 seconds to go again Chris Middleton hits a three Banks it in to tie the game with eight seconds left and Tyrese halberton hits a gamewinner giving the Pacers a 2 to1 lead putting themselves in the driver’s seat in this series it’s looking pretty Grim for Milwaukee Dame is now hurt we have no idea what his status is for game four and it doesn’t sound like yanis is coming back for game four either it’s getting close to panic time for Milwaukee but I have to shout out milon in this game he went 16 for 29 from the field 42 points 10 rebounds five assists Bobby poris had 17 and 18 and even Lillard although he only shot 6 for 20 from the field played 45 minutes on that Achilles still had 28 points and eight assists and the Pacers do what they always do every single starter was in double figures Miles Turner led the way with 29 Points and nine boards tyres halberton had a triple double 18 points 10 rebounds and 16 assists which leads us to our final game of the night the Dallas Mavericks versus the Los Angeles Clippers game three remember the Clippers won game one without Kawhi l kawh Leonard came back and played game two and the Clippers lost which is wild to think about but if you watch that game kawhai could not move laterally at all you could tell that knee was bothering him and in this game we saw more of the same from Kawai he only played 25 minutes had nine points on just seven attempts from the field the second quarter was the difference in this the Mavericks would outscore the Clippers 36- 18 win the game 101 to 90 Luca finished with 22 on just 7 7 for 25 from the field he’s also dealing with a sore knee but that’s why the trades that Dallas made at the deadline have reinvigorated their defense and allows them to be such a dangerous team because when Luca and Kyrie aren’t hitting they don’t have to still outscore people they can hold a team like the Clippers even with an injured kawhai to 90 points because of that defense Dallas goes up 2 to one heading into game four oh and I almost forgot Russell Westbrook was playing absolutely terrible in in this game so he decided to go spaz on everybody completely embarrassing himself and getting ejected he went 0 for seven from the field with one point in 19 minutes and our Saturday April 27th slate had four games on it starting with the Cavaliers and the magic I’ll be quick with this one the magic do it again holding the Cavaliers to just 89 points and after being down at half by seven they would outscore the Cavs in the third quarter 3 7 to10 winning this game 112 to 89 and this is crazy because you’ve seen both home teams kind of dominate in each set of games in this one tying the series 2 to2 France Vagner finally woke up in this series scoring 34 points 13 boards 13 for 17 from the field which was huge cuz Paulo has been doing the heavy lifting and he had a rough game in this one we’ll see if an team can win a game in this series next up thunder Pelicans game three Thunder fans I apologize I love your team I wish we could break down their games more but they destroy the Pelicans again 106 to 85 Josh kiddy had his best game of the series so far 21 points eight for 13 eight rebounds and six assists and on the Pelicans end nobody looks very good CJ McCollum 7 for 22 from the field this is a team that’s desperately missing their star Zion Williamson OKC goes up in this series 3 to Zer I think it’s safe to say this series is most likely over as well game three of Celtics heat the Celtics have to win this game or it is danger time they gave up home court advantage losing game two and they would do just that outscoring the heat 42 to 27 in the second quarter and route to a 104 to 84 victory at the end of the day Boston is by far the more talented team and there’s only so much that coach SPO can really do schematically to help mask this Miami Heat team’s deficiencies without Jimmy Butler Celtics go up 2 to one in this series and the final game of the day the Lakers Nuggets game four the Lakers would have a lead again at the end of the first quarter the fourth straight game in this series in the second quarter they would lengthen that lead to 12 by the end of the half and hold off Denver winning their first game of the series making this 3 to one sending it back to Denver niic did all he could had 33 points 14 and 14 Jamaal Murray another poor shooting game 9 for 23 that sore calf bothering him a bounce back game from D’Angelo Russell 21 points and LeBron James had 30 ad had 25 and 23 let’s be honest every Laker fan right now is convincing themselves they’re going to be the first team to come back from 3 they’ve led a majority of the series this is their opportunity to turn the corner and to that I’m saying it’s not going to happen these are the defending champs for a reason you simply can’t dig yourself into a 3oh hole and get out of it no team has ever come back down 3 and I’m sure it’ll happen at some point but my guess is it’ll be an injury related situation it’s not going to be in this series which brings us to Sunday April 28th first game of the Slate the Knicks Sixers game four Jaylen Brunson was phenomenal in this game he scored 47 points had 10 assists and did all the heavy lifting for this team the Knicks grind out a win in Philadelphia 97-92 Josh Hart had such a classic statline in 46 minutes 0 for7 from the Field Four Points five assists and 17 rebounds Joel embiid was bad in the fourth quarter in this game 0 for five from the field playing the entire quarter with just one point but even with that bad quarter he was still a team High + one plus minus and for the series at this point the Sixers are minus 38 in 32 minutes without Joel embiid on the floor in this one which is absolutely awful so as bad of a fourth quarter as he has played Joel embiid is the only reason they’re in this series Tyreek Maxi has been good of course but the onoff numbers for Joel embiid and the Sixers is ridiculous the Knicks give themselves a chance at the gentleman’s sweep in Madison Square Garden for game five I personally thought this series was going to seven I had Philadelphia winning it but it doesn’t look like it’s going that way which is a shame because this Philadelphia team was so good before Joel beid got injured and we really shouldn’t be having a matchup like this in the first round game three of the night and game four of the series the Clippers and the Mavericks kawhai Leonard was announced out for game four with right knee inflammation the Clippers offense once again looked fantastic without Kawai out there 39-6 in the first quarter taking a 15-point lead going into the half but the Mavericks completely erase that lead in the third quarter outscoring the Clippers 29-16 this Luca 3 would tie the game 98 to 98 with 5 minutes left and this was just Premier shot making from Paul George James Harden and Kyrie Irving down the stretch in this one five straight Kyrie Irving points would put the Mavericks up one with two minutes to go and that’s when Paul George hit this three-pointer putting the Clippers up 107 105 as back and forth of a game as this was down the stretch Dallas just missed a couple of shots in that final minute and the Clippers would would even up the series 2 to2 in Dallas 116 to 111 James Harden and Paul George looked like the 2010’s versions of themselves in this one both playing 40 plus minutes James Harden going 12 for 17 from the field 33 points 7 rebounds six assists and Paul George 33 points as well eight rebounds six assists Kyrie would have 40 points on 14 from 25 and Luca had a triple double 29 10 and 10 again though inefficient 10 for 24 from the field completely unlike LCA donic I hope that his knee can hold up in this series they’re going to need him as they head back to Los Angeles for game five and finally bucks Pacers game five no Damen Lillard and no Giannis in this game and it went pretty much as we would expect it to the Bucks fought hard in the first half down just three at the break but the Pacers would open it up in the third quarter and defeat the Bucks 126 to 113 not much to say here I just wish the Bucks were healthy for this series that’s not to take away anything from what the Pacers are doing but this would have been a fun one if Giannis was healthy game four of Minnesota and Phoenix Minnesota’s going for the Clean Sweep here and while they were down five at halftime they’d ratchet up that defense in the second half and complete the sweep Anthony Edwards had 40 points nine rebounds and six assists this is their first sweep in franchise history history super impressed by the Timberwolves in this first round on the other hand with Phoenix I made a whole video breaking down my problems with Phoenix check that out in the description if you want to hear more about it yeah it’s pretty embarrassing to blow up a young core that made the NBA finals in 2021 had 64 wins in 2022 to become title contenders with a 34-year-old Kevin Durant only to go to the conference semis in 2023 and get swept in the first round in 20 24 sounds like Matt ishbia the owner for Phoenix wants to run it back they don’t really have any other choice so I get it but they also are in salary cap hell with the second apron and do not own their own first round pick until 2031 I would be borderline depressed as a Phoenix Suns fan right now which brings us to Monday April 29th a three-game slate starting with the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat I think it’s safe to say Miami needs this one in Miami to stay alive in this series but instead Boston dominated again being up 17 at half winning 102 to 88 Derrick White would finish with 38 points but Christ staps porzingis would go down with a calf injury just 14 minutes into this game which is a huge loss for Boston even though you feel good about the series you’re going to move on to the next round being up 3 to one having a guy like kp’s future availability being in Jeopardy is a huge loss second secondly we have game four of pelicans Thunder again OKC dominates this series that first game was the only game that was close I’m excited to see the thunder in the second round be able to cover them more but unfortunately this was just a boring series Brandon Ingram would shoot just two for 14 in this game and for the Pelicans heading into this off season I have a semi hot take I think they should sell everybody not named Trey Murphy Zion and Herb Jones I understand this is a completely different thing with Zion but the West is so good right now it’s only going to get better next year you guys if you’ve listened to my videos you’ve heard me talk about this Houston’s going to be better they’re young they surged towards the end of the season last year without shenon the Memphis Grizzlies are probably going to be a top four seed next year fully healthy and as of right now by my count there’s just two teams in the Western Conference next year not trying to win the Portland Trailblazers and the San Antonio Spurs the best time to rebuild is when no one else is sell off your assets get young and see where you’re at in 2 years finally our last game of the Slate game five of nuggets Lakers this one was a tight one the Lakers would lose their first first quarter of the entire series but be up at half by three Anthony Davis would dislocate his shoulder Midway through this game come back in and play but you could tell he was not the same regardless the fourth quarter of this game was super fun after this ruy hachimura dunk with 833 three to go neither team would lead by more than a single possession we would have 11 lead changes in those 8 and 1 half minutes with 212 to go Austin Reeves hits this three putting the Lakers up one ni yic comes down puts Denver back up LeBron James quickly scores putting the Lakers back up and then Jamaal Murray hits a three putting Denver up 106 104 LeBron hits two free throws tying the game 106 106 which allows Denver to hold for one fin fin shot and Jamal Murray does it again ending the series with this game-winning shot he becomes just the first player in NBA history to have two game-winning shots in a playoff series with under 5 Seconds to go but what’s even crazier is there was a chance Jamal did not play in this game due to that calf strain he would score 32 points on 13 for 28 from the field yogic again put up massive numbers 25 and 20 with 9 assists and mpj had 26 points as well Denver will now face Minnesota in the Western Conference semis and I’m just hoping that Jamal Murray gets healthy enough for this series although he had those two game winners and showed up when it mattered he shot it pretty poorly from the field in this one 40% for the series 29% from three but on the other hand mpj was massive for Denver averaging 23 points on 55.3% shooting including 49% % from three on eight attempts per game for the Lakers LeBron had 311 and9 which is pretty wild to think about from a 39-year-old in the playoffs they just got nothing from their bench just 11 bench points were scored I really don’t know what the Lakers are supposed to do this off season LeBron has a $49 million player option who knows if he takes it or not and I do think the Lakers are a good team it’s unfortunate you’d match up against a team like the Denver Nuggets but that’s why the regular season matters you can’t get out to an 18 and 21 start in early January and expect to be a top four five seed in the Western Conference La would end up leading something crazy like 70% of this series but at the same time watching these games you didn’t ever feel like they had Denver on the ropes they were so early in these games and Denver always turned it on in the third or early fourth quarter the reigning Champions are just clearly a tier Above This Lakers team Tuesday April 30th another three game slate starting with game five of Knicks and Sixers and almost in an opposite way that game two ended the Sixers looked like their series was completely over late in this fourth quarter down 96 of 90 with 28 seconds to go after this Duce McBride jumper but then Tyrese Maxi would hit this three and get the foul a four-point play Josh Hart would make just one free throw and Ty Maxi hits a three tying the game sending it to overtime where the Sixers would win 112 to 106 and that’s why I was so confident this was going to be the best series of the first round the Sixers are not a seven seed they’re only there due to injury and although this Series has felt lopsided in terms of the series lead for the Knicks every single one of these games has been really close which means the Sixers are now down just 3 to2 in the series and have a chance to go back to Philadelphia in game six and force a game seven on New York tyes Maxi played an insane 52 minutes in this game had 46 points on 17 for 30 from the field and be would finished with a triple double but honestly he wasn’t that good in this series they need him to score 30 a game Jaylen Brunson has been absolutely insane in this series as well he played 51 minutes Josh Hart played 53 OG and anobi played 50 and Brunson finished with 40 points you got to feel a little nervous if you’re a Knicks fan at this point game five was kind of a must-win in a series like this one game two of the Night Magic and Cavs game five back in Cleveland again the home team wins 104 to 103 for Cleveland Evan Mobley came up with an insane block on France Vagner with 5 Seconds To Go sealing this win for Cleveland Paulo was phenomenal had 39 and8 on 14 for 24 Bron struggled three for 11 and again in this series the home team wins sending us back to Orlando for game six Cleveland Up 3 to2 I almost forgot Jared Allen was a scratch in this game a huge loss for Cleveland he was dealing with a bruised rib not sure if he’ll play in game six the most surprising result of the day came in the final game the Bucks Pacers game five in Milwaukee again without Damen Lillard or Giannis this team dominates the Pacers 115 to 92 Patrick Beverly was plus 36 plus minus had 13 points and 12 assists Chris Milton had 29 and 12 Bobby poris had 29- 10 if your Pacers fan you’re annoyed you didn’t get that gentleman sweep but you can’t feel like this is a performance they can replicate if there’s no Dame and no Giannis coming back for game six which at this point is doubtful the Bucks are not going to win this series however very impressive win from Milwaukee nobody expected it especially a blowout like that one Wednesday May 1st game five of Boston Miami the Celtics again blow out the heat it’s weird that game two was a complete anomaly in this series and although christops porzingis is injured it didn’t matter in this one for the Celtics they just have too much for Miami without Jimmy Terry rir also didn’t play the entire series and haime hakz Jr was out for this game but let’s be honest the Celtics are clearly the better team I’m excited to see them get challenged in round two but for now Boston wins 4 to1 and Jimmy Butler had this to say about the series if I was playing Boston be at home New York damn should it be at home moving on to our other game of the night Clippers Mavericks game five back in La I wish I had a better game to break down for you guys but the Mavericks won by 30 123 293 Luka finally had a game where he shot it well from the field he had 35 points 10 assists seven rebounds on 14 for 26 from the field James Harden and Paul George came back down to earth after that herlean effort in game four with just 15 points from Paul George and seven from James Harden in this one Bucks Pacers game six took place on Thursday May 2nd and another blowout there’s been a ton of blowouts in this playoffs mainly due to injuries but the Pacers take care of business and advance to the Eastern Conference semis being the Bucks 120 298 TJ McConnell had a great game 20 points nine assists four steals it is of note Damen Lillard came back and played in this game which I think is pretty admirable a sore achilles is scary especially for a player that’s 33 years old and he would put up 28 points but it just was not enough oh yeah and Pat Bev threw a ball at a fan at the end of the game and then told a reporter for ESPN she couldn’t interview him if she wasn’t subscribed to his podcast pretty embarrassing actions from Beverly the Pacers move on to face the winner of the Knicks Sixers which game six of that series is our next game on the evening heading into the fourth quarter of this game it was tied up at 83 and finally for the Sixers buddy hee was getting some minutes and having a huge impact 17 points in the first half with five threes Sixers were down 8 points with 243 to go before going on a 70 run with this Kelly UB dunk putting it at just a onepoint game Jaylen Brunson makes an incredible shot putting it back up to three before Tyrese Maxi has an and one tying the game the Sixers have some pretty bad rotation on defense Josh Hart hits this three with 25 seconds to go putting them up three and although embiid would make a two quickly divon chenzo makes both free throws and the Knicks smartly foul before the Sixers can get a three off Maxi makes both free throws Jaylen Brunson makes both of his free throws and Buddy heeld misses this three-pointer As Time expires the Knicks win a hardfought six game series W 18 to 115 through all six games in terms of total Point differential the Knicks were plus one that’s how close this series was Jaylen Brunson averaged 35.5 points per game in this series and beid only shot 44% from the field in this one and again if you’re the Sixers this is another very disappointing poin in exit for you in the playoffs if I’m a sixer fan I just keep asking myself at what point can we have a normal postseason it seems like every single year something happens but they do have a ton of cap space coming up and an opportunity to make some big moves this off season I think they got to do it they stood Pat and traded James Harden which I think was a mistake looking back at it you simply have to improve this roster and Joel embiid as much as I appreciate his incredible ability to score the ball and his underrated Rim protection you got to make it to an Eastern Conference Finals as an MVP I don’t care if you agreed with it or not if he doesn’t make a Conference Finals in his playoff career his legacy is going to be forever tarnished this feels like a lost year for Philadelphia and I understand Tyrese Maxi is only getting better he’s just 23 years old but at some point you wonder if Joel embiid can stay healthy in the NBA it continues to happen over and over again on the Nick’s side they will match up versus the Indiana Pacers which will be a fun series as well they don’t have much depth at all though tibs already likes to play his guys heavy minutes but it’ll have to continue that because bogdanovich got hurt in the fourth game of this series which means the Knicks may only be going 7D potentially 8 if precious gets some run we’ll see that brings us to Friday May 3rd of the first round of the NBA Playoffs we have two games on the Slate both game sixes starting with the Cleveland cavali and the Orlando Magic we’re back in Orlando which means the home team is probably going to win that’s exactly what happens the magic force a game seven winning 103 296 in spite of a Donovan Mitchell 50 bomb going 22 for 36 from the field outside of Darius Garland scoring 21 points and Max shw scoring 10 nobody else scored really at all for Cleveland pao’s having a phenomenal series for a guy that’s just 21 years old he had 278 and4 fron had 26 Jaylen Suggs had 22 we go back to Cleveland for game seven and our other game six the Clippers and the Mavericks the first half was close it was actually tied at halftime but the Mavericks had a really strong third quarter outscoring the Clippers 35-20 and would win this one 114 to 101 winning the series matching up with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals this is a series I’m extremely excited to cover as for the Clippers this off season I don’t know where you go from here Kawai cannot stay healthy in the playoffs I love Kawai but you’ve barely had him over the past four seasons in the postseason I don’t think Paul George looks like his former self He’s 33 years old and then you have James Harden they have a lot of decisions to make if they’re going to continue be the team that just spends a ton of money going over the second apron and paying a bunch in luxury tax but I think we’re at the point where we can pretty safely say this experiment for the Clippers has not worked now it has been injury luck I will say they win the 20121 NBA Finals if kawh Leonard is healthy however it is a trend that kawhai has not been able to stay healthy over the last four to five seasons and this experiment in La had very high expectations yet they made just one Conference Finals due to the weird NBA schedule Saturday May 4th we had our first game of the second round before the first round even finished and it was between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves I told you guys in my nuggets Timberwolves preview video my prediction is wolves in six but I also said that this is the best playoff series to date probably going to be the best playoff series of the entire NBA playoffs in my opinion and that I thought the winner of this series wins the NBA Finals well the Wolves would get out to an 18 to4 lead early in this one on the back of 13 Anthony Edwards points but the moment both teams went to their benches we thought the Wolves had the advantage on the bench however Reggie Jackson and Justin holiday provided some serious boost to the nuggets and they would go on a run of their own completely wiping away that early deficit and leading by four points at halftime Anthony Edwards was pretty much Minnesota’s entire offense in the first half he would end the half with 25 of Minnesota’s 40 points but to start the third quarter Carl Anthony towns woke up scoring eight of Minnesota’s first 11 points and between him and Mike Conley they both would score 11 points on perfect shooting in this quarter which was huge for the wolves that needed some additional offensive help alongside Anthony Edwards after just absolutely bullying Reggie Jackson Anthony Edwards would get called for a technical foul with the mid to go in the third for staring at his opponent that he just buried an absolutely disgustingly weak call that the NBA would resend after the game and the Wolves would lead this one 73 to 71 going into the fourth quarter after going scoreless in the first half and 0 for seven from the field Jamal Murray would have a strong second half including this four-point play putting the Nuggets up one with 835 to go after a couple Anthony Edwards buckets Christian Brown would hit his first three of the postseason tying the game before Nas Reed would Bank in this three which was the beginning of Nas Reed scoring 10 points straight put Minnesota up 6 94 288 with 4 minutes to go Rudy goar banks in this push shot putting the Wolves up nine and then Anthony Edwards comes down and has the most beautiful isolation Fade Away you’ll see in the game today putting the Wolves up 11 winning this one for the Timberwolves 106 to 99 stealing game one in Denver versus the reigning Champs their defense was absolutely impeccable in this game with Carl Anthony towns on Nicole yic and Rudy goar roaming off of Aaron Gordon check out this play where Rudy goar completely eliminated this alley play that joic and Aaron Gordon loved to run and on the offensive end Anthony Edwards was phenomenal he had 43 points making him just the second player in NBA history 22 years or younger in the playoffs to have backto Back 40 plus Point performances joining Kobe Bryant on the Nugget side of things Nicole yic worked for every single point he got would still finish with 30 289 but did so on 11 for 25 from the field with seven turnovers and Jamal Murray again struggled only shot 6 for 14 from the field had 17 points ironically enough it was Denver’s bench that saved them in this one Reggie Jackson and Justin holiday in 15 minutes were + 19 and + 15 meanwhile a guy like Aaron Gordon was a rare minus 23 and I think what game one showed us is that the Timberwolves match up incredibly well versus Denver they have more size than anyone in the league four bodies to throw at joic in cat Rudy Nas and Kyle Anderson and on the other end Denver has nobody that can guard Anthony Edwards kcp was getting cooked he’s too small and then Aaron Gordon’s just not fast enough Anthony Edwards was blowing right by him look for some adjustments in game two from Michael Malone I think they have something in Christian Brown potentially guarding Anthony Edwards plus I don’t expect Nicole yic to be as inefficient or as turn turn over prone as he was in this game he also shot nine threes and only made two of them but at the same time this Timberwolves team is legit that defense is legit Rudy goar was incredible Carl Anthony towns even though he was in foul trouble did a great job on Nico joic Jaden McDaniels when he was on Jamal Murray Anthony Edwards on Jamaal Murray and even Jaden on mpj they all did extremely well and I’m telling you right now this was an A+ performance from Anthony Edwards this was not an A+ performance from his Supporting Cast around him on the offensive end we’ll see what happens in game two but if you’re Denver you absolutely cannot go down 20 heading into Minnesota this becomes a must-win and the first real test that this nuggets team has had since the 2022 playoffs finally our last game of the first round of the playoffs Sunday May 5th the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic in game seven in Cleveland early on in this one it was all Orlando they got up by as much as 18 in that second quarter and we up by 10 at halftime Paulo had 24 points in that first half got to the free throw line of ton with 10 attempts making all 10 of them but Donovan Mitchell only shot three for 13 from the field in that first half Cleveland would come out in the third quarter and only hold the magic to 15 points while scoring 33 completely swinging this game back in Cleveland’s Direction and in that third quarter Donovan Mitchell was at the center of it he went seven for n from the field had 17 points and instead of Darius Garland it was Max stru that was massive for them as well went four for five from the field three for three from three had 11 points as well meanwhile the magic only went 4 for 24 from the field in that quarter Pao had just four points on 1 for seven and fron was 046 Cleveland wins this one 106 294 it was a hardfought series both ways neither home team lost the entire series series if you’re a magic fan I understand the disappointment in this one this was a series you absolutely felt like you could win but you have to remember your team is Young Pao banero is 21 years old fron Vagner is 22 jayen Suggs is 22 even a guy like Jonathan Isaac is just 26 years old you’ll be back in the playoffs and this was incredible experience for that young core to build on for years to come as for Cleveland they have the tall task of playing the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semi-finals it doesn’t sound like the Celtics will have christops porzingis for the beginning of this series and with C strains we could see what happened with Giannis where there’s hope he comes back but he’s just not progressing like the team is comfortable with although I’m a little skeptical about the Celtics title chances I don’t see how they lose to Cleveland even though round two has begun before round one ended here is what the updated NBA playoffs bracket looks like we have these round two matchups the one seed Oklahoma City Thunder facing the Dallas Mavericks which will tip off on Tuesday night May 7th one thing of note in this one is that Cleber for Dallas is out the rest of the playoffs he had a fantastic Series in round one they’re going to miss him the three seed Minnesota Timberwolves versus the two seed Denver Nuggets who play tomorrow Monday May 6th in game two the one seed in the East the Boston Celtics and the four seed Cleveland cavali who play Tuesday May 7th as well and the two seed New York Knicks and the six seed Indiana Pacers who play in game one of their series Monday May 6th my predictions for round two is that the Mavericks defeat the thunder in 7 this one could go either way it’s no disrespect to the Thunder I just think the playoff experience of Luca and Kyrie edges them out in this one and the Thunder are going to be in this position for the next four to five years to come my prediction for the Timberwolves and the nuggets in my Timberwolves nuggets preview I got the wolves in six Celtics Cavaliers I got the Celtics in five I really don’t think Cleveland puts up that much of a fight up against Boston and nicks Pacers I got the Knicks and six I like the Pacers I think it will be a hardfought series but I really do think the New York Knicks have a chance to upset Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals we may end up releasing this video after Monday’s games of played but they will take place in the next recap video we will do next Monday I hope you enjoyed it it was a long one the NBA Playoffs have been a lot harder for me to figure out a format and a Cadence for posting these Recaps daily videos weren’t doing well for me and also aren’t really that sustainable or realistic I have other videos I like to do as well so we’ve settled on weekly videos going forward for the playoff recap thank you so much if you enjoyed this video check out the video I made on the Phoenix Suns the super team that can’t win and the Denver Minnesota series preview which I deem to be the greatest series of this entire NBA playoffs thank you so much for watching and as always we’ll see you on the hardwood