Category: NBA

Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Charlotte Hornets
Date: April 5th, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM CDT
Location: Target Center
Television Coverage: FanDuel Sports Network – North
Radio Coverage: Wolves App, iHeart Radio

With Anthony Edwards sidelines, the Wolves went into Boston and pulled off a professional win, then followed it with that completely deranged, Scott Foster-fueled overtime escape against Houston, the kind of game that usually becomes a rallying point for a team trying to harden itself for the postseason. It felt like the Wolves had rediscovered their defensive identity, their connectivity, and maybe even a little bit of that stubborn edge that carried them on back-to-back Western Conference Finals runs.

And then they dropped three of four games, including back-to-back games to Detroit and Philadelphia, and suddenly the whole thing feels unstable again.

That is the maddening part of this Timberwolves season. They keep giving you just enough to believe they’ve turned the corner, and then they take that same corner like they’re driving on bald tires in sleet. Friday night in Philadelphia was the latest example. It was not some shameful no-show or one of those dead-eyed weekend matinee meltdowns where you question whether half the team remembered there was a game. In fact, the Wolves fought. They competed. They even built a ten-point lead in the third quarter. But eventually the weight of the week caught up to them. Anthony Edwards, still recovering from injury and illness, looked like a guy who had no business being asked to carry an offense, and the Sixers, refreshed, healthier, imposed their will.

That was the story. Minnesota came into Philly with its back against the wall after that exhausting loss in Detroit, needing to summon one more big effort on the second night of a back-to-back against a Sixers team that had started to find itself again with Joel Embiid back in the lineup. The hope was obvious. Edwards had returned Monday against Dallas, then sat Thursday in Detroit with an illness. Maybe the extra night of rest would help. Maybe the freshest legs on the roster would belong to the one guy who could actually bend the game. Maybe the superstar could be the superhero again.

Instead, the version of Edwards that took the floor looked like a shell of himself. He finished just 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-7 from three, and for long stretches he was not simply ineffective, but almost invisible. That is not a criticism so much as an acknowledgment of the obvious. He was sick 24 hours earlier. He looked out of rhythm. He looked like a guy trying to force his way through a game his body was not ready to own. To be blunt, there were stretches where the Wolves functioned better without him, which is not something you say about Anthony Edwards unless the circumstances are screaming it at you.

The frustrating thing is that Minnesota still gave itself a chance. Even with Ant sputtering, even with the offense feeling patched together, they pushed out to that ten-point lead in the third and for a moment it felt like one of those ugly, admirable road wins you talk yourself into as evidence of maturity. But then the bottom fell out. The shots stopped falling. The legs got heavy. The Sixers got downhill, got to the rim, and started scoring in the kind of effortless, demoralizing ways that happen when one team is tired and the other senses blood. By the time the lead stretched to seventeen late, the game had taken on that ugly late-stage feel where everything Minnesota did required enormous effort and everything Philadelphia got seemed to arrive cleanly and on time.

The final numbers told the whole story. The Sixers shot 50 percent. The Wolves shot 38 percent. Philadelphia was better from three, better from the line, better on the glass, and over the course of 48 minutes there was almost nothing Minnesota actually did better. When the tape says one team beat you physically, schematically, and efficiently, there really is not much left to argue about.

So now the Wolves head into the final stretch of the regular season with things feeling less like a sprint up the standings and more like a desperate attempt to stay balanced on the ladder. Maybe the six seed is already where this thing is headed. Maybe the script has been written and all this scoreboard-checking is just emotional self-harm dressed up as fandom. But whether or not they can still climb, these last few games are now about something just as important: getting right. Getting healthy. Getting connected. Building momentum and rhythm and confidence so that when the playoffs arrive, they do not look like a team that has spent the past month in disarray.

That process continues against Charlotte, and while a late-season game against the Hornets does not exactly sound like an instant classic, it matters. It matters because Charlotte has been remarkably better in the second half of the season. It matters because the Wolves cannot keep alternating between “we’ve got it figured out” and “why is the house on fire again?” And it matters because if the Wolves are going to do anything meaningful in in the post-season, they need to start looking like a team that knows what version of itself it wants to be.

With that, here are the keys to the game.

#1. Match Charlotte’s energy and play with real defensive intent from the jump.
One positive sign lately is that the Wolves, for the most part, have not been sleepwalking through games the way they did in those dead-brained losses earlier in the season. The competition has gotten tougher, yes, but some of it also feels like this team understands it no longer has the luxury of coasting. That has to continue against Charlotte. The Hornets are hungry, feisty, and still trying to carve out something meaningful of their own down the stretch. If Minnesota walks into this game treating it like a lazy weekend game against those old, irrelevant Hornets, LaMelo Ball will happily turn it into a track meet, and guys like Brandon Miller and Kon Kneuppel will start bombing away from deep. This has to begin on the defensive end. Pressure the ball. Show real purpose on closeouts. Do not let Charlotte’s guards get comfortable. If Edwards is still working his way back into rhythm, then defense has to be the part of the game Minnesota can always count on.

#2. Win the rebounding battle for once.
The Wolves have let themselves get pushed around too often lately. Detroit did it. Philadelphia did it. It has become a recurring problem at the worst possible time, which is especially frustrating for a team with Gobert, Randle, and Reid on the roster. Charlotte does not have a frontcourt that should be able to duplicate what Joel Embiid or Jalen Duren did. That means Minnesota has to come into this game with the mindset that every rebound belongs to them. Rebounds are not just about ending possessions here. They are also about unlocking transition chances and giving this offense a simpler path to points than trying to grind through every halfcourt trip like it’s a tax audit.

#3. Stay aggressive and attack the rim.
If Edwards is not back to being Edwards yet, the Wolves need offense from other sources, and that means pace and rim pressure become essential. Bones Highland, Ayo Dosunmu and, Terrence Shannon Jr. are the types of guys who can inject some burst into the game by getting downhill and making Charlotte’s defense react. Minnesota cannot afford to spend 48 minutes walking the ball up, running a static set, and watching someone jack up a late-clock bailout jumper. Push off rebounds. Pressure the paint. Create easy looks in transition and force Charlotte to defend on the move. Even if the three-point shot is shaky, the Wolves have enough athleticism and enough downhill players to generate good offense by attacking before the defense gets organized.

#4. Hit your shots — at the line and from deep.
The Wolves shot 65 percent from the free-throw line against Philadelphia, and while that was not the only reason they lost, it absolutely helped turn the final minutes into a desperate uphill climb instead of a close clutch-time stretch. There is no polite way to say this anymore: it is completely unacceptable for a team with this much shot-making talent to keep punting away uncontested points from the stripe. It has been annoying all season. In the playoffs, it could be fatal. The same goes for the three-point line. Friday was not just an Ant disaster from deep, although 0-for-7 from your star certainly doesn’t help. DiVincenzo has looked off. Bones and Ayo have had hot stretches, but need to be steadier. This offense does not need to be elite every night, but it has to stop sabotaging itself with rotten efficiency in the two key scoring areas on the board: free throws and open threes.

#5. Use this game to get right, not just to get by.
This is the biggest thing. At this point, it may be less about obsessing over whether the Wolves can climb to fifth or whether they are locked into sixth and more about whether they can enter the postseason looking like a team you’d want no part of. That does not mean the standings no longer matter. They absolutely do. The Lakers could still slide and maybe that fifth seed becomes an easy ticket to round two. There are enough moving pieces left that Minnesota cannot just sit tight and accept its fate. But beyond all that, the Wolves need this game as a tune-up, a stabilizer, a confidence builder. They need Edwards to look more like himself. They need the offense to function. They need the defense to feel connected. They need to start stacking quality basketball, not just surviving individual nights. A solid win against this feisty Charlotte team could help them get back on balance if they approach it correctly.

The runway is getting short now. The regular season has gone from long and meandering to urgent and loud. And after the emotional swings of the two weeks, the Boston win, the Houston miracle, the Detroit stumbles, and the Philly fade, the Wolves need something solid. Something that feels like progress instead of another go-round on the rollercoaster.

This team may not ultimately control where it lands in the standings. Maybe the sixth seed is already inevitable. But they do control whether they go into the postseason looking organized, dangerous, and ready to punch back. That is what these final games are really about. Not just winning them, but using them to rediscover what their best basketball actually looks like.

And if they can do that against Charlotte, if they can shake off the Philly fog, hit some shots, defend with edge, dominate the glass, and get Edwards back into orbit, then maybe the story of this season is not that they fell short of where they wanted to be, but that they found the right version of themselves just in time.

A post on reddit was the genesis of viral reactions earlier this week.

The user named mandevillan admitted that they had never seen the Hawk in the ‘Pac-Man’ logo used by the team as an alternate since 2014. The logo itself is a revamping of a bygone era for the franchise (and it’s seemingly more widely used that the primary logo that has “ATLANTA HAWKS BASKETBALL” in a ring around the hawk — even at halfcourt in State Farm Arena).

This person had been looking at this logo from right to left, apparently.

From the post:

I’ve been a fan since I was a kid who moved to Atlanta in 1992. Thirty-plus years!

I was on NBA.com just now looking at standings, and I noticed something that I never have before…I finally saw the Hawks logo the way it was meant to be seen.

My whole life I’ve been viewing it right to left. It always looked like some predatory Pac-Man-esque creature, like a hawk with a single tooth and open beak snapping at prey or something.

But today, for the first time ever, I viewed it left to right. And it’s clearly just… a hawk. In flight probably. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

I feel like an idiot. Thirty years. I can’t be the only one. Right? Right??

That post drew ridicule from people. How could you not clearly see the Hawks with its eye and beak???

A quick backstory on the history of the logo (much of this info came via the great Chris Creamer at SportsLogos dot net). The original design debuted in 1972, just the fifth season since the franchise moved from St. Louis to Atlanta.

That logo had the hawk titled in an upwards direction from left to right. It’s an iconic and clean look that perfectly uses minimalism to great effect. I mean, just look at these warmup jersey sets:

But since the Hawks weren’t able to bring back the logo in its original form in 2014, they made a primary and an alternate logo that contained a re-designed Hawk outline, going from “ATLANTA HAWKS BASKETBALL CLUB” back to “ATLANTA HAWKS BASKETBALL” in the writing of the primary logo in 2020.

Pac-Man, the arcade game character, came out in 1980. You know, the loveable guy that gobble up white pellets and tries to avoid the ghosts chasing him.

That original character was just a yellow circle with a pie-shaped cutout for a mouth to the side:

So when you overlay the Hawks logo with the original Pac-Man, you can see the resemblance and reason behind the colloquial name — the ‘Pac-Man’ Hawks logo.

But, man, missing the hawk in the logo for almost 35 years? And then admitting that on the wide world web? You couldn’t torture that info out of me.

What do you think? Did you ever misinterpret the old or even current logo? Let me know in the comments.

While golfing recently, LeBron James mulled over a staggering stat.

He has faced about 37% of all players in NBA history. 

“I seen some s–t that made me feel so old the other day,” James said on an appearance on “Bob Does Sports,” before repeating that shocking number.

Well, James is about to get a lot more gray hairs on his beard.

Not only have the Lakers lost Luka Dončić to a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that he sustained Thursday against the Thunder. But an MRI Saturday revealed that Austin Reaves sustained a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury in that game, too. Both players could miss around a month — or more.

It’s a brutal turn of events for a team that had gone 16–2 heading into Thursday’s game and was considered championship contenders.

Now, it would be shocking if the Lakers survive the first round of the playoffs.

It’s time for James to dust off the cobwebs from his superhero cape that he used to carry 10 NBA teams to the Finals.

Before James found out the Lakers would be without Reaves, he was asked how things change for him without Dončić.

“The mindset changes a little bit, for sure,” he told reporters Saturday at Lakers practice.

Without Reaves too? His mind must be short-circuiting.

James spent the last month playing behind Dončić and Reaves, filling in the team’s holes. Now, he’s dealing with a gaping chasm.

It’s in the form of 56.8 points, 12.7 rebounds and 13.8 assists that Dončić and Reaves averaged this season.

Losing Dončić — who averaged a league-high 37.5 points, 8 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.3 steals in March — was a gut punch.

Having to also play without Reaves is form of decapitation for a team that seemingly had no ceiling a few days ago.

The truth is without Dončić, James would’ve become the Lakers’ first option even if Reaves’ injury hadn’t been so severe. Reaves is largely unproven in the postseason and infamously struggled last April.

But not having Reaves on the court as the Lakers’ second option is devastating for LA’s offense. Things just went from bad to catastrophic.

James is averaging career-lows in points (20.6) and usage rate (26.6) this season because it became obvious that the Big 3 functioned best when he deferred to both Dončić and Reaves.  

“It is a sacrifice,” James said March 12. “I know what I’m capable of still doing as an individual.”

Well, now it’s time for him to show the world what arguably the greatest player of all-time can do at this geriatric stage of his career.

At age 41, most NBA players have long retired. James will be called upon to carry a team on his arthritic feet past a grueling gauntlet of Western Conference superstars to four wins in a seven-game series.

The Lakers, who have five regular season games remaining, have already clinched the playoffs. Reaves will likely miss 4–6 weeks. The average time a player misses for Dončić’s injury is 30 days. The playoffs begin April 18, and here’s to guessing the Lakers are going to want to be conservative with their franchise’s cornerstone players.

So, James it’s you.

It’s a Herculean task.

Really, it’s impossible.

Look, James is still great. Last month, he had a triple-double with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists on the second leg of a back-to-back against the Heat on March 19, following finishing with 30 points on 13-for-14 shooting the previous night against the Rockets. 

But there’s no way he can make up for the firepower of the team’s top two stars. James is the oldest player in the league. Heck, it would’ve been a really tough ask for him 10 years ago.

This is all a shame for so many reasons.

Dončić was having an MVP-caliber season. Reaves looked like an All-Star. The Lakers were soaring.

But there’s another major storyline: This could potentially have major ramifications on James’ future. 

James still hasn’t decided whether he’s going to retire after this season — or return next year for the Lakers or another team. 

It was obvious that whatever happened this postseason was going to have a major influence on that decision.

Now, with both Dončić and Reaves out, James is facing a completely different reality than he was days earlier.

It’s heartbreaking.

Over the course of a few dreadful days, everything went from sunny to dreary for the Big 3.

And James is now alone having to sort through the darkness.

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If the Phoenix Suns make the playoffs, it’s a near certainty they’ll face the Oklahoma City or the San Antonio Spurs. The team will most likely be the seventh or eighth seed in the Western Conference, depending on how they perform in the play-in tournament. There’s a slim chance they can surpass the Minnesota Timberwolves for the sixth seed, but it’s highly unlikely.

With the Thunder and Spurs being the most likely candidates for the team to play in the first round, we asked Suns fans who’d they rather play. The vote speaks loudly.

I am not surprised by the results one bit. The Thunder are the strong favorites to win the title again and come out of the Western Conference, and have given the Suns more trouble than the Spurs have this season. In four games against the Suns this year, Oklahoma City is 3-1 and handed Phoenix its worst loss in franchise history back in December. Additionally, the defending champions are the healthiest they’ve been all season, just in time for the playoffs with Jalen Williams back in the lineup, and they just walloped the streaking Los Angeles Lakers.

While the Spurs look to be no piece of cake, they’re inexperienced. Boasting the second-best record in the NBA and the second-shortest odds to win the West and the title, typically it takes teams at least one or two playoff up and downs to become formidable threats to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy, and the Spurs were not even in the play-in tournament last year, let alone the playoffs, with a mostly similar roster from a year ago. Their biggest additions from a season ago are bench players Luke Kornet and Dylan Harper Jr. Phoenix has also had better luck against the Spurs than the Thunder this year.

The two teams split their four matchups against each other, with the Suns winning the first two and the Spurs winning the final two. The last time the two teams played came just a few weeks ago, when Victor Webmanyama hit a game-winner in the final moments in San Antonio’s comeback win. Wembanyama is the strong favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year and one of the leaders in the MVP race. Phoenix held the All-Star to one of his worst games of the season back in November, when they limited him to his lowest scoring game of the season, when he scored nine points on 14 shots. The home team won every game in the season series.

With how terrific Wembanyama and the rest of the Spurs have been, it would not be a surprise to see them soar during the playoffs; it’s just an unproven concept. Both Oklahoma City and San Antonio provide a challenge; they’re the two best teams in the league for a reason, but the Spurs are the unproven bunch.

The Spurs game in Denver did not go as expected. The Silver & Black blew a lead late in the fourth and lost their way in overtime.

Some silver lining to the gray cloud was Julian Champagnie’s six three-pointers. He ended the afternoon with eighteen points on 6 of 9 shooting beyond the arc.

None were bigger than this one hit in overtime:

His grand total of 192 threes in a single season bested Danny Green’s 191 from the 2104-2015 season, elevating Champagnie to the franchise leader.

With four home games remaining, Champagnie has the opportunity to crack 200 hits from downtown in one season. Following Keldon Johnson’s recent milestone — becoming the first played in Spurs history to hit 1,000 points coming off the bench — the Spurs as a whole look keyed up to head into the postseason strong.

In addition to his offense prowess, Champagnie’s rebounding is a strength of his defensive contributions. He’s double his rebounding from two seasons ago while only increasing his minutes by 50%.

Champagnie is a key component of the Spurs success this season. Head coach Mitch Johnson has entrusted the undrafted sharpshooter as a member of the starting line-up.

Originally designed around Victor Wembanyama, Harrison Barnes, Devin Vassell, Stephon Curry, and De’Aaron Fox, Champagnie earned the role as go-to starter as early season injuries sidelined Fox and then Castle. As New Year’s Eve approached, he started in place of Devin Vassell who was suffering a left adductor strain. And later, when Harrison Barnes’ left ankle caused him to miss his first games since December of 2021, Champagnie established himself in the starting line-up going forward.

Champagnie originally came to San Antonio in 2023 on a two-way contract, two days after being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers on Valentine’s Day. That summer, he signed a friendly four-year/$12M contract. He’s got one more season before he is offered what is sure to be a big payday.

Hopefully the Spurs can put a ring on it and lock him down for a long, prosperous career in San Antonio.

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Joe Mazzulla wasn’t supposed to be the long-term answer.

A week before training camp in 2022, the Celtics’ future was clear and it was beautiful. They had just come off a Finals loss against the Warriors, the roster was intact, and the next few years of contention felt inevitable. 

Then, the Ime Udoka situation forced everything sideways, and a 34-year-old assistant coach was suddenly running a contender with championship expectations and no runway to grow into the job.

That kind of transition usually leaves a scratch on an organization when you look back at their history. Even good teams wobble when the voice in the room changes overnight. Boston didn’t. In Mazzulla’s first year, they opened 18–4, carried over the same edge from the previous season, and kept stacking wins as if nothing had really changed. At the time, that steadiness felt temporary, like the roster was strong enough to carry the rookie coach while things settled.

A few years later, it’s clear that wasn’t what was happening.

An emergency replacement

Early on, the question followed Mazzulla everywhere: how much of the success was him, and how much of this was already built? It’s a fair question when you inherit a Finals team with two All-NBA wings entering their prime. Plenty of coaches could keep that group competitive. Far fewer can shape it into something more sustained and defined.

That’s where Mazzulla has separated himself. The Celtics play with a level of clarity that reflects a coach who knows exactly what he wants each game to look like. Offensively, the system is built on quick decisions and spacing that stretches defenses until something gives. The three-point volume gets a lot of the attention, but the real story is how those shots are created. The ball rarely sticks. Actions flow into each other. Role players are involved by design.

You see it in players like Payton Pritchard stepping into larger responsibilities, whether that’s as a starter or off the bench. You see it in how Jaylen Brown’s usage shifts depending on who’s available. The system holds up through the constant roster changes that come with an NBA season. When Jayson Tatum missed extended time, the Celtics stayed organized offensively and avoided drifting into isolation-heavy stretches. When he returned, the structure didn’t need to be rebuilt.

That kind of continuity points to a system that has been intentionally constructed. So how did he do it in such a short period of time?

“Give the game what it needs”

Defensively, the identity has always been deliberate, even if it shows up in less obvious ways. Boston prioritizes protecting the paint and controlling possessions, even if it means living with certain perimeter looks. The help is aggressive. Rotations are early and often. The goal is to shape the game into something predictable and repeatable over long stretches.

That approach requires discipline across the roster, especially when lineups change or when less experienced players are on the floor. It also requires buy-in. Players have to trust the tradeoffs possession after possession, even when the results don’t always look clean in the moment.

What’s interesting is how different this feels from the versions of the Celtics we’ve seen under previous coaches.

Under Brad Stevens, the emphasis was also on structure and execution, but maybe even more so than Mazzulla. Everything was precise, often methodical, and built to minimize mistakes. Under Ime Udoka, the identity shifted toward physicality and accountability. That group defended with force, leaned into toughness, and played with an edge that carried them to the Finals.

Mazzulla has taken pieces of both and made the team his own. The structure of Brad is still there, as is the defensive edge of Udoka, but the games (and results) are better than they’ve ever been. There’s more trust in players to make the next read, to take the next shot, to keep the possession moving without overthinking it.

That’s where “give the game what it needs” shows up. It’s not about running a perfect possession every time, but instead recognizing what’s available and acting on it quickly. Sometimes that means a quick three. Other times it means one more pass or trusting a role player to make the right play in a big moment (see Xavier Tillman in Game 3 of the 2024 NBA Finals).

Opposing coaches have pointed out how clearly Boston plays to its strengths and how consistent the approach is on both ends. That level of execution typically develops over time. In Boston’s case, it came from a coach stepping into a volatile situation and establishing structure quickly, then giving it room to breathe.

There’s also growth that’s easy to overlook. Mazzulla’s first playoff run had moments where things unraveled, and some of the criticism at the time was fair. Since then, the adjustments have improved. So while the learning curve has been steep, he’s handled it just about as well as you could have asked.

“Nobody cares”

At some point, the context around how Joe Mazzulla got here starts to fade into the background. What replaces it is the résumé, and it’s already difficult to wrap your head around. A championship. The highest winning percentage the league has ever seen. Year after year of 50-plus wins. A team that hasn’t drifted, hasn’t fractured, hasn’t taken a step back at a time when most contenders eventually do.

What’s almost as impressive as the results is the environment he’s maintained. Two superstars entering their primes, in a league where that usually comes with questions about timelines, pressure, and whether something else might be out there for them. Instead, the Celtics, top to bottom, have stayed aligned. The expectations have risen, and the response has been nothing but steadiness. That part doesn’t show up in a statistic, but it might be the most impressive thing he’s done to date.

All of that from a coach who, a few years ago, was an assistant from Rhode Island who had never held a head coaching job, outside of a stop at Fairmont State.

And yet, if you asked him about any of this, you probably wouldn’t get much of a reaction. He’s already told you what he thinks of Coach of the Year. He’s told you how much he values awards. You know the answer will likely be some form of.

• Doesn’t matter.
• No one cares.
• We’re all going to die anyway.

But the thing is that we, Celtics fans around the world, care. Deeply. Not about the award or the optics, though Celtics fans agree that his name should be on the shortlist for COTY candidates. It’s that the Celtics were thrown into massive uncertainty and ended up with a coach who has kept them at the center of the league, defined how they play, and helped push them over the line.

There wasn’t a plan for this. How could there have been? It was a moment that could have gone a lot of different ways, most of which you’d expect to go badly.

And just look at where we landed.

We’re back! And Jayson Tatum might be…like…ALL the way back. Welcome to the Celtics’ Top-5 Highest IQ Plays of the Week! 

Sure, we love the high-flying dunks and the deep, off-the-dribble step-back threes, but this is a place for the under-the-radar plays that might not get the credit they deserve. The plays that get the basketball sickos and nerds out of their chairs. The plays that even YOU could make in your weekly rec league game. 

Each week, the plays will be ranked from five to one—one being the smartest—and will only be taken from games that occurred within the past week. For this week, games from March 29th to April 4th are considered. The Celtics went 3-1 this week, with wins over the Hornets, Heat, and Bucks but a loss to the Hawks.

5. Simple pass fake 

Every basketball coach talks about pass fakes, but it’s rare to find a player who uses them as effectively as Baylor Scheierman. On this play, the lefty throws his entire body into the fake and doesn’t immediately get rid of the ball, which is the perfect read on this play. With LaMelo having to guard two players and Gonzalez being the other three-point shooting option, Scheierman makes the ideal play in real time. Sometimes the simplest plays are the most effective. 

4. Tatum’s improved(?) vision

Tatum has very quickly reintegrated himself into NBA basketball. But he might have somehow come back a better passer than he was before. I absolutely love his vision on this play—seeing both defenders converging on him and Kon lurking in the passing lane—and throwing a perfect lead pass to Queta for the dunk. Perhaps it’s because he had time off to watch his teammates and see the game in a different way, or perhaps the Celtics just have a better offense than they did last year, but Tatum looks like he’s leveled up as a passer.

3. The Celtics offense in a nutshell

Wondering about that aforementioned improved Celtics offense? This is it in a nutshell. More flare screens, Spain pick-and-roll, passing and off-ball movement, and all of it happening earlier in the shot clock. Here, Hauser runs completely perpendicular to the ball-handler in an unconventional flare cut that results in a wide open shot on the wing thanks to Garza’s crushing screen and White’s heady passing. Plays like these have been a staple of Boston’s offense this season.

2. Wide receiver P

Payton Pritchard does his best Ja-Marr Chase impression on this play, getting rid of the ball and then shifting Pelle Larson into his own basket before peeling away and setting his feet for the jumper. I love that Payton cuts behind Larson, thus making it impossible for his fake cut to be seen or reacted to effectively. So smart.

1. Smart hustle

Derrick White makes a play here that very few other players would. Right after he throws the beautiful lob to Brown, he hauls his behind back to the defensive end of the floor and essentially blocks Larson’s buzzer-beater attempt. Special hustle from the Celtics’ highest IQ player and one of the smartest players in the entire NBA.

Nikola Jokic outshone fellow Most Valuable Player contender Victor Wembanyama with a game-high 40 points as the Denver Nuggets ended the San Antonio Spurs' 11-match winning streak.

Serb Jokic, a three-time winner of the NBA's MVP award, starred as Denver recorded their eighth straight win with a 136-134 triumph in overtime.

Wembanyama led San Antonio with 34 points but the Frenchman's team squandered a 107-96 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Both players are among the leading names to claim this season's coveted individual award, given to the best performer during the regular season, and were full of praise for the other after the match.

Jokic said of Wembanyama to ESPN: "I think the first time I played against him, I told you guys he's going to change the league. He's going to change basketball.

"I still think that. And I think he has an opportunity, a chance to be the most unique basketball player to ever play the game."

Reflecting on defeat, Wembanyama said: "I think it was an amazing game. One of the most fun games. I wish we could have closed it out.

"It was a real test against a team that's playing for something right now. They've got the best offensive player in the world."

Both teams have already clinched a place in the post-season play-offs, which begin on 18 April.

But while San Antonio are assured of a top-two seeding in the Western Conference - they trail reigning champions Oklahoma City Thunder - Denver's final placing within the top six is still to be decided.

The Thunder can move closer to a third straight Western Conference title against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seeks back-to-back MVP crowns.

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic could be out of MVP contention after the NBA's leading scorer was ruled out for the rest of the regular season with a hamstring injury on Friday.

Why anyone who is against Steph Curry's Warriors return doesn't understand him originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – As Stephen Curry was spending his days rehabbing in the wake of his season-altering runner’s knee diagnosis, one goal stayed atop his mind. Get right and return to the Warriors while the season still has an iota of consequence.

It does, and Curry is expected to make his highly anticipated return Sunday night against the Houston Rockets at Chase Center.

“It’s pretty simple. He’s healthy,” coach Steve Kerr said Saturday after practice. “If you’re healthy, you play. You have a lot to play for. We’re going to be in to play-in (tournament). Get a chance to get to the playoffs. Why else do we do this?”

But as Curry was approaching the late stages of rehab and the Warriors were falling apart like soggy cardboard, debate raged over the benefit of his return: Should Steph come back to a team that can only dream of a robust playoff run?

Only if he is fully healthy. Only if he has a strong desire to play. Not unless he believes there is significance in achieving goals that matter to him.

Those in the “no” camp, who have given up on the season and concluded Curry should embrace self-preservation and wrap his right knee in ice until September, might not understand that he is repulsed by the idea of surrender.

For Curry, getting on the court when healthy is as natural as brushing his teeth.

“I love playing basketball,” said Curry, who last appeared in a game on Jan. 30. “That’s what I get paid to do. If I’m healthy enough to play and it’s safe to go out there and test it in live action, all the work that I put in will hopefully pay off.

“Our season has been different than we expected. But the fact that we know there is something to still play for gives all of us a lot of confidence down the stretch to try to make something out of it. I want to be a part of that.”

This season has been different than expected is an understatement. After bumbling through the first two months, they finally found their rhythm, going 12-4 over a 16-game stretch as the calendar turned to 2026. They were generating momentum when disaster struck. Jimmy Butler III, Robin to Curry’s Batman, went down with a season-ending torn right ACL. The forlorn look that crept across Curry’s face in that instant spoke volumes. It was as if he had seen the entire season flash before his eyes.

Golden State lost three of its next five games and was hit with another disaster in the sixth, when Curry limped off the court and missed the next 27 games.

The Warriors are 11-21 since Butler was sidelined, 9-18 since he was joined by Curry. Smacked with a spate of other aches and injuries, they descended from eighth place to ninth and then to 10th in the Western Conference. That’s enough to earn the final berth in the NBA play-in tournament, the last chair in the waiting room to the playoffs.

That’s all they have, and it’s enough for Curry.

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Curry didn’t give up as a teenager when college basketball’s power conferences ignored him. He waved no white flag when his ankles tried to derail his NBA career. He didn’t slink away because his frame wasn’t built to prosper in the best league on the planet. He turned the doubters into believers, the naysayers into cheerleaders.

You think the Warriors are done? Maybe they are. You think Curry is wasting his time and risking further harm? He’s been there, heard that and still is the league’s only unanimous MVP and basketball’s latest change agent.

Your danger is his mountain to climb. Outside skepticism is fuel for his heart.

“What we’re trying to do (is) be the best team for that first play-in game,” Curry said. “Whoever we play, whether it’s Portland or the Clippers, to be able to embrace that challenge, win one game and then have to go do it again. That’s pretty straightforward.”

Kerr knows this but adds another element to support the player behind his fabulous coaching record, while also buttressing his own side of the debate.

“Steph is the most joyful athlete I’ve ever seen,” Kerr said, clearing his throat. “He loves to play, loves to compete, loves to work. And that joy is infectious. It’s infectious not only with his teammates, but with our fans. The question about why Steph is coming back cuts to the core of what our business is about. We want our fans to be really excited to come watch beautiful basketball. And nobody represents that more than Steph.

“He wouldn’t be coming back if he wasn’t healthy. But he’s healthy, so he’s going to play. We want to bring joy to (Chase Center). We want to bring joy to our fans. And that’s what this is about. It’s about winning, yes, but it’s about people really enjoying coming to the building and watching our team play. It’s the most important thing, and they go hand in hand.

“These last 12 years have really shown that we’ve been able to play a really entertaining style and win championships. Frankly, Steph is responsible for more of that than anyone. One of the greatest players of all time, but he’s the greatest face of a franchise in any sport that I’ve ever seen.”

Kerr rests his case. Curry already made his case, testifying on his own behalf. He wants to ride. He needs to ride. Let him.

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Of course Stephen Curry is coming back for this game.

Not that it matters, of course. The Houston Rockets have lost multiple games against the Golden State Warriors over the past couple of seasons in which Curry didn’t play. Houston lost earlier this year at Toyota Center. In the one game Curry did play, Reed Sheppard had his coming out party and Houston came back and won without Kevin Durant. Maybe that’s the key? Whichever team is missing its best player wins?

Tonight starts Houston’s final road trip of the season. They will head to Phoenix to take on the Suns on Tuesday. Earlier this season when Houston went on the road to play the Warriors and Suns, Durant missed both games due to personal reasons. So it’s only fitting that Houston is playing both teams again on the same trip. The Phoenix game will be more emotional since KD’s time with the Suns ended poorly compared to his time in the Bay Area.

The Warriors are all but guaranteed to be the 10 seed in the West. Mathematically they still have a shot at 9 or even 8, but that would require something pretty extreme. In reality, they are going to need to win two road games in the play-in to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. As I mentioned in the Jazz preview, this isn’t the worst year to end up in the lottery, and if they do you know the league will make sure they’re rewarded (if the lottery is rigged).

This is going to be a tough game. That building is going to be loud.

Tip-off

9pm CT

How To Watch

NBC/Peacock

Injury Report

Rockets

Steven Adams: OUT

Fred VanVleet: OUT

Jabari Smith Jr.: GTD

Warriors

Moses Moody: OUT

Jimmy Butler: OUT

Quinten Post: GTD

Al Horford: GTD

Seth Curry: GTD

The Line (as of this post)

Hou -3.5

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

Tuesday night on the road against the Phoenix Suns

Washington Wizards (17-60, 15th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Brooklyn Nets (18-59, 14th in the Eastern Conference)

New York; Sunday, 3:30 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Nets -3.5; over/under is 230.5

BOTTOM LINE: Washington travels to Brooklyn looking to break its four-game road losing streak.

The Nets are 12-34 in Eastern Conference games. Brooklyn is the worst team in the league with just 39.5 rebounds per game led by Nic Claxton averaging 6.9.

The Wizards are 11-36 against Eastern Conference opponents. Washington is 8-47 in games decided by 10 points or more.

The Nets' 13.2 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.4 fewer made shots on average than the 13.6 per game the Wizards allow. The Wizards' 46.2% shooting percentage from the field this season is 3.3 percentage points lower than the Nets have given up to their opponents (49.5%).

The teams square off for the fourth time this season. The Nets won the last meeting 127-113 on Feb. 7, with Michael Porter Jr. scoring 23 points in the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: Noah Clowney is averaging 12.3 points for the Nets. Josh Minott is averaging 9.6 points over the last 10 games.

Bilal Coulibaly is shooting 41.6% and averaging 11.4 points for the Wizards. Jaden Hardy is averaging 3.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Nets: 1-9, averaging 101.4 points, 35.1 rebounds, 23.2 assists, 10.0 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.0 points per game.

Wizards: 1-9, averaging 115.1 points, 37.4 rebounds, 25.0 assists, 8.1 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 47.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 131.3 points.

INJURIES: Nets: Ziaire Williams: out (foot), Noah Clowney: day to day (ankle), Nic Claxton: out (hand), Danny Wolf: out for season (ankle), Egor Demin: out for season (foot), Day'Ron Sharpe: out for season (thumb), Michael Porter Jr.: out for season (hamstring), Terance Mann: day to day (achilles), Ben Saraf: day to day (back).

Wizards: Anthony Davis: out (finger), Tristan Vukcevic: day to day (knee), Cam Whitmore: out for season (shoulder), Alex Sarr: day to day (toe), Kyshawn George: out for season (elbow), D'Angelo Russell: out (not injury related), Trae Young: out (quad).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

New York Knicks (50-28, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. Atlanta Hawks (45-33, fifth in the Eastern Conference)

Atlanta; Monday, 7 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Atlanta will look to keep its four-game win streak going when the Hawks take on New York.

The Hawks are 26-22 in conference play. Atlanta ranks second in the Eastern Conference with 18.4 fast break points per game led by Jalen Johnson averaging 4.1.

The Knicks are 32-16 in Eastern Conference play. New York has an 8-4 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Hawks' 14.6 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 13.8 per game the Knicks allow. The Knicks are shooting 47.6% from the field, 0.4% higher than the 47.2% the Hawks' opponents have shot this season.

The teams play for the third time this season. The Hawks won the last matchup 111-99 on Jan. 3. Onyeka Okongwu scored 23 points to help lead the Hawks to the victory.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nickeil Alexander-Walker is averaging 20.6 points and 3.7 assists for the Hawks. CJ McCollum is averaging 19.7 points over the last 10 games.

Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is averaging 18.9 points and 6.4 assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hawks: 8-2, averaging 124.0 points, 42.6 rebounds, 30.2 assists, 10.2 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 49.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 111.5 points per game.

Knicks: 7-3, averaging 116.8 points, 44.3 rebounds, 27.7 assists, 8.2 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 50.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.9 points.

INJURIES: Hawks: Jock Landale: out (ankle).

Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns: day to day (elbow).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

INDIANAPOLIS — Yaxel Lendeborg kept it together, barely, as he limped away from the court in the first half.

He'd worked so hard. Come so far. And now he feared it was all over, his hopes for a national championship ruined by an injured left knee and once-again throbbing ankle.

"As soon as I got in the tent, I started crying," Lendeborg said, his left knee heavily wrapped. "... I definitely felt like I did all this for nothing in the moment. I definitely had to calm down for a little bit, speak with myself, get out of my thoughts.

"The training staff, they were being very nice to me, just being genuine, assuring me that I'm going to be OK."

OK? If Lendeborg isn't the best player in the country, he is for sure the toughest.

As his Michigan teammates got up a couple last shots before halftime ended, Lendeborg returned to the court with a trainer. He walked on his tip toes. He ran the width of the court. He hopped on both feet. And when the second half began, Lendeborg was on the floor with the rest of Michigan's starters.

Despite spraining his left MCL and aggravating the ankle injury he suffered in the Big Ten tournament, Lendeborg would play nine minutes in the second half. He made two 3-pointers in an 80-second span and grabbed two rebounds as Michigan routed fellow No.1 seed Arizona, 91-73.

MORE: Michigan-Arizona was supposed to be game of the year. What happened?

INDIANAPOLIS — We thought it would be the game of the year.

No. 1 seed Michigan vs. No. 1 seed Arizona. Two of the most dominant teams of the season meeting in the Final Four. Unstoppable force vs. immovable object. A box office attraction that billed heavyweights duking it out in what could be one of the all-time games in tournament history.

Instead, it was atomic bomb vs. ant.

An expected thriller ended up being a 40 minute snoozer, with Michigan soundly beating Arizona in dominant fashion to deliver an absolute statement in the semifinal.

“No one's been able to do that to us all year,” said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd. “It was an impressive performance.”

INDIANAPOLIS — For a moment there, Michigan looked in trouble.

All-America forward Yaxel Lendeborg picked up his first foul 72 seconds into the Final Four matchup against Arizona and then was whistled for another just five seconds later, sending the senior to the bench.

Worse yet, Lendeborg began favoring his left leg after landing awkwardly with nine minutes left in the half, which forced him to enter the locker room for treatment. After returning to the Michigan bench with five minutes left in the first half, Lendeborg was again escorted through the tunnel. He ended up playing a season-low 14 minutes, though he poured in 11 points in this limited duty.

“I had to calm down a little, speak to myself, get out of my thoughts,” Lendeborg said of the injury. “I didn’t feel like I was going to be OK. I was definitely really worried.”

MORE MULLINS: Connecticut freshman again delivers in crunch time

Losing your star and your leader early in the national semifinals would be a doomsday scenario for nearly anyone in college basketball — just not these Wolverines.

Even without Lendeborg making his usual impact, the Wolverines rolled to an impressive 91-73 win against the Wildcats and will meet Connecticut in Monday night’s championship game.

The win is proof of a key point about this team: Michigan is more than the sum of its parts, with a powerful supporting cast that more than overcame Lendeborg’s absence and could clearly do the same if he’s limited against the Huskies.

“We’re an unselfish team,” forward Joe Tschetter said. “It can be anybody’s night on any night. That’s what we’ve showed all year.”

Five players scored in double figures. Six of the seven players who logged the most-significant minutes outside of garbage time scored at least nine points. The Wolverines assisted on 22 of their 33 made field goals. They forced 14 turnovers. A lengthy and aggressive defense held Arizona in check from start to finish, stymieing what was one of the nation’s top-scoring offenses.

“With our depth, it allows us to be able to pick up where he left off, especially being able to plug in other guys in different areas,” guard Roddy Gayle Jr. said. “And everyone feels comfortable in that.”

Taking on a beefier role, center Aday Mara scored a career-best 26 points while making 11 of his 16 attempts. Forward Morez Johnson Jr. had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Point guard Elliot Cadeau had 13 points, 10 assists and 4 steals. Despite dealing with foul trouble of his own, guard Trey McKenney had 16 points and was a team-best plus-22 across his 27 minutes of playing time off the bench.

“That shows how much versatility we have in this group,” said Lendeborg. “Aday's been dominating all year. So I'm super happy that he did his thing today, tonight. Trey had a big game, man. We talked about this a lot. We spent a lot of time together, so I'm really happy for the (freshman). As long as we continue to keep playing team basketball, we should be in good shape.”

On the defensive end, Mara keyed a suffocating effort that held Arizona to a season-worst 36.6% shooting and forced 14 turnovers, leading to 19 second-chance points.

“Aday was sensational,” coach Dusty May said. “He was at the rim, catching lobs. He was a force down low. He was a pressure release up top. I mean, he's such a smart basketball player.”

Teammates didn’t realize the extent of Lendeborg’s injury until halftime; for one, Gayle thought he’d just been taken out because of his foul trouble and remained out of the rotation as Michigan built a double-digit lead.