Anthony Edwards Unwavered By Game 1 Loss
The Thunder looked dominant as they pulled away from the Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. Minnesota’s star was unfazed by the 26-point loss, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Anthony Edwards just thinks he needs to be more assertive in order for the Timberwolves to turn things around.
“I definitely got to shoot more,” Edwards said. “I only took 13 (bleeping) shots. … Probably just get off the ball a little more, play without the ball. I think that will be the answer. Because playing on the ball, they’re just going to double and sit in the gaps all day. So, got to go watch some film and pick it apart. We’ll figure it out.”
Edwards averaged 26.8 points and 6.2 assists while taking 22.4 shots per game against the Lakers in the opening round. In the conference semifinals against Golden State, he averaged 26.2 points and 5.6 assists on 21.8 shots per game.
In the conference finals opener, Edwards had 18 points, three assists and four turnovers and took only 13 shots in 37 minutes. All but one of his attempts came from outside the lane.
“I mean, they clogged the paint,” Edwards said. “That’s what they do. They don’t got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess. Because every time I go to the rim it’s like four people in the paint.”
Edwards and his teammates fired away from beyond the arc and shot mostly blanks, going 15-for-51 from long range.
“We had good looks, we just have to make shots,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Myself, I have to make a couple shots and it loosens up the defense for Ant. It’s a domino effect.”
Edwards briefly left the game when he tweaked his right ankle in the first quarter but said that had nothing to do with his performance. “I feel great,” he said.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo Says He’s Medically Cleared After Achilles Rehab
Former Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo said he’s been medically cleared to play again after recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, Christopher Kuhagen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays.
“I’m back,” Antetokounmpo declared during his “Thanalysis Show” podcast.
The 32-year-old Antetokounmpo underwent surgery in early May of 2024 after tearing his Achilles. He was a free agent this season after signing mainly minimum contracts to play with his brother Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.
Thanasis, who made two appearances with the Knicks in 2015/16, saw action in 196 Bucks games from 2019-24. He played 34 games during the 2023/24 season and has posted averages of 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game over the course of his NBA career.
Thanasis revealed the injury occurred during a workout. He said he was starting his routine when he felt “like someone kicked me.” He didn’t realize the severity of the injury until his trainer squeezed his calf.
“I’m like no way, I didn’t fall,” he said. “I feel pain, but pain is pain.”
Antetokounmpo’s injury was confirmed by two MRIs. He has spent the last 12 months rehabbing.
“When you’re healthy you have a bunch of problems, everything bothers you,” he said. “But when it’s about health you only have one problem. Only one. Just how to get healthy, how to be back. I couldn’t walk and then I started putting the goals. Let me get out of the boot by the Olympics, I tried, I tried. I couldn’t. Let me be able to dance at my brother’s wedding. Please, please. And then I did that.”
His more famous brother is expected to meet with the Bucks’ brass soon to determine his future with the organization. Whether the prospect of potentially playing with his brother again would influence Giannis’ decision remains to be seen.
NBA To Reveal MVP Winner This Evening
The NBA has kept the Most Valuable Player award announcement a secret for weeks. The speculation is over — this season’s MVP will be revealed tonight at 7 p.m. ET during the TNT broadcast, the league’s PR department tweets. The announcement will come prior to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is considered the strong favorite to win the award for the first time. He averaged a career-best 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks in 34.2 minutes per game while appearing in 76 games. This is SGA’s seventh NBA season.
Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the other finalists.
Jokic averaged a triple-double — 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per night — in his 10th season while appearing in 70 games. The Nuggets center has won the award in three of the last four seasons.
Antetokounmpo was named MVP in 2019 and 2020. In his 12th season, the Bucks forward posted averages of 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 67 games.
No guard has won the award since 2018, when James Harden claimed the honor while playing for Houston.
2025 NBA Offseason Preview: San Antonio Spurs
After putting up a 22-60 record in Victor Wembanyama's rookie season in 2023/24, the Spurs added a couple veterans (Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes) to the mix last summer and were expected to take a step forward, which they did -- their 34-48 mark wasn't enough for play-in contention, but it represented a 12-game improvement on the prior season.
Simply looking at the Spurs' record, however, undersells what an eventful year it was in San Antonio, for better or worse.
Just a couple weeks into the season, longtime head coach Gregg Popovich suffered a medical incident later revealed to be a stroke, resulting in assistant Mitch Johnson taking the reins for the rest of the year. Although he held out hope of eventually returning to the Spurs' bench, Popovich ultimately determined that it wouldn't be possible and formally stepped down from the role at season's end. The 76-year-old will remain with the organization as president of basketball operations, but Johnson is now the permanent head coach.
Nearly three months after Popovich suffered his stroke, word broke that the Kings were attempting to trade De'Aaron Fox and that he had given Sacramento a one-team wish list -- the Spurs were the only team on it. San Antonio isn't exactly Los Angeles or Miami, so Fox's push to join the Spurs raised some eyebrows, reflecting the impact that Wembanyama has already had on the franchise.
It seems safe to assume that if the 2024 Rookie of the Year weren't a Spur, Fox wouldn't have been looking to become one either, but the leverage he exerted ahead of the trade deadline put San Antonio in position to acquire him for a pretty reasonable price. The Spurs didn't give up any of their top rotation players in the deal and surrendered just one of their own draft picks, a 2027 first-rounder. That leaves them plenty of ammo if they want to take another major swing on the trade market going forward.
Finally, in the days following the All-Star Game, the Spurs announced that Wembanyama would miss the rest of the season after having been diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. It was a scary development, given that blood clotting issues have cut NBA careers short in the past. There was optimism in San Antonio, however, that Wembanyama's DVT was detected early enough to avoid major complications and that it should be an isolated incident.
Mike Conley Seeks To Play At Least Two More Seasons
Timberwolves guard Mike Conley hopes to play at least two more seasons, according to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.
Conley, 37, is aiming to play 20 NBA seasons in total. He’ll make $10.8MM next season in the final year of his contract in 2025/26 and says he’s having too much fun to hang it up yet.
“I’m having a ball, bro, honestly,” Conley said. “I tell the guys all the time, ‘If you see a day where I’m not smiling and not having a good time and loving being here, tell me to retire. Tell me to go home.’ That is one reason why I’m here. Being around these guys, the atmosphere, the game. The competitive atmosphere every day. You don’t get this anywhere else in life, especially at my age getting older. You really can’t take it for granted.”
Conley appeared in 71 games this season but he was playing through some pain. He has been nagged by a left wrist injury since last offseason.
The veteran point guard averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 assists while playing a career-low 24.7 minutes per game. He put up 8.0 points and 5.0 assists in 24.6 minutes per contest in the conference semifinals against Golden State.
“One of the toughest injuries for me has been the wrist,” Conley said. “I had to be in a cast for like two months last summer. And during that time, I couldn’t shoot a ball, touch a ball. Nothing. That is not like me. Normally in the summertime I’m working and doing everything I can. So going into training camp, I had no strength [in my wrist]. It was weak, [there was] still pain and I was trying to work through some things. I was hesitant to do stuff and be myself. It’s been a battle all [season]. It’s something I’ve slowly gotten over with. Hopefully, it will be even better next season.”
This is the third time in his career that Conley’s team has made it to the conference finals. He also played in the Western Finals in 2013 with Memphis and last year with Minnesota, but he’s still seeking his first NBA Finals appearance.
“I was shocked, really, because I thought it was a special year,” Conley said about losing in the Western Conference Finals last spring. “I thought it was going to all make sense and we all were going to make it finally. My first thought was, ‘How long will it take for us to get back here again? Will it be next year. Will it be another year? I don’t know. Will it be the last chance I get?’ All those thoughts popped in. But it got me going in the summertime hoping that we could do it again this season and have a chance.”
Knicks Notes: Bridges, Thibodeau, Brunson, Focus
The Knicks should prioritize an extension for Mikal Bridges this offseason, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post opines.
While Bridges isn’t an All-Star at the level of Jalen Brunson, he’s proven his value with game-changing plays during the postseason after an underwhelming regular season, Vaccaro writes. He’s also extremely durable. Bridges could sign a four-year extension worth up to $156MM this offseason, which would make sense for both sides. However, Bridges could choose to wait until free agency in 2026 with the hope of getting a more lucrative deal.
We have more on the Knicks:
- Tom Thibodeau has been criticized in the past for sticking with the same formula but that hasn’t been the case in these playoffs, James Edwards III of The Athletic writes. New York made more switches defensively than it ever did during the regular season in order to throttle Boston’s attack. Thibodeau also allowed Bridges to initiate the offense more often in pick-and-rolls with Brunson on the bench. The team’s regulars have also made it to the conference finals in good health despite Thibodeau continuing to rely heavily on his starters.
- Brunson changed his workout routine after he left the Mavericks to sign with the Knicks, his personal trainer Dave Williams told Mark Medina of RG.org. “The workouts were basically the same, but they evolved,” Williams said. “In New York, I knew he’d have the ball in his hands all the time. In Dallas, he played alongside Luka (Doncic), who was more ball-dominant. So in New York, we focused more on one-on-one moves and shooting off the dribble. We did more pick-and-roll work and had him shooting threes off the pick-and-roll. We increased the threes a lot. When I hear commentators say he got better at shooting off the dribble, that has me smiling inside.”
- The Knicks need to take advantage of this opportunity because another one might not come along, Vaccaro writes in another column for the New York Post. While the roster is built to take multiple shots at a championship, they can’t count on getting to this spot again. Vaccaro points out that the NHL’s Rangers, who share Madison Square Garden with the Knicks, made the conference finals last season and didn’t make the playoffs this season.
- Peter Botte of the New York Post breaks down the matchups and 10 factors that will decide the series between the Knicks and Pacers.
Pistons Notes: Schröder, Draft, Free Agency, Ivey, Duren, Gores
Dennis Schröder played steady rotation minutes after being acquired by the Pistons at the trade deadline. Re-signing the veteran point guard could be a tricky proposition, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com notes.
Schröder was needed to fortify the backcourt after Jaden Ivey suffered a fractured fibula at the start of the New Year. Ivey should be 100 percent by training camp and the Pistons have prioritized re-signing sixth man Malik Beasley, one of the league’s premier three-point shooters. The Pistons will have to determine whether there’s enough of a role for Schröder to warrant the type of contract he figures to command.
We have more on the Pistons:
- In his latest mailbag, The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson expresses doubt that the Pistons are eager to get into the first round via trade. The Pistons conveyed their first-round pick to Minnesota to fulfill a prior obligation. Patterson believes the front office is content with the team’s early second rounder at No. 37. Patterson also anticipates the Pistons will look to add a power forward in free agency, perhaps targeting a player like Naz Reid or Santi Aldama.
- Prioritizing continuity in free agency and taking the long view on extensions for Ivey and Jalen Duren would make for a successful offseason, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press writes. Schröder, Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Paul Reed are all candidates to be re-signed, depending on the market. The Pistons could wait on new deals for Ivey and/or Duren until they reach restricted free agency next summer.
- A letter from owner Tom Gores was posted on the team’s website on Monday, expressing gratitude to the fans and praising the players, coach J.B. Bickerstaff and lead executive Trajan Langdon. He pledged the organization will continue to build off its surprising success. “I promise our urgency will not stop. Our players and coaching staff are focused on continuing our positive momentum,” Gores wrote. “Trajan and his team will act with urgency to strengthen our roster. And I will continue to ensure this organization has the necessary resources to succeed. I believe in what we’re building. I’m excited about this journey and hope you will stick with us as we continue to build on this foundation for success. I look forward to seeing you next season.”
Southeast Notes: Heat, Howard, Sarr, Carrington
The Heat must be aggressive this offseason and willing to remain in luxury tax territory to improve the roster, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. If Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant and/or Zion Williamson become available at the right price, the Heat should pursue those opportunities, according to Jackson, who says that includes looking into the possibility of making a deal with the Celtics, who are facing a prohibitive tax bill next season.
The Heat should also gauge the Hornets‘ interest in removing protections on the 2027 first-round pick the Heat owe them for the Terry Rozier deal, perhaps by offering an unprotected 2032 pick with added incentives, Jackson says. That would allow Miami to offer up to four first-round picks instead of three in a deal for a star.
What the Heat need to stop doing, in Jackson’s view, is overvaluing their assets. While they shouldn’t be shopped outright, Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro shouldn’t be off the table in a blockbuster deal if it helps the team acquire an even more talented player, Jackson contends.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- The Heat should seriously consider moving the No. 20 pick in this year’s draft, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines. The pick they owe the Hornets currently puts them under restrictions from trading some of their future first-rounders. If they deal the No. 20 pick for any first-round pick in 2027, it could open multiple first-round picks for trades in the coming years, Winderman notes.
- Jett Howard got more opportunities in his second season with the Magic but didn’t take advantage of them, Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel writes. He appeared in 60 games but averaged just 4.5 points in 11.7 minutes per game. Howard remains confident he can be an impact player with more playing time. “I can shoot the ball at a pretty high level,” he said. “Getting used to doing that out there … It’s hard being called in sometimes and not other times, but that’s just with anything [as] a young guy trying to get into the league, trying to get navigate through that and get some comfortability with that.”
- As we relayed earlier today, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington earned All-Rookie honors. How rare is that for the Wizards franchise? They are the first Washington players to make an All-Rookie team since Rui Hachimura was a second-team pick in 2019/20, Varun Shankar of the Washington Post notes. The only other time the franchise had two selections was when Rod Thorn and Gus Johnson earned the honor in 1963/64 for the Baltimore Bullets.
Poll: Who Will Win Eastern Conference Finals?
A year after falling to Indiana in the 2024 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Knicks will get another shot at them in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. Star guard Jalen Brunson is looking forward to the opportunity to take advantage of the second chance.
“I mean, it still kind of bothers me,” Brunson said on Monday, referring to last year’s series, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “Obviously it was a missed opportunity last year playing them at home in Game 7, regardless of who we had out there.”
The version of the Knicks that finished last season looked far different from the group that will take the court on Wednesday in Game 1 of the Eastern Finals. The 2023/24 roster didn’t feature Karl-Anthony Towns or Mikal Bridges, the club’s two major 2024 offseason additions. Plus, as Brunson alludes to, last year’s team was incredibly banged up, with key players like Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson unavailable for that do-or-die Game 7 and OG Anunoby unable to play more than five minutes.
This time around, the Knicks are fully healthy and are riding high after a strong first-round showing against the upstart Pistons and an unlikely second-round upset of the defending champion Celtics.
Just about everyone had penciled in an Eastern Finals showdown between the 64-win Cavaliers and 61-win Celtics, but New York and Indiana played spoiler and now the Knicks will enter their third-round series holding home court advantage and as betting favorites. BetOnline.ag lists New York as a -160 favorite to advance to the NBA Finals.
Knicks fans have plenty of reasons for optimism. After all, last year’s battle between these two teams nearly went their way even without Randle’s scoring, without Robinson’s elite rebounding, and without Towns and Bridges, who have been two of New York’s most valuable contributors in this postseason. The front office’s vision – Brunson and Towns serving as offensive engines while Bridges, Anunoby, and Josh Hart terrorize opponents on defense – has come together perfectly in recent weeks.
These Pacers, conversely, look pretty similar to last year’s team. In fact, with the exception of Bennedict Mathurin (injured for the 2024 playoffs) replacing Isaiah Jackson (injured for the 2025 playoffs), the Pacers have the exact same top nine players in minutes played that they did last postseason.
Skeptics would also point out that Indiana has benefited in a major way from injury luck over the past two springs. Bucks point guard Damian Lillard went down with an Achilles tear in the first round of this year’s postseason, while several Cavaliers – including Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and De’Andre Hunter – were battling health problems in the second round.
But underestimating this Pacers team would be a mistake. Indiana was doing just fine against healthy versions of Milwaukee and Cleveland before those injuries occurred and has a better overall net rating (+5.5) during these playoffs than that of the Knicks (+0.1). The Pacers are especially dangerous when they’re dictating the speed of the game, which they’ll be looking to do against a Knicks squad that ranked 26th in the NBA in pace during the regular season (Indiana was seventh).
The Pacers have also been getting a balanced offensive attack from their starting lineup and bench this spring. All five starters are averaging at least 14.6 points per game, led by Pascal Siakam (18.8 PPG) and Tyrese Haliburton (17.5 PPG and a playoff-leading 9.3 APG), with Mathurin, T.J. McConnell, and Obi Toppin combining for 28 points per contest off the bench. Indiana’s 117.3 playoff offensive rating is easily the best mark of any of the four remaining teams.
The last time the Knicks appeared in the NBA Finals in 1999, they defeated the Pacers in the Eastern Finals to get there. The Pacers returned the favor a year later, beating the Knicks in the Eastern Finals to represent the conference in the NBA Finals. They haven’t gotten back since. Whichever team wins this series and makes their first Finals appearance in a quarter-century will have to get past an old rival to do it.
We want to know what you think. Which team will win the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!
Who will win the Eastern Conference Finals?
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New York Knicks 50% (607)
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Indiana Pacers 50% (596)
Total votes: 1,203
Treysen Eaglestaff Withdraws From NBA Draft
After testing the NBA draft waters, Treysen Eaglestaff will remove his name from the 2025 pool and return to college for his senior season, agent George S. Landberg tells Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 (Twitter link).
Eaglestaff was a long shot to be drafted, having not earned a spot on ESPN’s list of this year’s top 100 prospects, so his decision to withdraw doesn’t come as a major surprise. He has committed to transfer to West Virginia after spending his first three college seasons at North Dakota.
[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
The 6’6″ shooting guard had a strong season as a scorer for the Fighting Hawks in 2024/25, averaging 18.9 points per game on 416/.359/.794 shooting in 33 outings. He earned a spot on the All-Summit League second team.
Eaglestaff’s scoring average was buoyed by some massive performances, including a 51-point outburst in the quarterfinals of the Summit League tournament against South Dakota State. He also put up 40 points in a loss to Alabama on December 18, knocking down a career-high eight three-pointers in each of those games.
Barring an unexpected development next season, Eaglestaff will be automatically eligible for the 2026 NBA draft.