Pacific Notes: Lakers, Van Gundy, Butler, Warriors, Durant
If practice makes perfect, the Lakers should be in good shape for Game 2 of their first-round series against Minnesota. The Lakers had their best practice in months, coach JJ Redick said on Monday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Los Angeles lost by 22 points on Saturday. The Lakers will look to even the series on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, we can just right our wrongs,” guard Austin Reaves said. “We played bad, they shot the ball really well. They’re obviously a really good team that’s physical. We got to match that. Tomorrow it’ll be different story.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- How has Jeff Van Gundy impacted the Clippers as an assistant in his returning to coaching? He’s been a major reason why their defense was strong enough to make the postseason. “He loves us being aggressive, attacking the ball,” Clippers guard Kris Dunn told the Sporting News’ Stephen Noh. “We’re not playing back on our heels. We’re being the aggressor and trying to dictate the game.”
- Jimmy Butler had a huge game as the Warriors grabbed a 1-0 series against the Rockets on Sunday night. Butler supplied 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. He scored six points in the last 1:43 to put the game away, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk notes. “He has that impact every game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of the team’s blockbuster midseason addition. “He calms things down. He’s very confident. He’s very poised. He always believes we’re going to win. Jimmy is — he’s one of the best players in the league, and that’s what the best players in the league do. It’s not just about scoring or stats. It’s about settling the game down, having the presence and the nature to compete and win games like this.”
- The Rockets, despite their strong regular season record, have been subpar in the half-court in 2024/25. The Warriors believe they can win the series by preventing Houston from getting easy baskets, Anthony Slater of ESPN writes. “But we’ve got to recognize that we don’t need to take chances in this series,” Kerr said. “We need to be clean with our execution in transition. We don’t need to dribble through traffic. We don’t need to throw lob passes to try to get a dunk. We’ve gotta be rock solid. If we’re rock solid, smart and tough, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
- If the Suns deal Kevin Durant this offseason, which veteran players could they try to acquire in return? Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic takes a look at 10 potential targets.
Kings Hire Scott Perry As General Manager
APRIL 21: The Kings have officially named Perry their general manager, according to a team press release.
“Scott brings a wealth of experience, a sharp basketball mind, and a strong track record of building talented rosters,” Ranadive said in a statement. “He shares our commitment to developing and sustaining a winning culture, and I am excited to welcome him back to Sacramento.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to rejoin the Kings organization and help build a successful team that competes at a high level,” Perry said in a statement of his own. “I’m eager to get to work with the players and staff to continue moving the organization forward.”
APRIL 17: The Kings are finalizing a contract with veteran NBA executive Scott Perry to be their new general manager, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Charania’s report has been confirmed by several other outlets, including The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Fox 40 Sacramento, and TheKingsBeat.com (all Twitter links here).
Sacramento and former GM Monte McNair mutually agreed to part ways after the team was eliminated from the play-in tournament on Wednesday night.
The Athletic reported overnight that Perry was the frontrunner to replace McNair. Mere hours later, he will be rejoining the Kings, having previously served as the team’s VP of basketball operations from April-June 2017.
Perry’s first stint with Sacramento was brief because he was hired away by New York to be the Knicks’ GM, but he reportedly had a strong working relationship with owner Vivek Ranadive. That connection undoubtedly helped him land his new position.
Perry, 61, played college basketball in the 1980s and then transitioned to coaching, primarily working in his home state of Michigan. The Detroit native got his first NBA job back in 2000 as an executive with the Pistons.
He had two separate stints in Detroit’s front office and also worked for Seattle and Orlando. Perry was the Knicks’ GM from 2017-23.
The Kings haven’t even conducted their exit interviews, tweets Sam Amick of The Athletic, yet they’ve already found a new head of basketball operations. Perhaps the impetus for hiring Perry so quickly is that he was rumored to be a candidate to join the Pelicans’ front office under Joe Dumars, his former boss and longtime colleague in Detroit.
Perry, who has also worked as an ESPN analyst, was reportedly one of four candidates who received serious consideration to become the Pistons’ head of basketball operations last year. Trajan Langdon was ultimately hired for the job.
Thunder Notes: Game 1 Romp, SGA, Caruso, Dort, Wiggins
In case anyone was wondering whether the Thunder truly have the goods to win the NBA championship, their Game 1 performance against the Grizzlies should dispel any doubt, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today writes.
The Thunder tore a path of destruction with their dominating 131-80 victory, showing off their talent, depth, intensity, speed, ball movement and commitment to defend.
Among Western Conference playoff teams, the Thunder have the second-fewest combined games of playoff experience, Zillgitt notes. However, they have the talent to overcome that relative inexperience.
We have more on the Thunder:
- The 51-point victory was the fifth-largest in NBA postseason history, The Associated Press notes. “We played to our identity,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Nothing more, nothing less than that. We were who we were all year … and it’s going to be the key to our success, just staying true to who we are.”
- Alex Caruso, one of the Thunder’s key offseason acquisitions, is grateful for the opportunity to be on a championship-level team, he told Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated. “Yeah, I felt confident from Day 1, just (general manager) Sam (Presti) saying all the things people have said about me before,” he said. “Just how much he appreciates what I do for the team, winning the little things and how that can rub off on teammates. I know that is a gift of mine, and that is something I really try to push to influence the rest of the team because I know how much value it carries. For sure, them seeking me out and bringing me here goes a long way.” Caruso didn’t take a shot in Game 1, but contributed four assists and three rebounds in 12 minutes.
- Luguentz Dort isn’t one of the finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award and Aaron Wiggins calls that “insane,” Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman tweets. “I do think there’s a lack of — I don’t wanna say attention to our team, but in terms of the way we played statistically defensively and the year we had, that doesn’t happen without elite defensive players,” Wiggins said. “Lu specifically is the main dude. He guards the best guards, the best wings, and even sometimes the forwards. I’ve watched him for years now not get credit for the work that he does.”
- Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the finalists for the league’s MVP award, told Lorenzi that he wants to be considered an all-time great but needs to lift his team in the postseason to prove it. “I want to be one of the best basketball players ever when it’s all said and done,” he said. “Like, competitively I want to be, and selfishly I want to be. Those things don’t come without winning. At the root of me, I just like to win. As a kid going to open gym, I wanted to win every game (and) stay on the floor the whole time. When you lose, you come off. Playing soccer growing up, I hated when I lost and had to wait until next week to play again.”
Southeast Notes: Magic, Mitchell, Rozier, Hornets
The Magic‘s role players need to be way better to challenge Boston in their first-round series, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner carried the offense in Orlando’s Game 1 loss, while their teammates had a combined 27 points on 10-of-30 shooting.
“They’ve got a lot on their shoulders as the offensive scorers on the team,” big man Jonathan Isaac said. “We’ve got to do a better job as role players.”
Cole Anthony believes a quicker pace would help the cause.
“We did a great job in the first half pushing the pace and crashing that glass,” he said. “The second half, we kind of got away from it as a team. So, I think if we can maintain that pace for 48 (minutes), we’ll have a chance.”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Following their Game 1 loss to top seed Cleveland, the Heat realize they’re not going to win the series on talent. Instead, they’ll have to rely on grit and determination. “We got to be the hardest playing team,” Heat guard Davion Mitchell told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “They’re a really good and talented team. They can score the ball with the best of them, so we got to be the hardest playing team. That’s what we got to do.”
- Terry Rozier is out of the Heat‘s rotation but he still wound up on the injury report for Wednesday’s Game 2. Rozier suffered a left ankle sprain during an optional workout, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets.
- Brandon Miller is the only Hornets player close to untouchable status, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith opines in his offseason preview. Charlotte should try once again to seek a trade for Mark Williams and even consider moving LaMelo Ball if the right offer comes along, Smith suggests, adding that getting assets, even minor ones, for some of their other regulars to free up time for developmental players should also be a part of the team’s offseason approach.
2025 Pre-Lottery NBA Draft Order
The NBA conducted its draft tiebreakers on Monday, further cementing the draft order for 2025. While we’ll have to wait until the May 12 draft lottery to learn the exact order for this year’s event, we now know what most of the 59 selections look like.
Listed below is the pre-lottery 2025 NBA draft order. Each lottery team’s chances of landing the No. 1 overall pick is noted in parentheses. We’ve also included notes for picks whose status remains up in the air depending on the lottery results.
[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Lottery Odds]
The second-round draft order for teams with identical regular season records is the inverse of their first-round order. This rule applies even if one club made the playoffs and one didn’t.
We’ll provided an updated list after the May 12 lottery, once the official draft order is set, but here’s the tentative 2025 NBA draft order:
First round
- Utah Jazz (14.0%)
- Washington Wizards (14.0%)
- Charlotte Hornets (14.0%)
- New Orleans Pelicans (12.5%)
- Philadelphia 76ers (10.5%)
- Note: The Thunder will receive this pick if it falls out of the top six (36.0%).
- Brooklyn Nets (9.0%)
- Toronto Raptors (7.5%)
- San Antonio Spurs (6.0%)
- Houston Rockets (from Suns) (3.8%)
- Portland Trail Blazers (3.7%)
- Dallas Mavericks (1.8%)
- Chicago Bulls (1.7%)
- Atlanta Hawks (from Kings) (0.8%)
- Note: The Kings will retain this pick if it moves into the top four (3.8%).
- San Antonio Spurs (from Hawks) (0.7%)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Heat)
- Orlando Magic
- Minnesota Timberwolves (from Pistons)
- Washington Wizards (from Grizzlies)
- Brooklyn Nets (from Bucks)
- Miami Heat (from Warriors)
- Utah Jazz (from Timberwolves)
- Atlanta Hawks (from Lakers)
- Indiana Pacers
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Clippers)
- Orlando Magic (from Nuggets)
- Brooklyn Nets (from Knicks)
- Brooklyn Nets (from Rockets)
- Boston Celtics
- Phoenix Suns (from Cavaliers)
- Los Angeles Clippers (from Thunder)
Second round
- Minnesota Timberwolves (from Jazz)
- Boston Celtics (from Wizards)
- Charlotte Hornets
- Charlotte Hornets (from Pelicans)
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Brooklyn Nets
- Detroit Pistons (from Raptors)
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors (from Trail Blazers)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 40 if the Trail Blazers end up with a higher first-round pick than the Rockets (from Suns) via the lottery.
- Washington Wizards (from Suns)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 39 if the Trail Blazers end up with a higher first-round pick than the Rockets (from Suns) via the lottery.
- Golden State Warriors (from Heat)
- Sacramento Kings (from Bulls)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 43 if the Bulls end up with a higher first-round pick than the Mavericks via the lottery.
- Utah Jazz (from Mavericks)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 42 if the Bulls end up with a higher first-round pick than the Mavericks via the lottery.
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Hawks)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 45 if the Spurs (from Hawks) end up with a higher first-round pick than the Hawks (from Kings) via the lottery.
- Chicago Bulls (from Kings)
- Note: This pick would move to No. 44 if the Spurs (from Hawks) end up with a higher first-round pick than the Hawks (from Kings) via the lottery.
- Orlando Magic
- Milwaukee Bucks (from Pistons)
- Memphis Grizzlies (from Warriors)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (from Bucks)
- New York Knicks (from Grizzlies)
- Los Angeles Clippers (from Timberwolves)
- Phoenix Suns (from Nuggets)
- Utah Jazz (from Clippers)
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Lakers
New York Knicks- Note: The Knicks forfeited this second-round pick due to free agency gun-jumping.
- Memphis Grizzlies (from Rockets)
- Orlando Magic (from Celtics)
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Houston Rockets (from Thunder)
2025 NBA Draft Lottery Odds
The NBA will be using its revamped lottery system for the seventh time this year. The format, instituted in 2019, smoothed out the odds for top picks, reducing the league’s worst team’s chance of getting the No. 1 selection from 25.0% to 14.0%.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: NBA Draft Lottery]
The changes had an immediate impact in 2019, when the Pelicans and Grizzlies were tied for the seventh-best lottery odds, but jumped up to No. 1 and 2, respectively, allowing them to land Zion Williamson and Ja Morant. There were fewer major surprises in subsequent years until 2024, when the Hawks entered lottery night with the 10th-best odds and came away with the first overall pick.
This year’s draft lottery will take place on Monday, May 12.
With the help of data from Tankathon.com – which is worth checking out for all sorts of draft-related info – the draft lottery odds for 2025 are listed in the chart below.
The numbers in the chart indicate percentages, so the Jazz‘s pick, for instance, has a 14% chance of becoming the No. 1 selection and a 47.9% chance of ending up at No. 5. If a team’s odds are listed as >0, that percentage is below 0.1%. Odds are rounded to the nearest decimal place.
Here’s the full chart:
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTH | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 47.9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| WSH | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 27.8 | 20 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| CHA | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 14.8 | 26 | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| NOP | 12.5 | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.5 | 7.2 | 25.7 | 16.8 | 2.2 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| PHI* | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 2.2 | 19.6 | 26.7 | 8.7 | 0.6 | – | – | – | – | – |
| BKN | 9 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 9.6 | – | 8.6 | 29.7 | 20.6 | 3.7 | 0.2 | – | – | – | – |
| TOR | 7.5 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.5 | – | – | 19.7 | 34.1 | 12.9 | 1.3 | >0 | – | – | – |
| SAS | 6 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.2 | – | – | – | 34.5 | 32.0 | 6.8 | 0.4 | >0 | – | – |
| PHX* | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.9 | – | – | – | – | 50.7 | 28.3 | 3.5 | 0.1 | >0 | – |
| POR | 3.7 | 4 | 4.4 | 4.8 | – | – | – | – | – | 63.4 | 18.5 | 1.2 | >0 | >0 |
| DAL | 1.8 | 2 | 2.2 | 2.5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 77.6 | 13.5 | 0.5 | >0 |
| CHI | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 85.2 | 6.6 | 0.1 |
| SAC* | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1 | 1.1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 92.9 | 3.3 |
| ATL* | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 96.6 |
Notes:
- The Sixers‘ pick will be sent to the Thunder if it lands outside the top six.
- The Suns‘ pick will be sent to the Nets.
- The Kings‘ pick will be sent to the Hawks if it lands outside the top 12.
- The Hawks‘ pick will be sent to the Spurs.
The full pre-lottery 2025 draft order can be found right here.
Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart Ruled Out For Game 2
Isaiah Stewart won’t play in Game 2 of the Pistons’ first-round series against the Knicks on Monday night, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post tweets.
Stewart limped off the court during the fourth quarter in Game 1 of the series on Saturday night with a right leg injury. He underwent tests on the leg and was listed on Sunday as questionable for Game 2 due to right knee inflammation.
Despite the fact Stewart is Jalen Duren‘s backup at center, it’s a big blow for Detroit as it tries to even the series before hosting Games 3 and 4. Stewart provides the club with a defensive edge coming off the bench and was expected to play a key role in the series, helping to combat high-scoring big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
Stewart played 19 minutes in Game 1, contributing two points, five rebounds, two blocks and an assist while using up five fouls.
Without him, Duren will have to try his best to stay out of foul trouble and coach J.B. Bickerstaff could also utilize some smaller lineups when Duren is off the court. The other alternative would be for Paul Reed to take some of Stewart’s minutes.
2025 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results
Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.
The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link):
- Phoenix Suns (No. 9) over Portland Trail Blazers (No. 10)
- The Suns will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Trail Blazers.
- The Suns’ pick will be sent to the Rockets.
- Dallas Mavericks (No. 11) over Chicago Bulls (No. 12)
- The Mavericks will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Bulls.
- Sacramento Kings (No. 13) over Atlanta Hawks (No. 14)
- The Kings will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Hawks.
- The Kings’ pick will be sent to the Hawks if it’s outside of the top 12.
- The Hawks’ pick will be sent to the Spurs.
- Memphis Grizzlies (No. 18) over Milwaukee Bucks (No. 19) over Golden State Warriors (No. 20)
- The Grizzlies’ pick will be sent to the Wizards.
- The Bucks’ pick will be sent to the Nets.
- The Warriors’ pick will be sent to the Heat.
- Los Angeles Lakers (No. 22) over Indiana Pacers (No. 23) over Los Angeles Clippers (No. 24) over Denver Nuggets (No. 25)
- The Lakers’ pick will be sent to the Hawks.
- The Clippers’ pick will be sent to the Thunder.
- The Nuggets’ pick will be sent to the Magic.
While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round.
For instance, the Warriors’ second-round pick (traded to the Grizzlies) will be at No. 48, followed by the Bucks’ pick (traded to Detroit) at No. 49, and the Grizzlies (traded to New York) at No. 50 — that’s the opposite of their order in the first round.
For lottery teams that finished with identical records, the second-round order is still to be determined depending on the lottery results.
For example, if Phoenix’s first-round pick (traded to Houston) stays at No. 9 and the Blazers’ first-rounder stays at No. 10, Portland’s second-round pick (traded to Toronto) would be at No. 39 and Phoenix’s (traded to Washington) would be No. 40. But if the Trail Blazers win the No. 1 overall pick on lottery night, moving ahead of Phoenix in the first round, then the Suns’ second-round pick would be No. 39, while Portland’s would be No. 40.
We’ll publish the full lottery odds and pre-lottery draft order for 2025 later tonight.
Mavs GM Harrison On Doncic Trade, Fan Reaction, More
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison discussed the shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic as well as the overwhelmingly negative reaction to it from fans, who have been chanting “fire Nico” since the deal was completed.
“I did know Luka was important to the Mavs’ fan base,” Harrison said, per RealGM. “I didn’t quite know to what level.
“But, really, the way we looked at it is if you’re putting a team on the floor that’s Kyrie [Irving], Klay [Thompson], P.J. [Washington], Anthony Davis and [Dereck] Lively, we felt that’s a championship-caliber team. And we would have been winning at a high level. That would have quieted some of the outrage. So unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, so it just went on and on.”
When asked why he should be able to keep his job, Harrison defended his Mavericks tenure, tweets Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
“Well, one, I think I’ve done a really good job here,” Harrison said. “And I don’t think I can be judged by the injuries this year. You have to judge the totality, from the beginning to end. I think I have a really good working relationship with [governor Patrick Dumont]. I think you add in Rick [Welts], the leadership we have is really elite and you’ll see next year when our team comes back. We’re going to be competing for a championship.”
Here’s more from Harrison’s press conference:
- Harrison was pressed on why the Mavericks couldn’t get more assets from the Lakers for Doncic. “I think the biggest thing is if you don’t value AD as an All-NBA player and All-Defensive player, then you’re not going to like the trade,” Harrison said, according to Curtis (Twitter link).
- The Mavs’ head of basketball operations said Dumont didn’t pressure him to make the deal, as Curtis relays (via Twitter). “Not at all. Patrick reminds me of the leadership that I had at Nike and a really good leader doesn’t tell the people that work for him what to do. It’s a collective, well thought out process to make a big move like that. Also, unfortunately, I’m super stubborn so someone telling me to do something doesn’t work too well for me.”
- Despite the intense backlash, Harrison claims his relationship with Dumont has actually been “strengthened” in the two-plus months since the trade was made, according to Marc Stein (Twitter link).
- Harrison said Davis won’t need surgery this offseason and he doesn’t believe Lively will either, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Both players missed significant time with injuries, but were able to return before the team was eliminated in the play-in tournament.
- Regarding Kyrie Irving‘s $43.96MM player option for 2025/26, Harrison said he wasn’t sure if it would be exercised, but he’s confident the 33-year-old will be in a Mavericks uniform next season. “It’s too early to tell what Kyrie is going to do, but what I do feel is he’s going to be a Maverick next year,” Harrison said (Twitter link via Curtis).
Knicks Notes: Hart, Anunoby, Thompson, Brunson, Towns
Josh Hart was largely a non-factor in the first half of Game 1 of the Knicks‘ first-round series vs. Detroit due to early foul trouble, but he played a major role in New York’s second-half comeback, including a 21-0 run that sealed the victory, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Hart went scoreless, missing his two field goal attempts, in seven first-half minutes, but he went 6-of-8 after intermission, finishing with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 30 minutes — the Knicks outscored the Pistons by 20 during his time on the court.
“I think it’s just trying to stay ready,” Hart said Sunday. “I think growing up, I was always taught to play the game until the last whistle. At Villanova, Coach [Jay] Wright really got that instilled in us that you can’t control everything, you’ve gotta let stuff go, but you’ve gotta continue to push, continue to fight until the last whistle. For me, that’s just how I’m wired. You can box me out for 46 minutes, but if it’s not a habit, those last two minutes of a game is where I’m gonna make an impact or get an offensive rebound or get a loose ball or something like that.
“Obviously the foul trouble was frustrating. I was yelling at [head coach Tom Thibodeau] to keep me in but obviously I was doing idiotic fouls. Thibs is always making sure you’re staying ready and locked into the game.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- As Chris Herring details for ESPN.com, Hart is one of the top rebounders in NBA history for his size, is known for his tenacity and hustle, is a skilled secondary play-maker, and shot a career-best 61.8% on twos during the 2024/25 season. Still, while Hart’s all-around contributions are undoubtedly valuable, the Knicks’ playoff hopes may hinge on how he fares from behind the arc — rival teams dare him to shoot, and his three-point percentages tend to fluctuate wildly. He has converted 34.2% of his career triples, including 33.3% in ’24/25.
- If OG Anunoby continues to play like he did in Game 1, the Knicks have a real shot at making a deep playoff run, contends Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post (subscriber link). Anunoby, 27, re-signed with New York in free agency last offseason, inking a massive five-year, $212.5MM contract. The defensive stalwart recorded 23 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two blocks in 44 minutes in the opening contest.
- Pistons second-year wing Ausar Thompson said “nothing” came to mind when asked to name the most difficult challenge of defending Jalen Brunson, but later said the star guard was good at “selling” fouls, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required). Known for his excellent defense, Thompson committed five fouls in 23 minutes in Game 1.
- Karl-Anthony Towns could become a franchise legend if the team has an impressive playoff showing, Vaccaro writes in another subscriber-only column. Towns is off to a good start after shining in his Knicks postseason debut, but he will have to continue to thrive on both ends for New York to have a chance at representing the East in the NBA Finals.