Another day that ends in -y, another nerve-shredding round of NBA Playoffs action. This has been a downright exhausting postseason, and we aren't even out of the first round yet.
There were only two games on the docket on Thursday night, but things somehow got even wilder if you can believe it. One of those two featured an instantly iconic game-winner from one of the sport's brightest stars. The other set up the most thrilling phrase in all of sports: Game 7. Let's take a look at where the updated playoff bracket stands now that the dust has settled.
Updated NBA Playoffs bracket after Knicks eliminate Pistons
Who will Knicks play in second round?
It looked like we were heading for a Game 7 back in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, as the Detroit Pistons turned a double-digit deficit against the New York Knicks into a five-point lead with just minutes to play in the fourth quarter. But then Jalen Brunson happened, delivering several big buckets including the game-winning 3 in the final seconds to lift New York to an improbable win — and on to the second round.
Who will the Knicks play? None other than the big, bad Boston Celtics, the reigning champions who just so happened to paste New York every time the two teams played this season. It feels like Boston's spread-you-out, drive and kick and splash 3s style is a uniquely bad fit for Tom Thibodeau's defensive preferences, and when you combine that with how exhausted the Knicks must be following a knock-down, drag-out series against Detroit, it's hard to imagine New York keeping things competitive here. But hey, with Brunson around, anything's possible.
Clippers force a Game 7 back in Denver
We will have at least one Game 7 on the other side of the bracket, as Kawhi Leonard and James Harden teamed up to power the Los Angeles Clippers past the Denver Nuggets to force a winner-take-all showdown back in the Mile High City this weekend. L.A. also got 24 points from Norman Powell, using a 12-0 run midway through the third quarter to pull away for good.
Neither team has been able to find a ton of consistency so far in this series, seemingly alternating great performances with duds. That makes Saturday's Game 7 all the more fascinating; will the Clippers' depth carry them through, or will Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray conjure up a little more magic at altitude?