Holiday's latest win: Celtics guard wins NBA Sportsmanship Award originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jrue Holiday’s trophy case keeps growing.

The Boston Celtics guard has won the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award, the league announced Thursday. The award, first introduced during the 1995-96 season, honors the NBA player who “best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court.”

This is the second NBA Sportsmanship Award for Holiday, who earned the honor with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Holiday is the first Celtics player to receive the award and is just the fifth player to win the award multiple times, joining Mike Conley, Grant Hill, Jason Kidd and former Celtic Kemba Walker.

Holiday also has won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award three times in his career (2020, 2022 and 2024) and is finalist for the 2024-25 NBA Social Justice Champion Award. The 16-year veteran has won two NBA championships (2021 with the Bucks and 2024 with the Celtics) in addition to a pair of gold medals with Team USA in 2020 and 2024.

The last time Holiday won the league’s Sportsmanship Award, his team won an NBA championship, so he and the Celtics will be looking to continue that trend as they await their second-round opponent in the NBA playoffs.

Dorian Finney-Smith slams his hand in frustration against an empty chair on his way to the shower. The locker room is so silent you could hear a pin drop. In spite of every expert prediction, it was not “Lakers in five,” or, at least, not on the right end of five. The LeBron James, Luka Dončić, and JJ Redick-led Lakers were sent packing by the Minnesota Timberwolves on their home court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in a five-game series whose final tally doesn’t tell the whole story.

Minnesota were decidedly the better team in the series, but with the exception of a decisive Timberwolves win in the opener, it was a sequence of games won on the margins. The final game between the two teams felt, for the most part, like a competition where neither opponent particularly felt like giving their all, which played into Minnesota’s hands as the roster with far more depth and, thus, margin for error. But, in all likelihood, the series was won and lost in Game 4, a classic, hard-fought battle that came down to the final buzzer. While it wasn’t technically the end of the series, it’s the kind of loss that’s almost impossible to come back from, both emotionally, and historically: teams who go up three games to one in a seven-game series go on to win 95% of the time.

Related: NBA playoffs: Haliburton’s ‘disrespectful’ father sparks fracas as Pacers seal Bucks’ fate

Those margins were, in large part, decided by the glaring holes in the Lakers’ roster construction that were illuminated in fluorescent light by the Timberwolves’ massive frontcourt. In short (as it were): the Lakers are not big enough, they were demolished on the boards by a Minnesota team who have size in spades. The small-ball-by-necessity style that secured the Lakers the three seed in a stacked West proved to be not quite resilient enough for a postseason that’s determined by depth and matchups more than ever. Los Angeles learned the hard way that a roster without a center making more than the league minimum can only take you so far, even on a team with the high-end talent of Dončić and James.

There was also, of course, the head coach factor. JJ Redick was damned impressive through 82 games and showed plenty of promise in his first season coaching basketball above the youth level, especially considering all the roster upheaval and, it’s worth noting, the fact that he lost his home in the Pacific Palisades fire in January. But the playoffs are a different animal, and Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch looked every bit the veteran opposite Redick, a contrast that was notable on multiple occasions throughout the series.

Perhaps the clearest example of Redick’s learning curve, and undoubtedly the one that will keep him awake at night this summer, was his decision to ride with his most successful five-man lineup of James, Dončić, Finney-Smith, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura for all 24 minutes of the second half of Game 4 – the first time any NBA head coach has done so in the playoffs in the tracking era. While not having much faith in his bench, which proved to be even thinner than many thought heading into the playoffs, resulted in an understandable gamble, it did not pay off: the quintet clearly had run out of gas by crunchtime, scoring only 19 points combined in the fourth quarter. That fatigue very well may have contributed to the Game 4 loss that effectively cost the Lakers the series.

Clear coaching growing pains and glaring roster deficiencies aside, it’s ultimately extremely rare for a dramatic roster move like swapping Anthony Davis (who, ironically, would have come in extremely handy for the Lakers in this series) for Dončić midseason, to pay dividends in its first year. James said as much in his exit interview on Wednesday night: “Anytime you make a big acquisition in the middle of the season, it’s always going to be challenging,” he said. “Not only for me, but for [Austin Reaves] and the rest of the group.”

James added that all things considered, the group came together well, and that there’s reason for optimism moving forward: “For the time we had, I thought we ended the regular season very well, to be top three in the West, and obviously, how tough the West is. I thought that was a good test for us. We had some challenges, but I think ultimately having a guy like [Dončić] is very dynamic for any franchise.”

The “Nico Harrison is somewhere smiling” memes were aplenty after a less-than-stellar (by his standards, at least) showing for Dončić, in his first postseason as a Laker, but it’s far too early to call the Dončić/James experiment a bust. There is, clearly, plenty of work to be done on both the supporting cast and Dončić’s conditioning (and defensive intensity, which was lackluster to say the least) in the offseason. And there is, of course, the question of 40-year-old James’s future: if he’ll even return to play another NBA season, let alone with the Lakers, is still up in the air.

But assuming James does come back for at least one more campaign in LA, there is plenty of cause for optimism as to what a full offseason and training camp, a head coach with a full season of experience under his belt, and a retooled roster could do for the pairing of two of the brightest basketball minds the world has ever seen. While the Lakers’ first round-exit is undoubtedly disappointing given all the hype and expectations around them heading into April, there is still plenty of meat left on the bone.

Stephen A defends Brooks, Rockets for attacking Steph's injured thumb originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Stephen A. Smith saw no issue with the Houston Rockets going after Steph Curry’s injured thumb during their first-round Western Conference playoff series with the Warriors.

The outspoken ESPN analyst had a harsh response to Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s comments about Rockets forward Dillon Brooks swiping at Curry’s hand under the NBA’s “idiotic” rules.

“In case you don’t know, I think Steve Kerr is one of the top-six greatest coaches in the history of basketball,” Smith said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “I think he’s phenomenal. And I think he’s a good man, very contentious. But sometimes this Goody Two-shoes sanctimonious approach, it really rakes my nerves. Like he’s so above the fray. This man is a champion. Champion in Chicago. Champion in San Antonio. Champion as a coach in Golden State. He knows what comes with it.

“If you have a hurt thumb, hurt ankle, whatever debilitating issue you have, it’s going to be attacked. The man’s thumb is compromised on his shooting hand. The greatest shooter that ever lived might be compromised. And somebody’s not going to try to exploit that? Stop.”

.@stephenasmith and @RealJayWilliams on Dillon Brooks' comments about Stephen Curry's thumb injury.

"Whenever you hear about weaknesses that people have, you go at that." 👀 pic.twitter.com/YxlnD6FcfR

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 1, 2025

Curry has been dealing with a thumb injury since January, re-aggravating it at the end of the regular season. Since the start of the series, it has been clear that Houston knows this and is going after Curry’s thumb whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Fellow ESPN analyst Jay Williams seconded Smith’s opinion, as the former NBA player explained how attacking a player’s injury is just part of the game. 

“I love it, it’s basketball,” Williams said. “First off, look. Stephen A. and I are supposed to play a one-on-one game. I heard him talk about how his elbow is hurting. I’m attacking the elbows then. Last year it was the shoulder. I’m attacking the shoulder. Whenever you hear about weaknesses that people have, you go at them.”

The Rockets have played a tough and physical series with the Warriors so far, utilizing their length and youthfulness to stymie Golden State’s shooters on every possession. After Wednesday night’s 131-116 blowout loss to the Rockets, the Warriors can ill-afford another off game when the series returns to Chase Center on Friday for Game 6.

All eyes will be on Curry’s wrapped thumb as he and Golden State look to close out the series against Houston and move on to the Western Conference semifinals.

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In 2021, the Clippers lost Game 5 in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks to go down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series but won the next two games and eventually advanced to the franchise’s first conference finals.

Here the Clippers stand again, having lost Game 5 of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and face a must-win Game 6 on Thursday night at Intuit Dome to stave off elimination.

Clippers center Ivica Zubac was a part of that group in 2021 and he’s a major part of this squad now. He recalled the mental fortitude it took for the Clippers to fight back.

After the Clippers were blown out in Game 5 in Denver on Tuesday night, Zubac said it will probably take even more from them this time because the Nuggets are far more formidable with transcendent superstar Nikola Jokic, with All-Star guard Jamal Murray and home-court advantage.

“We got to win,” Zubac said late Tuesday night in Denver. “We got to win both. Take it one game at a time. It’s an elimination game for us. So, we can’t start out like this. We got to leave everything out there, play hard, whatever it takes, whatever we have to do. We got to be better. We got to be ready to do whatever it takes. Treat it one game at a time. Win a Game 6, give yourself a chance to come back here [to Denver] and try to force a Game 7.”

The Clippers have lost the last two games to the Nuggets and in both defeats James Harden hasn’t been a factor.

Read more:Clippers falter against Nuggets and are one loss away from end of season

He has averaged 13 points per game in the two losses, shot 40% from the field and 25% from three-point range.

It’s become clear that the Nuggets have focused their defense on Harden, making sure that Christian Braun is with Harden every step he takes on the court. Harden hasn’t talked to the media after the last two games so it was left up to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to explain what’s happening with his All-Star guard.

“I think Denver made their mind up, they are going to try to take him out of the series after the first two or three games,” Lue said late Tuesday night in Denver. “They are doing a good job. I got to do a better job of just finding ways to get him open, to get him space and provide more [isolations], just because they are blitzing him so much and trying to beat him to his spots.”

With their season on the line, Lue also talked about the three-point shooting and the effects that has had on the series.

When the Clippers blew out the Nuggets in Game 3 by 34 points, they shot 18 for 39 (46.2%) from three-point range. When the Nuggets blew out the Clippers in Game 5 by 16 points, they made 17 of 33 (51.5%) from three-point range, and that effort was led by Murray, who shot eight for 14 from three.

“I mean, we got to respond,” Lue said. “We blew them out in Game 3 and they came back and responded in Game 4. So, we got to do the same thing. I mean, I don’t know what changes you can make. They made shots. Like I said, making 17 threes and they blew us out. We made 18 threes and we blew them out. So, the three-point line is going to be the most important thing. We got to make sure we are taking care of that, which we didn’t do a good job of tonight. But going back home, Intuit will be rocking. We’ll be fine.”

Starting slowly is another problem the Clippers have dealt with.

In Game 4, they got down by 20 points in the fourth, took a one-point lead and then lost on a buzzer-beating dunk by Aaron Gordon. In Game 5, the Clippers got down by 22 in the fourth, cut the deficit to eight points and then faded.

“Just try to get out to a better start early,” Kawhi Leonard said Tuesday night. “I think pretty much the whole series they probably got out to a great start on us. Just trying to stay in the game early instead of trying to make the heroic comebacks. That’s all we can do. We got to fight, man.”

In the end, the Clippers win or go home for the summer.

“We got to figure it out,” Zubac said. “We got to be better in Game 6.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

LeBron James wouldn’t commit to a decision about his future Wednesday night, striking a similar tone to his post-series comments after losses in the previous two years.

“I don't have an answer to that,” James said to questions about his future. “[It’s] something I sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play.

“I don't know the answer to that right now to be honest.”

The Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs Wednesday night, the first-round series wrapping with James scoring 22 points.

He has a player option for next season worth $52.6 million.

“I think the only thing is it is up to me or if I want to continue to play or how long continue to play,” he said. “It's ultimately up to me. So it has nothing to do about anybody else.”

In his 22nd season, James played 70 games and averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds. In a wild testament to his continued work ethic, he shot a career-high 78.2% from the free-throw line. In Game 3 against Minnesota, James scored 38 points, the most ever scored in a playoff game by a player 40 years old or older.

Asked about retirement during the season, James said he was comfortable with the thought.

“It won’t be because I can’t play this game at a high level. It won’t be because of that,” he said Dec. 30 on his 40th birthday. “Because to be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably play this game at a high level probably for about another — it’s weird that I might say this — but probably about another five to seven years, if I wanted to. But I’m not going to do that.”

James emerged as one of the Lakers’ defensive leaders and took on an even bigger role on that side of the court following the team’s trade for Luka Doncic that cost them Anthony Davis.

Read more:Lakers' season comes to a disappointing end with first-round loss to Timberwolves

Wednesday, James jokingly refused to comment when asked about the Lakers needing to play small lineups after the trade, referencing Davis' open desire for the team to acquire a center.

"My guy A.D. said what he needed, and he was gone the following week. So I got no comment," he said to laughs. "With that uniform on every night, I gave everything I had. And that's all that matters."

Coach JJ Redick consistently praised James’ competitive endurance throughout the season. Wednesday, James gave a full-on endorsement to Redick for his first season on the Lakers’ bench.

“I don't know what the roster will look like. I don't know where I stand right now, but I think whatever happens, I think JJ is gonna continue to grow,” James said Wednesday. “Thought he had a hell of a rookie campaign for a rookie coach. And it's a lot different being a rookie coach. It's already hard being a rookie coach in the NBA. And it's a hell of a lot harder being a rookie head coach coaching the Lakers. It's a whole ‘nother ball game.

Read more:It goes beyond LeBron and a podcast: Why the Lakers decided to hire JJ Redick

“And I thought he handled it extremely well. I thought he just learned every single day, held us accountable. He pushed us. I thought JJ and his coaching staff were great throughout the whole season. That was pretty cool.”

James almost certainly will make his 21st consecutive All-NBA team, a run of sustained greatness that’s never been equaled. He also accomplished a personal goal of playing with his oldest son, Bronny. The two became the NBA's first father-and-son teammates on opening night and the first father and son to score in the same game Oct. 30 in Cleveland.

After playing on the second night of back-to-back games out of the All-Star break, James pointed to a continued passion for his sport and a responsibility to show Bronny how to be a professional.

“I still love the game and I still got a lot to give to the game, to give to my teammates, to give to this league for while I’m here. I don’t have much time left,” James said in February. “So, while I’m here today in this time, I’m going to try to give what I got when I’m out on the floor. So, why? It’s the love of the game and I have an opportunity now to show my son the ranks of how to be a professional in this league.”

Wednesday in his final comments, James called playing with his son his greatest achievement in the NBA.

“That's easy,” he said. “It is not even close. To be able to play the game that I love and to be able to be along with my son this whole year has been one of the most gratifying, satisfying journeys I've ever been on.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Once again, excitement became embarrassment.

Once again, a promise was broken.

Once again, the Lakers weren’t fast enough or skilled enough or deep enough or strong enough.

Once again, blowing up in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in five years, the Lakers just weren’t good enough.

But it’s rarely felt this bad.

Rarely has Crypto.com Arena been as quiet while a playoff game was being played as it was Wednesday in the final minute of a 103-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

With 39 seconds left, fans silently filled the aisles and literally turned their back on their beloved Lakers, who historically dropped this first-round series four games to one.

Historically, because it was the first time the Lakers have lost a first-round series as a three-seed or higher.

No, they have never folded this dramatically.

“Disappointment,” said LeBron James. “Unfulfillment.”

Read more:Lakers' season comes to a disappointing end with first-round loss to Timberwolves

He could say that again. Disappointment in that they had finished the season as one of the best teams in the league. Unfulfillment in that many thought they were worthy of a march toward a championship.

They lost even though they had thrilled their fans and frightened the league with their February addition of Luka Doncic.

They lost even though 40-year-old James was inspired by the addition of his son, Bronny, and had one of his most complete seasons ever.

They lost even though Austin Reaves had a breakout season as a scorer worthy of giving the Lakers a legitimate Big Three.

They lost even though it was generally agreed that JJ Redick was having an outstanding rookie season.

They lost because Minnesota was everything they wanted to be, but were not.

They lost because Minnesota was tougher in the clutch, out-scoring the Lakers by 42 points in the series' five fourth quarters.

They lost because Minnesota wasn’t about the hype, the Timberwolves were about the struggle, the battle for each possession, doubling their second-chance points on Wednesday, competing in each individual battle as if it were their last.

They lost because Minnesota was stronger in the paint, dominating the Lakers so thoroughly that Wednesday’s game-leading scorer was defensive specialist Rudy Gobert, who had 27 points and 24 rebounds against a defenseless Laker interior.

Minnesota was more of a team, more collaborative, more together, more committed.

“They were just the better team this series, to be honest,” said Dorian Finney-Smith.

To be honest, the game was played as if the Lakers were already beaten, as if their pregame chant was a reprise of former guard Nick Van Exel’s infamous “1-2-3 Cancun!” chant in 1998 before the Lakers were swept by the Utah Jazz.

The Lakers were on the brink of elimination, yet it was the Timberwolves who played with desperation. The Lakers were on the verge of ending their season on their home court, yet it was the Timberwolves who played with all the passion.

The Timberwolves jumped to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and settled into a 10-point lead at halftime with an even bigger edge in body language.

The Lakers came back to briefly take the lead at the end of the third quarter, and even led by a point on a Doncic rainbow jumper with 6:29 remaining, but what ensued was typical of a team that had no idea how to play with their backs against the wall.

James airball. Gobert follow-up dunk. Maxi Kleber — what was he doing in the game? — miss. James miss. Doncic miss. James miss. Kleber stepped on the baseline. And so on.

The game ended appropriately with Minnesota’s Naz Reid grabbing an offensive rebound off a Timberwolves missed free throw attempt and hugging the ball like Minnesota hugged this victory.

That fourth quarter showed some of the Lakers vulnerability, starting with James’ age. He clearly wore down, as he made just two baskets in the last two fourth quarters.

Then there was Reaves, who had a generally lousy series with five baskets in the four fourth quarters and eight of 10 missed pointers in the deciding game.

Read more:Plaschke: JJ Redick for Dan Hurley was the Lakers' trade of the year

“You can point the finger at me,” Reaves said. “I didn’t play good enough for us to be successful.”

Reaves is right. He was their biggest disappointment. But help could be coming for all of them.

While any first-round loss is a stain on the Lakers' legacy, at least this loss comes with hope.

Hope that this team is not far from being a championship team. Hope that this coach is not far from being an outstanding coach. Hope that they are closer to greatness than this loss to the Timberwolves would indicate.

Remember, for all of their veteran savvy, this team is still a relative toddler, the two best players having been together barely three months and their coach in his first year.

“We just probably need a little more time together,” said Finney-Smith.

James and Doncic will mesh better next season if both return, and both are expected to return.

James has all but confirmed that he wants to end his career as a Lakers, so he’s not expected to use his player option to flee, and he’s aged so incredibly, even his biggest critics must admit that he should stay.

In recent years, this space has repeatedly called for James to be traded, but no more. This year he proved that his entertainment value outweighs any burden his contract places on the roster, and now that he has the exciting Doncic as his running mate, his veteran leadership could actually lead to one more title in the probable two years before he calls it quits.

“I don’t have an answer to that,” said James late Wednesday when asked about retirement. “We’ll see.”

He always says that. And he’s always returned.

Doncic could also leave by expressing such unhappiness that the Lakers would be forced to trade him before his contract expires after next season, but he seems to like it here.

Doncic has constantly expressed great respect for the franchise and its grandiose history, and this week he put his money behind that respect by contributing $5,000 to the restoration of a graffiti-scarred Kobe Bryant mural. This, after he paid for parking for many Laker fans on the night of his Lakers debut.

Doncic is a top-five talent, he’s fun, he’s embraceable, he’s the perfect person to lead the Lakers into the next era.

If Doncic is actually given a preseason to work with James and Reaves, who knows what they can accomplish?

“Anytime you make a big acquisition in the middle of the season it’s always going to be challenging,” said James. “The whole dynamic changed. I still don’t think we had enough time to mesh.”

All they need is … you guessed it … a center.

Read more:Plaschke: I was wrong. Drafting Bronny James was a win for the Lakers

“No comment,” said James. “My guy A.D. said what he needed and he was gone the following week.”

And thus Rob Pelinka, their newly minted president of basketball operations with a newly extended contract, has been giving his summer marching orders.

Find somebody who will ensure that Rudy Gobert doesn’t become Michael Jordan.

Find the one big thing that would also maximize Doncic’s talent and take this team to the next level.

Luka needs a lob partner. He needs a rim protector. He needs the sort of big man that he had in Dallas when he led the Mavs to that improbable NBA Finals appearance.

Everyone thought the Lakers had this big man this winter when Pelinka followed Doncic’s stunning acquisition with a trade for Charlotte’s Mark Williams.

But then the Lakers got cold feet. They worried that they overpaid for Williams, worried that he was too immature for their smart veteran system, and eventually that worry turned a bad physical exam into a deal killer.

They gave Williams back to Charlotte, and Jaxson Hayes was given the job, and by Wednesday night he wasn’t even trusted to play a minute, and so now Pelinka is back to square one.

Find a center.

“We couldn’t get rebounds,” said Rui Hachimura. “We need somebody to get rebounds.”

The Lakers so obviously need that somebody, on Wednesday night they were even trolled by Williams himself on X.

Redick should also be better next season. He was surprisingly adept in his rookie year as a head coach at any level, but he scuffled in the postseason. He was publicly questioned by Magic Johnson after the Lakers Game 1 loss, and then he was questioned by the rest of the basketball world after playing the same five players the entire second half of the Game 4 loss.

Redick reacted to the most recent criticism before Wednesday night’s game by barking back at a media questioner who seemed to imply that he needed to rely more on the wisdom of his veteran assistant coaches.

“Are you saying that I’m because I’m inexperienced and that was an ‘inexperienced’ decision that I made?” Redick asked. “You think I don’t talk to my assistants about rotations every single timeout?”

The questioner responded, “No, I just think a lot of coaches lean on their assistants in those situations.”

Redick fired back, saying, “As do I. Every single time. That’s a weird assumption.”

With that, Redick walked out of the press conference. That was probably going to be the last question anyway, but it was a bad look that Redick left before it officially ended.

“I can get a lot better,” Redick said of his rookie year.

His team thought he was just fine.

“JJ will continue to grow,” said James. “He had a helluva campaign for a rookie coach. I thought he handled it extremely well.”

These Lakers should continue to grow. They’d better. For all of their success, for all of their promise, the 2024-25 season can only be summed up one way.

They were entertaining, they were intriguing and they were a failure.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

‘Angry Tatum' arrives: What we learned from Celtics-Magic series originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics didn’t play with their food and eliminated the Orlando Magic in five games. They were rewarded with five full days of rest before their Eastern Conference semifinal series launches Monday night.

The extra time allows the Celtics to kick back while the Knicks and Pistons slug it out to see who will be on the other side of that Round 2 matchup. The Celtics get ample time to rest bumps and bruises, and can sit comfortably on their sofas watching the rest of the playoff action (like the rival Lakers getting bounced in Round 1 on Wednesday night). 

While we await Boston’s Round 2 opponent, let’s take a look back at Round 1, and four of the biggest things we learned from the Celtics’ gentleman’s sweep of the frisky and physical Magic: 

1. Angry Tatum is a bad man

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope seemingly woke a sleeping beast with his hard foul that severely bruised Jayson Tatum’s wrist in Game 1. Seething after missing Game 2, Tatum became the only Celtics player not named Larry Bird to score 35+ points in three straight playoff games.

Tatum set up a residency at the free throw line, connecting on 37 straight free throws to close out the series, all while making double-digit freebies in each of the final three games. 

Tatum’s averages over those last three games: 36 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.7 steals over 38.6 minutes per game. He shot 47.6 percent from the floor and 44 percent beyond the 3-point arc. The Celtics were +42 in his 116 minutes.

Tatum even debuted a new celebration at the suggestion of rookie Baylor Scheierman, in which he clasped that injured wrist right with his left hand with arms extended over head after 3-point makes. The suggestion is seemingly that, even with their flagrant ways, the Magic couldn’t hurt Tatum. In fact, the injury only seemed to make him stronger.

Despite Tatum’s strong overall postseason play throughout his career, the knock has always been a dip in efficiency. In 39 games between the 2023 and 2024 postseasons, Tatum shot just 44.3 percent from the floor and 30.5 percent beyond the 3-point arc.

If Tatum is the offensive wrecking ball we saw in Games 3, 4, and 5 against Orlando, good luck stopping the Celtics in their quest to repeat. 

Tatum’s on/off differential in Round 1 was a team-best +21.6. The Celtics outscored opponents by 21 points per 100 possessions in his 156 minutes on the court. Tatum clearly fueled Boston’s offense, but the Celtics’ defensive rating was 23.4 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than off (a team-best 95.3 during his on-court minutes).

Pundits have wanted Tatum to play with an edge throughout his career, and the injury in Game 1 sure seemed to give Tatum an extra bit of motivation while shredding whatever defense the Magic threw at him.

Tatum also admitted to playing a bit more “carefree” so far this postseason, having won a championship that took any extra weight off his shoulders.

2. Call him Al D. Sure!

… Because 38-year-old Al Horford is bringing elite defense “Nite and Day.” 

Horford limited the Magic to 25-of-75 shooting (33.3 percent) in Round 1. That’s 11.4 percent below expected output, per NBA tracking. Both marks led the Celtics’ regulars in the series. 

Franz Wagner generated just 10 points on 4-of-22 shooting with three blocked shots when defended by Horford in the series. In Game 4, Horford held Wagner and teammate Paolo Banchero to seven points on 3-of-15 shooting overall.

He swatted five shots that night, becoming only the second player aged 38 or older to accomplish that feat. (The other: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Among the 118 players with more than 25 shots defended in Round 1, Horford currently ranks second in the playoffs in defensive field goal percentage, trailing only the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard (31.5 percent).

Just a couple months shy of his 39th birthday, Horford continues to elevate his play when the games matter most. Injuries to teammates had him starting four of the five games against Orlando, while his minutes have already spiked from the regular season.

Horford is vital to whatever comes next. He was Boston’s best defender against Karl-Anthony Towns if the Knicks advance, and both the Cavaliers and Pacers have talented frontcourts that will stress teams on both ends of the floor. 

3. The Celtics can win without the 3

The Celtics set an NBA record for 3-pointers with 1,457 makes during the regular season. They hoisted a staggering 48.2 attempts per game and put teams in a math bind with their “3 is greater than 2” strategy.

Pundits breathlessly wondered how Boston would win if it didn’t make 3-pointers in the playoffs. Then the Celtics drew the Magic, the best team in the league at taking away the 3, and showed they could diversify. 

The Celtics averaged just 11.8 3-point makes on 31.2 attempts per game in Round 1 (down from 17.8 and 48.2 in the regular season). That essentially forced Boston to make up 18 points of production in alternate ways, which the team did, including with a noticeable uptick in scoring at the free throw line.

Orlando’s anemic offense certainly helped mask the Celtics’ lack of 3-point makes, but the C’s were forced to find other ways to generate their own points. More encouraging is that it feels like the floodgates could open if future opponents aren’t able to take away that shot to the level the Magic did.

It didn’t help that Kristaps Porzingis battled a “janky” shot while shooting 11.8 percent beyond the 3-point arc in Round 1. Even the ever-steady Derrick White dipped to 35.9 percent from 3-point range.

Getting those guys back to their regular-season levels is important moving forward. But the shot quality almost has to spike after the Magic did everything in their power to run the Celtics off the line for much of the series.

4. Health is vital in quest to repeat

For the second straight season, the Celtics just keep chugging whenever injuries leave them shorthanded. Boston lost Tatum for Game 2 and watched Jaylen Brown turn in a gem to open a 2-0 series lead.

Jrue Holiday missed three games with a hamstring injury, and the Celtics tripped up just once. And all this comes one year after Porzingis appeared in just seven of Boston’s 19 playoff games.

And yet, Round 1 was a reminder of how vital health can be. The Celtics are blessed with depth, but there’s a noticeable impact when you don’t have Holiday and his defensive versatility available. The margin for error gets slimmer when Brown’s knee ailment leaves him at something less than 100 percent on a given night. 

The Celtics are fortunate to have quality depth. Even in a series in which he struggled to have a consistent offensive impact, Sam Hauser finished with a team-best on-court rating of +26.9. Payton Pritchard had a couple quiet offensive games on the road but played inspired defense throughout and had a +20.4 net rating in 134 minutes of court time.

It’s still jarring that only one Celtics lineup played more than 18 minutes together in Round 1. The double-big starting group of Horford, Porzingis, Brown, Tatum, and White logged 39 minutes over four games but had a minus-13.9 net rating in that span. Another double-big lineup with Kornet in place of Porzingis got the second-most minutes (18 over three appearances) and had a minus-21.5 net rating.

The Celtics otherwise cobbled it together throughout Round 1 and still found a way to win four of five games. On the positive side: The preferred starting five with Holiday in the mix had a +44.4 net rating in a small 13-minute sample. That’s still encouraging after that group struggled to find its footing at times during the regular season. 

The Magic were feisty. Bigger challenges are almost certainly on their way. The Celtics need all their horses to navigate whatever is ahead.

Brooks has blunt explanation for late-game scuffle with Spencer, TJD originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Dillon Brooks offered a short but direct explanation for the late-game scuffle between Houston Rockets and Warriors players in Game 5 of their Western Conference playoff matchup Wednesday night at Toyota Center.

“He’s talking too much,” Brooks said of Warriors guard Pat Spencer after Houston’s 131-116 win over Golden State (h/t Space City Home Network).

Brooks sat at the podium next to Rockets center Alperen Şengün, who also was involved in the physical altercation but didn’t comment on the incident. Instead, he let Brooks explain and smirked at his response.

#Rockets beat the Warriors 131-116 to force a game 6 Friday

Dillon Brooks 🏀24 PTS🏀7-13 FG🏀8-8 FT🏀@HoustonRockets I #Liftoffpic.twitter.com/AEi4lT59QA

— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) May 1, 2025

The game was well over before the clock read 0:00 as the Rockets led by as many as 31 points before Warriors coach Steve Kerr cleared his bench and pulled his starters with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

But Golden State’s second- and third-stringers built some momentum and managed to bring the game within 13 points with about five minutes remaining in the contest. And as the deficit decreased, the tension increased.

Midway through the final frame, Spencer was bumped by Şengün during a dead ball, who responded by headbumping the All-Star. Warriors center Trayce Jackson-Davis immediately came to his teammate’s defense, shoving Şengün away before players were separated.

TJD WANTED ALL THE SMOKE 😳 pic.twitter.com/jW6M6lVRWD

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 1, 2025

Officials reviewed the play and assessed offsetting technical fouls to Jackson-Davis and Şengün. Spencer received a technical foul and was ejected for an illegal headbutt.

In what already had been a heated previous four games between the two teams, that was no different for the Rockets against the Warriors’ reserves.

And you can bet that will be the same for Game 6 at Chase Center as the Warriors look to close the series out and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

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LeBron James says he is unsure if he will continue his NBA career next season after the Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the first round of the play-offs by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 40-year-old, in his 22nd season as a professional, was unable to prevent the Timberwolves completing a 4-1 series victory with a 103-96 win in game five at the Crypto.com Arena.

James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, had been hoping to win a fifth championship this season.

James, who signed a two-year deal with the Lakers in 2024, says he will take time in the off-season to consider his future.

Asked how many more years he will continue to play, James said: "I don't know.

"It's something that I will sit down with my family, my wife, and my support group and kind of just talk through and see what happens, and just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play."

After a 74-game campaign, James said the opportunity to play alongside Bronny - becoming the first father-son duo in NBA history - was the highlight of his season.

"Number one, for sure," said James.

"That's not even close. To be able to play the game that I love and to be able to be alongside my son, this whole year has been one of the most gratifying, satisfying journeys I've ever been on."

Rudy Gobert registered 27 points and 24 rebounds for the Timberwolves.

"It feels great," he said. "We had a season with ups and downs so to come here and play the way we did means a lot.

"We just have a bunch of guys that want to win, and a lot of guys who have been through adversity throughout their career and their life, and we love each other.

"All the things we went through throughout the season prepared us for this moment."

Rockets cut Warriors lead

The Timberwolves will face the Golden State Warriors or the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Rockets kept their play-off hopes alive with a 131-116 win against the Warriors in game five, cutting their series deficit to 3-2.

Fred VanVleet scored 26 points for the Rockets, while Amen Thompson added 25 and Dillon Brooks 24 at Toyota Center.

The Rockets led by 31 points at one stage, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr substituted many of his starters in the third quarter in order to keep them fresh for game six.

"We can't come out with that lack of defensive focus and energy and expect to beat a great team on their home floor," said Kerr.

"They took it to us - they were awesome tonight."

Game six takes place at 02:00 BST on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco.

The shirt’s been inside LeBron James’ extra locker since the day he received it, a facsimile of the Lakers’ iconic golden jerseys with No. 77 on the front and “Doncic" on the back.

James wore a shirt exactly like it during pregame warmups on Feb. 10, a very public signal from someone rarely subtle that he was ready to embrace the partnership put on him when the Lakers made the midseason trade that gave the team two of the NBA’s best big-game players.

But in the Game 5 loss to Minnesota that ended their season Wednesday, Luka Doncic was grimacing after a foul jammed his lower back in the first half. And James barely put weight on his left leg as he limped off the court in the fourth quarter.

Still, with a little more than seven minutes to go, the two were on the court, the Lakers ready to back up the widely held belief that the closer the game, the better off they’d be because of their leaders.

The scoreboard in Crypto.com Arena showed highlights of Doncic and James, their No. 77 and No. 23 uniforms adding up to 100, with just three minutes to go and the Lakers down two.

But like it did late in fourth quarters throughout this first-round playoff series, the math never added up.

And the duo couldn’t lift the Lakers to the heights they thought possible.

And even as that Doncic shirt hung inside the Lakers’ locker room for the last time, hope that had been built over the last two months evaporated as the Lakers again failed to win the biggest moments, a 103-96 loss ending their season after just five games in the first round.

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” JJ Redick said. “We obviously wished that.”

James admitted postgame that the midseason trade that landed the Lakers Doncic obviously changed the team’s identity, shifting ball-handling duties heavily from him and Austin Reaves into Doncic’s hands.

“That whole obviously dynamic changed when we made the acquisition of Luka to how can we change our approach to best fit his game and how can we center our game around his,” James said. “And I think it's always challenging when you, you make a, like I said, a big acquisition like that.”

It didn’t matter that Minnesota missed 40 three-point shots, the most by a team in a postseason win. The Timberwolves seemed to grab every rebound. It didn’t matter that Anthony Edwards was just five for 19 from the field — the Lakers couldn ‘t capitalize. And it didn’t matter that the Lakers were on their home court, Minnesota silencing the fans as it defensively dominated the fourth quarter for the fifth straight game.

Lakers coach JJ Redick sacrificed size for quickness and spacing, benching center Jaxson Hayes and starting Dorian Finney-Smith like he did in the second half of Game 4. This time Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert made the Lakers pay with playoff career highs of 27 points and 24 rebounds.

No one was more impactful — a bad sign for the Lakers. Doncic had 28 points on seven-for-18 shooting. James scored 22 on nine-for-21 shooting. Austin Reaves had only 12.

“I didn't have the series that I wanted to have. You could point the finger at me. I really don't care. I wasn't good enough to help us be successful and I wish I could have did more, but I didn't,” Reaves said. “I struggled. You live and you learn. And I guarantee that I'll, get back to work this off season and be better.”

All series things never looked easy for the Lakers.

The bulk of that credit should go to Minnesota, which not only looked like the more cohesive team but also functioned as one designed almost explicitly to highlight every one of the Lakers’ blemishes.

The Lakers, who won games by playing hard, lost to a team that always seemed to play harder. The Lakers, who earned home-court advantage by being tougher, lost to a team that was tougher. And the Lakers, who looked like they could beat anyone in the regular season, lost to a team that they obviously couldn’t.

Redick, who described the Lakers as “on edge” in the practice before Game 5, angrily responded to a pregame question that implied he needed to lean on his assistant coaches to better handle late-game substitutions.

His team quickly fell behind. Minnesota's Julius Randle, the first piece of the Lakers’ post-Kobe Bryant plans, looked like the bulldozing tone-setter the team envisioned when it took him in the first round in 2014.

James and Doncic, who owned the top two scoring averages in elimination games in NBA history, made just one of eight shots in the first quarter. With each miss, the murmurs from the crowd grew longer, the fans mirroring the Lakers and their fading chances.

The team pushed early in the second quarter as Randle and Jaden McDaniels, maybe the series most valuable player, sat with foul trouble, allowing the Lakers to get within a single possession on multiple occasions.

But in the moments when the Lakers and their stars needed to capitalize, they looked more like separate entities than an unstoppable force. James tried to find Doncic as he flared to the corner and threw a pass directly to Edwards. Doncic couldn’t play on the defensive string the Lakers all needed to be pulling on, Minnesota’s easy baskets leading to James’ open frustration toward the Lakers’ bench.

But with their season on the line, the Lakers did something they’d rarely done all season: They dominated the third quarter. The Lakers fought back from 14 down to lead on a Dorian Finney-Smith three, trading scores with the Timberwolves to trail by just one heading to the fourth.

But like it did all series, that’s when things dried up. The Lakers managed just 16 points in the fourth on Wednesday and averaged just 17 fourth-quarter points in the series.

“We executed great in the fourth quarter,” Redick said. “Missed shots at the rim, missed a bunch of 3s, shot 12-for-52 for the series in the fourth quarter from three … We obviously put ourselves in a position to be in the game three times in the fourth quarter, and just came up short every time.

“But, the offensive part of it in particular tonight, I mean, we missed wide open threes, we missed a couple of shots at the rim. We got good looks”

It's the first time the Lakers ever lost a first-round series as a No. 3 or higher seed. They fell to 2-12 in their last three playoff series.

“Yeah, there's obviously a lot of different things we can do, I can do,” Doncic said. “Obviously, everybody got to get better. We're gonna have a long summer. And should focus on what we can improve as a team and as individuals, everybody."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Australian basketballer Dyson Daniels has declared he can still get better after winning the NBA’s prestigious Most Improved Player award. The George Mikan Trophy is awarded for the player who shows the most progress between seasons.

Daniels was selected eighth in the 2022 draft, but started only 25 games in two seasons for New Orleans before he was traded to Atlanta last year. He was in the Hawks’ starting five for all 76 appearances this season.

Related: NBA playoffs: Haliburton’s ‘disrespectful’ father sparks fracas as Pacers seal Bucks’ fate

“I came into the third year wanting to really put my foot down and go out there and show what I could do,” Daniels told the NBA on TNT broadcast. “I think it was just a small step in the right direction this year, and I feel like I’ve got a lot more in me.”

Playing alongside all-star teammate Trae Young, Daniels made the most of the opportunity with Atlanta. He averaged 14.1 points per game, an increase of 8.3 on the previous season, and three steals per contest, the highest figure in the league.

The man given the nickname “The Great Barrier Thief” recorded 229 takeaways in all, the most in a season in almost 30 years. He was also among three nominees for the league’s defensive player of the year award, won by Cleveland’s Evan Mobley.

The 22-year-old said landing at Atlanta gave him a fresh start. “It’s just coming in with the right mindset, working hard in the offseason, having a good Olympic campaign, and going out there and being aggressive, being myself, and not caring about making mistakes,” he said.

“The main theme this year is I got trust in my coaches, trust in my teammates, and I was able to go out there and just be myself.”

Daniels earned first place votes from 44 of the award’s 100 voters, delivering him 332 total points based on a 5-3-1 voting system.

Los Angeles Clippers’ centre Ivica Zubac finished second with 186 points, and Detroit guard Cade Cunningham attracted 122. Daniels’ Australian backcourt teammate, Chicago’s Josh Giddey, finished 10th in voting.

The executive who traded Daniels from New Orleans last year, David Griffin, said in a visit to Australia in March the deal was “the right thing to do at the right time”.

The trade included Daniels, two first-round draft picks and other players in exchange for guard Dejounte Murray. Murray ruptured his Achilles tendon in January and Griffin was fired as the Pelicans’ executive vice president two weeks ago.

Daniels helped the Hawks finish ninth in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, but the team lost a painful play-in match against Miami in overtime.

The Australian, who grew grew up in Bendigo – a hotbed of Australian basketball talent – has returned to stay with his family in Melbourne following the conclusion of the season.

His older brother Kai plays VFL with Richmond, and his younger brother Dash is due to play in the NBL with Melbourne United later this year as part of the Next Star programme.