Category: NBA

Congratulations, Lakers!

You held Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to fewer than 20 points for the first time since Game 3 of the Western Conference finals last May 24. You forced him into a season-high seven turnovers. And — get this, this part is really wild — you afforded the man who basically lives at the charity stripe only three free-throw attempts.

You should be so proud.

You should also know now for sure: It’s not happening.

You’re not knocking off Oklahoma City.

Read more:'Some game-plan breakdowns.' Thunder pull away in second half to defeat Lakers in Game 1

You held SGA, the reigning league MVP, to 18 points and you lost Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal series by 18 points, 108-90.

And now you know you’re not mounting a monumental upset and dethroning the defending NBA champions.

You can play a bit better in Games 2, 3 and 4, sure. Austin Reaves could shoot better than three for 16. Marcus Smart should shoot better than four for 15. Luke Kennard ought to shoot more than four times.

But unless, by some miracle, Luka Doncic’s ailing hamstring is healed by Game 2 on Thursday, the Thunder are just much too much for these Lakers.

Oklahoma City gave them a rusty, tin-man version of SGA for a game and continued playing without his injured co-star Jalen Williams. And still, the Thunder were too talented, too deep, too well-coached.

They’re also too aggressive, too confident, too experienced, too together, too clever.

Oh, but I’m going on too long, let the Smart take it from here …

“No matter what, they're relentless in their pursuit,” he said. “They're constantly on the move, they're constantly downhill, putting defenses on their heels. So when you got guys like that, that's constantly putting pressure, not only on you just offensively, but defensively, it is tough. And they come in waves, right? And when they get hot and get going, they can really get going. So they're tough in that aspect.

“[And they’re] defending champs. They've been here, they understand it. They grew up together, and they have a different type of chemistry that most teams probably don't have.”

That includes even this get-along gang that is this season’s Lakers.

Read more:Plaschke: Show Austin Reaves the money? Lakers might have second thoughts after Game 1 meltdown

Winning this best-of-seven series against the Thunder was already an impossible dream. Game 1 illustrated that it’s more like a foregone conclusion.

If the NBA issued intentional walks, they’d put Oklahoma City on base and save the Thunder fans’ voices for later in the playoffs.

If it was possible to simulate the rest of the series, video-game style, it would be worth considering.

Not that there isn’t still value in this series for the Lakers. Not so much in the inevitable result, but for the result of the test: Who on this team is built for this?

Who on this roster measures up against the barometer that is Oklahoma City?

Who will best slot in alongside Doncic, the heliocentric star who everyone knows thrives when paired with defenders, shooters and lob threats?

Is Reaves — as delightful a character and player as he’s been in regular-season action — really a reliable second option beside Doncic when the physicality ratchets up in the postseason? Is he durable enough to count on late in a season?

Does anyone on the Lakers besides 41-year-old LeBron James — who had a game-high 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting in Game 1 — have it in them to throw a few scoring punches?

Final grades aren’t in yet, but let’s assume many of the current Lakers would want to hide the report card when it came — even though they tried, they really, really did.

But against Oklahoma City, the Lakers’ lulls became an invitation for the Thunder to strike. A few miscues got compounded exponentially.

Sometimes you have little room for error. And then there’s playing against the Thunder, when there is none: “Once you make a couple mental mistakes,” Reaves said, “it seems like they take advantage of every one of them.”

And they don’t have to be perfect.

SGA doesn’t play to par? So what! They shoot only 12 free throws? Forget about it.

Because Chet Holmgren still goes for 24 points and 12 rebounds. Ajay Mitchell adds 18 points. Jared McCain chips in with 12 off the bench. They shoot 13 for 30 from three-point range. They put the clamps on during the second half, when they held the Lakers to 37 points.

They took care of business, the team that has all the answers — and for whom the Lakers have none.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

When the Spurs won their fourth game against the Portland Trail Blazers, fans went honking. But the fans weren’t alone. Among the hundreds on the road celebrating, a member of the San Antonio Spurs took part in the festivities.

Spurs sharp shooter Julian Champagnie, who finished the first round of the playoffs shooting over 60% from beyond the arc, joined the fans in cheering the victory.

Between when Portland left and the Minnesota Timberwolves arrived, the Spurs had nearly a week to decompress and prepare for the second round of the playoffs. While out and about shopping, they stopped to take come photos.

Jordan McLaughlin was seen in Karolina’s doing some antique shopping.

Meanwhile, Champagnie shopped at Sephora and stopped to take a photo.

It’s hard not to notice a six-foot-plus guy as he’s passing by, but the Spurs are more recognizable than ever. For some, this is their first experience in the playoffs. All eyes are on them. It’s great to see how they have handled the fame with poise and grace.

Plus, they gotta get that Mother’s Day shopping done before they head to Minneapolis for the weekend.

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The Hawks are still reckoning with a disastrous end to their season, but that ending shouldn’t obscure the progress the organization made in course of the past 12 months.

Despite major in-season roster turnover, the team won 46 games and returned to the playoffs after two seasons of eliminations in the Play-In Tournament. Jalen Johnson earned his first career All-Star nod — and he may yet make an All-NBA team. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the acquisition of the offseason, going from bench role player to key starter and earning Most Improved Player in the process.

It’s one thing for fans and local media to take note of the team’s accomplishments. But it’s another for the league to take notice.

And two bits of news over the last week have now reinforced the notion that the perception of this front office have changed for the better.

The NBA Executive of the Year award has been handed out every year since 1972-73 in an effort to recognize an outstanding front office decision maker over the course of a season. While Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics President of Operations, was recently named the winner for the 2025-26 season, a familiar name finished second in the voting.

Onsi Saleh, Atlanta Hawks general manager, finished second in Executive of the Year voting in just his first year on the job as the top executive in the front office structure:

Saleh was recognized, in part, for pulling off a big draft asset transaction during the last draft for a lottery superpick, bringing in Alexander-Walker in a sign-and-trade using the mid-level exception, and netting key player CJ McCollum in the Trae Young trade — among other successful moves.

But recognition doesn’t stop at the top of the organizational chart. Bryson Graham stepped into a senior vice president of basketball operations position last offseason after spending 15 years in the New Orleans Pelicans organization.

Now, the Chicago Bulls have tapped Graham to be, presumably, the top signal caller in their program:

Graham was instrumental in the widely lauded superpick acquisition due to his deep knowledge of the Pelicans’ draft assets. Additionally, he’s reportedly had a keen eye for scouting basketball talent, although the Hawks were largely unable to tap into that skill due to his short stint here in Atlanta.

Both of these news tidbits now lend credence toward the notion that the Hawks’ front office is well respected around the league. That hasn’t always been the case, but the new regime has clearly changed views around the NBA for the better.

That’s something to be celebrated — even as the front office loses a key piece in Bryson Graham.

James Harden wasn’t concerned about the turnover issues when asked about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 19 giveaways that led to their 111-110 Game 1 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

“You look at my turnovers, a lot of them were just on me and nothing they did,” Harden said afterward. “That’s the game right there. … I gotta be better and will be better turning the basketball over.”

Harden is partially right. Several of those turnovers were sloppy. There’s a backcourt violation that shouldn’t have happened, once he correctly tried to take Duncan Robinson off the dribble but bounced it off his foot, and there were a couple he simply lost control. Things like that are just part of the game.

But there’s a bigger issue at play here. Turnovers have been a problem for the Cavs — particularly for Harden — during the postseason. This was the third time in eight playoff games that he’s had more giveaways (7) than made field goals (6). How often it’s happened shows that this is more than just a lack of focus.

Throughout his career, Harden has often operated in lineups that try to create perfect spacing. Ideally, all of his teammates are shooters so that the defense is forced to make a difficult decision. Do you try to send extra bodies to the basket to help on a Harden drive, or do you stay on the perimeter to prevent three-point shots?

That was a tough call when you were going up against the 2018 Houston Rockets. It isn’t going against Cleveland’s current starting lineup.

Neither Detroit nor the Toronto Raptors have respected three of the four Cavaliers starting alongside Harden. Teams are daring Dean Wade and Evan Mobley to shoot from the outside, and are willing to take their chances with Jarrett Allen inside.

Throw in Donovan Mitchell, who doesn’t move much off-ball, and you have a stagnant offense that is cheating into the lane to both cut off drives and lobs to the bigs. And if you try to force it inside, there’s a good chance that it’s going to wind up in a turnover.

There’s a downstream effect to not having good spacing. Now, defenders can be physical and tight at the point of attack because they know that there’s more than enough help behind them if they get beat off the dribble.

That leads to more turnovers like this, where Cade Cunningham is giving Harden no room to breathe.

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The additional help inside also bleeds into the shot diet. Harden took seven threes and just two shots at the rim. If the defense is crowding the paint, your only choice left is to shoot over the top.

After Game 7 against Toronto, multiple players mentioned that winning that series was a big step because this group was so new together. That newness is seen in how they’re still figuring out how to space the floor.

Harden only played with Allen and Mobley together in nine regular-season games. That number drops to four if you throw Wade into that grouping. By contrast, they’ve played twice as many playoff games together, and it’s only eight. That simply isn’t a lot of experience for a player who’s spent the better part of a decade playing in a completely different environment.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, there isn’t an easy solution for this. They simply need at least two bigs on the court at all times, and matchups like this call for extended Wade minutes even when he isn’t providing much offensively.

Max Strus had an incredible game. His shooting got the Cavs back into this one as he poured in 19 points on 13 shots. But even with that, the Cavs lost the minutes he played by nine. Single-game plus/minus isn’t always the most useful stat, but it does point to him not being asked to play an ideal role on this team.

The Cavs don’t have enough defensively in lineups where Strus is asked to defend bigger threes and fours as he’s had to do in both playoff series. In Game 1, Cleveland had a dreadful 124.5 defensive rating with Strus on the court.

This has been a common occurrence. Coming into Game 1, the Cavs have had a 117.1 defensive rating with Strus on in the postseason and a 104 without him. Wade has been nearly the exact opposite.

This isn’t a criticism of Strus. He holds up as well as you can expect in these situations. Instead, it’s a shortcoming in the roster’s construction that he’s continually being asked to guard out of position.

This forces the Cavs to make a decision. Do you believe an undersized defense can work so you can have better spacing? Or, do you trust Harden and Mitchell to figure things out with a cramped half-court offense? Choosing that second option makes sense. You’re just putting a lot on a point guard who’s being asked to play in a completely different context.

Mitchell’s scoring struggles compound these issues.

Mitchell once again wasn’t able to get to the rim. Only one of his 19 shots came in the restricted area. And while he did a good job of finishing the midrange floater (5-7), not driving completely to the hoop limits his ability to get to the line.

Mitchell took just two free-throw attempts in Game 1. This has been a recent trend throughout the postseason. He’s only attempted over that many twice in eight playoff games. By contrast, he only registered two or fewer free-throw shots 16 times in his 70 regular-season games.

Afterward, Mitchell blamed the lack of free throws on the officiating, but made sure not to go over the line to get fined. And while there’s some reason for frustration on his part, if he’s not getting to the rim, he’s simply not going to get calls.

Mitchell has been forced to play in tight spaces before in the playoffs with the Cavs. However, Toronto and Detroit are easily the two best defenses he’s faced in that time — at least they are in terms of locking down the paint.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson made some head-scratching decisions.

Here’s a quick rundown of things you usually don’t see in a second-round playoff game:

• No Cavalier played 36 minutes or more, including the star guards.
• Allen saw just 18 minutes after picking up three fouls in the first quarter. He finished with four personals.
• The third center, Thomas Bryant, played 10 minutes, including at the start of the fourth.
• Atkinson went with a group that included Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder, and Bryant a minute into the fourth quarter of a six-point game. All three have already spent time this postseason out of the rotation.
• Cleveland played exaggerated drop coverage, making it easier for Detroit’s guards to attack.

I know this was a short turnaround, and we’re expecting this to be a long series, but this game was managed like it was a regular-season game, not a playoff series opener.

The Cavs didn’t let Cunningham beat them as a scorer. He had 23 points on 6-19 shooting in 42 minutes after racking up 32, 32, and 45 points to close out the Orlando Magic in the first round.

Cleveland was able to contain him by showing multiple bodies when he tried to finish at the rim. He went just 2-7 on shots in the restricted area and 3-11 on looks in the paint overall.

This was one of the few things the Cavs did well in Game 1.

Despite the many areas the Cavs need to clean up, they still had a chance of winning this game.

This one was there for the taking. If the Cavs committed a few less turnovers and grabbed a couple more defensive rebounds, they probably would’ve come away from Game 1 a winner.

On one hand, that’s encouraging. It shows that the Cavs still have a good chance of taking this series. However, it’s never ideal to lose a winnable away game, especially for a team that is now 4-12 on the road in the postseason since trading for Mitchell.

We’ll see if the Cavs can make the necessary adjustments and split the two road games before the series shifts to Cleveland.

I think many Rockets fans were happy when the Rockets decided to convert JD Davison’s two-way contract to a regular NBA contract. As much as I enjoy Aaron Holiday and his minutes, it was time for Davison to get a standard NBA contract.

Davison saw relatively limited action during his first season with Houston. He averaged 2.5 points, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 rebounds in 28 regular-season games, playing an average of 7.8 minutes per game. These stats, however, aren’t Davison’s fault, as he was on a two-way contract until April 7. For context, NBA two-way players are only able to play a maximum of 50 regular NBA games and are ineligible for the playoffs. Davison also had a 8-point and 4-assist game versus the Thunder on February 7.

Davison’s influence was even more obvious in the G League, as he continued to exhibit his scoring and playmaking prowess. He put up good numbers in limited opportunities, helping to reinforce the idea that he may develop into a reliable NBA contributor with more opportunities.

However, what worries me the most with Davison is his three-point shot. Davison shot just above 30% from three in college before shooting 29% in his rookie year, 40% in his sophomore year, 33% his third year, and just 27.3% this past year. Houston already has so many players who can’t shoot from three (Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, etc). Thankfully, with Reed Sheppard’s emergence, Davison should only be needed in spot minutes, and since he is still younger, he has time to develop a three-point shot.

All in all, it was hard to evaluate Davison’s Rockets season since he did not play much real NBA basketball due to being on a two-way, and also due to Ime Udoka favoring Aaron Holiday, but hopefully next season we will get to see him get more opprotunites and continue to grow. We will be doing player season reviews all month long here at The Dream Shake, so make sure to check back every day for new season reviews.

Walt ‘Clyde' Frazier thinks Knicks could win first title since his 1973 team originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Winning and grinning?

The New York Knicks have been doing a lot of that lately, much to the delight of franchise icon Walt “Clyde” Frazier.

The longtime player and broadcaster, 81, was the last man to lead the franchise to a championship way back in 1973. Now, 53 years later, he thinks he’s starting to see some parallels between his dominant team and the current-day Knicks, who currently lead the Philadelphia 76ers 1-0 in the second round of the playoffs.

“I’m mesmerized by the way the team is playing,” Frazier told Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s episode of “The Tonight Show.” “Actually, I’m living vicariously through them. They remind me of my team. My team personified team, you couldn’t mention Frazier without (Bill) Bradley, without (Dave) DeBusschere, without (Willis) Reed, without (Dick) Barnett.

“I see similarities to this team, so they’re starting to do that. Their camaraderie, their teamwork, they like each other, it’s manifested on the court.

There’s still a long way to go in the NBA playoffs, but Frazier added that “hopefully we’ll see another championship.”

The Knicks defeated the Atlanta Hawks 4-2 in the first round after falling behind 2-1. They closed that series with runaway wins by 16, 29 and 51 points, then followed that up with a 39-point blowout over Philly to begin the second round.

Frazier has been watching it all happen from his seats at Madison Square Garden, where he still works for the Knicks’ MSG Network. Wearing his iconic suits, you can’t miss the Hall of Famer on TV or in person.

“It’s genetic,” Frazier said of his fashion sense. “My dad was a guy who was into clothes. Then, I came to the mecca for fashion.

“I wasn’t playing good as a rookie, so in order to pacify myself I went shopping.”

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

How exactly does Frazier pick out his looks? As he told Fallon, there’s one line that gets him the outfit he wants.

“When I go to a suit place, I just say ‘Show me something you think no one will wear.'”

With the Knicks set to host the Sixers in Game 2 on Wednesday night, keep an eye out for Frazier in the crowd.

“In the morning, there was a big wind blowing and the waves were running high up on the beach and he was awake a long time before he remembered that his heart was broken.”

The words are Hemingway’s.

I was woken up, as I usually am, by Clara the cat, whose business is to inform me when the rest of the cats are ready for breakfast. The time, 5:30, was not particularly unusual either.

I woke up with a sense of something lost, something gone irretrievably, and I knew immediately what it was. I was not awake a long time before I remembered that the Celtics’ season had ended on Saturday night.

I used to live in the middle of Sioux Falls, where I could hear the old courthouse clock toll the hours, and there was no silence quite like the silence that came after the final bell tolled—it was not the silence of silence, it was the silence of absence, something missing that had been there a moment ago.

 And so it goes with the Celtics. The 2025/2026 Celtics are gone. There may be small roster changes over the summer or there may be major ones.

But one thing is certain: the team that was is gone.

This happens to every team, and of the sixteen teams that make the playoffs, only one will end the season a champion. For every other team, there comes a moment like the one on Saturday night where it all ends, and where it leaves a hole.

As fans, we kind of get used to this, to a certain extent. We know there’s always a next year—but when the end comes the way it came to this year’s Celtics, it’s hard.

It’s hard not just because Boston put up a 3-1 lead, it’s because of the way they put together that 3-1 lead. They blew out the Sixers twice and won a third time in a closely matched game. There was no reason to expect that the Sixers could win three straight against a team that had blown them out twice, and yet…

Much as we would like them to be, games are not stories. The narratives that fit best are fitted in hindsight. No team in the NCAA tournament is a Cinderella until they’ve won a game they shouldn’t have.

The danger of making narratives in advance was apparent by December, when the Celtics were demonstrating that, at least as far as the regular season went, this was not going to be a gap year.

When Tatum came back, there seemed to be even more validity to the idea that this was a storybook season.

And what we got was a version of Cinderella that went like this: “Cinderella lost her shoe on the way out of the ball. The Prince, although stricken by her beauty, figured that he had no chance of finding her by searching the kingdom, so he got on with his life. Eventually he forgot all about her.”

In other words, the end of the season felt premature, abrupt, and cruel.

But that’s how it feels to us as Celtics fans. On the other side of the court, there’s a different storybook unfolding. Sixers fans who could claim that legitimately, with Embiid’s limited availability and Paul George’s league mandated vacation, they had not been at full strength during the regular season either, now get to savor their own Cinderella story. Perhaps their story will end as abruptly as Boston’s did, perhaps it will linger on as far as the Eastern Conference Finals; it seems unlikely to last much farther.

Trying to tell stories before they unfold, setting expectations that are not matched, is dangerous unless you’re prepared to accept not only the hollow pit of losing, but the added chagrin of having ‘gotten it wrong.’

Were we fooled into expecting more from the Celtics than they were capable of delivering?

I mean, the results are the results, and the reality is that you are what your record says you are, but it feels like Boston left behind unfinished business this season.

Predictably, there have been calls for drastic changes—the notion that Jaylen Brown should be traded has once again surfaced, and there have been calls for a review of Joe Mazzulla’s chops as a coach.

This is not unexpected. And it strikes me as a bit of an overreaction.

It’s tempting to focus on the fact that the C’s lost three straight against Philly, without remembering that Boston finished the series +19 in points scored.

Is this evidence of bad coaching and bad play on the part of the Celtics, over the last three games?

You better believe it is. It’s the fault of the Celtics coaching staff and players that they couldn’t adapt to the return of Embiid.

Does this mean that the only sensible, sane, and reasonable reaction is to make major personnel changes and fire the coach?

No. Not even remotely.

In 1978, Dennis Johnson had a terrible Finals performance. In Game 7, he went 0-14, as the Sonics lost to the Bullets.

The following year, in a Finals rematch, DJ redeemed himself; his shooting percentage jumped from .382 in 1978 to .459 in 1979, and he won the Finals MVP in a series that was over in just five games.

Now I’m not saying that there are guys who came up small in this series who are as good as DJ was. I’m saying that DJ, in just his second year in the league, caught a serious case of the yips, but the Sonics stuck with him, and he redeemed himself—against the same basic team that he choked against the year before.

I think there are young guys on the Celtics who, given a second chance, will surprise us.

Yes, you only get so many bites at the apple—playing careers do not last forever, and finishing a season this way basically wastes a year of Jaylen’s prime, but that year is gone now. No amount of rash actions over the summer will get that year back.

My response to the season is that patience should carry the day. There will probably need to be some personnel tweaks over the summer, but nothing major is warranted, in my opinion. I think this is a time to trust the coaching staff and players to respond the right way to what went wrong against Philadelphia.

There will be better times to come.

After scoring 33 points in the Celtics’ Game 7 loss at home to the 76ers, Jaylen Brown took to Twitch to get everything off his chest before heading into the offseason. Much of it was positive after his MVP-level performance this year. Despite the early exit, he called the 56-win season the most fun he’s had in his career in what should be a First or Second Team All-NBA season.

However, he did have some choice words regarding the officiating of not just the series-clinching loss at TD Garden, but on the state of the league and how flopping has become so prevalent with the game’s best players.

The NBA’s iconoclast has been on this crusade all year, most vocally after he was ejected from a much anticipated game against the San Antonio Spurs in March. CelticsBlog’s Gio Rivera has this from Brown’s stream:

Brown said Embiid routinely exaggerated contact, insisting it’s an epidemic affecting the NBA.

“It’s like when someone barely touched you, and you selling the call to make it seem like you just got shot by two police officers. Big difference. Whether you like it, don’t like it, your grandma like it, your grandma don’t like it. I don’t really care. That’s just my personal opinion on basketball. Some of y’all might disagree. Argue with your grandma. Flopping has ruined our game. Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in f**king basketball history. He flops. He knows it. This ain’t breaking news.”

Yesterday, the league fined Brown $50,000 for “public criticism of the officiating” and hours after a Game 1 loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell had his back.

“A friend of mine got fined for talking about flopping,” Mitchell said of Brown’s comments. “I’m not trying to double down, but I feel like that’s what I got to do at this point. I’m trying to get downhill, trying to get to the bucket, sometimes people are in my way and I’m trying to fight through contact and I’m not getting these calls…I don’t know why. I don’t flop, maybe that’s why. This isn’t just a tonight thing. This has been the entire season. It’s frustrating —I’m such a dynamic driver — but I can’t control that.”

During the regular season, Brown was second in the league in drives at 9.1 per game with Mitchell trailing behind at 14.1. However, Brown was just ninth in free throw attempts and Mitchell was further down the list at 22nd.

You can bet that with Brown as one of the vice presidents of the NBPA and Mitchell serving as the player rep in Cleveland, the state of officiating will be a topic of discussion the next time the league’s competition committee meets this summer.

Steve Kerr among ‘least impressive' coaches in anonymous NBA players poll originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Despite Steve Kerr’s impressive NBA resume, it appears the Warriors coach has lost some respect from players around the association.

In The Athletic’s 2026 Anonymous NBA Player Poll, players were asked which current coach, aside from their own, they find the least impressive.

To little surprise, Washington Wizards coach Brian Kiefe topped the list at 22 percent after his team had the worst record in the league during the 2025-26 season with just 17 wins.

Coming in just under Kiefe was Kerr, ranked fourth with 6 percent of players’ votes.

As the article notes, Kerr, whose future with the franchise is unknown after 12 seasons as Golden State’s coach, always has been one of the more praised coaches in The Athletic’s past player polls. But with the Warriors missing the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, there appears to be a different perspective, even when things have been out of Kerr’s control, such as injuries.

One thing not out of Kerr’s control, however, was singled out by one anonymous player: the Jonathan Kuminga situation.

“I think he’s a great coach,” one of the players who voted for Kerr said. “I just thought the way he handled the Kuminga situation wasn’t very smart.”

Aside from a little recency bias, the former NBA Coach of the Year boasts a 604-353 regular-season record and 104-48 playoff record as coach of the Warriors — all while at the helm of the team that won four NBA titles.

Speaking of recency bias, Kings first-year coach Doug Christie seemed to have bitten the bullet for Sacramento’s disappointing 22-win season. Christie was voted one spot above Kerr at third overall with 10 percent of the votes.

Despite the lackluster season, Christie will return as coach next season in hopes that a top-draft pick and some roster reconstruction can lead to a change during the 2026-27 campaign.

Here are the full results of the poll:

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Even with Anthony Edwards on a minutes restriction, the Minnesota Timberwolves were able to come into the Frost Bank Center and steal both Game 1 and home court advantage from the Spurs. The style of play on display in that game was what was expected of the series from the outset: hard-fought, physical games that would likely need to be won on the margins and boy was Game 1 decided on the margins. Meh offensive showings from both Victor Wembanyama and DeAaron Fox coupled with a handful of lackadaisical turnovers (Spurs were +3 in the turnover department) were ultimately the difference in a game that San Antonio still had a chance to win at the buzzer. With Games 3 and 4 in Minnesota and with just a day between each of these games, it is imperative that San Antonio finds a way tonight to pull even in this series against a Minnesota team that’s trying to make their 3rd straight trip to the Western Conference Finals. This will be the first time this young squad is playing from behind in a best of 7 series, and while the pressure valve hasn’t popped yet, a loss tonight against a veteran Timberwolves squad could see it blown wide open.

San Antonio Spurs (0-1) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (1-0)
May 6 2026 | 8:30 PM CT
Watch: ESPN | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)
Line: -9.5

Spurs Injuries: Carter Bryant, foot (QUESTIONABLE)

Twolves Injuries: Anthony Edwards, knee (QUESTIONABLE), Ayo Dosunmu, calf (QUESTIONABLE)

What to watch for

• DeAaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama said all the right things in the aftermath of Game 1, with Fox in particular shouldering the bulk of the loss on his shoulders. Fox finished with just 10 points and had 6 of San Antonio’s 13 turnovers, with a few egregious ones of the live ball variety in the 2nd half where it looked like he was playing with basically no urgency. Wemby meanwhile was a demon defensively, setting the playoff record for most blocks in a game in just his 4th ever playoff game, but shot just 5/17 from the field and was 0/8 from downtown. Knowing that this time of year often comes down to your best players playing at their best, expect Mitch Johnson to try and get those two guys back on track early tonight offensively.
• For all the talk about San Antonio not having anyone to contend with Julius Randle, they did a solid job on him for the most part. Randle went just 8/20 from the field and took just 6 free throw attempts for the game. Where he excelled though what using his size and bulk to both pick up a few fouls on various Spurs’ defenders and to slow the pace down for Minnesota at the end of the game. San Antonio wings that get caught on him need to clean up some of those reach-ins and to continue to goad Randle into face-up jumpers.
• A few times in Game 1 it looked like Anthony Edwards was in some discomfort, but for the most part he looked very much like the Anthony Edwards people have come to expect. Just 9 days removed from a leg hyperextension, Edwards was limited to just 25 minutes off the bench, but his presence was felt in all of them. He went 8/13 from the field for 18 points, scoring in a variety of ways and putting all the worries about his health at that moment to rest. Whether or not Edwards will be as fresh in a Game 2 that takes place just 48 hours later as opposed to the 9 days off he had before Game 1 though remains to be seen.

If you’d like to, you may follow along with the game on our Twitter profile (@poundingtherock) or visit our Game Thread!

The Oklahoma City Thunder proved too strong for the Los Angeles Lakers to take a 1-0 lead in the NBA's Conference semi-finals.

The defending champions are the Western Conference's top seed and made a strong start to the best-of-seven series with a 108-90 win at home on Tuesday.

The Thunder produced a balanced offensive performance while their defence restricted the Lakers to their lowest score in a play-off game since 2021.

LeBron James claimed a game-high 27 points for the Lakers while Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 24 points and 12 rebounds.

The NBA's reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell added 18 points apiece for the hosts.

"You're playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not that high," said Lakers head coach JJ Redick.

"[There were] just too many tonight. We've got to clean that up."

LA guard Luka Doncic remained out with a hamstring injury and could also miss game two on Thursday.

The Detroit Pistons drew first blood in their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, holding off a late rally to claim a 111-101 home win.

Cade Cunningham scored 23 points for the Eastern Conference's top seed Detroit, with Tobias Harris adding 20.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 23 points while James Harden added 22 but had seven turnovers.

• Timberwolves draw first blood despite Wembanyama record

Los Angeles Lakers (53-29, fourth in the Western Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (64-18, first in the Western Conference)

Oklahoma City; Thursday, 9:30 p.m. EDT

LINE: Thunder -15.5; over/under is 209.5

WESTERN CONFERENCE SECOND ROUND: Thunder lead series 1-0

BOTTOM LINE: The Oklahoma City Thunder host the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference second round with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Thunder won the last matchup 108-90 on Wednesday, led by 24 points from Chet Holmgren. LeBron James led the Lakers with 27.

The Thunder are 41-11 in Western Conference games. Oklahoma City ranks fifth in the Western Conference in rebounding with 44.1 rebounds. Holmgren leads the Thunder with 8.9 boards.

The Lakers are 33-19 in Western Conference play. Los Angeles scores 116.3 points and has outscored opponents by 1.7 points per game.

The Thunder score 119.0 points per game, 4.4 more points than the 114.6 the Lakers give up. The Lakers average 11.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.5 fewer made shots on average than the 14.3 per game the Thunder allow.

TOP PERFORMERS: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.1 points and 6.6 assists for the Thunder. Isaiah Joe is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

James is scoring 20.9 points per game and averaging 6.1 rebounds for the Lakers. Rui Hachimura is averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 8-2, averaging 120.6 points, 43.8 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 9.8 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 49.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.2 points per game.

Lakers: 7-3, averaging 104.8 points, 40.6 rebounds, 26.6 assists, 9.6 steals and 5.6 blocks per game while shooting 49.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 98.3 points.

INJURIES: Thunder: Jalen Williams: out (hamstring), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee).

Lakers: Luka Doncic: out (hamstring), Jarred Vanderbilt: day to day (finger).

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

Cleveland Cavaliers (52-30, fourth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Detroit Pistons (60-22, first in the Eastern Conference)

Detroit; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

LINE: Pistons -3.5; over/under is 216

EASTERN CONFERENCE SECOND ROUND: Pistons lead series 1-0

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Pistons host the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference second round with a 1-0 lead in the series. The Pistons won the last meeting 111-101 on Tuesday, led by 23 points from Cade Cunningham. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 23.

The Pistons have gone 12-4 against division opponents. Detroit is fourth in the Eastern Conference with 18.0 fast break points per game led by Cunningham averaging 3.9.

The Cavaliers are 11-5 in division matchups. Cleveland scores 119.5 points and has outscored opponents by 4.1 points per game.

The Pistons average 11.0 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.2 fewer makes per game than the Cavaliers allow (14.2). The Cavaliers score 9.9 more points per game (119.5) than the Pistons give up to opponents (109.6).

TOP PERFORMERS: Ausar Thompson is scoring 9.9 points per game and averaging 5.7 rebounds for the Pistons. Cunningham is averaging 27.1 points and 5.3 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Mitchell is averaging 27.9 points, 5.7 assists and 1.5 steals for the Cavaliers. James Harden is averaging 18.6 points, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pistons: 7-3, averaging 107.9 points, 47.1 rebounds, 23.6 assists, 9.0 steals and 8.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 100.6 points per game.

Cavaliers: 5-5, averaging 111.6 points, 44.7 rebounds, 22.9 assists, 8.1 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 47.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.3 points.

INJURIES: Pistons: Kevin Huerter: day to day (adductor).

Cavaliers: None listed.

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