" 𝔹𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕢𝕦𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕓𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕖𝕔𝕥 "

NEW YORK -- — The familiar chants of “MVP! MVP!” for Jalen Brunson were replaced by a much different sound inside a raucous Madison Square Garden.

“Deuuuuuce!”

Final 4:43 WILD ENDING 76ers at Knicks Game 1 | April 20, 2024

Deuce McBride, Brunson's backup, led a huge effort by New York's reserves in a 111-104 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Brunson and Josh Hart each scored 22 points, but Brunson pointed the credit elsewhere when asked in his interview on the court what it took for the Knicks to pull out the victory.

“Deuce McBride,” he said.

Josh Hart does it all as Knicks win nail-biter Game 1

McBride finished with 21 points and outscored the 76ers by himself with 13 in the second quarter, when Joel Embiid had to leave after appearing to reinjure his surgically repaired left knee on a dunk. Embiid returned and rallied the 76ers into the

lead in the second half, but Hart hit a couple big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks pull it out.

Josh Hart gets fired up after knocking down the tough trey

Hart also had 13 rebounds for the No. 2-seeded Knicks, who had lost Game 1 the last three times they opened a series at home. They host Game 2 on Monday.

Embiid finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 33 points.

“They protected home court,” 76ers guard Kyle Lowry said. “We have to go, watch the film, understand what we need to do, what we need to get better at and go from there.”

Bojan Bogdanovic came off the bench for 13 points and Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks’ former starter at center who has been a reserve since returning from ankle surgery, had eight points and 12 rebounds while playing 30 minutes and leading the

effort against Embiid.

Hart, OG send MSG into frenzy with back-to-back 3s

 

The Knicks outscored the 76ers by 37 points when McBride was in the game, 27 when Bogdanovic was in and 20 with Robinson.

“They were the reason why we won the game,” Hart said. “When your top dog is not shooting well, you need other guys to pick it up for him and that’s what they did.”

Embiid was limited to 39 games this season and missed nearly two months after having left meniscus surgery Feb. 6. He still appears to be limited — certainly not the dominant player who score a franchise-record 70 points just before his injury –

but helped the 76ers past Miami in a play-in game to earn the No. 7 seed.

The 76ers listed Embiid as questionable to play and coach Nick Nurse said before the game his big man would go through his warmups before the team determined if he would play.

That might have to be the plan again Monday.

The stars are out at MSG for Knicks-Sixers

 

“I think he is really a warrior and he’s battling,” Nurse said. “I think he absolutely wants to play. Let’s see how he turns out here tonight.”

Embiid did well when he was out there, but the Knicks had far better balance on the roster of their first team to win 50 games since they were 54-28 in 2012-13.

Brunson has been the biggest reason for that, a first-time All-Star who was fourth in the league in scoring with 28.7 points per game. He shot only 8 for 26, but had seven rebounds and seven assists.

Embiid dazzles with swift bounce-pass dime

And some of the scoring he usually supplies was picked up by McBride, a 2021 second-round pick whose real first name is Miles. He helped the Knicks outscore the 76ers 33-12 in the second quarter.

“I think their game plan probably was definitely more focused on getting the ball out of Jalen’s hands,” McBride said. “If that’s the poison they pick, you’ve got to make them pay.”

Embiid went down with 2:49 remaining after his dunk cut it to 49-46. The Knicks scored the final nine points of the quarter and led 58-46 at the break.

Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart COMBINE For 44 PTS! | April 20, 2024

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- — Anthony Edwards scored 18 of his 33 points in the third quarter and had nine rebounds to carry the Minnesota Timberwolves in a tone-setting 120-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns to start the first round of the playoffs on Saturday.

Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 points, Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Rudy Gobert locked down the lane with 14 points, 16 rebounds and constant shot-altering defense to lead the Wolves to their first Game 1

home win in the playoffs in 20 years.

Anthony Edwards throws down a ferocious finish

Anthony Edwards Leads Timberwolves On An ELECTRIC 3RD QTR Run! #PLAYOFFMODE

Kevin Durant scored 31 points on 11-for-17 shooting to lead the Suns, whose disadvantages in depth and size were exploited. Devin Booker had 18 points on 5-for-16 shooting and Bradley Beal added 15 points, but the Suns were outrebounded 52-

28 and outscored 52-34 in the paint by the Wolves.

Game 2 is in Minneapolis on Tuesday before the best-of-seven series shifts to Phoenix for Game 3.

Edwards led a 19-4 run to close the third quarter, stretching his arms wide to connect with the crowd after a couple of his biggest shots down that stretch. He stared and barked at Durant, who could only grin at the 22-year-old's bravado.

Naz Reid goes coast-to-coast for an acrobatic finish

With 3:37 left, Edwards put the bow on this performance by stealing the ball from Durant — after Gobert had poked it loose — and finishing with a slam on the other end.

His enthusiasm was contagious throughout the afternoon. After picking up his third foul late in the second quarter, Edwards was twirling a towel on the bench in tribute to the effort to take the lead into double digits for the first time in the game.

Durant, the 14-time All-Star with two championship rings who arrived in the desert a little over a year ago in the first move in the major overhaul of the roster, was in prime playoff form. Be it a fadeaway, a turnaround or a spot-up, the Wolves and

their NBA -best defense had no answer when the 6-foot-10 Durant climbed into the air with his smooth jump shot.

Anthony Edwards drills tough fadeaway to extend T-Wolves' lead

But Booker, the anchor of the big three with Durant and Beal who's the only player left from the 2021 team that reached the NBA Finals, had nothing to match. He couldn't get layups to fall, let alone jumpers. Grayson Allen, the league's leading 3-

point shooter, missed all three of his shots and had just four points.

The Wolves had sellouts for every home game this season for the first time since they moved into Target Center 34 years ago. Their fans — as antsy for a postseason run as any in American pro sports — brought finals-level energy to the first round

that the Wolves have not escaped since their only advancement 20 years ago, a crowd that included former (Adrian Peterson) and current (Justin Jefferson) Vikings stars.

The big-money players gave the Wolves what they needed, but one of their edges in this series ought to be a bench that backed it up with a 41-18 scoring advantage on the Suns' reserves.

Rudy Gobert drains the turnaround and-1 jumper

Rudy Gobert drains the turnaround and-1 jumper

CLEVELAND -- — Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers spent the week insisting they were better prepared for this year's playoffs.

On Saturday, they looked it.

Mitchell scored 30 points, Jarrett Allen had 18 rebounds and the Cavs looked tougher — mentally and physically — than in last year's first-round flop, beating the Orlando Magic 97-83 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

“Last year is over with,” Mitchell said. “We flushed that. This is who we are, and this is who we expect to be.”

Donovan Mitchell thunders home the breakaway slam for the Cavs

Donovan Mitchell has no regard for human life with this nasty throwdown

Evan Mobley added 16 points and Darius Garland had 14 for Cleveland, which got bullied and bounced in just five games by the New York Knicks in the 2023 postseason.

That experience scarred the Cavs, who entered these playoffs more confident, deeper (at least on paper) and relatively healthy after a regular season filled with injuries.

Mitchell has been slowed for two months with a left knee bone bruise, but the All-Star guard moved well and looked much more like himself as Cleveland's only viable offensive threat for more than two quarters.

Darius Garland extends Cavs' late lead with tough 3

In the first half, Mitchell scooped up a loose ball and went in for a soaring dunk that served notice that he was back, and that the Cavs would be much better in his second postseason with Cleveland.

“This is who I am,” he said. “That’s kind of been my message all year. This is why I'm here. I could have had 10 points as long as we got the job done."

Orlando's Paolo Banchero scored 24 points in his playoff debut, but had nine turnovers. The Magic shot just 33% from the field — some of it attributed to bad shooting, some because of Cleveland's defense.

“We didn’t score enough,” Banchero said. "Just shots weren’t falling, but I thought we got good looks. We missed a lot of free throws (19 of 30) and didn’t make 3s (8 of 37). There were a lot of things we could have done a lot better.”

Game 2 is Monday at raucous Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where fans didn't have much to cheer last spring as the Knicks ended the Cavaliers' run shortly after it began.

Caris LeVert comes up with acrobatic and-1 finish

Mitchell slept only two hours Friday night as his nerves — and the 1 p.m. tip — messed with his pregame routine. But once he got to the arena and heard Phil Collins' anthemic “In The Air Tonight” blaring, he quickly got into playoff mode.

“He's ready for the moment and it’s the Game 1s,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickestaff said. “It’s the bigger games during the regular season. He has the ability and the understanding of how important the start is, whatever that may be.”

Like the Cavs a year ago, the Magic lack playoff experience and it showed.

Orlando's offense was unorganized and Banchero too often tried to force things. He went 9 of 17 from the floor in 41 minutes.

The Cavs have waited all season for a chance at redemption following last season's first-round flameout.

And while they were in control for most of the game, they had just seven field goals over an 18-minute stretch and only led 60-56 when Banchero converted a three-point play with 4:24 left in the third.

Mitchell settled things down with back-to-back buckets and Cleveland closed the third with a 13-2 run that sent the Cavs into the fourth leading by 15.

The Magic twice cut a 20-point deficit to nine in the fourth, but the Cavs responded and Mitchell's 3-pointer with 4:44 left ended any thought of an Orlando comeback.

Tempers flared between the teams in the second quarter, leading to some jawing, finger-pointing and two technical fouls being called.

Orlando's Moritz Wagner pushed an off-balance Mobley as he was falling out of bounds on the baseline and his clapping annoyed Cleveland's Isaac Okoro, who shoved Wagner and drew a technical.

Jalen Suggs fired up after and-1 slam

Jalen Suggs fired up after and-1 slam

Moments later, Magic guard Markelle Fultz was assessed a flagrant-1 for his foul on Georges Niang, who was driving to the basket. Niang didn't like it, walked toward Fultz and was slapped with a T for taunting as Cleveland's crowd roared.

As if the Cavs needed any reminders, Tom Petty's “I Won't Back Down” played over the arena's sound system as Fultz's foul was reviewed.

MIAMI -- — The chants started raining down in the fourth quarter. “We want Boston,” the Miami Heat crowd kept shouting, over and over.

The fans got their wish. And a rematch of the last two Eastern Conference finals awaits in Round 1 this year.

Miami — even with Jimmy Butler sidelined for several weeks with a sprained knee — is back in the playoffs. Tyler Herro scored 24 points and was an assist shy of a triple-double, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 21 points and the Heat grabbed the last

spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in a play-in tournament elimination game Friday night.

Tyler Herro gets the home crowd going with a 3

Tyler Herro gets the home crowd going with a 3

 

 

 

 

 

“I have an appreciation for the things you can’t buy, the things that you have to earn," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had to earn this. You can’t influence it. You can't pay money for it. You actually have to collectively come together to earn it

— and we had to do it the hard way, just to get this first ticket punched for the invitation to this dance.”

Kevin Love scored 16 and Bam Adebayo added 13 for Miami, which is now set to be huge underdogs against a Celtics team that is the big favorite to win the NBA title. The Heat are the No. 8 seed again, just like last year when they survived the

play-in and went all the way to the NBA Finals.

Tyler Herro shows off vision with nice pass Chicago Bulls

“Ultimately, we’ve just got to bring that Miami Heat culture and that toughness,” Jaquez said. “We’ve got two games in Boston. We’ve got to set the tone extremely early, impose our will on them and make it real physical.”

They took control over the Bulls with a 19-0 run in the first quarter, and a 14-0 run midway through the second half ended all doubt. Herro finished with 10 rebounds and nine assists, and the Heat eliminated the Bulls in the last East play-in game for

the second straight year.

DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points for the Bulls, who got 16 points, 14 rebounds and five assists from Nikola Vucevic. Coby White scored 13 for Chicago, which was trying to become the fifth team in the last 35 years to make the playoffs after not

spending a single day all season over the .500 mark.

Bam Adebayo shows off vision with nice pass Chicago Bulls

 

“It was tough,” DeRozan said. “We missed a lot of easy shots.”

Chicago shot only 38%, with the Heat defense carrying the day.

“These games, they’re going to be like that,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “It’s going to be ugly, grind-out. Could we have been better in those areas? Probably. I wouldn’t say we were perfect. I thought our guys were trying to compete.”

The 19-0 run — which matched Miami’s longest run of consecutive points all season, done two other times — put the Heat on top, turning an 11-6 deficit into an early 25-11 lead. Jaquez and Nikola Jovic combined for 11 points in the burst, which

fueled Miami taking a 17-point lead after one quarter and pushing it to 20 in the second quarter.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. caps off a 7-0 run with a thunderous jam

It was a rare stretch of decent offense on a gritty, gutty, win-or-go-home night.

The Heat managed only 13 points in the second and still went into the half with a 47-37 lead, because the Bulls were even colder from the field. Chicago started 4 for 5, then went 8 for 39 over the rest of the half. The Heat started 8 for 9, then

finished the half by going 9 for 35.

Tyler Herro's Near Triple-Double Performance In the #SoFiPlayIn! 👀 April 19, 2024

NEW ORLEANS -- — Hustle plays and production from up and down the lineup helped the New Orleans Pelicans overcome the absence of leading-scorer Zion Williamson, keep their season alive and avoid a historically significant loss.

Brandon Ingram scored 24 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans booked a spot in the NBA playoffs with a 105-98 victory over the Sacramento Kings in a play-in tournament elimination game on

Friday night.

The Sacramento Kings have been ELIMINATED from Playoff Contention

“We stayed together. We we supported each other. We played for each other," Valanciunas said. “We all want to get to the playoffs. And we did it by playing good basketball, by supporting each other, helping each other on defense, on offense,

sharing the ball, you know, making a right play. It's fun basketball to play that way.”

Larry Nance Jr. fired up after back-to-back slams

 

a great night for Herb

 

Williamson was sidelined by a left hamstring strain that occurred as he reached the 40-point mark in a play-in loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

Undaunted, New Orleans used a balanced approach to improve to 8-5 this season without Williamson. Six players scored 10 or more points, including reserves Larry Nance Jr. (13), Naji Marshall (11) and Jose Alvarado (10).

“You get 34 points from your bench, it’s a great night for them, a tough night for us,” Kings coach Mike Brown said.

Naji Marshall's back-to-back buckets pad Pels' lead

Trey Murphy III, starting because of Williamson's absence, added 16 points for New Orleans, which begins a first-round playoff series on Sunday at top-seeded Oklahoma City.

“It feels good. This was a goal at the beginning of the year," Ingram said of clinching a playoff berth. "We had another opportunity today and we came in and everybody contributed.”

Trey Murphy III slams home the dagger for the Pels

Trey Murphy III slams home the dagger for the Pels

De'Aaron Fox scored 35 points, and Domantas Sabonis had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the ninth-seeded Kings, who set up their matchup with New Orleans by defeating No. 10 seed Golden State in their play-in opener.

“We were a little passive offensively and not all of us were aggressive with our play tonight," Brown said, alluding to a combined 4-for-17 shooting from young starters Keegan Murray (4 for 12) and Keon Ellis (0 for 5).

“We have to be able to get the ball in the paint,” added Brown, whose team was outscored 58-44 inside and missed seven of 22 free throws. “You’ve got to be able to finish and you’ve got to get to the free throw line and convert.”

The game was a test of the Pelicans' ability to handle the pressure of a do-or-die game after squandering two previous chances to lock up a playoff berth at home.

New Orleans lost to the Lakers in their regular-season finale on Sunday, missing a chance to clinch the sixth seed, before losing again to the Lakers on Tuesday. They entered their matchup with the Kings facing the possibility of becoming the first

49-win team in more than 50 years (Phoenix in 1972) to miss the NBA playoffs.

Brandon Ingram joins Inside the NBA, talks win against Kings in the Play-In

Y'all see B.I. out there?#Pelicans  @Gatorade 

 

TOOK EVERYBODY. @B_Ingram13: 24p/6r/6a/1b @JValanciunas: 19p/12r/3a @treymurphy: 16p/8r/6a @Larrydn22: 13p/4r/3a #OneNOLA  @FDSportsbook

 

Instead, New Orleans improved to 6-0 against Sacramento this season, becoming the first team to go 6-0 in a season (without a playoff series) against an opponent since Denver against Minnesota in 1994-95.

“We deserved it. That’s how we felt coming into this game,” Nance said. “We deserve to be in the playoffs. You don't win 49 games by accident.”

The Pelicans also prolonged a streak of No. 7 seeds never missing the playoffs since the play-in tournament was adopted by the NBA in 2020. Because of their play-in loss to the Lakers, the Pelicans enter the playoffs as an eighth seed.

The Pelicans were sloppy early, committing six first-quarter turnovers that led to 11 Kings points. Sacramento, which was missing Malik Monk (right knee) and Kevin Huerter (left shoulder) from its lineup, led 24-17 after a turnover by Herb Jones led

to a layup by Fox, who scored 18 points in the first half.

McCollum and Jones' back-to-back 3s pad Pelicans' lead

CJ McCollum's reverse layup and Murphy's 3 helped the Pelicans quickly closed the gap, and New Orleans built a 13-point lead in the second quarter.