Worldwide Sports News

Well, here we are. Detroit Pistons face an elimination game against the Orlando Magic. Winner goes to the second round to face either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Toronto Raptors. The loser’s season is done. No pressure. A win at Little Caesars Arena adds a little more myth to what has been, for lack of a better word, a magical season. A loss ends a season a starts a critical offseason where this team must determine how to turn promise into contention. We will soon know which path this team is taking. But it’s never been an easy path, so expect 48 minutes of misery and hope it ends with a bit of exhilaration.

Game Vitals

When: 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: ABC
Odds: Pistons -8.5

Projected Lineups

Detroit Pistons (3-3)

Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Orlando Magic (3-3)

Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Jamal Cain, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr

Round two of the NBA playoffs starts tomorrow, and the Minnesota Timberwolves are once again the underdogs. Whether that’s rightfully so or just another time the public narrative is disrespecting the Wolves, we’ll find out starting Monday night. Even though this is on short notice, there’s still time to hear from you and give you a chance to write some receipts.

It’s time for Canis Pulsus Vol. 49 – Playoff Round 2 Predictions!

Welcome to Canis Pulsus Vol. 49!

For those of you who have been ignoring this series since the 2021 season — Canis Pulsus is designed to give our Canis Hoopus community a published voice.

A pulse, if you will.

We all know that if CH occupied all seats of the Minnesota Timberwolves front office, we would be celebrating our 36th consecutive championship this year. But for now, it’s time for us to exercise our right vote. How would you grade the performance of our pups?

It’s a simple concept, really. Just submit your vote as honestly or sarcastically as you would like. All individual submissions will remain anonymous so no one will know if you were the one voter who picked Spurs in four Once the polls close, the results as a whole will be published on Canis Hoopus and (in theory) be posted on ESPN’s front page next to all the naysayers.

Canis Pulsus Vol. 49 – Playoff Round 2 Predictions

Vote link:
https://forms.gle/SupyvNtQ593MQtuZ6

*Voting ends Sunday, 5/3*

1. What will be the result of round two vs San Antonio Spurs matchup?
2. The key for the Timberwolves to defeat the Nuggets is…
3. My hot take from the Wolves-Nuggets series is…
4. The Timberwolves season will be a success if…
5. With the first round of the playoffs over, my feelings on the direction of the Timberwolves are…

Link to previous Canis Pulsus results

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who went through the grind of reviewing all 18 players on the Phoenix Suns roster and placing each one into a tier. That kind of buy-in is what makes this exercise worth it. It gives us real data points, helps us start forming some assumptions, and gives us a clearer picture of where each player belongs within their tier as we begin to sort out who is “best.”

Everyone has their own definition of what “best” means, and by taking the time to go through the SunsRank survey, you help compartmentalize these players in a way that makes the next step easier. Did you put someone in the ‘Pillars’ category based on who they are relative to the team’s roster construction moving forward? Or did you put them there because of the statistical impact they had on the team this season? All points of view are welcome in SunsRank. It’s the one time I deviate from my personal method of avoiding terms like “best”, “worst”, or “greatest”.

So let’s get into it. We’re moving into the lowest tier, ‘The Depth Pieces’. I define this tier as “The supporting cast. The ones who fill minutes, plug gaps, and sometimes win a game or two that no one expects. They may not grab headlines, but every season leans on players like these.”

The community put these players here, and the bottom tier consists of six players. So we’ll be ranking players 13 through 18 on the Phoenix Suns’ roster.

The Depth Pieces

Jamaree Bouyea

Jamaree Bouyea, the guy who started the season playing in the Spurs’ G League system who came to Phoenix and forced his way into a two-way contract situation. Respect. 75% of the community voted him into the Depth Pieces tier. Shout out to the 3 people who thought he was worthy of being a Pillar.

Koby Brea

Koby Brea’s rookie year was one of development in the G League, as he saw only 12 games at the NBA level. The kid has a shot on him, and he is certainly somoene who we hope rises from the Depth Piece tier to somethign more meaningful and impactful in years to come.

Let’s look at some Valley Suns numbers, seeing as he spent most of the season in the G League.

Amir Coffey

Coffey arrived in Phoenix from Milwaukee in the trade that sent Nigel Hayes-Davis and Nick Richards out. His playing time wasn’t ample this season with Phoenix, and he didn’t make the impact many believed he would. Not surprisingly, 74% of the community classified him as a Depth Piece. Chances are, as an unrestricted free agent, he won’t be with the team next season.

Haywood Highsmith

Highsmith was a buyout market acquisition and, for someone coming off a meniscus tear, someone we didn’t expect to see much of. And we didn’t. Still, it was a close race to determine which tier he belonged in. 53% voted for the Locksmith to be a Depth Piece, while 40% believbed he was a Wildcard.

CJ Huntley

The rookie who played five years at Appalachian State was a two-way contracted player. Then he wasn’t. Then he was. We didn’t see him much at the NBA level, but he put some work in down in the G.

Let’s look at some Valley Suns numbers, seeing as he spent most of the season in the G League.

Isaiah Livers

I think we all had higher expectations for Livers, but ultimately, we did not see him as much as we expected due to injuries this season. Therefore, he finds himself in the Depth Piece tier.

Now, the fun begins. This is SunsRank comes to life. Fill out the survey and decide who ranks above whom using your interpretation of the words “best” and/or “better”.

After playing 36 minutes of solid basketball, the Sixers found themselves in a position all too familiar at the end of a playoff game. As dominant as Joel Embiid was offensively, he was showing signs of running out of gas down the stretch. To check off all the boxes, he had already gone back to the locker room with an injury scare.

With 3:49 left in the game, the Celtics again cut the Sixers lead to one as deja vu sank in: a winnable playoff game had turned into immense heartbreak as no one other other than Embiid could get the Sixers over the finish line. Just like Game 7s in 2019 and 2021, the Sixers rested their hopes on Embiid’s broken body carrying them across the finish line.

Tyrese Maxey’s last field goal had come at the end of the third quarter. He only had two points from the line in the fourth and, to make matters worse, he had just smoked a wide open layup a few possessions ago.

After both teams clanked a couple jumpers off the rim, Maxey found himself with the ball at the top of the key. A screen came for a pick-and-roll, and with it the switch Maxey was looking for on Neemias Queta.

The Sixers would come up with another stop and Maxey hunted the same matchup again, zooming by Queta and Jaylen Brown to make it a two-possession game.

After another stop and Maxey took the ball again. This time his midrange pull-up didn’t fall, but he would contribute to their next and most important stop of the series.

The Celtics had killed the offensive glass when they were in control of this series. They got a second attempt to cut it a two-point game thanks to an offensive rebound. When Derrick White’s shot went off, Maxey skied up to get it, securing his ninth rebound of the game.

With 16 seconds left, all that was left was hitting his free throws. That was still an important hurdle to clear — the Sixers lost multiple season games, like one in Toronto and another against Atlanta, because Maxey wasn’t able to hit free throws to seal the game.

He hit all four attempted, completing his 10-point fourth quarter and putting the Boston Celtics away for good. Maxey finished with 30 points (on an efficient 11-of-18 from the field), 11 rebounds and seven assists.

“I just really wanted the ball,” Maxey told reporters at the podium after the game. “Early in the fourth, we went to Joel, and I just felt like it was time for me to step up, make a play.”

By doing so, Maxey and Embiid put themselves in elite company, as far as Game 7s go. Per ESPN’s stats’ department, they became the first duo to put up 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a Game 7.

Embiid is plenty responsible for shortcomings of Sixers playoff runs in the past, but he’s been let down by his supporting cast just as many — if not more — times.

This series they got over the hump not just because of Embiid’s brilliance, but his co-star finally rose to the moment as well.

BOSTON — Late in the fourth quarter, as Derrick White’s fifth three-pointer of the night sailed through the net, Jayson Tatum turned his back to the TD Garden parquet and emphatically punched the Celtics bench with both fists.

He badly wanted the Celtics to do the improbable, to pull out a come-from-behind victory in Game 7 against a Philadelphia 76ers team that was peaking at exactly the right moment.

He badly wanted the Celtics to advance to the next round, so that he could come back and continue what was an incredible comeback story, so that he could return to the same Madison Square Garden where his season last ended in heartbreak.

But, almost a full year after he suffered the worst injury in basketball, Tatum was once again sidelined, let down by his body, ruled out of game action by his medical staff.

This time, it wasn’t season-ending, and he wasn’t writhing on the floor in pain. On Saturday morning, Tatum simply woke up with some back-of-knee stiffness that appeared to begin in Game 6, a likely side-effect of returning to action in just 10 months, quickly ramping up minutes, and battling in physical, postseason action.

“It was just unfortunate timing,” Tatum said. “But, it’s a little bit to be expected, right? I was away for 10 and a half months, and I came back, and I’m playing every other day, and I was playing 36 to 40 minutes — so it’s not unusual that something would come up. It was just kind of tough because rehab was going so well the entire time. I guess it was inevitable at some point that I was gonna have to deal with something, and it just kind of came at the worst possible time.”

Tatum said that he was day-to-day and expected to return at some point in the second round, had the Celtics advanced in Game 7.

But, as the team went ice-cold down the stretch of the fourth quarter, all he could do was watch, just as he did for the first 62 games of the season.

“It was tough,” Tatum said. “I was upset, I was sad, I was disappointed all day.”

Part of what made it so painful was how seamless his rehab had been up until that point. He came back in 10 and a half months. He averaged 23.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 6.9 assists in the series’s first six games, shooting 47.5% from the field — the best mark of his playoff career.

Everything was going exactly to plan.

Then, just like that, he was back to the sidelines.

“It just kind of really never crossed my mind,” Tatum said of the possibility of not being there for the final game of the year. “Once I came back, everything was just going so well, so to have to sit yesterday in the biggest game of the season, and just not being able to be out there and be a part of that… it was just tough.”

In the end, the Celtics’ season ended as it started, with three straight losses, and with their best player in street clothes.

Still, for myriad reasons, Tatum said he had zero regrets about doing everything possible to make his return, and that making the push to return this season was “100%” the correct decision.

In large part, that’s because going into next season, he knows that he is capable of being exactly who he was before the injury — if not an even more improved version.

“I’m very happy that I came back to be a part of this team, get back to doing what I love, to help give us a chance to compete for a championship, to prove to myself that I can get back to being the guy who I was, and hopefully better,” Tatum said.

“I was able to prove to myself that I can still play this game at a very, very high level, even not being 100% of myself. I know what I’m capable of. So, checking that box off mentally, because that was a question in my head. There was doubt. Will I be able to be the same player? Will I be able to play at a high level after this injury? Now I have proven it and shown that — even at 85% of myself. So you know, now getting an extended period of time to deload and take some time off and come back next season 100%, 110% ready, get my right calf bigger compared to my left one. So I’m excited about that.”

In addition to overcoming that mental hurdle, Tatum also feels a level of pride regarding what he was able to pull off — even if it did not result in the outcome he desired.

He knows that he blazed a trail for other NBA players with the same injury to follow, players like Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard, who have yet to return following Achilles ruptures last Spring, and more recent examples like Donte DiVincenzo.

That, in and of itself, meant a lot.

“Not necessarily from a standpoint of, ‘I’m great, look at what I was able to accomplish,‘ but to give other guys hope,” Tatum said. “Obviously, I don’t want anybody to have to go through tearing their Achilles, but in the unfortunate event that it does happen, that I can be sort of inspirational: if you attack rehab a certain way if you follow these guidelines, or do it a certain way, that it’s not, like, a career-ending injury, that you can come back, that you can be yourself, that you can be better, that it won’t take 18 months, that you can come back whenever is right for you.”

“So, I’m happy and proud of the fact that I was able to do that, and unfortunately, if somebody else has to deal with this, they can look at what I was able to do and have some hope and inspiration that it’s not what people used to think it was,” Tatum said. “And, you can come back from this, and be who you were and hopefully be better.”

For now, it will be a long offseason in which Tatum will get some much-needed rest.

At the podium, it was evident that Tatum tried tirelessly to look at the positive view, burdened by the disappointment of a first-round exit and his unexpected Game 7 sidelining.

“I get a long offseason to really get back to 110%,” he said. “I guess that’s the silver lining of it all.”

Despite growing up a half-hour from Shea Stadium as a 1980s Mets fan, I didn’t hate the Yankees. No reason to. They were in a whole other league; they never played the Mets, other than in spring training. Don Mattingly was awesome. Dave Winfield was a freak. Willie Randolph seemed nice. Their third baseman was nicknamed Pags. What wasn’t to like?

I didn’t hate the Yankees until 2000, when Roger Clemens, unable to get Mike Piazza out legally, knocked him out with a heater straight to the gulliver . . . and Don Zimmer said of the victim: “Piazza made a little man out of himself. I don’t care who knows it, I lost a little respect for Piazza.” The same Zimmer who had to have three holes drilled into his skull after taking a curveball there in 1963. Who had two seasons ended by beanballs. Who suffered a concussion in 1986 when he fell down in the clubhouse. Who brought a playoff game to a screeching halt in 1999 when a line drive off the bat of Chuck Knoblauch went into the dugout and hit Zimmer’s ear and jaw. One can only imagine the kind of poor choices a bloke with a litanty of brain injuries might make later in life (photo credit: Reddit).

Until two years ago, I never hated the Philadelphia 76ers. Growing up, they were like the Nets to me, geographical cousins of the Knicks who weren’t the Celtics, and the enemy of my enemy was my friend. Charles Barkley was a force of nature. Jeff Hornacek may not have done anything for me coaching the Knicks, but I loved watching him play. Hersey Hawkins coupled smoothness with alliteration. Everybody knows Shaquille O’Neal, and some remember Gary Trent Sr., “Shaq of the MAC,” but the original Shack was one of the great NBA names of all-time, one Charles Edward Shackleford.

So when the Knicks met the Sixers in the 2024 playoffs, after a lifetime of playoff series with Indiana, Miami and Chicago, I was looking forward to watching the most stressful games of the year against a team I had no beef with. That didn’t last long.

The 2021 series versus Atlanta was the first time I encountered another team’s chronically online fans. Hawks Twitter is probably on the low end of offensiveness, but they were so gross and rude that stuck with me more than Trae Young. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be much of a “Hawks Bluesky” scene this postseason.

Sixers Twitter is just one of several factors that curdled my affection for one of the NBA’s flagship franchises into something slightly toxic. Maybe you share some of my reasons; maybe you hate them for reasons all your own. My hypothesis: however much you hate the 76ers today, it will sink to fathomless depths by the end of this series. Why? I could give you reasons.

Reason 1: KAREN NURSE

You know what’s amazing about J.B. Bickerstaff? Besides having coached four NBA teams and won Coach of the Year by age 46? He’s faced the Knicks twice in the playoffs, lost both times, and never kvetched once. Something to be said for someone who can face adversity with a kind of quiet dignity.

Contrast that with two years ago. After Karen Carlisle’s Pacers lost the first two games of their series with the Knicks, they sent the league office a list of 78 calls they claimed the refs got wrong in those games. Then Little Ricky doubled down on the lowest and hoariest conspiracy theory.

“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot,” he said after Game 2. “They deserve a fair shot no matter where they’re playing.”

Every bleeping CBA of my lifetime has been about screwing over “big-market” teams and their fans in order to better serve the poor, tired, huddles masses out in Flyover Country. It’s infuriatingly specious. It’s dumb as shit. It’s the sports version of the NY Times sending reporters out all the time to find out what “real Americans” think of things, when those “real” Americans are always white Midwesterners who not only don’t live in cities, but actively fear them. I’m not any less real than them!

If I wanna go to Game 1 of this series and don’t have the money for a ticket, no one cuts me a break. If Miles McBride wants to make $50 million per on his next deal and nobody offers it to him, no one thinks he’s a victim. You want something you can’t have? Figure out how to make it happen or get over it, right? Yet always, the propaganda regarding what is/isn’t fair to alllll the poor wittle billionaires who aren’t quite Steve Ballmer-level.

If you can’t afford to compete with Ballmer, James Dolan and that anti-labor twat who owns the Rockets, sell the team. You don’t have a birthright to the endless profit machine that is pro sports just because you want it. For Carlisle, of all people — a former Knick and Celtic — to trot that dead horse outta the barn isn’t just offensive to us, it demeans him. Seems he’ll sell out anybody from his past just to get a little ahead today. Maybe Rick’s wealthier than I thought.

Not one to be outdone, Coach Nurse and the Sixers literally FILED A GRIEVANCE after the first two games of their last tussle with the Knicks. What happens if they fall behind this time? An amicus brief to the Supreme Court, requesting the Knicks be kicked out of the NBA? A donation to the White House Hitler’s bunker ballroom, to curry favor with the pedo in power? That may sound extreme, but the next time someone loses to New York without crying foul will be the first. Well, third. Thank you, J.B.

Reason 2: JOEL EMBIID

Like the Yankees, I was totally cool with Embiid right up until I wasn’t. He’s the greatest scoring big man I’ve ever seen (yes, over Shaq). His performance against New York in Game 4 in 2024 was up there, if not better, than anything I ever saw Michael Jordan do to them. There, I said it.

I didn’t like him trying to hurt Mitchell Robinson and various other Knicks in 2024, but I understood. I grew up watching the Knicks clothesline Dream Teamers; I can handle a little physicality (particularly when I’m not the one suffering it). It’s the narcissism I can’t stand.

Clemens could’ve stood up and owned what he did; instead he hid behind teammates making asses of themselves trying to justify assault. That Embiid could pull what he did on Mitch and walk away healthy tells you all you need to know about how much the NBA has changed. If he’d tried that s#$% on Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley or Anthony Mason, Embiid’s career would already be over.

Look at this asshole.

He attacked Mitch ‘cuz he didn’t like a non-call on the other end. He didn’t like something a reporter wrote about his dead brother, so he shoved him. If Karl-Anthony Towns was the type to mess with people, this would be the time for head games. But KAT doesn’t roll like that. So we’ll just have to wait and see what annoys Mr. Process the next couple of weeks, and pray he doesn’t injure anyone while he’s letting off steam. And if he does, maybe this time the league bothers to notice.

Reason #3: CHRONICALLY ONLINE SIXER FANS

I’ll spare you a deep-dive into this Mariana Trench of misery. Suffice it to say this lot think the 76ers were screwed two years ago and “should’ve” beaten the Knicks. They ignore the ignominy of being the only East Coast metropolis whose fans somehow FAIL TO SELL OUT THEIR OWN ARENA for a playoff game. And now Charlie Brown is all fucking full of himself ‘cuz he finally kicked the football, coming from 3-1 to beat Boston. My advice: if you’re still on Twitter (why??), leave. Now. Otherwise, hold your nose and hope from the best. But expect the worst.

Reason #4: CALLIE RIVERS

Once upon a time, the daughter of Doc Rivers (OAKAAKUYOAK), Callie, was dating Paul George. George cheated on her, impregnating a dancer. Admittedly, I’d rather bring up something George did to hurt the Knicks in the postseason to reference here. And George ended up marrying the dancer and making a family, while Callie married Seth Curry. Not quite on the same villain-level of Tristan Thompson. But the Knicks have rarely reached the postseason during George’s career, and he’s spent most of his years in the Western conference, so there wasn’t much opportunity for intersection. Then again, George was the star of the 2013 Pacers. So there’s no shortage of reasons to not like him — professional or personal.

Reason #5: VJ EDGECOMBE*

This isn’t actually a beef with Edgecombe, who’ll be All-Rookie First Team when it’s announced. He’s a fantastic, exciting player, and in interviews he seems cool. No, this is a beef with how/why Edgecombe is a 76er.

A year ago, the Sixers fell apart after being oddly praised by everyone for an offseason centered on giving 34-year-old injury-prone Paul George a max extension. Completely unpredictably, George missed a ton of time with injuries. So did Embiid. And things got ugly.

After Maxey, their leading scorers last year were Kelly Oubre and Guerschon Yabusele. So Philly embraced tanking and fell all the way to the third pick in the draft. This was a year after Dallas gave up trying the last week of the season to keep New York from their lottery pick that year, and a year before Washington traded for two All-Stars they preferred never to play, rather than continue the upswing their youngsters had them on before the trades and risk losing their lottery pick to New York this June.

The Sixers didn’t really tank unethically, the way a third of the league did this year. I’m just sick of the Knicks getting screwed by teams tanking. And don’t let the league fool you: the latest anti-tanking proposal will fail, just as have all attempts. Because you can’t fix injustice with injustice. Wanna abolish tanking once and for all? Abolish the draft!

Ahh, I know; the small-market soothsayers will cry it’s unfair, that somehow in a league with a hard cap they can’t possibly compete with bigger teams who generally hunt and staff big-name stars. Yes, if we abolish the cap, why, the Knicks and Lakers would sign 10 All-NBA players and the top five rookies available. Anarchy, eh? Could be worse. Imagine a league full of Karens.