The Oklahoma City Thunder were frequently dominant while posting the NBA’s best record this season.

They flipped a switch Sunday into playoff mode as they began their quest for a second straight NBA championship in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns kept things close in the opening minutes of a game that was tied 12-12. But the Thunder closed the first quarter on a 23-8 run to enter the second with a 35-20 lead. From there, it was a runaway for a 119-84 OKC win.

It wasn’t quite the opening salvo the Thunder delivered in their playoff opener last season, a 131-80 thrashing of the Memphis Grizzlies. But it puts them in elite company.

Per ESPN, the Thunder became the second team in NBA history to post a 30-plus-point win in consecutive playoff openers. The other team to do it: The 1986-87 Showtime Los Angeles Lakers.

The 1985-86 Lakers opened their playoffs with a 135-88 drubbing of the San Antonio Spurs. Those playoffs ended in a loss to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference finals.

Their next postseason started with a 128-95 win over the Denver Nuggets. Those playoffs ended with a win over the rival Boston Celtics for the fourth NBA championship of the Showtime era. They followed up with another championship the following season, this time with a win over the Detroit Pistons in the Finals.

Familiar scene in OKC

The Thunder looked very much Sunday like the unit that won the franchise’s first NBA championship last season since moving to Oklahoma City. They locked down on defense, limiting the Suns to 35% shooting from the field while forcing 17 turnovers and blocking seven shots.

Those turnovers led to repeated easy buckets on the other end as the Thunder scored 30-plus points in each of Sunday’s first three quarters.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled from the field (5 of 18) but, as usual, got the job done at the free-throw line in a 15-of-17 effort. He led the Thunder with 25 points and seven assists. He was one of three Thunder players, alongside Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, to record two blocks.

After a regular season hampered by injury, Jalen Williams was back in All-NBA form with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in an efficient shooting effort (9 of 15 from the field, 2 of 5 from 3).

This is similar to how things started last postseason as the Thunder won a championship. And all is well so far in Oklahoma City’s quest for a second straight title.

In such a short period of time, dare I say that Noah Schultz has really, truly, already arrived?

It almost seems too good to be true, for somebody who’s gotten plenty used to even the best White Sox prospect requiring some adjustment time in the majors. But the young condor-like lefty is is looking like an exception, perhaps just a little bit in the mold of another tall, lanky lefty whose presence undoubtedly changed the current of Sox history.

As far as today’s action goes, Schultz fired five innings of one-run baseball in his second career start, punching out six while walking just one along the way. Even more excitingly, he did it in a way that makes you think there’s a lot more in the tank moving forward.

The vibes were good from the outset in this one, beginning with a manufactured run in the first — courtesy of Chase Meidroth and Edgar Quero — and expanding farther with a towering Derek Hill fly ball to start what wound up being a bevy of White Sox home runs:

On another part of the lineup, I won’t mince words. Miguel Vargas spent the entire series against Tampa Bay getting completely hosed on some excellent batted balls. His BABIP entering today was a a paltry .161, which is stupid given the fact that he runs around league average in terms of swing speed and hitting the ball hard. His BABIP actually decreased today, but that’s because his one hit wasn’t a ball in play, as he demolished a baseball out to left field in the second inning to spot the Sox a four-run early lead for the second straight day:

I spoke in the game thread about how Schultz was either going to need to get better at spotting his breaking balls to righties or he’ll have to figure out how to effectively use his changeup. While he did manage to break out the cambio quite a bit more, his breaking ball command remains a work in progress, as evidenced by the wildness of the breakers on his pitch chart this afternoon:

The spinners weren’t quite rolling for Schultz today, but a lot of the other stuff was. That changeup I was just talking about? It drew six swings, all against right-handed hitters, three of which resulted in whiffs. Overall, an excellent 30% of swings against Schultz came up with air over his five innings of work, heavily contributing to allowing just one run and one hit on the board. He also walked one, but more than compensated with six punchouts in total.

That one run, though? Schultz learned the consequences of being unable to spot a breaking ball in Sacramento’s half of the second inning. After being ahead in the count, 1-2, Schultz wasn’t able to locate either his fastball or sweeper near enough to the zone to put Darnell Hernaiz away, and when forced to throw one over the plate on a 3-2 count, the young righty made him pay:

It became somewhat clear that Schultz’s high velocity last week was at least partly a function of debut-at-home adrenaline. He still reached back to touch 97-98 mph a few times today, but after one time through the order he settled more at 94-95 mph. With his huge frame and unconventional release point, that was still enough to remain effective through all five of his innings.

At least the Sox offense actually gave him enough of a cushion to work comfortably late into the outing. Just as on Friday, Munetaka Murakami provided the death blow for the Athletics with yet another mammoth homer on a Springs breaking ball that hung like a half-dry chunk of beef jerky:

That makes eight homers on the year for Murakami, bringing him into a three-way tie with Jordan Walker and Aaron Judge for second in the majors. With that homer, he also became the Sox leader in home runs over their first 22 games with the team, actually surpassing José Abreu’s magical start to the 2014 season.

Hey, remember when Abreu came up and hit a walk-off grand slam within a few weeks of joining the team? Even the bad times produce some good times in this game.

Anyhow, Murakami wasn’t the only of Springs’ worries. Immediately after surrendering Murakami’s blast, Colson Montgomery decided to make his day even worse by knocking one into the batter’s eye in dead center field for his fourth dinger of the young season.

After much consternation yesterday, we did see Grant Taylor toe the rubber again, though in a much less useful situation than if he had been available yesterday — which he understandably wasn’t after heavy work on Thursday. Taylor worked around a tapper of a single to put together a scoreless seventh inning before getting touched up just a bit for two runs, just his second set of runs allowed this year. Still, the stuff looked as excellent as ever, and he still has yet to allow a home run in the major leagues. He’s not quite Mason Miller — nobody is — but he does have a chance to go neck-in-neck with Caleb Bonemer as the franchise’s best second round pick since Terry Forster back in 1970.

The rest of the game was easygoing for a Sox bullpen that desperately needed an easygoing game. Taylor gave way to Jordan Leasure in the seventh inning, and Leasure managed to keep the ball in the yard to bring the game to the eighth at 7-3. Bryan Hudson got into a little bit of trouble in his own bridge inning, bringing the 7-4 game just close enough that, with an off-day tomorrow, Will Venable felt comfortable giving Seranthony Domínguez his seventh save opportunity, and ultimately, his fourth successful conversion of the year so far.

The squad gets the day off tomorrow as they move south for a three-game bout with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have looked pretty dang good across a 14-8 start in a bitterly competitive NL West. We’ll see you for that one on Tuesday night, at 6:40 p.m. Central time!

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Offence! By the Toronto Blue Jays! So the legends were true…

After a terrible four game stretch, this win was cathartic.

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This one got late early. Nathan Lukes lead the game off with a single, Ernie Clement doubled to put runners on second and third, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined a single to bring them home. Jesus Sanchez, Eloy Jimenes and Andres Gimenez each singled in turn to score a third and load the bases, and then a Kazuma Okamoto double to left increased the margin to five. After a Myles Straw walk, Brandon Valenzuela was the only Blue Jay not to reach the first time through the order, striking out swinging. Not to worry, as Nathan Lukes lined a double to left for his second hit of the inning, clearing the bases. That spelled the end for Ryne Nelson, who recorded just one out while giving up eight. Reliever Andrew Hoffmann escaped the inning from there and get through the second unscathed, but Okamoto lead off the third with a home run to run the Jays tally up to nine. The tenth run came in the next frame, as Vlad singled, was pushed up on a Sanchez walk, advanced on a wild pitch, and came home on a Gimenez sac fly.

Meanwhile, Kevin Gausman stayed sharp. He gave up a ground ball single in the first, and one run on a walk and a pair of singles in the bottom of two. He went back to holding the snakes scoreless in the third, fourth and fifth. Arizona got one more back in the sixth, on a Lourdes Gurriel jr. single and an Adrian Del Castillo double. All in all, Gausman gave up two earned on seven hits and a walk over six, striking out four.

Mason Fluharty gave two back in the bottom of the seventh, on a Ketel Marte single and a Jorge Barrosa home run. 10-4 would be the final, as Tommy Nance and Braydon Fisher combined to shut the door.

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Jays of the Day: Nobody actually qualifies because the good work was spread around. Lukes had three hits and two doubles, Vlad had three of his own, and Okamoto had a homer and a double. Every Jays batter got on base. Gausman also deserves a nod.

Less So: Nobody.

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Tomorrow it’s on to Anaheim for *bass reverb voice* Blue Jays After Dark. Dylan Cease (0-0, 1.74) will try to finally get a win in the books after four excellent but indecisive starts. The offence will contend with Reid Detmers (1-1, 3.57). First pitch is set for 9:38pm ET.

The third game of a wrap-around four-game series had a start time that was pushed back by three hours to accommodate some inclement weather moving through Boston. After the rains came and (occasionally) went, the Tigers won the game 6-2 while dodging raindrops, especially late in the game.

Framber Valdez made his fifth start for the Tigers, and if you Porcello-out his clunker against the Twins, he’s been sensational. But since we can’t selectively remove only one start from a record, let it just be said that he’s been, overall, pretty decent. His previous start was on April 14, a seven-inning outing against the Royals in which he only gave up one run; that was the game in which both teams combined to strike out a half-dozen times. Weird.

Facing Valdez was a fellow lefty, Garrett Crochet. He spent three years in the White Sox bullpen (and another on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery), had a solid year in the White Sox’ rotation, exchanged white hosiery for red for 2025, and had a fantastic season last year in Boston, leading the American League in strikeouts. He placed second in the Cy Young voting last year to you-know-who. His previous outing was, shall we say, uncharacteristic for him: eleven runs (ten earned) in 1 2/3 innings against the Twins. The Twins have early on showed a knack for beating up on top shelf southpaws.

With two outs in the top of the first inning, Matt Vierling and Dillon Dingler hit back-to-back doubles for a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning Willson Contreras turned around a sinker that didn’t sink, and parked it over the Green Monster to even the score at 1-1. Trevor Story then singled and Wilyer Abreu walked, but Valdez struck out Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning and limit the damage. He bounced back in the next inning for a 1-2-3 frame, though and went on to a really stong start.

In fact, both starters settled down for a while, with some inconsequential hits sprinkled here-and-there. But Jahmai Jones, who was in the leadoff spot against a lefty today, cracked a long home run to centre to put the Tigers up 2-1 with two out in the top of the fifth.

But the Tigers weren’t done: Gleyber Torres walked, Vierling singled, and Dingler smacked another home run to centre to make it a 5-1 game. All the runs in the fifth scored with two out, incidentally. How about Dillon Dingler, eh?

The rain occasionally intensified through the later innings, and the Fenway grounds crew did their best to make the dirt part of the field as playable as possible. Fresh rosin bags had to be delivered to the mound more than once.

Valdez finished six innings and gave up three hits, two walks and one run while striking out seven. It was good to see him increase his strikeout total today; he’s a big groundball pitcher but the strikeouts were still pretty nice nonetheless. Kyle Finnegan pitched a mostly-boring seventh, which is exactly what you want from him, particularly as it was pouring rain again by this point in the game. Will Vest’s eighth inning featured a leadoff walk, a double play, and a nice play by Hao-Yu Lee on a grounder deep down the third base line for the third out.

In the ninth Javier Báez singled to start the inning and Kerry Carpenter followed with a walk. Torres singled to right to plate Báez for a 6-1 score. After a double play, Dingler singled to left — his fourth hit of the day — and Torres tried to score all the way from first, but someone forgot to tell Torres how short that left field is and he was thrown out at the plate trying to score. Hey, the ball was sure to be wet, why not force the throw?

Connor Seabold came on for the last three outs; he gave up an infield single to Abreu, who advanced to second on defensive indifference and scored on a double by Caleb Durbin. A routine grounder to second ended things, and both teams went to their clubhouses to dry off a bit. Good win over one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the Tigers take a 2-1 lead in the series heading into Monday’s odd 11:05 am ET conclusion to this four-game set. They’re 8-2 over their last 10.

Final score: Tigers 6, Red Sox 2

Prior to the game, Kevin McGonigle and Hao-Yu Lee got the customary trip inside the famed Green Monster to add their signatures to the enormous list of players both famous and obscure who have inked their names inside the wall.

when at Fenway ✍️ pic.twitter.com/1R6tFYRUOn

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) April 19, 2026

Notes and Notices

• The word crochet is the French word for “hook.” So, if you buy a crochet hook, you’re buying a hook hook, and this has been Languages Corner with JT.
• The series finale goes Monday at 11:10 am EDT due to Patriots’ Day in Boston. The game is meant to coorindate with the running of the Boston Marathon.
• On this day in 1810, the people of Venezuela overthrew the governor that had been appointed by Spain so they could rule the place themselves. And that was the last time anything interesting happened with the government of that country.

With Missouri baseball hoping to grab at least one win in the series, the Tigers came up just short, battling to the finish in their final game against Oklahoma on Sunday, April 19.

Left-hander Javyn Pimental set the tone early for Mizzou, working a composed opening inning that included a double play, a pair of walks and a key throwout at second to escape early traffic. 

Kaden Peer provided that lone early spark with a single to left, but a batter interference call on Pierre Seals quickly ended that inning.

The Sooners struck first that same inning, with a home run to center, followed shortly by a triple and multiple hits that forced the Tigers into an early bullpen situation. Keyer Gonzalez came on in relief in the second and recorded a strikeout, but Oklahoma continued to apply pressure and added another run, making the score 4-0 before he could fully settle the inning.

Gonzalez later found his rhythm on the mound, mixing in two strikeouts and limiting damage after a defensive shift that saw Isaiah Frost and Tyler Macon switch positions. 

Still, Oklahoma’s big swing came in the fourth inning, when Ian Lohse came in to relieve Gonzalez during the middle of the inning, when a three-run home run to right pushed the lead to 8–0. Sooners

Offensively, Missouri was held quite early by Oklahoma starter Cord Rager, who worked through the first five innings with eight strikeouts while allowing just one hit.

Slight Hope for Mizzou

The Tigers’ offense finally broke through in seventh inning. Kam Durnin launched a 398-foot home run for his fourth of the season to put Mizzou on the board at 8–1. Isaiah Frost followed with a single, and while the inning ended on a double play, it gave Missouri its first real momentum of the day.

Defensively, the Tigers had bright spots throughout. Juan Villareal and Kaden Drew each turned in steady relief innings, while Sam Rosand benefitted from a highlight catch by Peer in center field that took away extra bases. Isaiah Salas also worked a clean frame, allowing one hit with a double play and strikeout.

The late push came in the eighth. Peer sparked it again with a single, Eric Maisonet followed with another hit and Tyler Macon worked a walk to load the bases. Blaize Ward delivered the biggest swing of the inning with a two-run single to left, scoring Peer and Maisonet to make it 8–3. Durnin later walked to reload the bases, but the rally ended when Frost grounded out.

Mizzou added one final push with Serna reaching on a walk, Peer collecting his third hit of the day and Maisonet hitting a single to the right side scoring Serna. Although the Tigers comeback attempt stalled as Macon struck out to end the game.

What’s Next

The biggest key for the Tigers right now is clear, they need timely hitting. Mizzou has shown they can get runners on, but the next step is cashing in when it matters. If the offense can start producing in those situational spots, the upcoming series against No. 16 Arkansas could be a real turning point for the season.

That test begins Thursday, April 23, and runs through Saturday, April 25 against the Razorbacks. It won’t be easy, but with an 11-10 record at home, the Tigers will be looking to lean on familiar surroundings and try to steal the series in front of their own fans.

Before that, Mizzou gets one more tune-up, hosting Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 21 at Taylor Stadium. After a stretch of road games, the Tigers finally return home, where they’ll hope the energy from the crowd can help spark the consistency this lineup has been searching for.

To follow along and read more about Mizzou Baseball, follow @Rock MNation,@SophBleedsLA and @Henry_C81, on twitter/x.

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The Atlanta Hawks were excellent against the spread down the stretch, and despite getting smoked in the second half of Game 1 vs. the New York Knicks, they will be competitive in this series, particularly in Game 2.

With Nickeil Alexander-Walker coming off an uncharacteristically poor shooting night, we’re building an SGP banking on a bounce-back game from the guard en route to cashing the Over.

Read on for our full Hawks vs. Knicks predictions ahead of tip on Monday, April 20.

Our best Hawks vs Knicks SGP for Game 2

I picked the Atlanta Hawks to cover the same 5.5-point spread in Game 1, and they lost by 11. But I’m not deterred, as Atlanta has a clear path to making this one more competitive.

The Hawks were a putrid 12 of 19 from the charity stripe, falling well below their season average of 77.4%.

The New York Knicks hit 25 of 30 free throws, and Atlanta can do a better job at limiting opportunities there. The Hawks went 18-8 against the spread between the All-Star break and the end of the season, and I expect them to keep this one close as they look to avoid a 2-0 hole.

The Hawks and Knicks faced off four times this season, finishing with combined game totals of 215, 213, 210, and 253. Game 1 finished just a bucket shy of hitting the Over, and I’m betting on that extra bucket in Game 2.

Atlanta’s shooting was off, as the team hit just 44% of their field-goal attempts, and leading scorer Nickeil Alexander-Walker finished with only 17 points on a miserable 6-for-17 shooting. A slightly more efficient offensive attack from the visitors should push this one to hit the Over.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
Date: April 20th, 2026
Time: 9:30 PM CDT
Location: Ball Arena
Television Coverage: NBC, Peacock

Game 1 in Denver was the kind of playoff loss that sticks with you.

Not because the Timberwolves got run off the floor. Not because they looked hopelessly outclassed. In some ways, that would have been easier to process. No, what made Saturday afternoon so maddening was that Minnesota showed us enough to make the loss feel avoidable. They came out looking like the sharper, faster, more urgent team. They built a 12-point lead. Nikola Jokic looked winded. The Denver crowd had that nervous, unsettled murmur that only comes when a favorite realizes the underdog may have actually shown up with a knife.

And then, little by little, possession by possession, whistle by whistle, the game slipped.

You can tell the story of Game 1 in two ways.

The generous version is the one Wolves fans have been angrily rehearsing ever since the final buzzer. It starts with the officiating, which was not just bad, but the kind of bad that makes you start wondering whether the refs were trying to set a record for most momentum-killing whistles in one afternoon. From the jump, it was obvious Minnesota was going to have to play this game while wearing ankle weights. Five team fouls within minutes of the opening quarter. Denver in the bonus before either team had really found an offensive rhythm. Jamal Murray living at the free-throw line like he had purchased a condo there, finishing with 16 attempts by himself, nearly matching Minnesota’s entire team total. The Nuggets shot 33 free throws to the Wolves’ 19, and in a game that was there for the taking late, that is not a side note. That is central to the story.

Then there was the Jaden McDaniels flagrant, which belonged in a museum exhibit titled How to Completely Misread a Basketball Play. Murray leapt forward, clearly initiating the contact, clearly landing inside the three line after starting his shot outside, and somehow the result was a flagrant on McDaniels. It was absurd. Worse than absurd, it was deflating. A well-defended miss converted to three points and the ball for Denver.

And yes, that stuff matters. It matters in the box score, where Denver got a pile of free points despite not shooting especially well. It matters in the defensive intensity, because once Minnesota realized every hard contest might become a foul and every foul might become an escalation, they were forced to defend with one hand tied behind their back. It matters emotionally too. You could feel the frustration building. You could see it in McDaniels shoving Jokic in the back. You could see it in the body language. You could feel a team trying not to boil over and, in the process, losing some of the edge it needed to survive.

Then there is the second part of the generous version: Anthony Edwards’ health.

Wolves fans spent the last couple of weeks convincing themselves that the late-season rest was going to be a blessing, that Ant’s knee would heal, that the version of him we would see in the playoffs would be the fresh, spring-loaded monster this team needs. And to his credit, there were flashes. He had some pop. There were moments where he attacked and you could see flashes of his greatness. But if you watched closely, you also saw the pain. The flinch on landings. The moments where he clearly was not fully himself. And when you are playing Denver, when the other side has Jokic operating at full power and Murray getting every whistle known to mankind, “not fully yourself” is a major problem.

That is the generous version.

It is also incomplete.

Because if Minnesota wants to get back in this series, it has to spend a lot less time talking about what happened to them and a lot more time correcting what they did to themselves.

The officials were awful. Edwards is clearly less than 100 percent. Both things can be true. But neither of those facts explains why the Wolves, after building that early lead, let the game turn into exactly the kind of half-court slog Denver wants. Neither of them explains the stagnant second quarter, when the pace dropped, the ball stopped moving, and the offense began to look like a collection of individual errands instead of a coordinated attack. Neither explains the third quarter, when Minnesota more or less donated the game by allowing a 17-2 run in which the offense shriveled into lazy isolation possessions and the defense cracked just enough for Denver to smell blood.

That stretch decided the game.

Not the first-quarter whistles. Not the Jaden flagrant. Not even Ant’s knee, really.

The Wolves looked like the better team when they were pushing tempo, playing in space, and forcing Denver to sprint. They looked like a team pushing Jokic to his limit, making him run, making him work, making him defend. Then they just… stopped. They let Denver catch its breath. They let the ball stick. They settled for ugly shots. They stopped making the Nuggets move defensively. They essentially invited a more composed, more experienced team back into the exact game environment it wanted.

And Chris Finch, to be honest, did not do much to stop the avalanche. That part matters too.

So now here they are, down 0-1, heading into a Game 2 that has all the emotional subtlety of a car crash. This is the swing game. Lose it, and you are asking this team to beat a very hot Denver squad four times in five games, with the Nuggets riding what would then be a 14-game winning streak. Sure, anything is possible. Kevin Garnett taught us that. But that is not a sentence you want to be clinging to when you are staring down a giant in the first round.

Game 2 is not technically must-win, but emotionally and mathematically, it sure as hell feels like it.

So with that, here are the keys to the game.

1. Push the pace.

This is non-negotiable.

The first quarter told the whole story. When the Wolves were flying, Denver looked vulnerable. Jokic looked human. He was huffing. He was laboring. He was being forced into the kind of game he does not love: one played at a pace where his genius still matters, but his conditioning gets tested and his margin for error narrows.

Minnesota cannot let this become a walking game.

The altitude is real. The temptation to conserve energy is real. But the Wolves are younger, longer, and more athletic than this Denver team, and if they are going to win this series, they have to weaponize that advantage. Every miss has to become a sprint. Every rebound has to turn into an opportunity. They need to run after makes if they can. They need to turn this into a game where Jokic has to log extra miles, not just extra touches. You beat Jokic by making him carry an exhausting burden for 48 minutes and then asking him to do it again two days later.

Minnesota eased off that pressure after the first quarter. It cannot happen again.

2. Move the ball like your season depends on it, because it kind of does

Denver’s defense is not some impenetrable wall. This is not 2004 Detroit. This is a unit that can be manipulated, stretched, and made uncomfortable, but only if you make it work.

The Wolves did not do that consistently in Game 1.

Too much of the offense became stagnant, especially once the initial burst wore off. Too many possessions ended with Ant or Julius Randle dribbling into a crowded floor and trying to solve the problem themselves. Too many possessions died before they really started. And the tragedy of it is that Minnesota has too many capable offensive pieces for that kind of nonsense to be necessary.

Donte DiVincenzo was feeling it, starting 4/4 from beyond the arc. But Minnesota never capitalized on his hot hand because the ball would not move. The Wolves are at their best when the rock is snapping around, when they force the defense to rotate twice instead of once, when the offense feels like five guys participating in the same idea instead of one guy improvising while everyone else watches.

This team cannot afford sticky offense. It needs drive-and-kick, swing-swing, relocate, attack-closeout basketball. It needs to make Denver guard every inch of the floor, every second of the shot clock.

If the Wolves do that, they will get clean looks. If they don’t, they are making life far too easy on a defense that should be under more stress than it was in Game 1.

3. Close out with purpose.

The Nuggets did not torch Minnesota from three in Game 1. In some ways, that’s the scary part.

Because if you rewatch the game, you see all kinds of open or semi-open looks that Denver simply did not cash in at its normal clip. And if you are the Wolves, that should terrify you more than it comforts you. You cannot build your survival plan around the idea that Denver will keep missing makeable shots.

The closeouts were not good enough. The urgency was not sharp enough. The Wolves were so focused on the interior pressure from Jokic that they sometimes lost the thread on the perimeter. That is understandable. It is also deadly.

Denver’s wings and guards need to feel crowded. Jamal Murray cannot be allowed to rise into clean rhythm shots. Cam Johnson cannot be casually stepping into open threes. Bruce Brown cannot be operating like this is a warmup line. If Denver is going to hit shots, fine. Make them hit them over hands, over bodies, over full-speed closeouts that force them to actually earn it.

Soft perimeter defense is how you lose to Denver in five. Contested, miserable, exhausting perimeter defense is how you make them sweat.

4. Get all three bigs involved, not just Rudy

Rudy Gobert was magnificent in Game 1. He was exactly what the Wolves needed, present, physical, engaged, and more than willing to throw his whole body into the problem that is Nikola Jokic. For all the Rudy discourse that inevitably bubbles up around playoff time, this was one of those games where he reminded everyone why he matters so much. Without him, this thing could have gotten ugly fast.

But that is also the problem.

Minnesota cannot waste that kind of Rudy game. It cannot get one-third of the frontcourt equation right and expect that to be enough. Julius Randle has to be better. He has to be more disciplined offensively, more engaged defensively, and more connected to the overall flow of the game. He cannot spend possessions trying to force his way into a contested look when a kick-out or secondary action is there waiting. He needs to keep the bully-ball aggression while stripping out the nonsense. Attack with purpose. Rebound with force. Defend like the game matters.

Naz Reid has to show up too. The bench was too quiet, and Naz is too important for that to happen. This is the exact kind of series where he can swing a quarter, with his scoring, his spacing, his size, his general Big Jelly skills. The Wolves need him aggressive, not passive. They need him hunting offense, not floating around the perimeter waiting for someone else to rescue the possession.

One big monster game from Rudy will not carry this series. Minnesota needs the three-headed monster it built for exactly this kind of matchup.

5. Anthony Edwards has to seize the series, even if he is hurting

This is the hard one, because it is the least fair and the most true.

Yes, Edwards is hurt. Yes, it is obvious. Yes, he deserves credit for playing through it. But the Wolves are not winning this series with the version of Ant they got in Game 1. They just aren’t.

He has to be better. He has to impose himself on the game offensively, and he has to do it in a way that does not devolve into desperate hero ball. He needs to attack. He needs to get downhill. He needs to draw two defenders and create for teammates. He needs to hit enough jumpers to keep Denver honest and enough free throws to keep the scoreboard moving. He needs to defend like a star who understands that this is not just about scoring.

And most of all, he needs to make everyone leave Game 2 thinking he was the best player on the floor.

That is a gigantic ask when Jokic exists. It is still the ask.

Because that is what stars are for in a series like this. Not to keep you respectable. To change what feels possible.

This is where Ant’s postseason reputation gets sharpened or stalled. If he comes out aggressive, explosive, and fully engaged on both ends, Minnesota can absolutely steal this game. If he drifts, if he settles, if the knee prevents him from attacking with conviction, then the entire burden falls on a team that has not shown enough consistency to survive without him at full tilt.

This is his moment whether it feels fair or not.

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And now for the big picture.

The Wolves got a rotten whistle in Game 1. That is real. They got a less-than-healthy version of Edwards. That is real too. But none of that changes the central fact: they had opportunities, and they let too many of them slip. That is why they are down 0-1. That is why Game 2 feels like a cliff edge.

You can point at the refs. You can point at the knee. You can point at the variance. At some point, though, every finger has to turn back toward Minnesota. Because this series is still right there, but only if they decide to take hold of it. Only if they play the kind of locked-in, apex Timberwolves basketball they have teased often enough to make all of us crazy.

If they do that, if they clean up the offense, sustain the pace, support Rudy, and get a true Ant game, then they can absolutely walk out of Denver with home-court advantage and turn Target Center into a madhouse for Game 3.

If they don’t, then they have painted themselves into the corner they spent all season pretending they could always escape from later.

It is gut-check time now.

Not in theory. Not in some abstract “eventually this team will need to grow up” way.

Right now.

Monday night. Denver. Season hanging in the balance more than anyone wants to admit.

We’ll see what kind of Wolves show up.

The NBA announced the first batch of finalists for regular-season awards, and two Spurs made the cut. Unsurprisingly, Victor Wembanyama is one of the three finalists for Defensive Player of the Year, while Keldon Johnson is among the finalists for Sixth Man of the Year.

Wembanyama is the prohibitive favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, but will have to beat out the Pistons’ Ausar Thompson and the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren, who were also named finalists. All three of the top defenses in the league are getting one representative. The biggest snub is Rudy Gobert, who kept an inconsistent Timberwolves team in the top 10 in defensive efficiency and has won the award four times in the past.

The 2025-26 Finalists for Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Chet Holmgren
Ausar Thompson
Victor Wembanyama pic.twitter.com/C4cMnh1WFu

— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2026

Things are different for Keldon Johnson. He clearly deserved to be named a finalist, but his chances are not as good as Wembanyama’s to claim the award. He’ll be competing with the Nuggets’ Tim Hardaway Jr. and the Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., who appears to be the favorite to get the hardware. Jaquez’s edge comes in offensive production, while Johnson’s case relies heavily on team success. Either would make a good pick.

The 2025-26 Finalists for Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

Tim Hardaway Jr.
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Keldon Johnson pic.twitter.com/JRNRtyWBSj

— NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2026

Other finalists announced for awards:

Most Improved Player:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Deni Avdija
Jalen Duren

Clutch Player of the Year:

Anthony Edwards
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Jamal Murray

The finalists for Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Most Valuable Player of the 2025/26 season will be announced at halftime of the Pistons – Magic game. Mitch Johnson and Victor Wembanyama have decent chances of being named finalists in two of the categories, while it’s likely Dylan Harper is going to miss the cut on Rookie of the Year, largely because of his small role on a contending team.

Victor Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, one steal, and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game in the 2025/26 season.

Keldon Johnson averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while shooting 52 percent from the floor and suiting up for all 82 games.