Former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is named highest-paid athlete for a fourth time.
Cristiano Ronaldo topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes for the fourth time in his career while Spanish golfer Jon Rahm moved up to second following his sensational switch to Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
Ronaldo became the world’s highest-paid athlete after his move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr and Forbes said the 39-year-old footballer’s estimated total earnings were in the region of $260m, an all-time high for a football player.
His on-field earnings amounted to $200m while his off-field earnings were $60m, thanks to sponsorship deals where brands make use of his 629 million Instagram followers.
Twice major winner Rahm joined LIV Golf in December in a big-money move that sent shockwaves through the sport after media reports said the current world number five would be paid at least $300m.
Apart from that guarantee, Rahm has earned $218m and joins Ronaldo as the only two athletes to earn over $200m.
Third on the list is record eight-times Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, who made a lucrative switch to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, helping the Argentine World Cup winner earn $135m.
The 36-year-old has earned $65m in on-field earnings but $70m off it thanks to deals with major sponsors such as Adidas and Apple.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James is fourth at $128.2m and although the 39-year-old, the first NBA player to score 40,000 career points, is nearing the end of his career, the American is set to have one last crack at the Olympics.
Fellow NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo ($111m) of the Milwaukee Bucks rounds out the top five while France soccer captain Kylian Mbappe has dropped down to sixth ($110m).
Mbappe announced he would be leaving Paris Saint-Germain after seven years in the French capital where he became the club’s all-time leading scorer and the 25-year-old is expected to join Spanish giants Real Madrid in the close season.
Former PSG star Neymar, who also moved to the Saudi Pro League to join Al-Hilal, is seventh ($108m) despite sitting out the majority of the season with a torn ACL.
French striker Karim Benzema, who also moved to Saudi Arabia, is eighth ($106m) on the list followed by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry ($102m).
Lamar Jackson is the only NFL player on the list in 10th place ($100.5m) thanks to the signing bonus that was negotiated in his new Baltimore Ravens contract last year.
Boston complete a 4-1 series win over Cleveland with a 113-98 win before Dallas beat Oklahoma City 104-92.
The Boston Celtics overpowered the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 to reach a third straight Eastern Conference finals as Western Conference top seeds Oklahoma City moved to the brink of elimination after crashing 104-92 at home to Dallas.
Jayson Tatum’s 25 points helped the Celtics subdue an injury-hit Cavs lineup to complete a 4-1 win in the best-of-seven series in Boston on Wednesday.
The Eastern Conference top seeds will face either the Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks for a place in the NBA Finals.
But while Boston continued their progress, Oklahoma City’s playoff campaign is hanging by a thread after their damaging defeat to Dallas.
Mavericks star Luka Doncic led from the front with a triple-double, finishing with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
The Mavs lead the series 3-2 and can clinch a place in the Western Conference finals with victory in Game 6 back in Dallas on Saturday.
“We just got one more to win out of two games, and that’s it,” Doncic said. “It’s 3-2, but that’s nothing. We’ve got to finish it and go with the same mentality.”
Doncic had been furious after the Mavs surrendered the initiative in a Game 4 loss in Texas on Sunday, but said a more relaxed approach had been the key to Wednesday’s commanding effort.
“Sometimes I forget that I love to play basketball, it’s the thing I do,” Doncic said. “My mental focus was just to go out there with a smile on my face and play basketball.”
Doncic was given offensive support from Derrick Jones Jr with 19 points, while three other players made double figures.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder scorers with 30 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
🏆 WEDNESDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏆
Jayson Tatum and the @celtics take care of business at home and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals!
Earlier, Cleveland’s hopes of clawing their way back into their series with Boston were rocked before the game after confirmation that three of their top six players – Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert – were out with injuries.
But Cleveland shrugged off that setback to produce a battling performance that saw them get within three points of the Celtics midway through the fourth quarter.
Evan Mobley was superb for Cleveland, pouring in a game-high 33 points while Marcus Morris Sr added 25 off the bench.
Yet just when Celtics fans at the TD Garden were nervously wondering if a shock defeat was on the cards, Boston stitched together a decisive 13-2 run – crowned by a three-pointer from Tatum – that left them ahead by 14 points at 101-87.
Tatum, who also added 10 rebounds and nine assists, said Boston had prepared for a dogfight despite Cleveland’s injury-stricken lineup.
“Anybody who’s played in this league understands what happens when somebody’s best players are out,” Tatum said. “The rest of the guys have more freedom, they play with a different level of confidence and they play different.
“Our mindset coming into this game was, ‘However long it takes, that’s how long it takes’. We didn’t expect to win the game in the first or second quarter. We grinded it out.”
Tatum said Boston were now determined to snap their dismal recent record in the Eastern Conference finals. Boston have lost in the Eastern Conference finals in four of five appearances since the 2016-17 season.
“Each year presents different challenges,” Tatum said. “Myself and the rest of the crew have been to the conference finals something like four or five times.
“We’re battle-tested. We know what it takes. We just have to put the individual things aside and try and get over that hump.”
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum celebrates with a fan after the Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals [Charles Krupa/AP]
Indiana Fever lost 92-71 to Connecticut Sun in the season opener that was sold out for Clark’s debut game in the WNBA.
Caitlin Clark’s WNBA career officially began on the road with Indiana Fever’s 92-71 loss at the hands of the Connecticut Sun in the regular-season opener in Uncasville, Connecticut.
DeWanna Bonner climbed the all-time scoring list with 20 points and the Sun capitalised on Clark’s mistake-prone debut on Tuesday.
Clark, who was chosen with the number one pick after a record-breaking college career, tallied a team-high 20 points and three assists but committed 10 turnovers and four fouls. She shot 5-for-15 from the floor, including 4-of-11 from 3-point range.
“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is,” Clark said after the game.
“Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game.”
Clark’s miscues included six bad-pass turnovers and one travelling call. Connecticut scored 29 points off Indiana’s 25 total turnovers.
Indiana coach Christie Sides said, “Caitlin was able to get her some looks, able to knock them down. Our spacing was not great. Connecticut came in and punched us in the mouth tonight. We’ll be in the gym tomorrow watching a lot of video trying to figure out how not to turn the ball over 25 times.”
Clark connected with Aliyah Boston to tally an assist on the game’s opening possession. But the rookie also picked up two early fouls and sat for most of the final 4:51 of the period.
Clark’s first WNBA basket came on a driving layup midway through the second after an 0-for-4 start. Her first professional 3-pointer was a catch-and-shoot play from the left wing to cut the deficit to single digits with 30.1 seconds before halftime, but Connecticut eventually took a 49-39 edge to the locker room.
Clark hit a 29-foot triple and Erica Wheeler added five points in an 8-2 Fever spurt early in the third quarter to trim their deficit to 53-47. That’s as close as they would get, as Bonner and Thomas combined for the next six points.
Bonner’s three-point play at the 6:37 mark of the fourth quarter made it 75-59 Sun. Clark made her third 3 on the ensuing possession, but Harris answered with one for Connecticut and the Fever never threatened again.
Caitlin Clark scored her first regular season basket against the Connecticut Sun in the second quarter [David Butler II/USA Today Sports via Reuters]
An unprecedented flood of interest in women’s basketball has followed Clark from her record-smashing college career at Iowa to the WNBA. The nearly 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena is sold out for Clark’s debut, and the broadcast will include player mics and roving cameras for “a WNBA Finals-level production setup.”
Ahead of the game, Clark was simply trying to soak in the moment.
“This is kind of what you worked for and dreamed of, and now you gotta put your jersey on for the first real time and go out there and play,” Clark said. “… More than anything, I’m ready for the challenge.”
The 3-point sharpshooter broke the all-time Division I scoring record, men’s or women’s, and guided Iowa to the national championship game.
Defending champs Denver bounced back to level series 2-2 with a 115-107 win over Minnesota, while Indiana beat NY Knicks 121-89 in game four.
Nikola Jokic finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Denver Nuggets held on for a 115-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in game four of the NBA playoff Western Conference semifinal series in Minneapolis.
Defending champions Nuggets outgunned the Timberwolves on Sunday as the Indiana Pacers pulled even with the New York Knicks.
The Nuggets, fuelled by 35 points from NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon’s 27 points on ruthlessly efficient 11-of-12 shooting and 19 points from Jamal Murray, claimed a second straight win in Minneapolis to knot their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.
The Pacers dismantled the Knicks 121-89 in Indianapolis to level their Eastern Conference semifinal at 2-2.
“Now it’s best of three,” Jokic said, adding that the Timberwolves’s stunning victories in games one and two in Denver had only strengthened the defending champions.
“We took a hit and we bounced back and hopefully, we can defend the home court now,” said Jokic, looking forward to game five in Denver on Tuesday.
🏆 SUNDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏆
Tyrese Haliburton and the @Pacers brought the energy from the jump as they get the win and tie up the series!
In Indianapolis, the Pacers finally got their high-octane offence firing. After the first two games of the series came down to the final minutes the Pacers fashioned a blow-out as a raft of injuries at last caught up with the weary Knicks.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 points and the Pacers connected on 56.8 percent of their shots, drilling 14 three-pointers and dominating in the paint.
TJ McConnell scored 15 points off the bench for Indiana, who had six players score in double figures.
After a dunk by the Knicks centre Isaiah Hartenstein to open the game, the first quarter was all Pacers, Indiana pushing their lead to as many as 23 points.
Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson was 0-for-5 in the opening quarter and the Pacers bench out-scored the Knicks reserves 17-0 in the period.
The domination continued in the second quarter, Haliburton sending the crowd into a frenzy with a three-pointer over Donte DiVincenzo that put the Pacers up by 30 with 5.9 seconds left in the first half.
They would lead by as many as 43 before it was over, but despite the rapturous ovation from fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Haliburton said the Pacers must remain focused on the task ahead.
“We did our job,” Haliburton said. “They did their job and won two at home, we did our job and won two at home.
“We understand the magnitude of game five and we’ll be prepared for that one.”
The Knicks were again without OG Anunoby, who injured a hamstring in game two to join key contributors Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic on the sidelines.
The strain was telling on Brunson, who is playing through a right foot injury. He connected on six of 17 attempts to score 18 points with three rebounds and five assists before checking out with two and a half minutes left in the third quarter.
With the contest out of hand and game five coming up at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, both coaches pulled their starters for the fourth quarter.
New York coach Tom Thibodeau would not point to injuries to explain the Knicks’s struggles – including a seven-for-37 performance from three-point range.
“Everyone’s got something – it’s the playoffs,” Thibodeau said. “Whether you lose by one or lose by 30, it’s a loss. You’ve got to respond.”
Indiana Pacers’s Ben Sheppard rebounds the ball over New York Knicks’s Shake Milton [Trevor Ruszkowski/USA Today Sports via Reuters]
Brunson returned from a foot injury and led the Knicks to a 2-0 playoff series lead over the Pacers.
Jalen Brunson shrugged off injury to spark a sensational second-half fightback as the New York Knicks battled past the Indiana Pacers 130-121 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven NBA playoff series on Wednesday.
New York talisman Brunson gave his team a huge scare after suffering a foot injury in the first quarter which forced him to sit out the remainder of the half at Madison Square Garden.
Indiana exploited Brunson’s absence to open up a 10-point advantage by half-time and were soon 12 points up in the third quarter after an early Andrew Nembhard layup.
But a limping Brunson – who returned at the start of the third quarter – led a stunning rally as the Knicks outscored Indiana 36-18 in the third to take a 99-91 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Knicks then dug deep to hold onto their advantage in the fourth, outscoring the Pacers 31-30 to close out a famous victory.
Brunson finished with 29 points and five assists while Donte DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby came up big with 28 points apiece.
Josh Hart added 19 points with 15 rebounds while Isaiah Hartenstein was huge defensively, with 12 rebounds, eight assists and 14 points.
Jalen Brunson lights it up in Game 2, scoring 24 of his 29 PTS in the 2nd half propelling the @nyknicks to the 2-0 series lead! Game 3 is Friday at 7pm/et on ESPN.
“We found a way, that’s it,” said an exhausted Brunson. “For us it starts with our habits — we’ve talked about doing the little things from day one a little bit better, because you never know when they’re going to help you in a big game.
“It’s all about doing the little things well every single day, and we pride ourselves on that.”
The victory came at a cost though for the Knicks, who were already missing injured first-choice players Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic.
As well as the injury to Brunson on Wednesday, the Knicks saw another player injured with Anunoby limping out of the game in the third quarter with a hamstring problem.
Somehow the Knicks hung on to edge past the Pacers, with Brunson pouring in 14 fourth-quarter points and DiVincenzo adding eight points including two crucial three-pointers that helped keep Indiana at arm’s length.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau revealed the team were uncertain of whether Brunson would continue after missing the second quarter.
“We didn’t know if he was going to be able to go or not, but he found a way to get it done,” Thibodeau said.
Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana’s scorers with 34 points while Nembhard finished with 15 points and Pascal Siakam 14. Obi Toppin added 20 from the bench.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was ejected late in the fourth quarter after ranting at officials following a decision to overturn a double-dribble call against the Knicks’ Hartenstein.
Carlisle took aim at the officiating crew following the defeat, saying his team had been unfairly treated.
“I’m always talking to our guys about not making it all about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot,” Carlisle said. “There’s not a consistent balance and that’s disappointing. Give New York credit for the physicality that they’re playing with. But their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized.”
The top-seeded Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder have rolled to convincing victories in their opening NBA playoff series.
Eastern Conference top seeds Boston laid down a marker with a 120-95 rout of the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers at the TD Garden on Tuesday.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, were made to work harder by Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks before finally pulling clear to seal a 117-95 victory in their Western Conference semifinal series opener.
In Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points while Derrick White added 25, including seven three-pointers, in an emphatic win for the Celtics, who are chasing a record 18th NBA championship.
Boston were in complete control for most of the game, holding a double-digit lead through the second half to close out an emphatic win at the TD Garden.
Boston star Jayson Tatum added 18 points but had an off-night shooting-wise, making just 7-of-19 from the field.
Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Cleveland with 33 points, with Evan Mobley adding 17 and Darius Garland 14.
Brown said the Celtics’ defence had laid the foundation for the win.
“It starts with defence, we wanted to set the tone on defence and we kept them under 100 (points),” Brown told TNT television.
“But we feel like we’ve got an answer for everything so we just play the game the right way, and see what they want to take away and then we play after that.”
Game two in the series takes place in Boston on Thursday.
🏆 TUESDAY’S FINAL SCORES 🏆
Jaylen Brown comes out in attack mode, scoring 15 in the 1st, on way to 32 for the game as the @celtics take Game 1!
In Oklahoma City (OKC), the Thunder and the Mavericks fought a nip-and-tuck duel before the top seeds pulled away decisively in the fourth quarter.
Trailing by nine points at half-time, Dallas rallied in the third quarter to get within one point at 66-65.
But the youthful Thunder lineup began to find their range, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander adding 10 points in the third quarter to help OKC build a 10-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City’s barrage of scoring continued in the fourth with Jalen Williams adding 10 points as the Thunder outscored their visitors 28-16 to seal victory by a 22-point margin.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the OKC scoring, finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists while Chet Holmgren added 19 points and Williams 18.
Kyrie Irving led Dallas with 20 points while Luka Doncic, struggling with a sore knee, finished with 19 after shooting six-of-19 from the field.
Oklahoma City, who have an average age of just over 23, are the youngest team to win a second-round playoff game and were the youngest team to win a postseason series after sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.
“We don’t worry about all the statistics and the stats, and how young we are,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the win. “We just want to win basketball games at a high level and that’s what we focus on.
“We try to get that done every night and tonight we did so.”
Doncic said the Mavericks would need to improve dramatically for Game Two taking place in Oklahoma City on Thursday.
The Slovenian star brushed off questions about his own shooting performance.
“Who cares? We lost. We’ve just got to move on to the next one. I’ve got to be better, we’ve got to be better,” Doncic said.
“They’re a great defensive team and a great offensive team, so it’s not going to be easy at all. We’re going to have to play very good basketball, focused basketball, for 48 minutes.”
Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has the ball stripped as he drives between Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Jalen Williams [Alonzo Adams/USA Today Sports]
Anthony Edwards’s 43 points led Minnesota Timberwolves’ 106-99 home win over Denver Nuggets.
Anthony Edwards scored 43 points, Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 20 and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves took home-court advantage from Denver with a 106-99 win over the Nuggets in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal series.
Naz Reid scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, Mike Conley had 14 points and 10 assists and Rudy Gobert grabbed 13 rebounds for Minnesota, which pulled away to begin the postseason 5-0.
“They are defending champs, they’re a hard team to beat. Great team. They got great players,” Edwards said of the Nuggets.
“They got the best player in the league with Nikola Jokic, they got the best closer with Jamal Murray, the best 3-point shooter with Michael Porter Jr So, it is tough to beat this team.”
Game 2 is in Denver on Monday.
Anthony Edwards puts on a show and drops a playoff career-high to lift the @Timberwolves to the Game 1 win in Denver!
Jokic had 32 points, Porter added 20 and Murray finished with 17, all in the second half, for the Nuggets, who are trailing in a playoff series for the first time since losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round in 2022.
It was a tight game early in the fourth, but the Timberwolves were more poised down the stretch.
Conley hit his third 3-pointer of the game to give Minnesota an 80-77 lead, but Murray answered from deep and was fouled by Towns. He then proceeded to complete the four-point play.
Edwards, who had 25 points in the first half, hit a driving layup through traffic and a pullup 18-footer to put the Timberwolves back in front. Reid hit a pair of 3-pointers, converted a layup and dunked an Edwards miss to give Minnesota a 94-88 lead with 4:20 left.
Jokic converted a three-point play, but the Timberwolves then started to put the game away. Gobert made a layup and banked in a 13-footer and Edwards sank two free throws. Porter committed an offensive foul, and Edwards’ 14-foot fadeaway made it 102-91 with 1:36 left.
Jokic’s 3-pointer cut Denver’s deficit to 102-96 with 1:02 to go, but the Timberwolves closed it out.
Minnesota jumped out to an 18-4 lead with 5:12 left in the first quarter, but the Nuggets turned up the defence. They forced seven turnovers and held the Timberwolves to 22 points in the final 17 minutes of the first half to lead 44-40 at intermission.
Towns and Conley had 11 points apiece in the third quarter to help put Minnesota ahead 73-71 going into the fourth.
“An 18-4 start, so we get down early, fight like hell to take the lead at halftime, then we played no defense in the third,” Denver coach Michael Malone said.
Heat scored a franchise playoff record 23 3-pointers against the Eastern top seed, as Thunder sank Pelicans in the West.
The Miami Heat unleashed a barrage of three-pointers to score a series-levelling 111-101 upset over the top-seeded Boston Celtics in their NBA Eastern Conference playoff duel.
Eighth-seeded Miami, playing without the injured Jimmy Butler, produced a battling performance on Wednesday to tie the best-of-seven series at 1-1 as the teams head back to Florida for game three on Saturday.
Tyler Herro led the Miami scoring with 24 points, part of a balanced offensive effort that saw all five Heat starters post double-digit points.
But the key to the Miami victory was their accuracy from long range, with the Heat draining 23 three-pointers from 43 attempts compared with Boston’s 12 of 32.
Herro knocked down six threes while Caleb Martin added five to his tally of 21 points.
Bam Adebayo also finished with 21 points while Jaime Jaquez Jr added 14 and Nikola Jovic 11.
Boston, meanwhile, were led by 33 points from Jaylen Brown, with Jayson Tatum finishing with 28 in a losing effort.
The win was all the more unexpected given Miami’s 20-point drubbing by Boston in game one on Sunday – something Herro said had motivated the Heat for game two.
“We lost badly in game one and everybody responded tonight, and that’s all you can ask for from a group of guys,” Herro said afterwards.
It was another trademark display of defiance from Miami, who are aiming to emulate their playoff run of last season when they reached the NBA Finals after entering the postseason via the play-in tournament.
“We don’t even want to mention last year, this year is a whole new year,” Herro said.
Boston star Tatum, meanwhile, said the Celtics had expected a backlash after their comfortable game one victory.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Tatum said.
“There’s a lot of history between these two franchises, especially recently.
“Regardless of seeding or who’s in or who’s out – it’s the playoffs … we’ve got a chance to play another one on Saturday – should be a fun one.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shows full command of the floor and leads the @okcthunder to a 2-0 series lead!
While the Eastern Conference top seeds were left licking their wounds, there were no such problems for Boston’s Western Conference counterparts Oklahoma City.
The number one ranked Thunder took a commanding 2-0 lead in their first-round series against the eighth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans with an emphatic 124-92 thrashing.
The Thunder took the lead early in the first quarter and were in complete control throughout, holding a double-digit advantage from the second quarter onwards which reached 34 points at one stage late in the fourth quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the scoring for Oklahoma City, finishing with 33 points from 13-of-19 shooting from the field.
Chet Holmgren added 26 points while Jalen Williams chipped in with 21. Luguentz Dort added 15 points including four three-pointers.
The result was in stark contrast to game one, which went down to the wire before Oklahoma City prevailed 94-92 on Sunday.
“Within a seven-game series, we’ve just got to take it day by day and try to get better every day,” Gilgeous-Alexander said afterwards.
“And I think that’s what we did tonight. We definitely had a better performance than we did in game one and that’s our goal. So we’ll take it.”
The series now heads to game three in New Orleans on Saturday.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrates after scoring against the New Orleans Pelicans during game two of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs [Alonzo Adams/USA Today Sports via Reuters]
In a repeat matchup of last season’s Western Conference final, Denver clinched Game 1 over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The defending champions, Denver Nuggets, powered by 32 points from Nikola Jokic, shook off a slow start to beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 114-103 in game one of their NBA playoffs first-round series.
The Nuggets, who swept the Lakers in four games in the Western Conference finals on the way to their first title last season, continued their dominance of star-studded Los Angeles on Saturday.
Jokic added 12 rebounds and seven assists, Jamal Murray added 22 points with 10 assists and Michael Porter Jr scored 19 for the Nuggets, who used a 13-0 scoring run to take charge in the third quarter – in which they restricted the Lakers to 18 points.
James scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Anthony Davis added 27 for the Lakers, who cut a 15-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to six only for the Nuggets to pull away again.
Jokic’s only three-pointer of the game pushed the Nuggets’ lead to 103-93. He added a dunk over James, who took a hard fall with a minute remaining but stayed in the game to the bitter end.
“Mindset needed to change,” Jokic said of the Nuggets’ third-quarter resurgence. “I think for the second half defence was amazing.”
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said the Nuggets’ 15-6 superiority in offensive rebounding was key as Denver piled up 18 second-chance points.
“You can’t allow them to get multiple possessions,” said Ham, who added that he still believed the best-of-seven series, which resumes Monday, will be a “hard fought” affair.
The game was the finale of the first day of the playoffs, which saw the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Phoenix Suns 120-95, the New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 111-104 and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 97-83.
The NBA Eastern Conference postseason begins on Wednesday night with the play-in tournament.
The top six teams from the conference have already qualified for the playoffs, while seeds seven through 10 enter the play-in tournament for an opportunity to qualify for the final two playoff spots in each conference.
Here are three key Eastern Conference talking points ahead of the NBA playoffs:
1. Are the second-placed New York Knicks playoff contenders or pretenders in the East?
The Knicks squeaked into the number two spot in the Eastern Conference standings on the final day of the season on Sunday.
For a franchise that has not won an NBA championship in 51 years and an Eastern Conference crown since 1999, this was exciting news and heralded in an exciting new era for one of the league’s most storied teams.
Led by a single, diminutive, by NBA standards, All-Star blessed with the heart of a lion, Jalen Brunson has New Yorkers believing that this could be the year the team finally starts winning playoff series again.
The 1.88-metre (six-foot-two-inch) Brunson refused to let his team falter this season, despite injuries to key players constantly threatening to derail their campaign. The point guard averaged a career-high 28.7 points per game and delivered over and over in crunch time to win his team games that sometimes they had no business winning.
And herein lies the dilemma for Brunson and the Knickerbockers: if they overachieved in the regular season, will they be able to do so again in the playoffs, where teams have more time to prepare defensive strategies over the course of a seven-game series?
In the absence of key forward Julius Randle – out for the playoffs with season-ending shoulder surgery – Brunson’s regular season scoring average – 28.7 points per game – is almost as much as his next two teammates combined in Donte DiVincenzo – 15.5 ppg – and Immanuel Anunoby – 14.1 ppg.
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, this poses a major problem for the Knicks when they play high-scoring super teams with multiple All-Stars like Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
The Knicks final regular season game on Sunday was a perfect snapshot of their season, their team, their performance, gutting out a relentless one-point, overtime victory against the Chicago Bulls with Brunson bravely leading the way with 40 points in a never-say-die performance.
For New York to win the East, it would be easy to say “As Brunson goes, surely do the Knicks” – but even a career-best playoffs showing by the little floor general may not be enough to take NY to the promised land.
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, 11, and Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso, 6, fight for a loose ball in overtime at Madison Square Garden on April 14, 2024, in New York [Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports]
2. The Eastern Conference crown is Boston’s to lose.
Making a statistical case for Boston to win the East might be the easiest task in NBA reportage:
First team in either conference to clinch a postseason spot
Finished with the NBA’s best regular season win-loss record at 64-18, that is eight games better than anyone else
Finished first in the Eastern Conference standings by 14 games
NBA’s best win-loss point differential at 11.4
Scored 1.22 points per possession, which is the best in NBA history
If statistics do not tell the whole story, then it is also important to point out that the Celtics easily have the most complete starting five in the East, with All-Stars Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown flanked by some of the league’s best role players in Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick White.
Despite their historically great season, the Celtics are not infallible. This star-studded team has gone off the rails from time to time, making one question their intensity and/or tactics – but not their talent.
The Celtics lost both matchups this season against the hapless Atlanta Hawks, and in perhaps the NBA’s single biggest one-game humiliation, they lost a stunner on home court against a depleted Lakers squad playing without their All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
They also lost twice to the defending NBA champions Denver, which exposed the Celtics’ regular habit of alternating between superb team play and relying too often – especially in crunch time – on the do-it-yourself sublime individual talents of their mercurial wing players Tatum and Brown.
Boston may indeed be the league’s best team, but no NBA title was ever won in the regular season; they will have to impose that dominance once again in the Eastern Conference playoffs to win their first NBA championship since 2008.
3. Does Joel Embiid’s late-season return from injury put the Philadelphia 76ers back in the Eastern Conference playoff race?
The reigning most valuable player’s (MVP) knee injury on January 30, 2024, killed his team’s chances of finishing in the top two in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.
Embiid’s return to NBA action just days before the end of the regular season threw a gigantic spanner into the works of a conference that features only one great team, the Celtics, and several quite decent teams – Bucks, Magic, Knicks, Cavs.
Pre-injury, Embiid was scoring at a faster rate than any player ever has in the NBA regular season.
With a pro-rated scoring rate of 38 points per 36 minutes, Embiid enjoyed the highest “per-minute” scoring average in league history, surpassing even the best per-minute scoring season of the legendary Michael Jordan in 1987/88.
If unprecedented scoring statistics are not enough to calculate the 30-year-old’s worth to the 76ers, then this might be: In the 39 games Embiid played in the regular season, Philadelphia had the NBA’s best record at 31 wins and eight losses. Without him, they were 16 and 27.
The unexpected rise of Tyrese Maxey as a first-time NBA All-Star is further cause for Philadelphia’s optimism heading into the postseason. The super-athletic guard averaged a career-best 25.9 points per game to finish 11th in the NBA scoring race.
The seventh-seeded 76ers will first need to clinch their winner-take-all play-in game on Wednesday night to qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Their opponent is none other than last year’s Eastern Conference champion, the Miami Heat.
Philadelphia is favoured against Miami, but the Heat might be relying on the most ominous Embiid statistic of them all: The gigantic 2.14-metre (seven-foot), 127-kilo (280-pound) centre has suffered an injury in every postseason of his career.
Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid plays during an NBA game, on April 2, 2024, in Philadelphia [Matt Slocum/AP Photo]
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