Life is funny. The one thing that made the Los Angeles Lakers underdogs is kind of the reason they won the series opener with the Houston Rockets.
Kevin Durant’s absence sapped more star power from this Round 1 matchup — already down Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves — but unlike L.A.’s injured studs, Durant has a good shot of playing in Game 2 tonight.
My Rockets vs. Lakers predictions and NBA picks bank on a better showing from Houston tonight, with or without KD on April 21.
UPDATE: Added a prediction for who will win tonight.
Rockets vs Lakers prediction
Who will win Rockets vs Lakers Game 2?
Rockets: I bet the Lakers’ moneyline in Game 1, even before the news of Kevin Durant’s knee injury. If there was going to be a game in which L.A. came out swinging, it would be the opener. And boy did it. But balance is restored in Game 2 as Houston’s role players get on track and the Lakers’ support staff plummets back to earth.
Rockets vs Lakers best bet: Rockets -4.5 (-110)
With the way the Los Angeles Lakers shot the ball in Game 1, it may not have mattered if Kevin Durant was healthy or not.
Los Angeles finished a blistering 61% from the floor, including 10-for-19 from beyond the arc. A well-rested LeBron James conducted a crisp L.A. attack that recorded an assist on more than 72% of its total buckets.
The Houston Rockets’ offense, on the other hand, was lost and untethered without the gravity of Durant. The Rockets were a chilly 38% from the floor, with an 11-for-33 mark from beyond the arc.
Los Angeles was able to be more aggressive when it came to double-teaming Houston’s secondary stars, and the Rockets missed KD’s ability to create when things broke down. Couple that with playoff nerves on the road for some younger standouts, and you can see how things fell apart.
I expect it all to come closer to the middle in Game 2 as a potential letdown for the Lakers, who got a Luka-like effort from reserve-turned-starter Luke Kennard on Saturday.
Los Angeles won’t connect at the same clip, and Houston will tighten the bolts on offense, with or without Durant. Head coach Ime Udoka is emphasizing spacing and more screen action — both on- and off-ball — after iso-heavy sets stagnated the Rockets in Game 1.
I’m holding out hope Durant returns for the sake of this bet, but I’m confident Houston will still perform better than Game 1 if he doesn’t.
Rockets vs Lakers same-game parlay
Amen Thompson scored 17 points in Game 1 as one of Houston’s lone bright spots. He dropped 26 and 19 points in the previous two matchups with Los Angeles, and if Durant returns, he’ll enjoy a lot more space in Game 2. Thompson is projected for as many as 19 points.
LBJ did it all for L.A. in the opener but didn’t need to take or make triples, with the Lakers playing with the lead. Game script has Los Angeles trailing tonight, and with some of the Lakers’ role players coming back to earth, James will jack up his share of long-range looks to close that gap.
Rockets vs Lakers SGP
Rockets -4.5
Amen Thompson Over 16.5 points
LeBron James Over 1.5 threes
Our “from downtown” SGP: The King and I (V2.0)
Let’s try this one more time. I had a fun all-GOAT same-game parlay pegged for Game 1 leaning into LeBron vs. KD. Then Durant went and spoiled it all by banging up his knee in practice. He’s trending toward playing in Game 2, so I’m calling for these two HoFers to pace their team in points and knock down shots from downtown.
Rockets vs Lakers SGP
Rockets -4.5
Kevin Durant Over 23.5 points
Kevin Durant Over 2.5 threes
LeBron James Over 24.5 points
LeBron James Over 1.5 threes
Rockets vs Lakers odds for Game 2
Spread: Rockets -4.5 | Lakers +4.5
Moneyline: Rockets -205 | Lakers +170
Over/Under: Over 207 | Under 207
Rockets vs Lakers betting trend to know
Houston is 22-8 SU off a loss this season, with those bounce-back spots producing a 12-17-1 Over/Under count. Find more NBA betting trends for Rockets vs. Lakers.
How to watch Rockets vs Lakers Game 2
Location
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA
Date
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Tip-off
10:30 p.m. ET
TV
NBC/Peacock
Rockets vs Lakers latest injuries
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the clear frontrunner to repeat as MVP, and his case for that is intertwined with his play in the clutch this season. Oklahoma City won 64 games not just because SGA was the best player in the first 43 minutes of a game, but also because of how dominant he was in the last five.
Which is why Gilgeous-Alexander was voted NBA Clutch Player of the Year, garnering 96 of the 100 first-place votes (cast by a select group of media). Hall of Famer Reggie Miller made the announcement on Peacock.
Denver’s Jamal Murray finished second in the voting, just one point ahead of the Timberwolves Anthony Edwards, who was third (the 65-game rule does not apply to this award). Murray had 33 second-place votes (worth three points each) and 18 third-place votes (worth one point), while Edwards had one fewer second-place vote with 32 and two more third-place votes (20).
Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in the clutch, averaging 6.5 points per clutch game, as well as with 175 total clutch points this season, leading the Thunder to a league-best +92 in clutch minutes and a 20-7 record. What’s more, he had to do a lot of that on his own — Murray was second in total clutch points with 166 but he had a lot of help in the form of Nikola Jokic (155).
The other four first-place votes that didn’t go to SGA went to players who did not finish in the top three. Cade Cunningham got one and finished fourth in the voting, Jalen Brunson (who won the award last year) had two first-place votes but finished fifth, and the Nuggets’ Jokic got one first-place vote but finished sixth.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: Alperen Sengun #28 of the Houston Rockets dribbles into Luke Kennard #10 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of Game One of the First Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 18, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Houston Rockets vs Los Angeles Lakers
Game 2 – April 21, 2026
Location: Crypto.com arena, Los Angeles, CA
TV: NBC/Peacock
Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790 / KLTN 102.9 (en español)
Lakers: Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Jake Laravia, Lebron James, Deandre Ayton
The playoffs continue tonight for the Rockets. The biggest question is the status of Forward Kevin Durant, as he is listed as a game time decision with his knee bruise. Honestly, even without Kevin Durant, this Houston team should win over a depleted Lakers team, but then again, Houston could put up another stinker offensively.
Hopefully Sengun, Jabari, and Amen Thompson all bounce back from their lackluster Game 1 performances. ( I am excluding Reed because to give him grace since it was his first real NBA playoff game). If not, the Rockets could be in trouble, and facing an 0-2 deficit before the series shifts to Houston this Friday.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the Oklahoma City guard who is the reigning MVP and NBA Finals MVP, was the overwhelming and nearly unanimous pick as the Clutch Player of the Year for this season, the NBA announced Tuesday.
It’s the first of what could be several awards for Gilgeous-Alexander in the coming weeks. He’s the heavy favorite to win a second straight MVP trophy — and because he’s a finalist there, he’s also a lock to make the All-NBA team for a fourth straight year.
“This award means a lot,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on NBC Sports, which aired the award announcement. “To get this award, you have to help your team win games late and what I’m about more than anything is winning games.”
Gilgeous-Alexander got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes. Jamal Murray of Denver was second, one point ahead of Anthony Edwards of Minnesota.
Edwards didn’t reach the 65-game eligibility standard for most league awards like MVP and the All-NBA team — and unsuccessfully appealed for a waiver that would have put him on those ballots — but his candidacy for the clutch award wasn’t affected by that rule.
Instead, the finalists for the clutch award were decided by a survey of the league’s coaches. That whittled the group down to 14 names, which were then placed onto the ballot that a panel of 100 reporters and broadcasters who cover the league filled out last week to decide the various awards.
Gilgeous-Alexander has been a contender for the clutch award since it was added to the league’s slate of trophies; he was third last season, eighth in 2024 and seventh in 2023.
And now, it’s his.
“I’m proud I get to hoist it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It means I’m effective out there.”
Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the fourth player to win the clutch award, which was added in tribute to Jerry West — the inspiration for the NBA’s logo and the player long known as “Mr. Clutch” as a nod to his exploits when the outcome of games was on the line.
De’Aaron Fox (then of Sacramento, now of San Antonio) was the first clutch award recipient in 2023, followed by Golden State’s Stephen Curry in 2024 and New York’s Jalen Brunson last season. Brunson was a nominee again this year, finishing fifth.
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham was fourth, followed by Brunson, Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic, Houston’s Kevin Durant and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Brunson and Jokic are now the only players to get votes in the clutch balloting in all four seasons of the award’s existence.
Curry, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Dallas’ Kyrie Irving saw their three-year streaks as clutch vote-getters end because of injuries; Curry missed about half the season, Tatum missed most of the season and Irving was sidelined for the entire season.
For a play to be considered clutch, by the NBA’s definition, these are the criteria: The score differential has to be five points or less, and the game has to be in either the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime.
All three of the leading vote-getters had compelling statistical arguments for the award:
— Gilgeous-Alexander led the league with 175 points in clutch times, plus was ninth with 21 assists in those situations. The Thunder went 20-7 in the 27 clutch games in which he played, and outscored opponents by 93 points in those clutch situations with him on the floor.
— Edwards shot 56.5% from the field in clutch moments, the best of any of the league’s 19 players that had at least 85 clutch-time points this season.
— Murray was second in clutch points with 166 plus led the league with 30 clutch-time assists.
The clutch award was the second to be handed out this season. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous winner of Defensive Player of the Year, which was announced Monday.
“It’s just very meaningful to me,” Wembanyama said Tuesday about being the first unanimous winner of the DPOY trophy. “It means that’s there no place for debate. It means that everybody agrees upon something.”
On Wednesday, the Sixth Man of the Year winner — either the Spurs’ Keldon Johnson, the Nuggets’ Tim Hardaway Jr. or Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. — will be revealed. The league’s Sportsmanship Award winner will be announced Thursday, followed by Most Improved Player on Friday.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles past Josh Okogie #20 of the Houston Rockets during the first half of Game One of the First Round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 18, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Here are the NBA playoff games for Tuesday, April 21, 2026:
Boston Celtics at Miami Heat — 7:30 PM ET (TNT)
Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder — 8:00 PM ET (NBA TV)
Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns — 10:00 PM ET (TNT)
It was revealed during a report on ESPN’s NBA Today that Dončić and Reaves both began practicing with the Lakers on Monday, April 20. While Dončić is still considered out indefinitely, ESPN reports Reaves has been progressing, and there is optimism in the building that he could return towards the end of the series.
“The sense around the Lakers is that Austin Reaves is actually the one that’s further along than Luka Dončić in their respective rehab processes,” Shams Charania said on the broadcast. “… Remember early April here, he had a four-to-six-week timetable. So theoretically, that puts him on track late in this series, potentially early in the next series.”
Charania added that Reaves has begun one-on-one on-court work and is expected to continue his progression to three-on-three and five-on-five before a return to game action.
Dončić, meanwhile, is currently not expected to return in the first round.
Neither has played since April 2 due to a grade 2 left hamstring strain (Dončić) and a grade 2 left oblique strain (Reaves). Dončić flew to Spain in the last week of the regular season to undergo an injection procedure in hopes of accelerating the healing process in his hamstring, while Reaves remained in Los Angeles to rehab his oblique.
“To get this award, you have to help your team win games late,” Gilgeous-Alexander told NBC after winning the award. “That’s what I’m after more than anything, is winning games.
“My teammates trust me. My coaches trust me to put the ball in my hands in those positions. I try my best to deliver night in and night out, and I did enough of it this year.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was named CPOY over fellow finalists Jamal Murray and Anthony Edwards. He secured 96 of 100 first-place votes to win the award in a landslide. Murray finished in second place, one point ahead of Edwards.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the fourth different Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year winner in the award’s four seasons.
A global media panel of 100 voters made the selection.
But when the Thunder needed clutch scoring, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered with more points than anyone else in the league. Take, for example, this dagger 3 to defeat the Western Conference rival Denver Nuggets in March.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51.5% from the field in the clutch and connected on 13 of his 37 3-point attempts (35.1%). He also finished ninth in the NBA with 21 clutch assists and was tied at 34th with four steals in the clutch.
Murray finished second in the league with 166 clutch points on 52.2% shooting in 177.4 clutch minutes. Edwards played considerably fewer clutch minutes (93.8) than either but finished sixth in the league with 135 clutch points on 56.5% shooting from the field, the best rate of any of the top 15 clutch scorers.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the subject of frequent criticism for his propensity to draw fouls and score at the free-throw line. But his game is much more than that, and he’s delivered repeatedly for a Thunder team seeking its second straight NBA championship.
“To get this award, you have to help your team win games late,” Gilgeous-Alexander told NBC after winning the award. “That’s what I’m after more than anything, is winning games.
“My teammates trust me. My coaches trust me to put the ball in my hands in those positions. I try my best to deliver night in and night out, and I did enough of it this year.”
Gilgeous-Alexander was named CPOY over fellow finalists Jamal Murray and Anthony Edwards. He secured 96 of 100 first-place votes to win the award in a landslide. Murray finished in second place, one point ahead of Edwards.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the fourth different Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year winner in the award’s four seasons.
A global media panel of 100 voters made the selection.
But when the Thunder needed clutch scoring, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered with more points than anyone else in the league. Take, for example, this dagger 3 to defeat the Western Conference rival Denver Nuggets in March.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51.5% from the field in the clutch and connected on 13 of his 37 3-point attempts (35.1%). He also finished ninth in the NBA with 21 clutch assists and was tied at 34th with four steals in the clutch.
Murray finished second in the league with 166 clutch points on 52.2% shooting in 177.4 clutch minutes. Edwards played considerably fewer clutch minutes (93.8) than either but finished sixth in the league with 135 clutch points on 56.5% shooting from the field, the best rate of any of the top 15 clutch scorers.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the subject of frequent criticism for his propensity to draw fouls and score at the free-throw line. But his game is much more than that, and he’s delivered repeatedly for a Thunder team seeking its second straight NBA championship.
NEW YORK — Mike Brown tried to make it as clear as he could: The reason to win Game 2 wasn’t “to protect home court,” or “to avoid losing momentum,” or “to prevent his New York Knicks from stepping on the same rake that Tom Thibodeau’s version did against the Heat in 2023, or against the Pistons and the Pacers last year.” It was a little simpler than that. A little more … Herm Edwards-y.
“It really doesn’t matter, to me, that we’re home or on the road,” Brown said during his pregame news conference Monday night. “We want to win the freakin’ game because that’s the next game in front of us. And it’s extremely important to try to go attack it that way, and that’s how we’re going to attack it.”
For most of the first three quarters, the Knicks did attack it that way.
New York’s starting five — which had been outscored since February’s trade deadline, and whose relative ineffectiveness has been a point of contention for these Knicks across two years and two head coaches — was controlling the terms of engagement against an Atlanta starting lineup that had been one of the league’s best since coming together after the All-Star break. The Knicks were leaning on the Hawks, with centers Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson (and energizer guard Jordan Clarkson, who just sort of became an offensive rebounding force over the final 25 games of the season) leveraging their size advantage over Atlanta’s shorter bigs to pull in 10 offensive rebounds through three quarters — a whopping 50% offensive rebounding rate that led to 22 second-chance points.
<p>Jalen Brunson and the Knicks head to Atlanta with the series tied 1-1. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)</p>
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS
Josh Hart was contributing his customary energetic all-around work — rebounding, facilitating, pushing the pace — while continuing to play in-your-jersey defense on Hawks All-Star Jalen Johnson, who’d scored a quiet 11 points on eight shots through three quarters. Mikal Bridges, forever wearing the five-first-round-picks millstone around his neck whenever he doesn’t score a lot, was continuing to keep Nickeil Alexander-Walker from finding daylight, limiting the Most Improved Player candidate to just 2-for-10 shooting amid an extended frigid streak to start the series.
The Knicks were shooting 52% from the floor, holding the Hawks to 43% shooting, and scoring 128.2 points per 100 possessions — a rate of offensive efficiency that would’ve led the league during the regular season. When Hart rebounded a missed CJ McCollum pull-up with just over five minutes to go, they had a 93.4% win probability, according to Inpredictable.
So, y’know … what happened?
“We just got to lock in a little bit better,” Brown said after the Knicks squandered a 12-point fourth-quarter lead and home-court advantage — again — in a 107-106 Game 2 loss. “In a playoff game, it’s tough to win against a good team when you shoot 60% from the free-throw line. In a one-possession game, we missed 10 free throws. One-possession game, we had 14 turnovers for 18 points.”
“We just got to play better with the lead,” said Knicks star Jalen Brunson, after a fourth quarter in which the offense he captains scored just 15 points in 22 possessions — a ghastly 68.2 offensive rating — and in which Jonathan Kuminga and CJ McCollum took turns torching him off the dribble for buckets in Atlanta’s rampaging comeback. “That’s twice in the fourth quarter, now, that we’ve done that.”
“I think just help each other out,” said Bridges, who had a chance to wrest the title of hero away from McCollum with a would-be game-winning jumper that rimmed out. “It’s all five of us out there — I think we just got to communicate, help each other and make it difficult for them.”
“They hit shots and we didn’t make shots,” said Towns — who, notably, only took two of them during the final frame, missing both. Asked about his second consecutive quiet finish, the All-Star center said, “Just, you know, the opportunities just didn’t come around to shoot it. But at the end of the day, I trust everyone in this locker room to shoot the ball.”
OK, so: missed free throws and costly turnovers; a lack of attention to detail and process on the offensive end; insufficient communication and connection in defensive coverages; the vicissitudes of a make-or-miss league. Kind of a lot of action items on that clean-it-up punch list for the Knicks.
Any of them stand out as the most frustrating, Josh?
“Nah, just … all of it,” said Hart, who finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. “This was a game we should have won, and in the playoffs, you can’t give away games.”
Non-Brunson/KAT lineups to blame?
The Hawks deserve their fair share of credit for taking it: for McCollum’s steady hand, quicksilver handle and feathery touch on the floaters and pull-ups that sunk the Knicks; for Kuminga’s physicality on both ends of the floor in a command performance off the Atlanta bench; for Johnson’s ability to weather a frustrating start to the series and come through with three huge buckets in the final six minutes.
But when you fritter away a double-digit lead at the start of the fourth quarter for just the second time in postseason franchise history, and a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter for the second time in 11 months — and everybody and their mother remembers the firsttwo — even a responsible ceding of credit to the victors doesn’t cover the totality of the circumstance. Not by a long shot.
With the Knicks holding a 12-point lead after three quarters, Brown elected to start the fourth quarter with both Brunson and Towns on the bench. It’s something he rarely did throughout the regular season, but started to do more as the season wore on; lineups without either of New York’s two All-Stars played 182 minutes after the All-Star break, outscoring opponents by 25 points.
Those units — often featuring OG Anunoby as the lone starter, with Robinson at the 5 and Clarkson, Deuce McBride and Landry Shamet as the three guards — skew defense-first, without a traditional point guard or primary shot creator. The conceit: Steal a few minutes at the start of the second and fourth quarters, try to get by with stops, transition play and offensive rebounds, and then be able to bring Brunson and Towns back together, affording New York more minutes with both of its stars on the floor — minutes the Knicks have won comfortably this season, with an elite offense — in which to continue emphasizing a resurgent two-man game.
“We’ve played that lineup quite a bit since the end of the season, and that lineup’s been pretty good,” Brown said.
Those no-Brunson/KAT lineups held up mostly fine for nine minutes in Game 1. They struggled to start the second quarter of Game 2, generating just one basket and three live-ball turnovers in four minutes in a 13-3 run that gave Atlanta the lead. After a timeout, Brown shuffled things up, sending in Jose Alvarado — a DNP-CD in Game 1 — to settle things down. (Which, y’know, isn’t typically Jose’s modus operandi.) A minute and a half later, the Knicks’ lead was back up to five, and the starters were back in.
When Brown went back to the no-Brunson/KAT look to open the fourth, he tried to fortify it, adding an extra starter (Bridges alongside Anunoby) and Alvarado as a ball-handler to go with Robinson and McBride. It again did not go well: Three misses in four shot attempts, a live-ball turnover leading to a runout layup, some defensive miscommunications leading to wide-open dunks and an 8-2 run that halved the 12-point lead in less than three minutes.
The glass-half-empty take: Those minutes without an offensive hub effectively submarined New York’s rhythm and flow, with turnovers and empty possessions giving a Hawks team that had been struggling in the half-court an opportunity to get out in transition, where they scored nearly 1.5 points per possession in Game 2, according to Cleaning the Glass — a monster number.
“We had a good lead and just gotta keep playing,” Bridges said. “I think us not getting good looks on offense in the beginning [of the fourth] got them a little rhythm.”
Viewed through another lens, though: The Knicks led by five when Brunson and Towns returned in the second quarter, and by nine when they came back with 7:56 remaining in regulation. Could New York have built larger leads with one of its top guns on the floor in those minutes? Maybe. Did it still have the opportunity to slam the door even with those lineups getting outscored by seven points in 11 total minutes? Absolutely.
“I gotta watch the game, but what I do know is that the time when we were off the court wasn’t when we lost,” Towns said. “It was the time when we were on the court at the end, when they found ways to make shots.”
How the Hawks attacked
They found ways to make shots partly by putting Brunson under the microscope, either by going at him in a size mismatch with Kuminga or running guard-guard screening actions with McCollum and Alexander-Walker. Atlanta’s game plan was clear: Force New York’s weakest defensive link to navigate traffic, deal with physicality and have to stay in front of offensive players capable of beating him in isolation. He wasn’t able to do it.
Tough defensive game for Brunson. The Hawks got 1.77 points per direct drive tonight when Brunson was guarding the ball-handler. That’s the 6th-worst mark for a defender who guarded at least 14 drives in a game this season pic.twitter.com/oAZQInDiov
While the Hawks targeted Brunson on the defensive end, they also worked hard to prevent New York’s stars from carving them up on the other.
“Any time you have two players of that caliber, with Jalen and KAT, you know, you need to have things that you think about and prepare for […] how you match up can really impact coverages. And that’s something that we’re aware of,” Snyder said before Game 2. “I think you have to have different things that you do to those guys. As you know, there’s gonna be an advantage somewhere, and sometimes making them play out of a different situation can be helpful.”
It proved helpful down the stretch of Game 2. The Hawks toggled through defensive coverages on Brunson, cranking up some late pressure to force the ball out of his hands and force other Knicks to beat them. They again shuffled the defensive matchup on Towns, putting Kuminga on him and center Onyeka Okongwu on Hart for some possessions, then going back to playing things straight late in the game.
On some possessions, they trusted McCollum and Okongwu to hold up on switches when Brunson tried to hunt mismatches in the pick-and-roll. On others, they trusted Alexander-Walker to fight over screens, stay connected and force a tough look.
Credit to the Hawks for cycling through pick and roll coverages late vs. Brunson
-Coverage bust, Okongwu thinking it will be kept on one side, Brunson turns the corner and finishes -Hart screens, OO jumps out and then recovers to Hart -Hat screens, OO traps to get ball out pic.twitter.com/oNYOIWUagA
Brunson was trying to get the Okongwu matchup almost every time down. Hawks mixed coverages up very nicely to try and keep him off balance. Sprinkled in hedges, hedge-and-unders, blitzing, switching, hard doubling. pic.twitter.com/v4h6WvpxPj
The result: Just four New York points on 1-for-11 shooting in a six-plus-minute span between the time Brunson, Towns and Hart checked back in with a nine-point lead and when Brunson hit a pull-up 3 to tie the game at 103.
“We were a little stagnant,” Brunson said after the game. “Obviously, I can control what I can control. So, poor decision-making on my part, and a couple of possessions, they played great defense and knocked the ball out of my hands.”
Brunson missed five of his eight shots in the fourth quarter of Game 2, and is now just 3-for-11 in the final frame in this series. Plenty of the shots he’s missed are shots that Knicks fans have seen him make hundreds of times. But the Hawks are betting that, if they can just keep making those looks as hard as possible as often as possible, the odds will swing in their favor. So far, they’ve been right.
“Over the course of the game, if you don’t let up and you don’t give into that, you have an opportunity to have more success late, if you just kind of hang in there,” Snyder said.
The Hawks hung in, dug deep and were rewarded for their resilience. The challenge facing the Knicks: go and do likewise. If there’s a silver lining surrounding the gray clouds hanging over Madison Square Garden, it’s this: They literally did this exact thing a year ago.
“Yeah, you know, we’ve been in this situation before,” Hart said. “Obviously, everyone is frustrated with this loss, and we’re going to go into Game 3 with a great attention to detail and a great focus for a full 48. We’ve got high-character guys who respond well.”
“Oh yeah — losing the game doesn’t mean anything,” Anunoby said. “Like … it’s the playoffs. They’re a good team, too. You know, just watch the film, learn from the mistakes and move on to the next.”
The Portland Trail Blazers are back in the playoffs for the first time in five years, and they’re taking a noticeably different approach to the postseason.
The Blazers’ two-way players didn’t fly with the team to San Antonio for the start of its first-round series against the Spurs, a head-turning cost-cutting measure that was first reported by The Rose Garden Report’s Sean Highkin. Even though two-way players — who are on contracts that allow them to split time between the NBA and the G League — aren’t eligible to play in the NBA postseason, it’s customary that they make playoff trips with their NBA teams. After all, two-way players from the other seven playoff road teams this past weekend traveled to games, per ESPN.
That’s not the only discrepancy between this year’s Blazers and other postseason teams. When Portland will host Game 3 and Game 4 of its series versus the Spurs, the Moda Center won’t be colored with festive playoff T-shirts. In Game 1, the Spurs’ notably illustrated an eye-popping turquoise, pink and orange pattern that paid homage to the team’s old logo and to the Fiesta San Antonio festival that takes place annually in April.
While that change may or may not be a money saver, it’s easy to understand why people in Portland are growing increasingly suspicious of an organization that’s reportedly been quick to slash expenses since a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon purchased the Blazers for $4.25 billion, a sale the NBA approved on March 30.
<p>Tom Dundon previously developed a cost-cutting reputation after he took over as the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)</p>
Soobum Im via Getty Images
Dundon is a 54-year-old Texas billionaire who thrived in the auto loan business, has collected pickleball assets and, as mentioned above, also owns the NHL’s Hurricanes. He bought the Hurricanes in 2017 and, according to a Tuesday report from The Athletic’s Jason Quick, swiftly cut costs, even firing team broadcasters and dedicating fewer resources toward coaching staff salaries.
Since, though, Carolina has emerged as a force to be reckoned with — this season marked the team’s eighth straight with a postseason appearance, and three of those trips have resulted in an Eastern Conference finals appearance.
“I think he thinks this is just the beginning,” an anonymous team source reportedly told The Athletic. “I think he thinks this is just what taking over franchises is, where you have to change things. He said he went through a lot of rough times in Carolina … but ultimately all people care about now is winning. So what I think is accurate is him being cheap as it relates to stuff that in his mind does not impact player performance.”
The Athletic’s report Tuesday outlined a culture shock in Portland, where Blazers personnel were treated lavishly under the ownership of the late Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft and owned the franchise from 1988 until his death in 2018. His sister, Jody, carried the torch in the subsequent years.
But now, with Dundon at the helm, the Blazers are reportedly operating with frugality, even at the expense of optics.
Last week, a Sports Illustrated report from Chris Mannix detailed how Blazers staffers were asked to check out of their Phoenix-area hotel rooms hours before the first team bus left for Mortgage Matchup Center, where the Blazers later beat the Suns in a play-in tournament game that secured Portland the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
This was all reportedly by design, so that the Portland would steer clear of late-checkout fees. In The Athletic’s report, it noted early checkouts were required of all traveling party members, except the team’s players and coaches, and that it was an order from Dundon.
Is this approach bleeding into the coaching search?
What made the Blazers ending their playoff drought in a jam-packed West particularly remarkable this season was the fact that they did so under interim head coach Tiago Splitter, a 41-year-old former NBA center who’s been filling in for Chauncey Billups.
Splitter guided Portland to a winning record and a spot in the playoffs and, recently, has had to additionally navigate a stream of rumors surrounding the position he currently occupies, as head-coaching search reports have mounted, per The Athletic. An NBA team searching for a coach while it’s currently in the postseason is a practice that deviates from the norm and can come with scrutiny.
While an anonymous team source reportedly told The Athletic that Splitter is “is going to be the leading candidate,” the Blazers have had contact with several other candidates, a list that reportedly has included Saint Louis University head coach Josh Schertz, Iowa head coach Ben McCollum, former Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and former New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.
“Of all the things reported on Tom (Dundon), the one thing that is not true is the coaching thing, that he is trying to get someone for $1 million to 1.5 million,” an anonymous team source reportedly told The Athletic. “It’s just not true. He’s talked to everybody, and of course, some coaches he talks to would be less expensive than others. The goal is to find the best person.”
To Dundon, winning is paramount. Tending to his image apparently isn’t of equal priority.
“In the list of things I care about, it’s lower,” Dundon said, when asked at his introductory Blazers news conference if he cared if he was liked, according to Front Office Sports.
“I don’t think anybody who says ‘they don’t care what people think’ is telling the truth. But I think I care more about my character than my reputation. … If we need to make a decision that’s best for the Portland Trail Blazers, I’m gonna make those decisions. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna love doing it.”
