We have two even series after two games on what was a classic night of playoff basketball.
This is the best first-round series… forget first round, this is going to be the best series of the postseason. This is must-watch for any hoops fan. These teams have played 96 minutes of regulation playoff basketball and have been separated by one point.
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Monday night we saw a vintage Kawhi Leonard performance — not Toronto Kawhi, but San Antonio Kawhi. Finals MVP Kawhi. He finished with 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting, while making clutch passes and playing elite defense.
“He was incredible…” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said. “To his credit over contested hands made some incredible shots. He is an all-time player.”
“I mean, this is what Kawhi lives for,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Trying to get to this point where he is healthy for the playoffs and we know if we have a healthy Kawhi we can win any series. And that just shows tonight what he is capable of doing.”
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Nikola Jokic had a triple-double — 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — but like Leonard in Game 1 he had seven turnovers. This is the defining statistic of this series:
“I had a lot, especially late, Kawhi basically, and then to Peyton [Watson] on a lob which was bad,” Jokic said of his turnovers. “They were definitely aggressive, they were attacking us, they were attacking the ball. They pre-rotated, they attacked the ball. They were definitely aggressive in those moments and they kind of scrambled around.”
Game 3 is Thursday night in Los Angeles and The Wall will be ready. So will the Nuggets.
This is Detroit basketball. The 2025 Pistons may not be the Bad Boys, but they are physical and incredibly difficult to play against. A vintage Pistons team. One that is a problem for the Knicks, just like old times.
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The last time Detroit won a playoff game, “Low” by Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain) was a new song still in the top 10. It had been a while, all the way back to 2008. But these Pistons earned the victory with a physical performance that had the Knicks off balance.
Game 2 felt similar to Game 1, with the Pistons taking a lead for much of the night and the Knicks trying to storm back in the fourth quarter. Detroit had led by 15, but the Knicks tied the game with 1:15 left. However, this time it was Dennis Schroder who stepped up and saved the Pistons’ night (on a play where Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart miscommunicated and gave him too much space).
We knew Jalen Brunson could do in the playoffs and he has lived up to that, scoring 37 with seven dimes in this one. Karl-Anthony Towns had 10 points on 11 shots and has to be better on both ends.
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But this was Cade Cunningham’s night as he had 33. This man is ready for the playoffs.
Game 3 moves to Detroit on Thursday night and it’s only going to get more physical.
Damian Lillard isn’t going to just be barking at Tyrese Haliburton from the bench in street clothes this time.
Lillard has been upgraded to questionable and appears likely to return Tuesday night for Game 2 of the Bucks-Pacers series. He has been out for a month with deep vein thrombosis in his calf, and the fact that he is returning to the court this early is a testament to early detection and action by the Bucks’ medical team (and the experts at the Mayo Clinic). It’s good to see him back.
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Lillard may be the Bucks only hope, which puts a lot on the shoulders of a guy coming in cold after a month off. Even when healthy, Lillard is not the bottom-of-the-MVP ballot Lillard from 5-8 years ago anymore, but he’s an All-Star who averaged 24.9 points a game while shooting 37.6% from 3, plus adding 7.1 assists a game this season when healthy. He’s the guy the Bucks traded a lot for to be the star No. 2 on this team.
Indiana loaded up on Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 1, made him work hard for every point, and Milwaukee got no secondary shot creation to speak of. There was nobody else. If Lillard cannot be that guy, starting Tuesday night, the Bucks are in serious trouble in this series.
