Category: NBA

The Eastern Conference was unpredictable during the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs thanks to three seven-games series and the upset loss of the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics.

The conference’s frenzied first round also changed FanDuel’s market for 2025-26 NBA Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Superstar Celtics like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were previously among the favorites for the media-voted award before their untimely first-round dismissal.

The wide-open race in the East, coupled with Boston’s elimination, means three players are ahead of the pack for the Larry Bird Award. New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson (+160) is the current favorite after averaging just over 26 points per game in the first round against Atlanta. Continuing a string of strong postseason runs, Brunson’s consistency and high usage gives him considerable traction with the Knicks as the conference’s new favorites.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham slightly trails Brunson on the heels of a terrific first round against Orlando. With Detroit trailing 3-1 in the series, Cunningham took over and averaged 36.3 points per game in the final three games of the series — helping the Pistons recapture their confidence in the process. Cunningham now sits at +200, behind only Brunson in the Eastern Conference.

Donovan Mitchell (+600) from the Cleveland Cavaliers sits third in the market for Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Although Cleveland moved past Toronto in the first round, the Raptors made Mitchell work and held him to 23.1 points per game and 43 percent shooting after Mitchell put up 27.9 points on 48 percent shooting in the regular season. Cunningham and Mitchell will battle in the second round for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals with the winner likely gaining a significant market boost in the process.

After a noticeable decline in the odds, the secondary list of contenders is still filled with All-Stars capable of taking over a playoff series. Karl-Anthony Towns (+1200) played improved defense for the Knicks while closing out the Hawks. But Towns was third in scoring for the Atlanta series behind Brunson and guard OG Anunoby — hurting Towns’ potential case for a series MVP award.

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid (+1700) must stay healthy and eliminate the No. 2 seed Knicks in the second round to even make the Eastern Conference Finals. But a healthy Embiid is still a force after averaging 29 points per game in four games against Boston.

Similar to Embiid’s candidacy, 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (+3000) needs to first get past New York in the second round to even garner serious ECF MVP consideration. But if Maxey’s stellar play against Boston is any indication, the high-scoring guard is capable of putting up points in bunches after averaging just under 27 points per game in the series.

A few other notable names to consider for Eastern Conference Finals MVP includes Knicks two-way threat OG Anunoby (+3300), Cavaliers veteran guard James Harden (+3500), and Cleveland big man Evan Mobley (+5500).

With 5:28 seconds left in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Cleveland Cavaliers tied things up at 93 points apiece. They mounted an 18-point comeback against the Detroit Pistons, the top seed, capped off by three James Harden free throws. A whole new ballgame.

But Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson made one of his many questionable coaching decisions at this moment.

In between free throws two and three, the Pistons brought back in their best player, Cade Cunningham. The Cavs, however, stuck with their lineup at the time — which did not include Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley. It would be over a minute later before those two would enter the game, a period in which Cunningham and starting center Jalen Duren took back momentum with a block and two pick-and-roll dunks. By the time Atkinson brought in his closing lineup, the winds had shifted. Duren had another dunk a few seconds later, and the Cavs would remain at arm’s length.

The playoffs have a way of exposing every flaw a team has and then magnifying them to the national audience. Harden and Mitchell’s turnovers are one of them, but Atkinson’s puzzling decision-making is another. He waited too long to use his timeouts, and not getting Mitchell and Mobley back into the game when the Cavs seemingly had the Pistons on the ropes is another. Does Duren get those easy dunk opportunities with Mobley in the game? Hard to say for sure, but not having your best defender out there in crunch time would have made things harder.

Opposing head coach, and former Cavs scapegoat, J.B. Bickerstaff, sensed the Pistons losing control of the game and brought his best player back in to disrupt Cleveland’s rhythm. It worked.

Atkinson has talked a lot about rhythm this season, largely as it relates to the many different lineups the Cavs had to trot out during the regular season due to injury. Whether it was Darius Garland’s nagging toe ailment or the revolving door of small forward, finding rhythm has been a key emphasis for last year’s NBA Coach of the Year. But last night his decision-making was not sound.

When answering a question post-game about Jarrett Allen’s foul trouble, which limited him to 18 minutes last night, Atkinson said it disrupted the rhythm and his rotations. That is understandable, but not putting Allen back in the game with just a few minutes left is not.

The only Cavalier starter with a positive +/- rating was Allen, and he did so playing bench-level minutes. Atkinson subbed him out during that “too little, too late” timeout, and Allen never saw the floor again. The puzzling part is that Allen had four fouls, not five, and — most importantly — it was crunch time with the opportunity to steal a game on the road. Why not put Allen in? Bickerstaff was still playing Ausar Thompson and Duncan Robinson with four fouls, and both of those players impacted the game late.

There is an argument to be made as well that Mitchell, Mobley, and Harden should have played more minutes. Coincidentally, they all finished with 35, which is less than what Tobias Harris logged for the Pistons. Atkinson noted post-game that he wanted to conserve some energy with certain guys and try to find new energy off the bench, likely due to the grueling seven-game series they played against Toronto. But Detroit also played an equally demanding series against the Orlando Magic and still had its best players playing the most minutes.

It will be very difficult for the Cavs to win this series, whether on the road or not, if Atkinson is routinely getting out-coached by Bickerstaff. Game 1 can be a feel-it-out effort to try and see what works and what doesn’t, but the Cavs had a real chance to win – despite playing exceptionally poorly for most of it. Like the Cavs’ backcourt, Atkinson has to be better. And, like his team, Atkinson needs to be moving with a sense of urgency.

The San Antonio Spurs take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series. The Timberwolves won Game 1 104-102. Victor Wembanyama blocked an NBA playoff-record 12 shots but it wasn’t enough to beat Minnesota, which was lifted by the return of Anthony Edwards. The Spurs are 9.5-point favorites in Game 2 with an over/under of 215.5.

How to watch Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs

• Date: Wednesday, May 6

• Time: 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT

• Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, Texas

• TV Channels: ESPN

• Live Stream:NBA League Pass | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Odds

• Spread: San Antonio Spurs -9.5

• Moneyline: San Antonio Spurs -424 (77.6%) / Minnesota Timberwolves +327 (22.4%)

• Over/Under: 215.5

Series schedule, results

Game 1:Timberwolves 104, Spurs 102
Game 2: Minnesota at San Antonio (Wednesday May 6, 9:30 ET, ESPN)
Game 3: San Antonio at Minnesota (Friday May 8, 9:30 ET, Prime Video)
Game 4: San Antonio at Minnesota (Sunday May 10, 7:30 ET, NBC/Peacock)
Game 5: Minnesota at San Antonio (Tuesday May 12)*
Game 6: San Antonio at Minnesota (Friday May 15)*
Game 7: Minnesota at San Antonio (Sunday May 17)*

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has been playing spectacular basketball in unprecedented territory. We've never seen anyone be this good, for this long, especially at this age.

He's etched his name on countless of records in the NBA history books from all-time points scored, both regular season and postseason, All-Star games, most seasons played, you name it.

For someone who's done just about everything there is to do in the NBA from a four-time MVP, four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Finals MVP with three different teams ― you'd think there's nothing else he's playing for.

During an episode of his podcast Mind the Game, released on May 5, James revealed that he's motivated to continue playing due to his love of the sport, his ability to still inspire and play the game at a high level.

"I still love the process of getting up and putting my body through rigorous rehabs and training sessions and whatever the case may be to try and find the results," James said.

This postseason he's shown that there is one last motivating factor: LeBron James ... Junior.

Bronny James' presence on the team and playing meaningful postseason minutes has almost seemingly rejuvenated Poppa James.

"To be able to have Bronny in the locker room has definitely helped out a lot as well," James said on the podcast. "I have a job and a responsibility to show him what it means to be a professional. Yes, he's seen it from the outside looking in throughout the course of his life, but now, being in the locker room, being in film sessions, being on the plane, being in everything that surrounds how to be a professional, and the results that come with it. I have a responsibility in that. So those are a couple ways for me that's given me inspiration and given me motivation to still do this."

He added: "I hope it's paid off, you know, in a sense for Bronny, and in the sense of my teammates that, you know, they get to see, how I approach the game, and it comes way before the lights come on and the popcorn is popping and everyone is filled in their seats, and whatever the case may be."

The Philadelphia 76ers will try to even their second-round NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks. The Knicks routed the 76ers 137-98 in Game 1. New York is favored by 6.5 points in Game 2. The total is set at 215.5.

How to watch Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks

• Date: Wednesday, May 6

• Time: 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

• TV Channels: ESPN

• Live Stream:NBA League Pass | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Odds

• Spread: New York Knicks -6.5

• Moneyline: New York Knicks -274 (70.2%) / Philadelphia 76ers +221 (29.8%)

• Over/Under: 215.5

Series schedule, results

Game 1:Knicks 137, 76ers 98
Game 2: Philadelphia at New York (Wednesday May 6, 7 ET, ESPN)
Game 3: New York at Philadelphia (Friday May 8, 7 ET, Prime Video)
Game 4: New York at Philadelphia (Sunday May 10, 3:30 ET, ABC)
Game 5: Philadelphia at New York (Tuesday May 12)*
Game 6: New York at Philadelphia (Thursday May 14)*
Game 7: Philadelphia at New York (Sunday May 17)*

*if necessary

Make no mistake, the Sixers coming back from 3-1 down in their first-round series against the Celtics is by far their biggest playoff achievement in the last 25 years. It’s no surprise that the comeback was fueled by the return of Joel Embiid.

The former MVP became the first player in NBA history to score 100 points in a playoff series when he did not play the first three games. He was outstanding and given all the playoff disappointments he’s been through, most of which have either been the result of bad injury luck or not enough help on the roster, no one deserved a moment like Embiid had on Saturday more than he did.

But perhaps Monday night’s blowout loss was a sobering reality of how difficult it will be to win a title with Embiid in his 30s. Many fans thought Philly was up against more than just the Knicks in Game 1 having to battle the fatigue that comes with having to erase a 3-1 deficit against a team like the Celtics. Let’s rewind to the beginning of the season to explain how we got here.

Practically everyone went into the season assuming Embiid would miss about half of the regular season. He ended up missing slightly more than half of the regular season, appearing in 38 games. With Embiid missing so much time, the Sixers ended up in the play-in tournament. Despite winning their first and only game in the play-in tournament to secure the East’s No. 7 seed in the playoff bracket, having a seed that low meant drawing the Celtics in the first round. Once the Celtics appeared on the schedule, most thought Philly didn’t stand a chance at winning the series. That ended up not being true, but it still took a lot of heavy lifting to get out of the 3-1 hole. 

For as amazing as the moment was on Saturday night, it was still only the fourth out of a necessary 16 wins to capture an NBA Championship. Unlike the regular season, Philly doesn’t have the luxury of sitting Embiid every other game now. The way to avoid early-round postseason fatigue is to make quick work of your first-round opponent which gets you more time off before the second round starts. But with Embiid destined to miss so much time in the regular season, how likely is it that the Sixers could get a high seed in future postseasons that would allow them to win their first-round series in four or five games?

The point is, for the rest of his career, you’re likely asking Embiid to ramp it up after playing about half of the regular season, and to appear in six or seven playoff games per round for four rounds over two months. That’s 24-28 games without a long break in a two-month span for someone that would have only played about 40 games with plenty of long breaks over a six-month span in the regular season.

The easiest remedy for this is to build a deeper roster. As we’re seeing in the playoffs, Nick Nurse only plays seven or eight players in most games. If that number could grow to nine or 10 players in a playoff rotation, that would also mean additional depth in the regular season. In turn, that would probably result in more wins in games Embiid doesn’t play, which would give the team a higher playoff seed and ideally a faster victory in the first and potentially second round and preserve Embiid more. 

Maybe Daryl Morey and Elton Brand can pull that off this summer and Philly can win 50-60 games in 2026-27. But the cold hard truth here is that we’re going to be wobbling on shaky ground for the entire time Embiid is trying to get through two months of playing in the postseason at a high level. That’s likely a truth that lasts for the remainder of Embiid’s career.

None of this is to say that it can’t be done. Philadelphia could come out on Wednesday night and look like a much different team. After all, all of its starters played under 30 minutes in the blowout loss in Game 1. That’s probably the closest thing we’ll realistically see to load management in the playoffs but maybe it’s enough to even the series. The Sixers sure responded well from blowout losses in Games 1 and 4 against the Celtics, winning Games 2 and 5 in Boston. They might not be the deepest team, but their top-end talent appears to be more reliable than it has been in previous postseasons to the point where not every win needs to be fueled by Embiid, especially if Paul George’s strong play continues.

We’re simply trying to reiterate what might have been obvious a week and a half ago, but forgotten a bit once the comeback started against the Celtics. It’s still a very steep hill to climb when it comes to winning an NBA championship with Embiid as this team’s best player. If you’re already worried about the team running out of gas in the second round, that’s not a worry that subsides in the conference finals or the NBA Finals if the team is to advance that far.

This dynamic probably creates a difficult contrast in vibes for the fanbase. Frankly, it’s understandable if you’re taking the Boston comeback as the pinnacle moment of Embiid’s playoff career and willing to accept that it probably won’t get any better. Of course, that’s a disappointment if that ends up being the case. But if you’re simply not trying to get let down whenever the team is eliminated, you’ve got a real moment to cling to now and that’s worth something. However, if you’re someone that’s gone from jubilant to quickly concerned over the possibility of the Sixers and Embiid looking fatigued and getting blown out in this series by a Knicks team that hasn’t had to expend as much energy as they have, that’s also a fair emotion to be feeling right now.

While we can look at the East with Boston eliminated and say it’s wide open and right there for the taking, you have to ask yourself if you think the Sixers can walk this tight rope for another six weeks without falling down.  If your answer is no, that doesn’t make you a bad fan as much as it does a realist. On paper, the Sixers might just have enough talent to win the East this year. But the games aren’t played on paper. Every other night, the ball goes up in the air and said talent needs to show up, be available and play well enough time and time again. For as great as the Boston comeback was, and it’s undoubtedly a moment all Sixers fans should cherish, keep all of this in the back of your mind for however long this playoff run goes. 

Should Philly be able to pull out this Knicks series and then lose altitude fast against Detroit or Cleveland in the conference finals, just cherish the fact that the Sixers would have eliminated their top two rivals in the same postseason. We should all allow the improbability of a championship with Embiid to force us to enjoy the good moments he does give us from here on out even more.  As the saying goes, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. But hey, it’s still far from over! On to Game 2.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves are full of surprises. 

First, star Anthony Edwards suddenly comes back from a leg injury, and then Minnesota stuns the San Antonio Spurs to grab a 1-0 series lead.

What shockers await in Game 2 tonight?

There’s money in those mysteries. I go digging for basketball betting gold amongst the individual efforts in my Timberwolves vs. Spurs props.

Here are my best NBA picks and Timberwolves vs. Spurs predictions on May 6.

Best Timberwolves vs Spurs props for Game 2

Player	Pick
Dylan Harper	Over 17.5 points + assists + rebounds	-112
Victor Wembanyama	Over 12.5 rebounds	-105
Naz Reid	Over 1.5 Threes	-130

Game 2 Prop #1: Dylan Harper Over 17.5 points + assists + rebounds

-112 at bet365

Dylan Harper was one of the rare bright spots for the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1.
 
The reserve guard led the team with 18 points but also dished out four assists and snatched four rebounds in 29 minutes of action. 

Harper could have packed the box score even more, considering he generated 12 potential assists but watched those setups be wasted by San Antonio’s poor shooting. He tracked eight rebounding chances yet pulled down only half of those balls.

He’s a high-energy guy, and that’s what the Spurs need after a stagnant series opener. Look for San Antonio to put its foot on the gas, pushing the pace and trying to get out in transition. That’s where Harper does his best work.

Harper’s scoring projections range from 10 points to 12, with most models leaning toward that ceiling. His passing projections flirt with four assists, and his rebounding forecasts sit at 3.5 boards.

Game 2 Prop #2: Victor Wembanyama Over 12.5 rebounds

-105 at bet365

Victor Wembanyama posted a "big man" triple-double in Game 1, including 15 rebounds to go along with those points and blocks.

Wemby was in position for 23 rebounding chances, converting just 65% of those into boards. That’s a slide from his 74% rebound win rate in the final two games versus Portland after returning from a concussion.

The opener was a rock fight, as both teams shot well below their season averages and dropped the pace rate to 96.0 in Game 1. I do see an uptick in tempo coming, as both teams like to get out and run – especially San Antonio. That increases shot attempts and, therefore, rebounding chances.

Wembanyama has wrangled 13 or more rebounds in nine of his last 13 games going back to the regular season, and player projections for Game 2 call for as many as 15 boards, with most models on the other side of this total.

Game 2 Prop #3: Naz Reid Over 1.5 Threes

-130 at bet365

Naz Reid’s ability to stretch the defense is vital to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ success in this series. 

The 6-foot-9 forward isn’t shy about letting it fly from distance and finished 2-for-3 from outside in Game 1, striking on a pull-up when the defense sagged off and knocking down a corner 3-pointer on a drive-and-kick.

Minnesota is relentless when it comes to attacking the rim, even with Wembanyama setting up shop in the paint. That collapses the Spurs’ defense and lets Reid slip to the wing with waiting hands and plenty of space.

Reid wasn’t very active from outside in the series win over Denver, and his perimeter play took a step back in the second half of the schedule. Before the All-Star break, Reid was knocking down 2.4 triples on 6.3 attempts per game. That slimmed to 1.4 makes on 4.6 long-range looks in his final 21 games.

His Game 2 forecasts are bullish on Naz beyond the arc, ranging from 1.6 to as high as 2.3 triples. Given this hefty spread, the game script says Minnesota is fighting from behind, and that prompts perimeter action in an effort to catch up.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Oh, how seductive it must have been.

You buy a basketball team. Months later, you are standing at midcourt in Minnesota holding the Western Conference Finals trophy. Confetti rains down. Cameras catch your face. For one dangerous second you cannot help but think: is this what owning a sports franchise is like?

It is not.

A few days later, the confetti is falling in Boston, and it belongs to someone else. Even worse, you are months away from being hoodwinked into believing that being on the business end of the NBA version of the Babe Ruth trade is a good idea. Soon, boos will serenade you in your home arena as even marginally adept lip readers will notice you ask your associate, “Are they booing…me?” Oh, they were.

That has been the painful, expensive education of Patrick Dumont. Buying a basketball team and understanding the NBA are not mutually inclusive, a line I wrote in November when Nico Harrison was finally fired. The new Mavericks governor inherited Mark Cuban’s human Rolodex hire and trusted the man’s confidence over the man’s competence. By the time Dumont understood the magnitude of what he had been bamboozled into signing off on by Harrison, the trade had already happened, and the booing had already started. A few rocky months later, an 18-year-old SMU freshman in a Luka Lakers jersey was sitting four rows behind him at the American Airlines Center, waiting to apologize.

What Dumont did at that game, on November 10 of last year, was admit he had been wrong. To a kid named Nicholas Dickason, who had flipped him off on opening night and come back to make it right. “Sometimes you have good intentions and you make mistakes. We all do it.” Dumont also told Dickason, according to The Athletic, that he “feels horrible for the trade” and “wants to make it up to us.”

Nico Harrison was fired the next morning.

The brakes-on crowd

I’m tired of writing about Nico Harrison.

Nobody at this site has taken him apart more often, with more long-winded metaphors, than I have. Fifteen months of column work spent litigating a single trade and a single regime, and I’d like to be done.

I have not been part of the move-on crowd. I have been part of the driving-with-the-brakes-on crowd. The people who understood that the Adelson-Dumont ownership group is not selling the team, that some of the faces tied to the trade were going to remain, and that the reset many fans wanted was not coming on their preferred timetable.

Tuesday, for the first time, a brighter horizon actually felt possible when the Mavericks introduced Masai Ujiri as the team’s new president of basketball operations and alternate governor.

Not because Patrick Dumont sold the team. Because Dumont brought in someone whose entire career has been the photographic negative of the man he replaced. Someone whose first instinct in front of a microphone was to acknowledge what happened, name the wound, and offer a path forward that did not pretend the wound was imagined.

The pivot is straightforward: Patrick Dumont trusted the schmoozer. Now he is trusting the scout.

When the Rolodex was the resume

When Mark Cuban hired Nico Harrison alongside Jason Kidd in 2021, he was hiring a Rolodex.

After years of striking out in free agency, Cuban ostensibly convinced himself that the missing ingredient at the top of his front office was relationships. Connections. Access. Harrison had been at Nike for two decades. He had the cell phone numbers of every star in the league. He had brokered deals with Kobe and Curry and Kyrie and Durant. He could schmooze. That was the pitch.

The problem, as the Mavericks would learn the hard way, is that schmoozing was a job where Harrison could not lose.

At Nike, even if you flubbed a star’s pitch meeting (the famous Steph Curry / Under Armour story comes to mind), there was always another superstar coming through the door. Nike does not compete with 29 other shoe companies for a fixed pool of talent. The next star would always be there, ready to be courted. Failure in Harrison’s previous job was, in the most consequential sense, impossible.

The NBA front office is a different planet. You compete against 29 other teams. Talent evaluation is the entire job. Many of the men who become NBA general managers spent years grinding as scouts before they ever sat in a draft room with veto power, watching gym after gym, mapping international tournaments, building the eye that eventually recognizes a hidden gem and the spine to take the swing. Harrison did none of that. He was a shoe rep with the keys to a basketball empire.

The results came on schedule. “One team source recalls a document where Harrison placed Jrue Holiday within the same trade target tier as Nikola Jokić,” Tim Cato reported at DLLS Sports last fall. Read that sentence again. A real general manager does not put Jrue Holiday and Nikola Jokić in the same tier of trade targets. A schmoozer does, because the difference between Holiday — a decorated guard whose best version was already behind him — and the generational Joker does not exist in the world of brand partnerships.

That blindness explains the Anthony Davis trade. Davis had appeared on Harrison’s Instagram a decade earlier, dousing him with ice water during the ALS Challenge. That version of Davis, the prime All-Star Davis of 2014, is the one Harrison saw when he looked at the trade assets on the Lakers roster. The brittle 30-something Davis who would play 29 regular-season games across two partial Mavericks seasons before being salary-dumped to Washington for spare parts? That Davis was invisible. Harrison saw the friend, frozen in time.

The Mavericks never endured the kind of long, semi-intentional wilderness years that let a franchise stockpile picks between eras. The Mavs leaned into asset-burning to build around Dončić. By 2025, Luka qualified for the supermax. The supermax would have given Dončić more money than any player in NBA history, along with the institutional power that comes with that contract. That power would have made Luka virtually impervious to Harrison’s outsized need for control. So Harrison did the boldest thing a schmoozer driven by ego can do. He traded the king before the king could outrank him.

“The easiest thing for me to do is nothing,” Harrison told reporters at the Cleveland press conference the day after the trade. “Everyone would praise me for doing nothing.”

He could not stand to be praised for doing nothing. He needed his shining moment. He needed his real-life PlayStation move. He needed to prove that he, the shoe executive, was the architect of a championship and not a passenger in the Luka Dončić era.

He got fired instead.

The scout’s path

Ujiri did not arrive at Tuesday’s introductory press conference from a cushy industry job. He arrived from the gym.

Ujiri’s career began as an unpaid scout in 2002, working for the Orlando Magic and the Denver Nuggets. Kiki Vandeweghe and Jeff Weltman hired him onto salary at Denver. The Dallas connections in that scouting tree are real. Amadou Gallo Fall, a longtime Mavericks scout and director, was Ujiri’s friend and mentor, and Ujiri name-checked Fall, Donnie Nelson, and Vandeweghe in his opening remarks Tuesday. The braid back to the Mavs predates this hire by twenty years.

To become a scout, Ujiri had to outwork other scouts. To become an assistant general manager, he had to outwork other scouts who had also outworked other scouts. To become an executive vice president and general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, he had to demonstrate, year over year, that his hits on Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler and the post-Melo Nuggets roster he helped assemble were not luck. They were the work born of a process started years earlier, before the accolades.

The work paid off. In 2013, Ujiri was named NBA Executive of the Year, the only non-American ever to win the award. The Nuggets won 57 games that season, the most in the franchise’s NBA history. Then he went on to Toronto and built another contender from what remained of the Bargnani-era roster he inherited. And in 2018, he made one of the riskiest moves any general manager has ever made. He traded the longest-tenured Raptor and franchise face DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, a one-year rental of a two-way superstar coming off an injury-marred season and a public divorce from the Spurs.

It worked. The Raptors won the 2019 championship. Kawhi left as a free agent that summer. Ujiri’s team played the long game and the short game in the same window, and won both.

The recent Toronto stretch was not pristine. The OG Anunoby trade for RJ Barrett did not yield what Ujiri wanted. The Quickley extension was rich. The Ingram trade looked desperate. The Collin Murray-Boyles draft pick is still developing. No executive bats a thousand, and the latter years in Toronto were the years when the puzzle around Ujiri stopped giving him pieces to put together.

But a championship can keep an executive in a chair past the point where the chair still fits. The Mavericks learned that lesson with the waning years of Donnie Nelson’s tenure. For Ujiri, the fit in Toronto ran long. Twelve years. Five Atlantic Division titles. Two Eastern Conference Finals appearances. One NBA championship that almost no one outside the team’s own building saw coming.

What Dallas needed and now has are the fresh eyes of a seasoned, unsentimental evaluator with the power to evoke real change. Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving were spoken of mythologically by Nico Harrison. I do not get that sense from Masai Ujiri. He has shown, throughout his career, that he can attach to players without becoming attached to them. He can pull the trigger on a trade when the math says pull the trigger, even if the trade is for a one-year rental who might not re-sign, even if the trade involves moving the most beloved player on the roster.

Bring the calm

“I hope to bring calm,” Ujiri said early in his opening remarks Tuesday. “I hope to bring to this place winning.”

The first half of that sentence is more important than it sounds. Calm has not been a recurring feature of the Mavericks’ recent operating environment. The Harrison era was a blender. Opaque decision-making, late-night trades, manufactured dysfunction narratives served to ownership in private while the actual roster was being built around a generational player. Calm is the antidote.

It is also a tonal philosophy. Watch how Ujiri handled the inevitable Luka questions Tuesday. Asked twice (once about a healing process, once about whether he would have made the trade), Ujiri did not throw his new boss under the bus. He did not call the trade a mistake. He also did not pretend the wound was not there.

“There’s a healing process with that,” he said.

And then he gave the franchise something it had not been given by anyone in the organization since that fateful Shams bomb on a cold February night. A frame.

“Luka is a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer, and that’s the past. I always say in Africa, we say when kings go, kings come, and a king went, and we have a little prince here that we’re going to turn into a king.”

That is a culturally specific framing that does real work on the grief. The throne is not empty. The loss is real. The path forward is the prince, and the prince is right there in the building, 19 years old and newly minted Rookie of the Year.

The Harrison version of this answer (and the Jason Kidd version, which I wrote about at length on Easter Sunday) was a clipped we have to move on, with the unstated insistence that there was nothing to see here, that the trade was good, that the fans were the problem for refusing to get over it. Ujiri eventually got there too, saying “we really have to move on,” but only after giving the grief oxygen first. He gave fans permission to mourn what was lost and a structure for walking toward what comes next. Different operating system entirely.

That is what calm looks like in practice. Acknowledgment plus forward motion.

The Brooklyn irony

There is a quote you should know about, if you do not already.

The date was April 19, 2014. The location was Maple Leaf Square in Toronto, where thousands of Raptors fans had gathered for a rally before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round against the Brooklyn Nets. The Raptors’ relatively new general manager, fresh off his Executive of the Year award in Denver, took the stage. He grabbed the microphone. He shouted “F*** Brooklyn!” at the assembled crowd.

The NBA fined him $25,000. He later said he was not taking it back, and that if the Raptors got the rematch he would say it again.

The head coach of the Brooklyn Nets at the time was asked for his response.

“You gotta tell me who the GM is,” Jason Kidd said. “I don’t even know who their GM is.”

He knows now.

This historical wrinkle matters because it tells you something about the dynamic Kidd is walking into. Asked about Kidd’s future Tuesday, Ujiri did exactly what he should have done. He praised Kidd as a Hall of Fame player. He said Kidd had done a great job. He referenced his own track record of keeping inherited coaches: George Karl in Denver for three years, Dwane Casey in Toronto for five. Both were inherited. Both were eventually replaced. Read between the lines if you wish, or do not. Either reading lands you in the same place.

What Ujiri did not do was endorse Kidd as the Mavericks’ coach. He could have. He could have said the obvious thing: that Kidd is a Hall of Fame player, that he took this team to the Finals, that Cooper Flagg’s relationship with him is real and worth preserving. Instead, Ujiri said: “…we’re going to look at this thing from head to toe.”

That is the right answer. For too long, Kidd’s halo as a Hall of Fame player and his 2024 Finals run insulated him from a dispassionate evaluation. His Dallas regular-season record finished this season hovering around .500 across five years, with three lottery-bound seasons in five. His best playoff outcomes came when he had the second-best player on the planet running the offense.

There is also a question of whether Kidd wants the new arrangement. Under Harrison, Kidd had outsized power. He had sway over personnel. He had an enabler at GM who shared his preferences. Whether Kidd was the Cleveland-hotel-room Pollyanna he claimed to be is a question I addressed at length last month. What is no longer in question is what the new front office will be. Masai Ujiri is not going to outsource personnel decisions to his head coach. The cook-with-the-groceries era is over, even if it never quite existed in the form Kidd publicly claimed.

The power dynamics around Kidd have been upended. The veterans on this roster may now be assets to be moved rather than minutes to be allocated. Klay Thompson is on the third year of his three-year contract. Daniel Gafford is a useful big man on a reasonable deal. PJ Washington is a versatile forward in his prime. Even Kyrie Irving, whom most every Mavericks fan loves, will be a trade market question if he returns from his ACL injury looking like himself and other teams come calling.

I do not get the sense that the Mavericks’ new president will hesitate to improve the roster or the asset stockpile. Ujiri has made a basketball life out of evaluating players with the eyes of a scout and the deal-making of a card shark. The mythologizing is for the rest of us.

That may not be Jason Kidd’s preferred operating environment. We are going to learn very soon whether Kidd would rather take the new dynamics or whether he would rather find a job somewhere else where he can again be both coach and shadow GM…or, for that matter, actual GM.

The full body scan

The Mavericks have needed a full body scan for a long time.

Not just the front office. The medical staff, which Ujiri flagged twice Tuesday as an area where the franchise has to get better. What fate awaits the interim general managers, Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley? The same can be asked of the coaching staff. The scouts. The development pipeline. Every player on this roster not named Cooper Flagg.

A full body scan is not as glamorous as confetti. Confetti is the schmoozer’s gift: the false sense of arrival, the borrowed credit for someone else’s hard work, the trophy you did not earn but get to hold. Confetti is what Patrick Dumont may well have mistaken for understanding when he bought this team.

A full body scan is the scout’s gift. It is unglamorous. It is slow. It involves sitting down with people and asking them to defend their work. It involves looking at processes and asking whether they produce results or just produce comfort. It is what the Mavericks needed in 2021 and did not get. It is what they needed during the aftermath of the trade and did not get. It is what they have, finally, on the table now.

The reset that a significant chunk of this fanbase wanted (every face associated with the Luka trade out of the building) was never going to happen on the timeline they wanted. Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson are not selling the team. Ownership stays. But what Tuesday showed is that the reset can come from a different direction. By evaluating everyone. By saying that nobody in this building is untouchable, except the 19-year-old prince who wears jersey number 32.

“This is a winning organization. We want to get back to that,” Ujiri said Tuesday.

He cannot tell you how. Yet. He is going to scan the body first.

The lottery last May gave the Mavericks two gifts in one ping-pong ball. The first was Cooper Flagg, the generational player around whom everything else now reorients. The second was the chance to bring Ujiri to Dallas. Because Ujiri, when asked Tuesday whether he would have taken this job without Flagg, did not pretend the question was unfair. He listed the Western Conference gauntlet: Wembanyama, Luka, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić. He said you cannot beat them without something in your pocket. And in his pocket, he has Cooper Flagg. The job was the job because Flagg was the player.

I have watched the Dallas Mavericks since 1980. The schedule last season felt like a slow-moving funeral procession, even with Cooper Flagg’s Rookie of the Year campaign in progress. Watching this team grind through the back half of a tanking season under the weight of a trade nobody wanted to talk about was harder than I expected.

Tuesday was the first day in a long time I felt actively excited to write about this team again.

Dallas finally and at long last got rid of the schmoozer and replaced him with the scout. The full body scan that this organization has needed for years can finally begin.

After the Boston Celtics’ second straight early exit from the playoffs, the topic of roster changes is inevitable. Fans like you and I can be pretty emotional in the aftermath of disappointment. Brad Stevens, however, seems to be a lot more level headed. But that doesn’t mean he won’t consider all the options before him. So let’s try to lay out the factors as calmly as possible and discuss this rationally. (Well, at least try.)

Why is this even a topic?

The Celtics won a title just 2 years ago with a roster built around Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. So we know it can work. Shoot, Jaylen won both ECF MVP and Finals MVP, so everyone should understands that he was one of the biggest reasons for that title. I would submit that he has only gotten better since that title and just turned in his best season ever. If you only judged him on his career to this point, he would still be considered one of the many greats in the team’s history. Personally, I’m a big fan and I would like to see him retire as a Celtic after a long, productive career. I’d like to see his number retired in the banners.

So why are we talking about this? Mostly because we have to look at everything. Consider every angle before dismissing it out of hand based on emotional reflex.

For one thing, Jaylen’s value might never be higher than it is right now. He’s not a perfect player, but you can pick at nits in anyone’s game. He just proved that he can lead a solid team to a 2nd seed. You could argue that if his teammates made a few more shots or if Tatum didn’t get hurt that they’d be on to the 2nd round as planned. I think it is safe to say that a lot of teams around the league would love to have him as their leading man (and will be calling Brad to follow up on previously shot-down conversations).

There’s also the matter of spreadsheets and nerdy number crunching. Both he and Jayson are on max contracts in an era where the rules punish large payrolls. It is very hard to build a competitive roster in this era when you have multiple max guys on the roster. One could make a convincing case that breaking Brown’s contract into smaller, higher value deals would make more sense from a roster building perspective.

What does Jaylen want?

One thing that we can only speculate upon is what Jaylen Brown wants. I don’t doubt his affection for the city of Boston or the team that he’s spent his whole career with. In fact, I greatly admire his dedication to giving back to the community.

However, he’s always been somewhat in the shadow of one player or another. He said himself that this was his favorite season. Which begs the questions. Would he be happier as the number 1 option on a different team? Would he like to play for his hometown team in Atlanta? Is there another star he would like to play with?

I will note here as well: believe it or not, Jaylen is extension eligible this offseason. It just so happens that he had his best year. If he wants to leverage that to a longer term contract, will the Celtics be willing to give him the extra years? If not, how does he feel about that? Again, I don’t know anything beyond what he’s said publicly. Just thinking out loud.

What would be the return?

The only correct answer to a smug blog title that asks “Should we trade Player X?” is “Well, it depends on the return you are getting.” So let’s roll up our sleeves and peel back the layers of that answer.

We’re just entering the summer of Giannis Rumors (part 3?) and his name is bound to come up. The Celtics have already been linked (vaguely) to the Bucks superstar. Giannis had some really nice things to say about the Boston culture this year. He’s hands down a better player than Jaylen Brown, …when healthy. And there’s the rub. I just don’t know if I trust his body to hold up much longer given his age, body type, and playing style.

I can safely predict that we’ll hear more stars linked to the Celtics in various rumors in the coming months. Kawhi Leonard? Kevin Durant? Paolo Banchero? Each has their strengths and weaknesses and concerns. Personally I’m skeptical of all of the above for one reason or another. There are other big names that you could toss around, and each would need to be considered for things like fit, style, cost, and the compensation needed on either side to get a trade done.

As I mentioned earlier, the Celtics might prefer to break Brown’s deal into smaller pieces. You could logically ask why the team would let all their elite role players go one year (Jrue, Porzingis, Horford, Kornet) only to look for guys like that a year later. However, I think the team would likely be focused on younger (and perhaps healthier) options. “Like who????“ You might ask (I know you are asking). I suppose if the Cavs flame out in the 2nd round, one of their bigs (Mobley or Allen) might be available. What about Trey Murphy III? Lauri Markkanen? Onyeka Okongwu? (See, I had the guts to put some real names out there, don’t be too hard on me. I’m not proposing these deals, just listing some names to consider.)

So is this real or just another overreaction?

Most likely the latter (even if only because trades are hard), but it is certainly going to be a topic of discussion this summer. So I figured I’d get ahead of that somewhat.

The most likely scenario is that the team will happily build around Jaylen and the core players that they already have. They do have some levers to pull in terms of adding free agents. There are smaller deals that could be made (Hauser and a pick?) and bigger ones that I would hate to consider (Derrick?). The roster is also young enough that internal improvements could be a big part of the plan as well.

So ultimately I don’t think Jaylen Brown is going to be traded and I’m perfectly happy with that. He’s an All NBA level player and a champion and has a great heart for this city and this team. There should be no rush to push him out the door.

Just remember that it is Brad’s job is to consider all his options to make this team better.

A Game 1 stinker for the Sixers against the Knicks? It wasn’t ideal, but the Sixers have rebounded from such losses already in the postseason and, in defiance of how I’ve looked at this team for so long, I have confidence they will again. Before they have a chance to do so in Game 2, here’s a fresh “5 Sixers thoughts” column from me…

Let it rip, Tyrese

Tyrese Maxey was a godsend as a late-game closer in the Sixers’ series win over the Celtics, but, even in acknowledging the magnitude of that performance and that upset, I wish he was more aggressive early in games. In that Game 1 shellacking at Madison Square Garden, Maxey attempted just one first-quarter shot. It was over at halftime.

In Game 7 against Boston, he had three first-quarter shots, tied for the fewest among the Sixers’ five starters.

I know all these guys, Maxey included, were likely gassed to start the Eastern Conference Semifinals. It’s why I’m cutting this group way more slack than I could’ve ever dreamed for a Sixers team that got run off the court in the playoffs like this, but I want to see Maxey not wait until the 11th hour to take over. Sixers fans everywhere know he has it in him.

Tiki Barber sounds like an absolute clown yet again

Tiki Barber, the former New York Giant who now works as a host at WFAN in New York, their equivalent of WIP, has a penchant for letting his mouth run. When former Giants running back Saquon Barkley signed with the Eagles during the 2024 NFL offseason, Barber stated, “He’s dead to us now.” Barkley responded by having perhaps the greatest running back season in football history while hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, something that Barber never did in his own career.

Anyway, Barber is at it again. After Joel Embiid took a shot from Mikal Bridges on a screen in Game 1, the big fella was dealing with some abdominal pain, certainly a concern as he recovers from appendicitis. After the game, Embiid remarked, “I just felt like it wasn’t necessary, but we move on. It’s playoff basketball. So, if that’s the reality of it, I guess we have to go out there and be physical, too, and do it, too.

On his radio show on Tuesday morning, Barber went after Embiid.

“If it was that bad, then don’t play,” Barber said about the Sixers center’s injuries. “It’s part of the risk of playing when you’re hurt,” Barber later said. “So, stop being a b***h.”

Barber, who fumbled the ball 35 times between the 2000 and 2003 seasons and whose Giants won the Super Bowl immediately after he retired, could have his comments come back to bite him. Embiid has proven what he can do on the court no matter his health. I would not be shocked to see him go off on a 35-point, near-triple-double tear in a Wednesday win after this.

The Adem Bona Experience

I love the energy Adem Bona has, but…

The backup center rotation behind Joel Embiid for nearly a decade continues to be, uh, something.

Shooting variance tells the tale of the modern NBA

That’s only a surface-level take, yes, but it was apparent during the Sixers’ seven-game battle with Boston and was once more in Game 1 against New York. The Knicks aren’t going to shoot 51 percent from three this whole series. Things will ebb and flow. I remain unbothered by how Monday night played out and am ready for the Sixers to fight back with a vengeance on Wednesday evening.

How is this guy still talking?

The Celtics were eliminated over the weekend. Please log off, Jaylen Brown.

The NBA Draft Combine is approaching, and three Illini players were invited to participate in Chicago. The combine will run from May 10-17 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis. Players will compete in five-on-five scrimmages, skill drills, measurements, medical examinations, and interview sessions.

A total of 73 players were invited, including Illini standouts Keaton Wagler, Kylan Boswell, and Andrej Stojakovic. All three former Illini appear in recent NBA mock drafts and will have a chance to improve their stock during the NBA Draft Combine.

Where do the Illini rank in NBA mock drafts?

Jeremy Woo (ESPN):
Keaton Wagler – #6
Kylan Boswell – #52
Andrej Stojakovic – #54

NBADRAFT.NET:
Keaton Wagler – #6
Andrej Stojakovic – #45

Adam Finkelstein (CBS Sports):
Keaton Wagler – #7

NBA Draft Room:
Keaton Wagler – #8
Kylan Boswell – #82

USA Today:
Keaton Wagler – #6

We will have a better idea of where former Illinois players Keaton Wagler and Kylan Boswell could land following the NBA Draft Lottery on May 10. Junior guard Andrej Stojakovic appears in some mock drafts but is expected to return to college for his senior season.

Boswell has exhausted his eligibility, and Wagler is projected to be a top-10 pick, meaning both players are expected to remain in this year’s draft. Illini fans will likely get another look at them during NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas beginning in mid-July.

Boswell is still just 21 years old and will now get his opportunity to prove himself at the professional level. While the G League may be the most likely outcome initially, Boswell will have the chance to earn an NBA roster spot or sign a two-way contract. The Champaign native also spoke about how much Brad Underwood has meant to his development over the past two seasons.

“He’s (Brad Underwood) meant everything for me. How much he demands from me – I think will translate to help me just in whatever my career takes me,” said Kylan Boswell on head coach Brad Underwood.

Wagler is expected to become one of the highest Illinois basketball players ever selected in the NBA Draft. While it is unlikely he surpasses Deron Williams as the highest draft pick in program history at No. 3 overall, he could potentially tie Kendall Gill at No. 5, Red Kerr at No. 6, or George Bon Salle at No. 7. Wagler would become Illinois’ highest draft pick since Meyers Leonard was selected No. 11 overall in 2012.

Minnesota Timberwolves at San Antonio Spurs
Date: May 6th, 2026
Time: 8:30 PM CDT
Location: Frost Bank Center
Television Coverage: ESPN

Game 1 was not pretty. It was not elegant. It was not the kind of series opener that ends with everyone breathlessly talking about offensive genius or some masterclass in modern basketball.

No, this was a rock fight. It steel-cage match with a shot clock. And somehow, the Timberwolves survived it.

They walked into Frost Bank Center, stole home-court advantage, and escaped with a Game 1 win by the skin of their teeth. This was not a comfortable victory. This was the Wolves clinging to a seven-point lead late, watching it shrink to four, then two, then holding their breath as Julian Champagnie’s potential game-winning three clanged off the rim and allowed every Wolves fan to exhale.

From the opening possession, it was obvious this series was not going to look anything like the matchup with Denver. Against the Nuggets, Minnesota discovered that Denver’s rim defense was basically a velvet rope with no bouncer. Attack Jokic, make him move, pressure the paint, force rotations, rinse, repeat. Against San Antonio? Different universe. The game opened with blocks on both ends, which was appropriate because Victor Wembanyama spent the night reminding Minnesota that layups are now a privilege, not a right.

Twelve blocks.

Twelve.

Well, maybe seven or eight blocks and a few missed goaltends and fouls if you believe Chris Finch (and of course we do!). Either way, Wembanyama managed to turn the paint into a restricted military zone. The Wolves had 24 points’ worth of shots sent flying in the opposite direction, and somehow they still found enough offense to win. That alone should tell you two things: this Wolves team has some real playoff scar tissue, and this series is going to be an absolute grinder.

Minnesota did not have anyone who could match Wembanyama’s alien anatomy, because nobody does. But what the Wolves did have was collective defensive toughness. They made San Antonio work. They kept the Spurs to 102 points. They turned the game into a series of ugly possessions, hard contests, forced decisions, and physical collisions. Both teams landed punches. Both teams went on runs. Neither could fully break away.

And then there was Anthony Edwards. His 18 points will not end up on one of those glossy playoff graphics. By Ant standards, it was almost pedestrian. But if you watched the game, you understood how important his presence was. After everything with the knee, after the uncertainty, after wondering whether Minnesota’s superstar would even be available, he came back and gave the Wolves just enough downhill juice and clutch shooting to matter.

He was one of the few players who could look at Wembanyama lurking near the rim and still say, “Yeah, I’m going anyway.” He was willing to stare down that massive wingspan and launch a cold-blooded three right past it.

So many Wolves possessions became a game of cat and mouse. You could see guys driving, seeing Wemby’s shadow stretch across the lane, and suddenly reconsider the plan. Minnesota had multiple shot-clock violations. Other possessions ended in desperation heaves because the Spurs’ defense, powered by the human cell tower in the middle, had swallowed up the first, second, and third option.

So even if Ant was not fully Ant, he gave Minnesota something it desperately needed: pressure. Confidence. A killer instinct.

Julius Randle had his moments too, especially late, when Minnesota needed someone to manufacture offense through brute force. It was not always pretty, but in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs were pushing and the Wolves were trying not to cough up a game they had spent all night wrestling into their possession, Randle used his strength to bully his way into points, draw contact, and keep Minnesota upright.

Mike Conley was enormous. Filling in for the injured Donte DiVincenzo and Ayo Dosunmu, Conley reached into the old-man bag and pulled out four critical threes, the exact kind of stabilizing shot-making Minnesota needed. Every one of those makes mattered.

Naz Reid mattered too. As the third big in Minnesota’s frontcourt rotation, he gave the Wolves a needed offensive counterpunch, attacking the rim when the opportunity was there and spacing the floor when San Antonio’s defense tilted inward. Against Wembanyama, you need bigs who can force decisions. Naz did enough of that to help Minnesota survive.

But surviving Game 1 is not the same thing as solving the Spurs. That’s the danger heading into Game 2. The Wolves stole home court. They proved they can win this kind of game. They sent a little doubt into every talking head who confidently penciled San Antonio into the Western Conference Finals because Wembanyama is the future and the NBA loves a coronation story.

But now comes the real opportunity: Minnesota can leave San Antonio up 2-0.

A Game 2 win changes everything.That puts the young Spurs under the kind of psychological pressure they have not had to deal with yet. That forces Wemby and company to go on the road against a battle-tested Wolves team that has spent the last three postseasons collecting scars, receipts, and road wins in hostile buildings.

Game 1 was the first bite.

Game 2 is where the Wolves decide whether they are satisfied with that, or whether they are ready to really sink their teeth in.

With that, here are the keys.

1. It Begins and Ends With Defense

If Game 1 made anything clear, it is that points are going to be expensive in this series.

Minnesota is not walking into this matchup and dropping 125 unless something truly bizarre happens. Wembanyama’s rim protection is too overwhelming. The Spurs can turn ordinary possessions into escape rooms. That means the Wolves have to win the same way they won Game 1: by making San Antonio just as uncomfortable.

Holding the Spurs to 102 points was a strong start, but it was not perfect. Minnesota still gave up too many easy looks, especially when San Antonio got out in transition. In the half court, the Wolves were able to lock in, communicate, and force the Spurs into tougher possessions. But when San Antonio ran off misses, pushed after makes, or caught Minnesota cross-matched, things got dicey fast.

That cannot be the tradeoff. The Wolves cannot spend 20 seconds defending beautifully only to get burned because they are late getting back the next trip. Transition defense has to be a priority. The Spurs are young, fast, and fearless. If you let them run, they will. If you let them build confidence with easy baskets, suddenly their half-court offense gets lighter too.

Minnesota’s defense has to be connected from possession one. Wall off the paint. Contest without fouling. Get back. Finish possessions with rebounds. Make San Antonio earn everything.

Because the Wolves are not winning this series in a track meet. They are winning it in the mud.

2. Stay Out of Foul Trouble

Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle both finished Game 1 with five fouls. Stephon Castle fouled out for San Antonio. The whistle was tight, and while that spoke to the physicality of the game, it also created a dangerous tightrope for Minnesota.

The Wolves cannot afford to have McDaniels stapled to the bench for long stretches. We saw in the Denver series how quickly things shift when Jaden picks up early fouls. In Game 5 against the Nuggets, he got two quick ones and Minnesota’s defense immediately lost most of its bite. Against San Antonio, his availability is even more important. He is one of the few Wolves with the length, feet, and defensive instincts to bother multiple Spurs actions. He has to be on the floor. He has to be aggressive. But he also has to be smart.

Same goes for Randle. Same goes for Gobert. Same goes for Naz. Against Wembanyama, the Wolves need every big body they have. They cannot afford cheap fouls 30 feet from the basket. They cannot afford frustration fouls. They cannot afford reaching when verticality will do. Every whistle that sends a key Wolf to the bench makes life easier for San Antonio.

The best ability is availability, and in this series, that might be more than a cliché. It might be the difference between a 2-0 lead and a tied series.

3. Keep the Offense Moving, And Find Ways to Remove Wemby From the Play

Game 1 was a warning: if the Wolves let San Antonio’s defense get set, possessions can die slow, painful deaths.

Wembanyama changes everything. He doesn’t just block shots. He changes decisions before they happen. He makes drivers hesitate. He makes cutters pull up short. He makes guys second-guess what used to be automatic. That is how you end up with multiple shot-clock violations and late-clock prayers.

The answer is not to simply “be tougher” and drive into him anyway. That is how you end up as Block No. 13.

The answer is movement.

The ball has to move side to side. The Wolves need to make San Antonio’s defense rotate, make Wemby turn his head, make him guard multiple actions instead of letting him sit in the paint like a final boss waiting for challengers. The more static Minnesota becomes, the more powerful he gets.

One of the most encouraging wrinkles late in Game 1 was the way Randle helped wall off Wembanyama from the play, using his body to seal him and create cleaner driving lanes. That is the kind of stuff Minnesota has to lean into. Screen him. Pin him. Drag him away from the basket. Make him choose between helping and giving up something else.

You are not going to eliminate his impact. But you can make him work harder to apply it.

That means Ant attacking at the right times. Randle using his strength intelligently. Naz spacing and cutting. Conley organizing. The offense has to be active, deliberate, and patient enough not to panic when the first look disappears.

Against Denver, the Wolves could attack the rim as Plan A.

Against San Antonio, Plan A has to be creating the conditions where attacking the rim is even possible.

4. Hit Shots (And For the Love of KG, Hit Your Free Throws)

Minnesota shot 38% from three in Game 1. They needed every bit of it.

Conley’s four threes were massive. Edwards’ late shot mattered. Naz hitting from deep mattered. In a game where the rim was guarded by a skyscraper with timing, the three-point line became the team’s lifeline.

The Wolves do not need to shoot 45% from deep to win this series, but they cannot afford one of those 24% disaster nights. They need mid-30s or better. They need the open looks to go down. They need to punish the Spurs when the defense collapses or when Wembanyama is pulled out of position.

But it is not just about making shots. It is about generating the right ones. No desperation heaves because the possession got stuck. No contested threes early in the clock because someone didn’t want to drive. No wasted chances after beautiful ball movement. If the Wolves create clean looks, they have to cash them in.

And free throws? …Enough.

This has been a season-long issue, and it cannot follow them deeper into the playoffs. The margin in this series is too thin. Every point matters. When the Wolves earn trips to the line, they cannot treat them like extra credit. These are professional basketball players. Good ones. There is no reason for the free-throw percentage to resemble something from a middle school tournament.

5. Stay Physical and Keep Punishing Wembanyama

Wembanyama had a triple-double. He blocked 12 shots. His defensive impact was absurd.

He also scored just 11 points.

That is not an accident.

Minnesota did a strong job making his offensive life uncomfortable. They bodied him. They leaned into him. They denied easy catches. They made him fight for position. They forced him into an 0-for-8 night from three. Now, will that happen again? Probably not. Wemby is too good, too talented, too inevitable to expect another quiet scoring night.

But the approach has to stay the same.

Make him feel the series.

Randle has to keep using his strength. Gobert has to make him work inside. Naz has to be physical. Everyone has to box out. Every drive by San Antonio has to be met with bodies, not open lanes. The Wolves cannot allow the Spurs to live off second-chance points and easy putbacks, which nearly cost them Game 1.

This is where Minnesota’s size and experience need to matter. San Antonio has the alien. Minnesota has the grown men. Use them.

The Wolves are not going to out-finesse the Spurs. They are not going to win a verticality contest with Wembanyama. They have to make this a strength battle. A positioning battle. A will battle.

Make the young team feel the older team’s weight.

The First Bite Wasn’t Enough

The Wolves stole Game 1, but stealing home court only matters if you protect the advantage it gives you. A split in San Antonio is fine. A 2-0 lead heading back to Target Center is something else entirely. That is a statement. That is pressure. That is a young Spurs team suddenly facing the reality that playoff series are not won by highlights, hype, or wingspans alone.

Minnesota has a chance to put real weight on San Antonio’s shoulders. The Spurs are talented. They are hungry. They are not going away because they dropped one close game at home. Wembanyama will adjust. Their coaches will adjust. Their guards will push harder. Their crowd will be louder. Everything about Game 2 will be more difficult.

Let it be.

The opportunity remains the same.

The Wolves have the experience. They have the scars. They have the defensive identity. They have the physicality. They have just enough offensive punch, if they execute, to make this series theirs.

But it will not happen by accident. They need to defend like Game 1 was not good enough. They need to stay out of foul trouble. They need to move the ball with purpose. They need to hit their threes. They need to stop throwing away free points at the line. They need to make Wembanyama feel bodies every single trip down the floor.

The first bite drew blood.

Now comes the next one.

This is where the apex predator does not relax after wounding its prey. It tightens the grip. It gets more physical, more focused, more relentless. It keeps attacking before the opponent has a chance to recover.

Game 1 was the warning.

Game 2 is the chance to make San Antonio truly feel the weight of the hunt.