Top Stories

• Knicks win Game 1 in the Garden

• Wolves blowout Nuggets again

• Wemby wins ROTY

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Games of the day

Last Night’s Top Games! (link to the box scores of every game from yesterday)

Jalen Brunson scored 43 points, becoming the fourth player in NBA history with four straight 40-point games in the playoffs, and the Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 121-117 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Brunson had 21 in the fourth quarter. He joined Hall of Famers Jerry West, Michael Jordan and Bernard King. Josh Hart added a playoff career-high 24 points and added 13 rebounds and eight assists. Myles Turner scored 23 points for the Pacers, who got great minutes from their bench. Tyrese Haliburton, the NBA’s assist leader, finished with six points and eight assists after being listed as questionable with back spasms. Pascal Siakam scored 19 for Indiana and McConnell added 18, leading a bench that finished with a ridiculous 46-3 advantage the its New York bench. Josh Hart played all 48 minutes, DiVincenzo 44 and Brunson 43 1/2.

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Around the League

• Victor Wembanyama is your 2023 Rookie of the Year. Wembanyama received all 99 first-place votes from a media panel, making him the first unanimous Kia NBA Rookie of the Year since Karl-Anthony Towns. Wembanyama is the first player from France to win the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Award, which has been presented annually since 1952. He is also the third player to earn the award with the Spurs, joining David Robinson (1989-90) and Tim Duncan (1997-98). In the 2023 regular season, Wembanyama led all rookies in points (21.4), rebounds (10.6) and blocks (3.6) per game, in addition to ranking fourth in assists (3.9) and second in steals (1.2) per game. Wembanyama became the first player to average at least 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in fewer than 30 minutes per game in a season. He is also the first player to have at least 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocks and 100 3-pointers made in a season. Behind this historic rookie season, it’s no wonder he was the unanimous ROTY.

• Injury Updates: Maxi Kleber (shoulder) is out indefinitely. Julius Randle (shoulder) is out for the season. Benedict Mathurin (shoulder) underwent surgery and is out for the season. We wish all these guys speedy and successful recoveries.

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NBA Playoff Matchups

Eastern Conference

(1) Boston vs (4) Cleveland: Series is 0-0

With a healthy Jarrett Allen, Cleveland has the size and defense to contend with Boston. Expect them to actually give Boston a run for their money.

Prediction: Celtics in 7

(2) Knicks vs (6) Pacers: Series is 1-0

Indiana doesn’t play both sides of the ball like New York does, and Tyrese Haliburton is going to have to actually play defense.

New York continues to execute in the clutch, coming back to beat Indiana in the final minutes of the 4th (albeit with the help of some questionable calls). Tyrese Haliburton had 6 points…

Prediction: Knicks in 5

Western Conference

(1) OKC vs (5) Dallas: Series is 0-0

OKC has enough shooting to keep up with the Mavs, but the duo of Luka/Kyrie plus their size will ultimately be the deciding factor.

Prediction : Dallas in 6

(2) Nuggets vs (3) Timberwolves: Series 0-2

(Game 1) Minnesota came out guns blazing, with Ant Man dropping 43 points. If Joker can’t find a way to be effective and efficient against the bigs of Minnesota, Denver could be in serious trouble.

Even without the likely DPOY Rudy Gobert missing the game due to the birth of his first child, Minnesota won by 26, holding Denver to 80 points (their lowest of the entire season). The Nuggets are in unfamiliar territory, being down 0-2 in a series for the first time in years.

Prediction: Wolves in 6

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Overtime Thoughts

Hoopgrids

Hoopgrids is a daily basketball trivia game. You cross match each category to find a player that fits both. The rarer the player, the lower the score. The goal is to get the lowest rarity score possible.