Cavaliers-Heat
This one is just about wrapped. The Cavaliers did not mess around like some 1-seeds do and did not get caught by Heat Culture’s hustle mentality or South Beach nightlife. They took Game 3 in commanding fashion.
Darius Garland missed the game with a sprained big toe, an injury that’s been giving him problems over the last few weeks. But no matter, the Cavaliers torched the Heat on the interior with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen dominating.
Miami decided to try and limit the perimeter scoring of Cleveland, holding them to 15-of-40 from three-point range, but that’s too many attempts to make a difference, and the Cavs just carved them up from inside instead.
Cavs go for the sweep on Monday.
Thunder-Grizzlies
That’s all, folks. Memphis faces a lot of questions about their future and how to get the core of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane back to where they were in 2023, as the Thunder sweep Memphis.
The most promising thing for OKC is that they got great performances from the supporting guys in this series. Chet Holmgren starred in his role, Jalen Williams took advantage of a favorable matchup, and Alex Caruso was the player they traded for him to be.
Memphis has to take a long look in the mirror based on the money coming up with Jaren Jackson Jr. due for a max extension and future extensions for the other Big 3, plus how much they want to build around Zach Edey.
OKC waits patiently for whoever comes out of the bloodbath of Nuggets-Clippers.
Nuggets-Clippers
Aaron Gordon’s game-winner dunk will go down as the closest buzzer beater in sports history. It, quite literally, could not be closer. History was made Saturday.
The issue is that the Clippers have been the better team in this series by several angles.
For Denver to crawl out of this series is going to take another masterclass from Nikola Jokic, a breakout vintage Playoff Murray game from Jamal Murray, or both. And even then it may not matter since Michael Porter Jr. basically has one arm and Russell Westbrook has one foot.
But still, every time you think the Nuggets are dead, they crawl out of the grave.
Warriors-Rockets
It’s a true slugfest. This series is pretty simple: they are basically the same team, but one team has Steph Curry. That’s going to be enough for the Warriors to get out of this series, even with Jimmy Butler banged up.
Golden State has weaknesses and issues, but Houston just doesn’t have the offensive floor to get any separation, even when the Warriors struggle.
Lakers-Wolves
After the trade, I wondered how the Lakers were going to defend. They had no rim protector as backline protection and Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, two big ol’ targets. But then the Lakers played great defense for four weeks and fooled me.
Nope, turns out they have Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic as targets and no rim protections. JJ Redick played his started all 24 minutes of the second half and it was all for not as they gassed out and Anthony Edwards did his superhero stuff all over.
The Wolves look like the kind of team that has That Run in them. The bracket is lining up perfectly. They just needed to get past Luka, and well, he’s made that pretty easy with the shape he’s in, in terms of illness and conditioning.
Knicks-Pistons
A phenomenal series that will likely end too soon. The no-call on Josh Hart on the final three-point attempt from Tim Hardaway Jr. basically sealed it, with the series headed back to the Big Apple.
Cade Cunningham has made a name for himself, Jalen Duren has shone, the Pistons are young, scrappy, hungry, etc., but the Knicks have too much firepower.
Winning a playoff series is brutal fighting, and the Knicks have basically thrown the most critical punches in three of the four games. However, all these missed crucial, momentum-swing threes the Pistons keep missing?
What happens when it’s Boston shooting those? Speaking of…
Celtics-Magic
Boston handled business in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead, as Orlando once again could not find the bottom of the basket.
The Magic did what a team needs to do all year: they held the Celtics’ 3-point volume down. But this is part of what makes Boston so tough to beat.
Not only is Boston a tremendous defensive team, but they have such a high floor with their shooting that even in games where you restrict their volume, they can beat you with efficiency and the interior plays that open because you spent so much effort trying to prevent the threes.
Orlando, like Houston, has a lot going for it, but they have to find a way to raise the offensive floor and ceiling.
Pacers-Bucks
It’s hard not to be impressed with Indiana, who has come out and hit first in every game. They have set the tone for the series and played with intent and physicality. You really cannot stop Indiana from getting to the shots they want, even though those aren’t just three-point pace and space shots.
For Milwaukee, the outcome from Game 4 was much worse than just a 3-1 deficit, and that’s bad enough..
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NBA news and notes
In light of other news, I’m going to focus on the Damian Lillard injury. Chris Haynes, who is as plugged into the Lillard camp as anyone, reported Sunday night that the fear is that Lillard suffered a torn Achilles.
That’s devastating, awful, and tragic.
It’s awful because Dame worked so hard to come back and compete in the playoffs after suffering a blood clot, only to have this happen. It’s awful because Lillard waited so long to be a part of a team with real championship aspirations, and it just never came together in Milwaukee, a city he never chose.
It’s awful because Lillard’s injury prevents the Bucks from making massive changes this summer. They can’t try to trade Lillard for more help for Giannis. Instead, Antetokounmpo will have to head into the season knowing that Lillard is unlikely to play for the entire season, making it another lost campaign for him.
It’s awful because after Khris Middleton in 2022, Giannis in 2023 and 2024, and now Dame in 2025, the Bucks have been without one of their three best players in each losing series since winning the title in 2021.
It’s awful because the Bucks were a team that really went for it to put superstar talent around their megastar, to get Giannis the kind of help he needed to compete for the title, and none of it worked out. Every move came up short.
The whole thing is bad, with no upside for Dame, Giannis, the Bucks, or their fans.