And then there were eight. With Cleveland’s Game 7 win over the budding Orlando Magic, the slate for the NBA Conference Semifinals is complete. Donovan Mitchell led the way for the Cavaliers to beat the Magic at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where he simply took over and scored the game-high 39 points. Evan Mobley played heavy minutes at the five spot as Jarrett Allen is still in street clothes due to a rib injury.
It took the Cavs seven games to advance to the second round of the playoffs, and unfortunately, the competition only gets harder as the postseason progresses. They will now face the NBA’s best regular-season team, the Boston Celtics, who took care of their nemesis in the first round, the Miami Heat, with a gentleman’s sweep.
However, it looks like the Cavs players and their fans aren’t ducking any smoke, as the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse roared, “We want Boston!” en route to their series clincher against the Orlando Magic.
Currently, both the Cavaliers and the Celtics will be without their star big men, Jarrett Allen and Kristaps Porzingis, to start their semifinal series, so it’ll be interesting to see how these teams will cope down low while they wait for their defencive anchors to return.
The Cavaliers will quickly rush back into the fray as they visit TD Garden to face Jayson Tatum and the rest of the stacked Celtics squad in the next couple of days.
Timberwolves strike first
Oh man, we’re definitely seeing a superstar in the making, if he’s not already considered to be in that echelon. Anthony Edwards led the Minnesota Timberwolves to a Game 1 win against the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets, at Ball Arena.
Edwards scored a cool 43 points while making crucial bucket after crucial bucket to get the series lead over the NBA 2024 odds favourites to come out of the West.
It was a tough game for Nikola Jokic, as he had to really earn his points every time the ball landed his way. But despite the tough matchup, Jokic still finished the game with 32 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.
His running mate, Jamal Murray, had a game to forget, as the 27-year-old floor general flat-out disappeared during their clash against the Timberwolves. Murray took only 14 attempts at the basket, tallying 17 points and four assists to boot.
It’ll be a long and tough road ahead for the Nuggets if their star guard, their second option, is only taking 14 shot attempts in a playoff game.
But despite Murray’s quiet game, the Timberwolves needed a herculean effort from Anthony Edwards to get the win, so SBOTOP Denver Nuggets fans shouldn’t be that worried. The Nuggets only lost by seven points to the visiting Timberwolves, and that’s without much production from Jamal Murray.
This might be the marquee matchup in the conference semifinals, so it’s safe to expect close and competitive NBA 2024 results from this series. The Nuggets will have another crack at defending home court tomorrow at Ball Arena.
Can OKC continue their dominance?
SGA and OKC finished the regular season as the kings of the West, and they’ve been able to sweep the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs. Coach of the Year winner, Mark Daigneault, continues to impress fans and pundits alike with how he manages to utilise his roster to a tee. Well, it helps that he has a young but mature roster led by MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The question now is if OKC can continue their dominance against a veteran and equally talented Dallas Mavericks. “Anybody advancing in the playoffs is a really good team. We obviously have a lot of respect for them,” Daigneault said about the Mavericks. “They’ve been playing exceptionally. Post-trade deadline, I thought that really changed their team… Obviously a tall task for us.” Mark Daigneault addresses facing the Mavericks in Round 2.
While the Thunder cruised past their opponents in the first round, the Dallas Mavericks went on an all-out war against the Clippers, who were without their star Kawhi Leonard for most of the series. It took the Mavs six hard-fought games to get past the Clippers, but ultimately, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic got it done for Jason Kidd and the city of Dallas.
However, Dallas may be facing an even tougher adversary in Round 2, especially since they’ll most likely lose the services of their backup big, Maxi Kleber, who recently suffered an AC joint shoulder separation.
“Our guess for them is to stay big. But we’re ready for everything,” Daigneault said about Kleber’s injury. “It definitely changes their looks in the frontcourt.”
Despite the absence of floor-spacing big Maxi Kleber, Dallas still have a lot of big men at their disposal, with the likes of surprise package Dereck Lively II, as well as the trade deadline additions, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, who have found a sweet spot to call home in the Mavs system, are all ready for deployment.
This much-anticipated series will start in a couple of days, when the OKC Thunder host the Dallas Mavericks at Paycom Center.
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