Apr 29, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson (9) and Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) goes for the rebound in the second half during game five of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
In Wednesday’s Brotherhood Playoff Action, Detroit beat Orlando, 116-109, Cleveland took down Toronto, 125-120, and Houston handled Los Angeles, 99-93.
The story of the night was Paolo Banchero’s 45-point eruption for the Magic. He shot 17-31/6-11 and also grabbed 9 rebounds, and handed out 7 assists. Wendell Carter had 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Brandon Ingram had just 1 point for the Raptors before leaving with an injury. RJ Barrett had 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists, but that was somewhat overshadowed by a shoving match he had with Cleveland’s James Harden.
Luke Kennard did not play well for the Lakers, scoring just 1 point in 31 minutes.
On Thursday, Jalen Johnson and the Hawks, down 3-2, face elimination if the Knicks win. Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics, up 3-2, have a chance to eliminate Philadelphia with a win.
Finally, Tyus Jones and the Denver Nuggets, down 3-2, need a win against Minnesota to get to Game 7.
MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 26: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Tampa Bay Lightning crashes into goaltender Jakub Dobes #75 of the Montréal Canadiens during the second period in Game Four of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on April 26, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montréal Canadiens 3-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With the month of April about to be in the books, we’re nearing the end of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Six of the eight series have been incredibly hard fought with either high levels of quality hockey, entertaining hockey, or burning hatred between the two sides.
The Carolina Hurricanes have been idle for four full days going on five days after completing a sweep of the Ottawa Senators, and while we now know their first round opponent will be the Philadelphia Flyers, we still don’t know much else about who will be in the mix in round two.
Here’s the state of play around the league outside of Carolina’s four-game sweep:
Eastern Conference
Philadelphia Flyers def. Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2
The Flyers became the third team to advance to the second round on Wednesday night with a 1-0 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, meaning they will be Carolina’s opponent in round two.
Philadelphia avoided becoming the fifth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead in the playoffs, as Pittsburgh was just one more goal away from forcing a decisive Game 7 on home ice.
More coming on the Flyers later today, but this sets up an interesting off-season in the Steel City, as Evgeni Malkin is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and while he turned back the clock in the regular season, the tone about extending his career in Pittsburgh has been noncommittal from both sides since training camp.
Kyle Dubas did a good job putting a solid team together this year, but he will have his work cut out for him in his bid to give Sidney Crosby another shut in the playoffs next year.
Buffalo Sabres lead Boston Bruins, 3-2
Speaking of being on the verge of blowing leads, things looked over and done for the Bruins after a humiliating 6-1 loss at home in Game 4 to go down 3-1.
Then, Jeremy Swayman and David Pastrnak did what they usually do in Game 5 in Buffalo, as Swayman bounced back from Game 4 and Pastrnak delivered a silky smooth overtime winner to quiet the Buffalo crowd and send the series back to Beantown for Game 6 Friday night.
For the Sabres, the season they snapped what was by far the longest playoff drought in the NHL should have felt like house money, but this team was too good all year to accept a first-round exit against an inferior opponent.
Now, the pressure is squarely on for a largely inexperienced group to close the door on a savvy but flawed Bruins squad.
Montreal Canadiens lead Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2
There are a few strong contenders, but for me, this has been the best series of the first round. Three of the five games have been decided in overtime, and the other two were one-goal games that came down to the wire.
Tampa Bay seemed to grab momentum when Brandon Hagel’s sixth goal of the series late in the third period of Game 4 gave them a win that tied the series, as of course the Vegas-favored and more experienced Lightning finding their footing and heading back home would give them a major edge, right?
Wrong. The Canadiens went to Florida and stunned the Bolts on Wednesday night, as Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy let in one of the worst game-winners you’ll see all postseason in a 3-2 loss to put his team’s backs against the wall.
For all the talk of Montreal’s top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky being elite, it was the team’s forward depth that won them the game Wednesday as Brendan Gallagher, Kirby Dach, and Alexandre Texier came up with the club’s goals.
The fourth one is the hardest to win, and Tampa Bay won’t go down without a fight, but the Canadiens are a very, very dangerous team.
Western Conference
Colorado Avalanche def. Los Angeles Kings, 4-0
While it may have been a little bit surprising that the Hurricanes swept a Senators team down the stretch, there is absolutely zero surprise that the Avalanche did away with the Kings in four games.
The Presidents’ Trophy winners are the favorites to lift Lord Stanley, and everyone knows it, and Colorado really wasn’t tested here despite delivering a solid all-around performance. Fresh off his first 100-point season, though, former Hurricanes Martin Necas was held without a goal and limited to just two assists. His playoff struggles in Carolina were well-documented, and against tougher teams, the Avs will need him to be a factor in producing offensively.
On the other side, what a phenomenal career for retiring Kings center Anze Kopitar. It was great to see him get his due respect this season and then in the handshake line after Game 4.
Another former Hurricane who has something to do with Martin Necas (can’t quite recall exactly why) and his team are facing elimination here, as Mikko Rantanen and a hobbled Stars team just can not muster a goal at 5-on-5.
Dallas’ power play is keeping them in the series, but Minnesota has brought an all-around game backstopped by the phenomenal play of rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Olympic gold medalist Matthew Boldy has been a revelation for the Wild, as has the top pairing of his fellow gold medalists in Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber.
The Stars had a 2-1 series lead, but an overtime win at home for Minnesota in Game 4 followed by a relatively comfortable 4-2 win on the road in Game 5 have allowed the Wild to flip the script.
This series was always going to be a close one between two teams that deserved better fates than losing in the first round. The Wild have a chance to knock out the Stars on home ice on Thursday for the opportunity to take their shot at the Avalanche.
Vegas Golden Knights lead Utah Mammoth, 3-2
This a series with a clear-cut villain against a squad pretty much everyone wants to see win.
Just like in the last series, a 2-1 lead for one team has been flipped to a 3-2 lead for the other, as the Golden Knights have come up with back-to-back overtime wins to push the Mammoth to the brink.
Neither team is getting much in the way of quality goaltending, as Carter Hart and Karel Vejmelka have both struggled mightily. Vejmelka and Utah failed to hold on to 4-3 third-period leads in both Games 4 and 5, and it looks like that might cost the Mammoth their season.
Game 6 is slated for Friday night at 10:00 PM EST from Salt Lake City, and if you can stomach the lack of sleep, that promises to be one of the best games of the postseason.
Anaheim Ducks lead Edmonton Oilers, 3-2
This series sort of mirrors the one between Boston and Buffalo, but in this instance, instead of being a just-okay Bruins squad, the team looking to come back is the two-time reigning Western Conference champion Oilers.
Led by a valiant effort from Connor McDavid in Game 5, the Oilers cut a 3-1 series deficit to 3-2 behind strong play in net from Connor Ingram after looking like a team with nothing left in the tank through four games.
The Ducks are going to be one of the forces of the next decade or so in this league. Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier are a phenomenal one-two offensive punch, and Jackson LaCombe is the new Jaccob Slavin in that he’s this generation’s outstanding defenseman on a smaller market team that the national media is realizing has been overlooked for a bit.
While Anaheim’s future is promising, they could make their present intriguing too if they can find a way to deliver a knockout blow to the Oilers in Orange County on Thursday night.
Al Simmons anchored a White Sox lineup that exploded for 20 runs on this day, 92 years ago. | (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
1922 White Sox pitcher Charlie Robertson fired a perfect game, beating the Tigers, 2-0, in Detroit. Robertson’s perfect game only took one hour and 55 minutes to complete. The 26-year-old rookie struck out six, in just the fourth start of his career. In the second inning, Earl Sheely drove in both Sox runs with a single.
As proof of Robertson’s mastery on this day, only eight of 14 balls in the air were popups in some form, an indication that Detroit wasn’t seeing the hurler well at all. The Tigers, for their part, accused Robertson of doctoring the ball with grease or oil; unsurprisingly, player-manager Ty Cobb was the most vocal in protest.
Robertson became the third pitcher of the 20th Century to throw a perfect game. It was the first perfect game in 14 seasons — and there wouldn’t be another regular season perfecto for more than 42 years (Jim Bunning, 1964). (Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.)
Robertson never had a winning record in eight seasons in Chicago, compiling a White Sox career of 49-80 and 4.44 ERA. However, he made quite a splash with the club, pitching 527 innings in his first two full seasons with the White Sox, compiling 7.6 WAR.
1929 In the top of the seventh of an 8-4 win at Comiskey Park, the White Sox pulled off a triple play against Cleveland. With runners on second and third, Carl Lind grounded out to shortstop, with White Sox first baseman Bud Clancy turning throwing home nab both runners at home plate.
The victory would draw the South Siders to 6-6 on the season, but the 1929 White Sox would finish at 59-93, the worst club in franchise history to that point.
Interestingly another triple play occurred on this same day, just seven years later, in 1936, under completely different circumstances. Chicago was getting blown out, 16-4, at Fenway Park, when Oscar Melillo lined out to Luke Appling, catching runners at first and second too far off of the bags. The loss dropped the White Sox to 4-8, but the season itself was much sunnier than 1929, as the White Sox finished 81-70-2 — the best record put up by the club since 1920.
1934 Buoyed with four runs in the first and fifth innings and NINE in the fourth, the White Sox walloped Cleveland, 20-10.
Every player in the Chicago lineup had at least two hits except for catcher Marv Shea and third baseman Jimmy Dykes (although Dykes’ mid-game replacement in the blowout, Joe Chamberlain, went 2-for-3!) as the South Siders assaulted Cleveland for 18 hits and 10 for extra bases. The middle of the White Sox order (Zeke Bonura, Al Simmons and Luke Appling) combined to go 7-for-15 with three doubles, two homers, nine runs scored and 10 RBIs.
None of the five Cleveland pitchers gave up fewer than two earned runs in the loss. For the White Sox, Sad Sam Jones earned the win by scattering six hits and three earned over six innings (and added two hits himself); Joe Heving mopped up for the final three innings, earning his second save of the year despite giving up seven earned runs!
The 20 runs remain tied for the fifth-most in White Sox history. Naturally, while Cleveland put another 12 up in the next day’s game on May 1, the White Sox mustered just one.
1951 Minnie Miñoso was acquired by the White Sox as part of a three-team deal involving Kansas City and Cleveland. The seven-player deal resulted in Miñosobecoming the team’s first Black ballplayer (Sam Hairston and Bob Boyd were Black players who were both signed before Miñoso, but Miñoso was the first Black player to appear in a game for the White Sox).
Miñoso used his blinding speed and power to become the American League Rookie of the Year for 1951 (from The Sporting News, but not the baseball writers) by hitting .324 with 10 home runs, 76 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. He’d be named to the All-Star team six times in his career representing the Sox. His No. 9 was retired by the club in 1983.
1962 A day after his 28th birthday, White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio was shown sliding into a base on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The headline read, “The Players With Magic. Luis Aparicio of the White Sox.”
The future Hall-of-Famer would lead the American League in steals for nine consecutive years while playing remarkable defense.
1968 Bill Melton was called up to the majors for the first time, arriving from the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders on May 3. The young slugger’s first stint in the majors was a bust, as he slashed .204/.259/.265 with 19 strikeouts in 17 games/49 at-bats.
Melton was shipped back to the minors on May 22 and split time in Hawaii and Syracuse (on loan to the New York Yankees!). The future home-run champ returned to the big leagues for good with his second 17-game stint during roster expansion in September, when he crushed the ball at a .317/.373/.500 clip, including the first two of his 160 career dingers.
2022 Tim Anderson led off an eventual 4-0 win over the Angels with a home run. With the clout, the last eight leadoff home runs for the White Sox were by Anderson, dating back to Aug. 18, 2000. That became the longest such streak in team history.
The former 2018 third-round (76th overall) pick by Toronto has spent the last three seasons back in his home country of Russia, playing in the KHL, and has been quite productive.
Der-Arguchintsev appeared in only one NHL game since he was drafted in 2018, with the Maple Leafs against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 6, 2022. The playmaking forward then left Toronto in the summer of 2023 as a restricted free agent for a fresh start back home in the KHL.
He definitely got that, and now is looking to return to the team that drafted him.
"Semyon is considering the option of returning to Toronto," his agent, Shumi Babaev,
told R.org in an article posted on Tuesday. "We contacted former general manager Brad Treliving and expressed our desire to return to the club’s system. Now we are waiting for the appointment of a new general manager and to understand his position."
In his three seasons in the KHL, Der-Arguchintsev has scored 101 points (36 goals and 65 assists) in 171 regular season games. The 25-year-old also put up eight goals and 24 points in 36 KHL playoff games.
Der-Arguchintsev most recently made headlines after scoring a highlight-reel shootout-winner for Dynamo Moscow in mid-March.
Babaev adds that his experience back in Russia has helped prepare Der-Arguchintsev for another opportunity to try and crack the Maple Leafs' roster.
"I believe Semyon is ready for the NHL. Of course, he has to be ready for the possibility of playing in the AHL, but there is no point in going there just for that," Babaev said. "We are talking about a one-way contract with a salary closer to the league minimum."
The Maple Leafs may be looking for more depth this summer as the likes of Matias Maccelli, Nick Robertson, Jacob Quillan, and Ryan Tverberg are all pending restricted free agents.
Calle Jarnkrok, Travis Boyd, and Vinni Lettieri are also set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
Der-Arguchintsev's agent adds that there have been no "concrete negotiations" with the player's KHL club, Dynamo, and that the club has yet to contact their side about an extension.
Depending on how things shape out this summer, the Maple Leafs may be able to use Der-Arguchintsev's skill in their bottom six. First, though, Toronto needs to figure out its front office structure.
Once that's concluded, we'll see if they're interested in bringing the former prospect back in.
The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers will meet in Game 6 of their first-round NBA playoff series Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Peacock.
The No. 2-seeded Celtics missed an opportunity to advance at home Tuesday when they fell 113-97 to the seventh-seeded 76ers — the fourth consecutive win by a road team in the series.
Philadelphia is seeking to become the 14th team to win a playoff series after trailing 3-1 (teams holding that edge advance nearly 96% of the time). The 76ers are 0-18 in series when trailing 3-1 (but twice have forced a Game 7), and the Celtics are 32-0 in series with a 3-1 lead (twice being pushed to a Game 7).
This is the record 22nd playoff meeting between Philadelphia and Boston, which holds 15-7 edge. It's been 44 years since the 76ers' last playoff series win over the Celtics.
See below for additional information on the Celtics-76ers game and how to watch the 2026 NBA Playoffs on NBC and Peacock.
Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers game preview:
It's been up and down for the Celtics, who have become the first playoff team in NBA history to win multiple games by at least 30 points and lose multiple games by double digits.
Cold shooting doomed Boston in the fourth quarter of its Game 5 loss. The Celtics led by a point through three quarters before being outscored 28-11 in the fourth, their lowest-scoring quarter of the season. Boston was 3 of 22 from the field, including 1 for 14 on 3-pointers, and missed its final 14 shots.
“It just wasn't good enough from us," said Jaylen Brown, who had 22 points on 9 of 23 shooting. "It wasn't good enough on my behalf. We just got to be better."
The 76ers rode the performance of center Joel Embiid, who scored 33 points in only his second game back from appendectomy surgery. Embiid also had eight assists in his eighth playoff game with at least 30 points against the Celtics (one short of Wilt Chamberlain’s franchise record against any single opponent).
“I want to do anything I can to win a basketball game," Embiid said. "I just want to enjoy this moment. I’ve pushed very hard to come back to try and help as much as I can. I’m just thankful to be in a position where I get to play. I don’t know how long I have that I can do this.
It was tough because I had some complications after the surgery. I don’t want to get into the detail.”
Said teammate Tyrese Maxey, who added 25 points and 10 rebounds: "(Embiid) was dominant, especially in the second half. I was proud of him tonight. He can be (Shaquille O'Neal) or he could be Dirk Nowitzki some days. He’s just a strong individual. He’s skilled, too, so that makes it tough.”
NBC Sports will present up to 23 games in the First Round and 11 games in the Conference Semifinals across either NBC and Peacock, or Peacock and NBCSN. Playoff programming concludes with exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals on NBC and Peacock.
Which playoff rounds will be available on Peacock?
Peacock’s NBA Playoffs coverage spans multiple rounds, including Round 1, the Conference Semifinals, and the Western Conference Finals, with coverage evolving as the postseason progresses.
Will Peacock show both Eastern and Western Conference playoff games?
Yes. During earlier rounds such as Round 1 and the Conference Semifinals, Peacock will carry a mix of Eastern and Western Conference playoff games.
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SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 8: Stephon Castle #5, Julian Champagnie #30 and Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs look on during the game against the Houston Rockets on March 8, 2026 at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photos by Sharon Chi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
In a nutshell, the 2-1-1 theory is a playoff philosophy that suggests the winning team requires specific contribution distribution: the best player (superstar) wins you 2 games, the second-best player wins you 1 games, and a role player wins 1, taking the team to the 4 necessary wins to take the series. It underscores the need for star power paired with critical role performances.
Justin Tinsley hypothesizes that Victor Wembanyama won the Spurs two of the games (Games 1 and 4), Stephon Castle won one (Game 3), and Julian Champagnie shined in the close out at home (Game 5).
Champagnie has been on fire from beyond the arc during the first round of the playoffs.
Julian Champagnie has been shooting lights out in the playoffs, emerging as one of the Spurs’ biggest X-factors. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/oTQKmesqLZ
I can also see how with Fox’s 13-point 4th quarter and 21 total points in Game 5, one consider it his game over Champagnie’s. As Julian said, “It’s [De’Aaron’s] world, we’re kind of living in it.”
Honestly, with so many weapons in their arsenal, the Spurs could have multiple version of the 2-1-1.
The question with swapping Fox for Champagnie is whether Fox is the second best player on the Spurs, or is Castle?
I guess it depends on the night.
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Lakers forward LeBron James looks for room to maneuver while guarded by Rockets guard Josh Okogie and center Alperen Sengun. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Not even particularly good, not by his lofty standards.
And the Lakers need their not-quite-ageless wonder to be at least great to beat these Houston Rockets one more time. They need James’ best can-you-believe-he’s-41? act if they hope to close out this challenging best-of-seven first-round series without Luka Doncic.
The Lakers went up 3-0 largely thanks to James’ contributions.
After weeks of willingly playing third-wheel behind Doncic and Austin Reaves, James made it look like playing the alpha was like riding a bike in Game 1’s 107-98 victory: He got right on it and gave the Lakers 19 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.
Then James had 28 points in the 101-94 victory in Game 2. And there was his monster effort in Game 3, when he had 29 points and 13 assists and, in overtime, a key steal and block in the Lakers’ 112-108 victory.
But James has been much more mortal in the two games since, and the Lakers have lost both.
With a chance to finish off the Rockets in Game 4 on Sunday at the Toyota Center, James had almost as many turnovers as points: eight and 10, respectively.
With a second chance to finish off the Rockets in Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, despite a second day of rest, James had a jagged performance that looked like a lot of work in the Lakers’ 99-93 loss.
He had a game-high 25 points on nine-of-20 shooting, but he missed all six of his three-point attempts. He smoked layups. And missed three of his 10 free-throws, short on those attempts like he was on many of his misses Wednesday.
And while he had only two turnovers, they were the type to turn a tide, the type we’re not accustomed to witnessing from James. That type the Lakers can’t afford for him to make.
If he were a quarterback, he could have been called for intentional grounding, he overthrew Rui Hachimura by so much in the second quarter, when the Lakers were trying — and failing — to hang onto their early lead.
And then James got rhe ball ripped away from him by Reed Sheppard, the Rockets’ 21-year-old, allegedly 6-foot-2 guard, who raced up the court for a fast break dunk with 2:22 to play. That made it 92-85 and effectively doused the Lakers’ comeback.
“Just bang-bang plays,” James said at his locker, with a shrug. “Try to flush this one … we got to be better on Friday.”
The Lakers will have just two more shots at winning a series they weren’t supposed to before it started.
Their third attempt at closing out the Rockets comes quickly, when they play Game 6 on Friday at Houston. The Lakers will need something resembling the best version of James if they’re going to win and avoid the spectacle of a Game 7 showdown Sunday.
That would bring the Lakers to the brink of becoming the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 series lead. It would be an unavoidable blotch at the bottom of James’ 23-season resume that otherwise is highlighted by a 3-1 comeback against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
But James and the Lakers aren’t thinking about that now — or about whatever chatter is coming out of the Rockets’ now-confident camp (on Tuesday, Jabari Smith Jr. told reporters “We’re obviously the better team.”)
“Ask one of them young guys that question,” James said, unmoved. “I’m too old for that.”
But not too old — the Lakers hope — to carry them to one more victory and save them from infamy.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 29: The Philadelphia Phillies grounds crew pulls the tarp over the field after the game against the San Francisco Giants has been postponed at Citizens Bank Park on April 29, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I hope you’re in the mood for some Phillies baseball, as there will be two games played today thanks to the rainout last night. It will be a split doubleheader, with game one beginning at 12:35 and game two beginning at 5:35. If you were one of the lucky ones with tickets for last night’s game, they will still be valid for the second game today.
Randal Grichuk, right-handed platoon outfielder, was designated for assignment by the Yankees to make room for top pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez to make his major league debut.
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 29: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves hits a walk-off home run during the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Truist Park on April 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Atlanta Braves appear to be back in that mode that we were used to seeing from a lot of these players during their run to the World Series in 2021 and their extremely successful regular seasons in 2022 and 2023. This is a squad that’s going to be incredibly competitive for all 27 outs of any given game and indeed, the Tigers and their struggling bullpen (Kenley Jansen in particular) got another example of it after the Braves won in walk-off fashion to pick up the series win on Wednesday night.
The walk-off blow came from Matt Olson, who has been swinging the bat as well as anybody in baseball at the moment. Going into Wednesday night’s action, Olson was tied with Bobby Witt Jr., Ben Rice and Nico Hoerner for fourth place in fWAR among all qualified players and tied for first in that same department among first basemen with Rice. Olson was also sitting in the top five in wRC+ among qualified hitters with 169 so far and that number is now at 175 after he clubbed the walk-off dinger that propelled the Braves to a come-from-behind victory.
It was also Olson’s first walk-off home run as a member of the Braves — which is kind of wild to think about considering that he’s been here since 2022. This was the first time he’d done it since July 24, 2020 which means that this was actually his first time doing it in front of fans since all the way back in 2019, which is when he went deep off of then-Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader in order to send all the Oakland A’s fans home that night. This time, Olson got to do it in front of his hometown crowd for his hometown team.
Simply put, the Braves are playing with a ton of confidence right now and it’s showing based on the overwhelming positive results that they’ve been getting so far. I asked Olson in the post-game press conference where his confidence level was at at the moment and it’s clear that the level was very high at the moment.
“Obviously success is going to breed confidence — personally and as a team,” responded Olson. “It’s nicer when you’re playing winning baseball and you don’t feel like you have to be the guy every single night. That takes stuff off your plate and it actually helps everybody in the lineup. If we keep winning ballgames, hopefully we can keep snowballing this confidence until the end of the year.”
Olson was also asked by the media about how it feels to be winning all of these games in every type of fashion — but especially the dramatic fashion like this as well. Olson’s response seemed to indicate that the confidence is coming from multiple angles at this point and it really feels like they’re on a serious roll at the moment.
“Yeah it starts to feel like [we can find a way to win any game], the more wins you put together that way,” stated Olson. “I said the other day that we’ve had innings where we’ve put up five, six and seven-spots. It makes you feel like you’re in every ballgame when you feel like you can do that.”
Kenley Jansen suffered his third blown save of the season already and his second blown save in a row after the Reds walked him off back on April 24. While there may have been a bit of familiarity there for Olson since he and Jansen were teammates back in 2022, he did tell the media that it was still pretty tough to deal with the cutter.
“His cutter is his best pitch. I saw Ozzie swing over the top of a couple of them so I was wondering if it wasn’t getting that carry today,” noted Olson. “Especially when [Ozzie] was on first, I was trying to keep the double play out of order and set my sights a little higher than I typically would. He kind of just left it over the middle.”
He left it over the middle and Olson got just enough of it to send it into the bullpen and send Truist Park into a state of delirium. Manager Walt Weiss was asked about how he felt about the whole situation and whether or not this version of Olson is the best he’d ever seen him. While Weiss was hesitant to go that far, he still had a ton of praise for his star first baseman.
“I want to be careful about saying that this is as good as I’ve seen him because ‘23 was ridiculous but he’s swinging the bat really well,” stated Weiss. “He’s hitting balls into the left-center gap, he’s hitting homers, he’s just a really good hitter and man, that was a big at-bat there against Kenley Jansen. I felt like a few of the swings he had in that at-bat earlier, I felt like he was timed-up with Kenley there. He’s one of the greatest closers of our generation and he put together a heck of an at-bat.”
“He’s got long levers and it’s got some big moves in his swing. I’m sure it takes some maitenance to keep the timing element right but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. He’s one of the better players in the game, really, when you start looking at the whole package. What he does on defense…Matt Olson’s a superstar.”
At the moment, Matt Olson sure is playing like a superstar. On a Braves team that isn’t lacking for star power, Olson’s certainly been delivering the power as a star player for this team. While the Braves are getting contributions from all caliber of players, it’s been important for guys like Olson, Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies (who homered off of Tarik Skubal to initially put the Braves ahead on Wednesday night) to get the job done. It’s even better when you consider how Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley are still struggling to really find their footing at the moment.
As long as Matt Olson and the rest of the core (and the whole squad, really) can pick up the slack and pull their fair share of the weight then there’s every reason to believe that the winning can continue on for a good long while. Matt Olson’s first walk-off homer for the Braves was a special one and hopefully it won’t be the last one, either!
The Detroit Tigers fell under the .500 mark on Wednesday night after a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. It was the team’s second-straight defeat and fourth in the past five games.
After failing to capitalize on a Tarik Skubal start, the Motor City Kitties turn to left-hander Framber Valdez to prevent a road sweep that would end the interleague swing with a disappointing 3-6 mark. To be fair, the Braves are the best team in the big leagues right now, holding a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the overall standings heading into Thursday.
As for Valdez, the Tigers have won four of his six starts this season, though he has thrown just seven innings once. With the exception of one glaring outlier, he has done a great job keeping the opposition off the scoreboard, but unfortunately, that was not the case last time he faced Atlanta.
He previously pitched in Truist Park on behalf of the Houston Astros last year on Sept. 14 and gave up five runs on six hits (one home run) and four walks while striking out two over four frames for the loss.
Opposite Valdez is right-hander Bryce Elder, who is in his fifth major league season — all coming with the Braves — after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB draft. He saw the Tigers in his penultimate appearance last season on Sept. 19, throwing seven innings of one-run ball on five hits (including a solo home run) and one walk while striking out seven in the win.
Hopefully, past performance does not predict future results. Here is how the two hurlers match up for Thursday’s early afternoon matchup starting at 12:15 p.m. ET.
Detroit Tigers (15-16) vs. Atlanta Braves (22-9)
Time (ET): 12:15 p.m. Place: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia SB Nation Site:Battery Power Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 32: LHP Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.41 ERA) vs. RHP Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.95 ERA)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 22: A general view as the rain tarp covers the field prior to the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 22, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello, friends.
It’s a two for the price of one kind of day for the Orioles today. When I was a younger person, these events were not to be missed. If your life leaves you free to get to Camden Yards today, I heartily recommend going. You can probably get a cheap ticket on the secondary market and you can hang out and watch five or six hours of Orioles baseball. Sure, they might suck. A certain horrendous blowout was the first game of a doubleheader. Anything might happen. That’s part of what makes it interesting.
Even on a day where they were rained out, the Orioles managed to introduce some chaos into the roster picture. On Wednesday night, the team announced that Trevor Rogers has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 26 – the day after his most recent start. Rogers’s injury was listed as “illness.” I will tell you as someone who’s been writing for this website a long time that “illness” doesn’t come along too often as an IL explanation, at least not that we’re several years beyond the peak pandemic time. Hopefully Rogers is back to good health soon.
As an immediate replacement for Rogers on the roster, the team has recalled reliever Cameron Foster. This sets up a likely second roster move to bring up a starting pitcher for tomorrow, the day that the Orioles would have had Rogers pitch otherwise. No one seems to fit for that on the roster right now. Cade Povich, who last pitched on Sunday, seems like a decent candidate there. He has been back down with Norfolk for long enough to be recalled without needing any “replace an injured player” finagling.
Today’s doubleheader probably means one more pitcher gets added to the roster for today only. A doubleheader day allows for a 27th man to be added to the roster. This can be a player who was recently optioned to the minors and otherwise within the 10 day limit. Jose Espada, you might be getting one more day of big league pay today.
A little farther down the road, one further side effect of today’s doubleheader is that the team will need a starting pitching solution for Sunday as well. With both Chris Bassitt and Brandon Young pitching today, neither one of them will be on regular rest when Monday rolls around. That’s a problem to be solved on Monday, assuming they can get through the weekend without anyone getting hurt. Perhaps recently DFA’d, released, and re-signed pitcher Albert Suárez will come back from his new minor league contract for a spot start. And then maybe even designated for assignment again.
The single admission doubleheader is set to get under way at 12:35 this afternoon, with the second game following roughly 30 minutes after the completion of the first game.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
The only thing consistent about the Orioles is their inconsistency. They’re not sure why. (The Baltimore Banner) Going back to last year and continuing in a somewhat different way through the first part of this season, the Orioles just can’t put everything together for long stretches of good play even though it seems like a lot of the pieces should be there.
Orioles prove that sometimes baseball is a confidence game (Baltimore Baseball) Peter Schmuck thinks the Orioles bounced back nicely from a disappointing weekend. But, added to the above, can they stay bounced back for another few games in a row?
For Pete Alonso, is the “want to” getting in the way? (Steve Melewski) I’m really going to be glad when Alonso has raised his OPS by more than 100 points and we don’t have to get stories like this one any longer.
Through 29 games a year ago, the Orioles were 11-18. They lost the 29th game to the Yankees by a 15-3 score, falling to 11-18. Kyle Gibson was blasted for nine runs in 3.2 innings and they never had a chance. The Orioles won the next two games, though, so they’d have to sweep the doubleheader here today to remain the same distance ahead after 31 games.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021-22 pitcher Zac Lowther, 2019 catcher Jesús Sucre, and 1997-99 infielder Jeff Reboulet. Today is Reboulet’s 62nd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777), Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith (1945), actress Kirsten Dunst (1982), and actress Ana de Armas (1988).
On this day in history…
In 1492, Spain commissioned Christopher Columbus, naming him as admiral of the open sea, as well as viceroy and governor of any territory that he discovered on his exploration.
In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States. As the capital was in New York City at the time, this oath was administered at Federal Hall on Wall Street.
In 1803, the United States completed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. Exactly nine years later, a part of that territory dubbed the Orleans Territory was admitted as a state called Louisiana, the 18th state of the union.
In 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon was captured by North Vietnamese forces. The Vietnam War came to an end with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!
The Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning were back at it for Game 5 on Wednesday night. For the first time in this series, Martin St-Louis decided to bring a new player into his lineup: the 33-year-old battle-tested veteran, Brendan Gallagher. Ahead of the game, the Habs released a lineup that they didn’t really plan on using, which was St-Louis keeping his cards close to his chest, but he put his cards on the table at the opening draw, sending Juraj Slafkovsky out with Jake Evans and Ivan Demidov.
While the Buffalo Sabres’ crowd charmed Canada by singing its national anthem on Tuesday night, for a third game in a row, the singer chosen by Tampa wasn’t exactly up to the task. Not that that’s what people are there to see, but it does make you wonder.
Gallagher had been waiting for his opportunity since the start of the series, and he wasn’t going to miss it. With just three minutes gone in the game, he went hard to the net and picked up the scraps of a great individual effort by Alex Newhook to give the Canadiens an early 1-0 lead. In the first frame, he only spent 2:24 on the ice, but every time he was there, he was visible and managed to land two hits.
Then, in the second frame, he only added two minutes and 15 seconds to his tally, and he added another hit and late in the period, came in at full speed to pick Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pocket and feed Phillip Danault in front of the net, but he couldn’t put it in.
The veteran played a total of 6:48 across 10 shifts on the night, and all were solid, disciplined minutes. He didn’t extend any of his shifts, and it was a winning formula.
So Gallagher sits 4 games in the regular season, scores against Philly. Sits 4 games in the playoffs, scores against the Bolts...interesting. #GoHabsGo
Jakub Dobes has been playing aggressively all series long, and, in most games, it has served him very well. Early in Game 5, the Canadiens had a four-minute power play, and the netminder was their best player on that sequence. When the puck came deep into the Canadiens zone, he came out and stickhandled patiently with it, keeping it away from none other than Brandon Hagel before calmly passing it. A few seconds later, he found himself in possession of the puck and launched a rocket of a transition pass.
He’s also very aware of what’s going on around his net and made a good poke check as the Bolts were trying to catch him with a wraparound, without tripping the player. While what you’re mainly looking for from a goalie is making the saves behind the posts, it’s little plays like that that can give you the upper hand on a play that can turn out to be very important.
Still, in the dying seconds, it was his ability to make the important saves that allowed the Canadiens to fly back home with a 3-2 win and a 3-2 series lead. The masked man finished the game with 38 saves on 40 shots for a .950 save percentage. You can’t ask for much more from a goaltender.
Bouncing Back
The Canadiens could have been deflated when Dominic James scored on a two-on-one seconds after the referees missed a couple of penalty calls, but they weren’t. Just 11 seconds later, Kirby Dach gave the Habs their one-goal lead back, allowing them to move right along and let go of the frustration.
The big Albertan who had a great bounce-back game in Game 3 was much less visible in Game 4, but in Tampa, he certainly made his presence felt at the right time.
After sticking to his guns about his first time for the first four games, the Canadiens’ coach finally decided it was time to mix things up. He brought the energetic and forechecking machine, Josh Anderson, to the first line and put Slafkovsky with Demidov and Evans on the second line, creating a new challenge for Jon Cooper. Furthermore, instead of trying to give his guys rhythm by sticking to his combinations, he made on-the-fly adjustments a la Cooper.
When the Lightning had tired players on the ice, he sent out his usual first line, and the Bolts were struggling to keep up with them and cut their space. While they didn’t score, they produced good pressure, which carried over to the next line. Unfortunately, the sequence ended with a bad decision by Mike Matheson, who missed the net with a high shot. The puck bounced off the glass and sent Tampa off on a two-on-one, on which they tied up the game.
Once the Canadiens had regained the lead through Alexandre Texier early in the third, St-Louis also started deploying Danault alongside Suzuki, making his line more defensively responsible.
The two teams will meet again at 7:00 PM on Friday night, at the Bell Centre, and chances are, we’ll be in for yet another tight battle.
The Pittsburgh Penguins' Big Three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang has been a huge part of the team's success with three Stanley Cup championships and nearly 4,000 games together.
But Malkin's contract is up and he can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Could this be the end of the Big Three?
Malkin has indicated a desire to return and general manager Kyle Dubas put off the decision until the offseason, which has arrived for the Penguins after their 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6.
He certainly can still play. He had 61 points in 56 games during the regular season, but he did miss 26 games with injury and a five-game suspension. A one-year deal would be a good compromise for the soon-to-be 40-year-old.
Crosby has one year left on his contract at $8.7 million, meaning he can sign an extension as early as July 1. Letang has two more years at $6.1 million. Though Letang's play appears to have slipped a bit, he did score the winning goals in Games 4 and 5.
The Penguins have more decisions to make than just on Malkin.
Anthony Mantha is also an unrestricted free agent. He scored 33 goals in the regular season on a one-year, $2.5 million contract but had only one point in six games in the playoffs.
Connor Dewar, Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton and Ryan Shea are also pending UFAs.
So is goalie Stuart Skinner, who arrived this season in a trade. But the Penguins have to re-sign Arturs Silovs, who replaced Skinner (three losses) and won two playoff games and pushed Game 6 to overtime.
The Penguins also have goalie prospect Sergei Murashov, 22, in the American Hockey League. Could they let Skinner walk to give Murashov a chance for promotion?
Lakers guard Luka Doncic, right, watches from the bench with guard Austin Reaves,second from right with head bowed. during the fourth quarter of Gsme 5 on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
There have been 159 times an NBA team has led a series three games to none.
There have been 159 times that team has won the series.
Marvel in that statistic. Appreciate its power. Wax in its endurance. Embrace its existence.
Because the Lakers are two losses from blowing it to bits.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves tries to control the ball under pressure from Rockets guard Amen Thompson during Game 5 of their NBA playoff series Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
This is not really happening, is it? The Lakers aren’t really on the verge of messing up a three-games-to-none lead to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, are they?
It’s happening. With a glare and a snarl and youthful athleticism, the wrong side of history beckons.
Like Reed Sheppard wrestling the ball out of LeBron James’ hands in the final minutes, the Rockets are in the process of stealing this.
Like three-point misses from James and Austin Reaves in the final minute, the Lakers are on the verge of bricking this.
With a 99-93 loss in Game 5 of the first round at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, the Lakers have seen a historically insurmountable lead shrink to three-games-to-two while turning some recent words from the Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr. into temporary reality.
““We’re obviously the better team,” Smith Jr. told reporters earlier this week. “I just feel like from top to bottom…we’re the better team.”
Even without injured star Kevin Durant, who hasn’t played in either of their two wins?
Even with — and this really hurts — the Wednesday return of Reaves?
Right now, the answer is a resounding yes.
To which James, when told of Smith’s statements, just shook his head.
“I don’t care about …that, bro,” he told reporters after the loss. “The game is won in between the four lines. I don’t give a damn. Who cares? Of course you say it. What would you say, ‘Oh, we’re not the better team.’ I don’t….Ask one of them young guys that question. I’m too old for that.”
The answers were a bit more concise from JJ Redick. The Lakers coach who was so inspirational at the beginning of this series has been reduced to spouting simple math.
“It’s the first team to win four games in a series,” he said. “We happened to win the first three. They happened to win the last two. We have to be better.”
James has to be better. After carrying the team for the first three games, he looks exhausted, and it is the Lakers who are now carrying him. Although he scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and 25 overall, he missed all three of his fourth-quarter trey attempts and lost the ball to Sheppard in the key turnover of the game.
LeBron James loses the ball to Rockets guard Reed Sheppard late in Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A layup from James had cut a once-13-point margin to three, then Sheppard sank a runner before stealing the ball from James and proceeding to go solo on a fast-break dunk to give the Rockets an edge they never lost.
“Obviously, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” James said. “I think we made some mistakes tonight. Too many unforced mistakes.”
Marcus Smart, another early-series hero, has to be better. He made twice as many turnovers (6) as baskets (3) and, like James, the 12-year veteran looked worn down from the effort exerted last week.
Luke Kennard, the surprise playoff star, has to be better. Heck, he has to just show up. He was invisible for a second consecutive game Wednesday with exactly one point on exactly four shots.
Then there Reaves, who took the floor in the first quarter to a huge ovation after missing nearly a month with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. It’s hard to fault him amid the obvious rust, but he did miss 12 of his 16 shots and six of his eight three-point attempts, including two big bricks late.
“I thought he was aggressive..did a good job of driving..he’ll find his rhythm,” said Redick of Reaves.
Austin Reaves vies for the rebound against Rockets guard Amen Thompson and forward Tari Eason in the first quarter of Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As usual, Reaves shouldered more than his share of the blame.
“I missed a lot of easy looks,” he said, later adding. “You know, I wish I could, you know, get a little bit more of a rhythm before jumping into the fire like that.”
The uneven Lakers’ night was epitomized by those two plays from Sheppard that put the kibosh on the momentum from an 11-1 Lakers run and set up the Rockets for a fairly smooth landing. You know, unlike the earlier game when they blew a six-point lead in the last 30 seconds.
Think about that. The Lakers are lucky they’re not on the verge of losing this series. And after another turnover fest — 15 errors, 18 Rockets points — they’re lucky they haven’t blown this series already.
You know the part where the schedule makers say the game is, “If Necessary?” What’s necessary is for the Lakers to win Friday. They want no part of Sunday, even at home. Too many weird things can happen. Enough weird things have happened already.
“Once we get on that plane and head down to Houston we’ve got to forget about it and understand what we are going for and it’s going to be even harder,” James said. “Every game is hard. It’s so hard to close out a team in the postseason, to win a series and this is our first time doing it as a unit. So, we’ll see what we got.”
LeBron James looked exhausted near the end of Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What they had was enough early, the Lakers riding the spark from Reaves to grab as much as an 11-point lead in the first quarter.
But the excitement quickly wore off, as the Rockets began the second quarter taking advantage of Laker turnovers, rolling to a 9-0 run and taking the lead midway through the quarter. The quarter was best illustrated in the final minutes when two Rockets swiped the ball from Reaves and Amen Thompson wound up standing alone under the basket for a layup that eventually led to a 51-47 halftime edge.
The Rockets kept up the surge in the third quarter, outscoring the Lakers by five while continually applying the pressure that resulted in the necessity of a big Laker fourth-quarter comeback. Which they didn’t have in them.
Trailing by four in the final 20 seconds, James rushed up a three-point attempt that clanked, and that was that.
“Try to flush this one,” said James.
Push hard on that handle. Very hard. Historically hard.
Apr 29, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dennis Schroder (8) celebrates his three-point basket against the Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter of game five of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images
CLEVELAND – Dennis Schroder spent a few minutes at halftime listing out all of the things the Cleveland Cavaliers should be doing better in Game 5 against the Toronto Raptors. On the top of that list, was getting back to playing their way.
“I felt like I had to say something to the group,” Schroder said afterward. “So we can rise and play Cavs basketball.”
The Cavs played their brand of basketball in the second half. After being down 12 near the start of the third quarter, Cleveland rallied for a 125-120 victory in Game 5. They now own a 3-2 lead in the series and have a chance of ending things back in Toronto on Friday.
Being able to control the paint made the difference.
After being mostly an outside shooting team in the first half, the Cavs made a concerted effort to get inside in the second. They attacked the basket in a way they haven’t this series, going 14-25 (56%) on shots in the paint. Conversely, they held Toronto to just 9-26 (34.6%) in the paint over the final two quarters.
Schroder led that charge. His speed and willingness to attack the basket changed how the game was played.
The Raptors have kept Donovan Mitchell and James Harden in check by being physical off the ball and preventing easy catches. And once they do get the ball, they’ve put as many bodies as possible in the lane, making it difficult to get to the basket.
That strategy has worked for the Raptors, but it does create opportunities for someone else to beat them off-the-dribble. This is where Schroder took advantage.
These two plays show how.
First, Schroder fakes a dribble-hand-off with Harden to freeze Jakob Poeltl. Poeltl hesitates, expecting Harden to get the ball. That pause is all Schroder needed. He has the speed to get past his man, and the help defense was far too late to recover.
Schroder has always played his best basketball when he’s been empowered as a ball handler, as seen in his numerous successful international tournaments with Germany.
This has carried over to his time in Cleveland. He was exceptional for the Cavs before they made the Harden trade, and was solely responsible for running the second unit. Similarly, he performed well when they were without Mitchell for a few games at the end of February. In both stretches, the team allowed and needed Schroder to create offense for them.
It’s been more difficult for Schroder to fit in when both Mitchell and Harden have been healthy. One of the starters is on the court at all times, and typically, you want them to have the ball in their hands. This has made it tricky for Schroder to stay involved as he does his best work on-ball.
That trust was placed back in Schroder during Game 5. Mitchell chose to stay on the bench midway through the fourth quarter instead of coming back in like he usually would to give Schroder more time on the court.
Mitchell told head coach Kenny Atkinson no when asked if he wanted to return to the game. “Why? This is working,” Mitchell said. “You ride the hot hand.”
The Cavs certainly did.
Schroder accounted for 17 points in the fourth quarter, with the 11 he scored and the two triples he assisted. That’s the same number the Raptors as a team had in the final frame. That was much needed on a night Harden and Mitchell combined for just one fourth-quarter point.
For the third game in a row, Mitchell didn’t have the hot hand. He struggled to get inside as a scorer and wasn’t able to finish when he did. Mitchell went just 4-10 in the paint and had 19 points on 7-17 shooting.
Typically, the Cavs have lost when Mitchell doesn’t produce as a scorer. During the regular season, they were 7-11 when he played and scored 21 or fewer. That trend continued in the playoffs as he was held under 21 points in both losses this series.
Unlike Game 4, Mitchell didn’t force the issue. He let the game come to him more than he typically has during the playoffs, saying that sometimes the best offense is standing away from the ball and creating room for others with how Toronto is guarding him.
“I’ve done this at a high level in the playoffs, I’ve scored a lot of points,” Mitchell said. “I could score zero, and if we win the game, we advance. Excuse my language, I don’t give a damn.”
While this is the right attitude and possibly not one Mitchell has had throughout his entire career, the simple truth is that the Cavs will need him to score more at some point in the playoffs. This team is built around him carrying the scoring load. He hasn’t been able to do that in the last few games against Toronto.
Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can buy the Donovan Mitchell and James Harden NBA Jam shirt HERE. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE.
Inserting Max Strus into the starting lineup for Dean Wade didn’t work. The Cavs lost the 10 minutes Strus played with the core four by 11. This has been a trend throughout the series as the Cavs have now lost the minutes with that lineup by 24 points in 23 minutes.
Atkinson said before the game that it’s difficult to put too much stock in lineup data from a sample size this small. He also mentioned that the idea to go with Strus wasn’t because of anything Wade did, but more so to give the starters a boost with additional playmaking and shooting.
Usually, you don’t change a starting lineup after a playoff win, but this might be the exception. The Cavs have opened better with Wade than they have with Strus thus far.
Atkinson also decided to keep Keon Ellis on the bench. That move makes sense given Toronto’s size on the wing and the fact that the Cavs already have too many shooting guards to give minutes to.
Losing Brandon Ingram really hurt the Raptors. He left the game in the first half with a heel injury. We don’t know if he’ll be available for Game 6, but we do know the Raptors offense struggled mightily without him.
After scoring 74 points in the first half, the Raptors registered just 46 in the second. This included putting up 17 in the fourth quarter on 7-28 shooting (25%).
Even though Ingram hasn’t found his shot in this series, he’s helped Toronto’s offense with the attention he’s drawn. The Cavs have consistently sent two to the ball or have used their best wing defender in Wade to stop him. Both of these things help his teammates, as does the shot-creation he provides.
There’s a cascading effect with injuries. Losing starting point guard Immanuel Quickley shifted some of the playmaking responsibilities. Part of that fell to Ingram.
Now, the Raptors will need to pick up the facilitating burden that transferred to Ingram while also trying to replace their leading scorer throughout the regular season. In Game 5, that put even more of a burden on Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett.
Both Barnes and Barrett had a difficult time in the second half after being lights out in the first two quarters. Barnes went from putting up 14 points on 6-10 shooting with eight assists in the first half, to having just six points on 0-6 shooting in the second. Meanwhile, Barrett went from scoring 13 points on 5-8 shooting to having just 12 points on 4-11 shooting in the second half.
This shouldn’t be surprising. The defense was able to key in on Barnes and Barrett much more easily.
We’ll see whether or not Ingram can go in Game 6, but if he can’t, the Raptors will have a difficult time generating consistent offense.
There’s a common theme in the Cavs wins and losses — the outcome has coincided with how well Mobley has played.
The Cavs turned momentum around at the end of the third quarter when Mobley went on a 5-0 run in the closing seconds to make it a three-point deficit heading into the fourth. A three at the start of the fourth then gave the Cavs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Mobley’s offense was at the center of their second-half comeback. He contributed 16 of his 23 points in the final two quarters. Nine of those were from three-balls that he confidently knocked down despite being hesitant to take outside shots throughout the series.
The Cavs passed the test in Game 5. They weathered an up-and-down first half to take a commanding 3-2 lead in the series. It was the response that Atkinson was looking for from his group.
“We’re trying to get over the hump, we’re trying to get to the next level,” Atkinson said. “That’s a real mental challenge to me, especially in a Game 5, 2-2. These are high-pressure elements. You’re down. You feel the crowd getting nervous. So I think we took a step tonight.”
This game wasn’t pretty. But there’s no style points in the playoffs. The final result is all that matters. This time, the Cavs found a way to do that. And given this group’s track record in the playoffs, that isn’t something to knock them for.
At the same time, it’s fair to acknowledge that they still aren’t playing up to their incredible talent level. This is a highly skilled team that fits together well on paper and has at times throughout the regular season. Whether or not they can figure out how to get that to come through consistently in the playoffs will determine how long this run lasts.
At the very least, this was a step forward from where things were after Game 4.
“We didn’t sit here and think we’re coming out 4-0,” Mitchell said. “We weren’t going 16-0. This is a test. The same test we’ve been talking about all season, and we responded tonight.”
