Starting 5, May 5: Ant-Man’s mile high playoff-high + Game 7 in the ‘Land
From Ant going coast to coast to seal Game 1 in Denver, to a GAME 7 in Cleveland today … ball don’t stop.
THE LINEUP
What’s inside today’s edition?
Ant, Wolves Take Game 1: Edwards drops Playoff career-high as Minnesota beat champs on the road
Edwards’ Climb Continues: In control all game, Ant-Man takes over late (again)
Game 7 TODAY: Matinee win-or-go-home game for Magic & Cavs. Winner gets Boston.
What’s On The Way? Key dates, stories & more to know as Conference Semifinals tip off
Photos Of The 1st Round: A few of our favorites to say goodbye to the first 8 series
BUT FIRST … ⏰
Last night’s scores & what to watch today.
Cavs-Magic Game 7 tips off in Cleveland at 1 ET on ABC, as the Cavs look to keep home teams perfect in the series, and the Magic look to break the trend. Winner moves on to face Boston.
The WNBA’s No. 2 and No. 4 Draft picks made their debuts in the WNBA Canada Game, as Cameron Brink & Rickea Jackson helped LA take down Seattle.
1. EDWARDS, WOLVES BEAT NUGGETS ON ROAD, TAKE 1-0 LEAD
A year after losing in 5 games to the Nuggets in the first round, Anthony Edwards dropped a playoff career-high 43 points, and the Timberwolves beat the defending champs in a home-court-stealing, statement-making 106-99 Game 1 win. | Recap | Best Of Ant
- Edwards kept his supernova postseason going, setting the tone with 25 points in the first half, then 12 in the 4th to seal the win
- 1st Since Kobe: Ant joins Kobe Bryant as the only players 22 or younger to drop 40+ pts in 2 straight playoff games
- ️ Edwards: “It’s tough here, man. The altitude, their team, their crowd. It’s tough here. … I’m proud of my teammates. They came out and fought super-hard.”
- Nikola Jokic led Denver with 32 pts, but a stifling Minnesota defense limited him to 44% from the floor – his lowest FG% since Mar. 17
So much has changed since the Nuggets beat the Timberwolves last year. In the Wolves’ win last night in Denver, so much of it was on display.
- Locking It Up: Anchored by Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns (who played 27 reg season games together last year), Minny’s length & tenacity altered Denver’s flow all day – and held the Nuggets to their fewest rebounds (34) of the Playoffs
- Coming Through Late: Nobody had won in the Mile High City since Mar. 29, when the Wolves did. And after losing 3 single-digit games in last year’s series (2x in Denver), Minnesota won Saturday’s 4th quarter, 33-28
- Naz & Jaden: After missing last year’s Playoffs, Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid put up 14 points in the 4th, while Jaden McDaniels (who missed the 2023 series, too) disrupted the Nuggets all night, posting a +14
Wolves Early, Wolves Late: Coming off a regular season that saw these two teams leapfrog each other continuously – they were within 2 games for 154 of the season’s 174 days – Game 1 saw them trade big swings.
- Wasting No Time: The Wolves jumped out early, going up 14 in the 1st, before Denver rallied back
- 1st Lead At Half: Denver, who trailed the Lakers at halftime in every game of the First Round, cut the deficit with KAT in foul trouble and took a lead into the break
- Wolves Rally: Towns & Mike Conley roared back, combining for 22 in the 3rd. Along with Reid, the trio combined for 41 second-half points on 17-for-19 shooting (6-for-6 from deep)
- Clutch Meets Clutch: Jokic and Murray both went for 10 in the 4th, but Reid’s 14, Ant’s 12, an 18-7 run and Minnesota’s 68.4% 4th quarter shooting clip handed Denver just its second home Playoff loss in 2 years
20 Years Later: The Wolves’ win marked their first in the Conference Semis since 2004.
- ️ Said Edwards: “The whole team, we trust each other. It doesn’t matter down the stretch who takes the shot.”
- ️ Said TNT’s Kenny Smith: “These guys sped the Joker up for the first time I’ve ever seen in the game of basketball.”
- ️ Said Jokic: “We need to do a better job of making them make tough shots, maybe make the extra pass.”
- ️ Said MIN coach Micah Nori, who took the sidelines while head coach Chris Finch sat behind the bench as he recovered from knee surgery: “All the plays we scored on were my calls and the ones that we didn’t were his. (Finch) was great. He was like, ‘We don’t want to make it clunky,’ is the term he used. We did a good job of that.”
Game 2 tips Monday in Denver (10 ET, TNT).
2. A MILE IN THE SKY, ANT’S CLIMB CONTINUES
“Going against the best player in the world is always fun … going against the best team in the world is always fun.” – Anthony Edwards
With 34 seconds remaining, 21,000 fans screaming inside one of the toughest venues in the NBA and the hosts rallying, Ant Edwards took the inbounds 85+ feet from the hoop, saw a seam and beat everybody down the floor.
The bucket put the Wolves up 7 with 28 seconds left, stopped Denver’s comeback cold and wrote another signature moment into the story of Edwards’ rise.
On a night that brought Ant his 3rd 40-point Playoff game, the most in Wolves history, he controlled the game from start to finish, taking over late against a dominant clutch team.
- ️ Reid: “When (Edwards) draws three people, he makes the right play all the time. I’ve seen him grow from Day 1 to where he is a superstar in the making, if he’s not now.”
- Ant ranks 5th in clutch points in the Playoffs, with 14 points in 5.1 total minutes. Everybody above him has played 9.8 or more
- ️ Said Ant: “I put in work this summer. Big shoutout to the USA team. They got me ready for this season, and I appreciate that. My teammates trust me in every position, critical moments in the game, and I try to come through for them.”
- ️ Mike Conley: “I’m proud of the way he’s accepted the kind of growth he needed to have to be where he is. It’s not easy for a 22-, 23-year-old to make that adjustment so quickly.”
- … “Twenty-two,” Edwards responded playfully.
See To Believe: Want to see the ways Ant’s game has evolved? In the 4th quarter, on legs that finished with 42 minutes, he had everything working.
3. CAVS-MAGIC GAME 7. TODAY.
“Best two words in sports.” – Donovan Mitchell
Out For History: When the Magic & Cavs meet in Game 7 (1 ET, ABC) to decide their first round series, they’ll both look to take a major step in franchise history.
- Cleveland would reach the Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2017-18, the final year of a LeBron-led run that saw the Cavs reach four straight NBA Finals
- Orlando would reach the second round for the first time since 2009-10, when it made the Conference Finals after a Finals berth the season before
- Last Game 7s: Cleveland’s most recent Game 7 came in 2018, with Orlando’s latest in 2009. Both teams beat the Celtics … who they’ll face if they win this series
What To Watch: First, a matchup between Donovan Mitchell and Paolo Banchero, featuring one of the greatest scorers in playoff history and a reigning ROTY who’s vaulted himself into a whole new tier this year.
- Spida An All-Timer: Mitchell, who dropped 50 in Game 5, ranks second all-time in points per game during potential clinchers, at 33.9 over 7 games
- The Others? Michael Jordan at No. 1 (34.2 ppg in 43 games), followed by Allen Iverson (33.3 in 10), Luka (32.4 in 5) and Giannis (32.3 in 10)
- 2nd To T-Mac: Banchero’s 25.2 ppg put him second in Magic history for a player’s first Playoff series, behind only Tracy McGrady’s 33.8 in 2001.
- Franz Wagner ranks right behind him in 3rd, at 21 ppg – just ahead of Shaquille O’Neal in ‘94
- Keep An Eye On: Injury reports, after Cleveland star big man Jarrett Allen (rib contusion) missed two straight games and Gary Harris (hamstring) sat out Game 6
Home’s Where The Wins Are: The home teams are 6-0 in this series, after Orlando rallied to take Game 6 and extend the series on Friday.
- All-Time: Home teams have won 111 of 148 Game 7s (75%) in NBA history
- The Difference? 1 win. Both teams were separated by just 1 game in the standings this year, giving Cleveland home-court advantage. How much will that matter Sunday?
All Comes Down To This: Both teams took leaps in 2023-24. Now, one moves on and one goes home.
- After a first-round exit in 2023, the Cavs became one of the deepest teams in the NBA, weathering injury after injury this year
- Meanwhile, the Magic rocketed up from 18th in DefRtg to 3rd, on the strength of a constant, teamwide motor
- ️ Said Banchero: “I’m excited. It’s a do-or-die situation, so we’ll have to put together another special effort.”
- ️ Said Mitchell: “All the stuff you’ve done for six games really goes out the window. It’s all about desperation and will. How do we find ways to continually be relentless. I have no doubt that we’ll show up. I have no doubt Cleveland will show up.”
4. WHAT’S COMING (& WHERE TO FIND IT)
3 Series Start: The Knicks & Pacers tip off their Conference Semifinals matchup on Monday at Madison Square Garden (7:30 ET, TNT). The Celtics host the winner of Magic-Cavs on Tuesday night (7 ET, TNT), with Thunder-Mavs Game 1 right after (9:30 ET, TNT).
- The Playoffs Hub: Never been? Tap in for the easiest place to find series scores, schedules, stats and news about the 2024 postseason
- The Conference Finals presented by Google Pixel start on May 21-22, with a possible move-up to May 19-20
- The NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV start on June 6 | Key Dates
Classic Rivalry, Renewed: For a stretch of the ’90s into early 2000s, the Knicks and Pacers built up one of the most iconic rivalries in NBA history, meeting six times in eight years – led by some of the biggest names in NBA history. Now, a new generation takes over. | Preview
- Contrasting Styles: The Knicks and Pacers advanced with their signature styles. New York’s core logged long minutes, beating Philly to the boards and coming through late. Indy, which led the league in assists, raced past an ailing Milwaukee
- Brunson vs. Haliburton: Both players took their teams (and themselves) to new heights this year, with Tyrese Haliburton leading the league in assists and Jalen Brunson pacing an injury-plagued Knicks team
- To go deeper, check out the series hub, and stay tuned for more tomorrow
OKC & Dallas: Dallas’ Luka Doncic (league-leading 33.9 ppg) and OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (30.1 ppg) spent most of the season locked in a scoring battle – not to mention the Kia Race for the MVP. But they haven’t done it alone. | Preview
- Kyrie/Luka: Two of the most established stars in the league spent the past year developing chemistry. Now, we’re seeing the results: they just became the first pair of Mavs teammates to each score 150+ pts in a Playoff series
- OKC, the youngest team to ever win a conference, has seen Chet Holmgren produce a rookie season for the ages and Jalen Williams (21.3 ppg in 1st round) become one of the league’s brightest rising stars
- Dive into the matchup at the series hub to get ready
5. A FEW OF THE FIRST ROUND’S MOST PHOTOS
