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On this day 40 years ago, the New York Knicks won the first NBA Draft Lottery. They ended up taking Patrick Ewing with the first pick. Not counting active players, we’ve had seven No. 1 picks in the lottery era make the Hall of Fame from 1985 to 2002. The moral of the story is drafting is hard, no matter what Mel Kiper Jr. says about quarterback analysis.
Who’s in Trouble?
Which teams are in second-round Danger Zone?
Through the first week of the second round of the playoffs, we’ve gotten a fair amount of chaos. The first 14 games of this round have seen the road teams go an impressive 10-4. Road teams are now nearly .500 in the playoffs through both rounds, with a record of 28-29. Needless to say, it’s pretty hard to predict what’s going to happen next, and that means there are quite a few teams in a lot of potential danger.
I thought it be only appropriate to fire up Kenny Loggins on your preferred music streaming platform, maybe pop in the “Top Gun” DVD and figure out which of the remaining eight teams in the postseason are officially in the Danger Zone.
(4) Pacers lead (1) Cavaliers 3-1
As we discussed toward the end of last week, the Cavaliers might be headed for a third straight postseason of frustrating, confusing disappointment. The Pacers just obliterated them 129-109 in Game 4 yesterday to take the commanding 3-1 series lead. Adding injury to insult, Donovan Mitchell hurt his ankle in the first half and didn’t play in the second half of the blowout loss. We know Cleveland is better than what it’s shown, but Indiana has definitely been the better team.
- Indiana Danger Zone: No danger. Don’t even have to lock the doors at night.
- Cleveland Danger Zone: The same level of impending peril everyone else felt when the Warriors signed Kevin Durant.
- Prediction on where it’s headed: It’s hard to believe Cleveland will lose Game 5 at home after losing the first two games there, but I can’t see this making it past Game 6 in Indianapolis.
(3) Knicks lead (2) Celtics 2-1
Game 3 on Saturday was a reminder of how the Celtics probably assumed the first two games of the series would go. The 115-93 win to finally grab a game in this series was fueled by 20 made 3-pointers. The question is whether New York can disrupt that tonight to hang on to control of this series.
- New York Danger Zone: Jaywalking with noise-canceling headphones on and not really needing to check both ways. But you never know …
- Boston Danger Zone: The Celtics have discovered a big scratch on their DVD copy of “The Town,” and they are hoping using a cloth to wipe in circular motions will allow it to play without issue.
- Prediction on where it’s headed: No clue. It seems like Boston figured out how to stop giving this away, but I kind of expect New York to take Game 4.
(1) Thunder tied 2-2 with (4) Nuggets
This series has been an unbelievable battle between a championship team from two years ago and a team trying to figure out how to get there. The Thunder have been all over the place, but over the last three games they have Nikola Jokić shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 18.2 percent from 3, and dishing out just 15 assists to 16 turnovers. The MVP backlash has quieted.
- OKC Danger Zone: Everybody should feel like they’re in danger here.
- Denver Danger Zone: The Nuggets should feel like they’re all about to get fired with three games left.
- Prediction on where it’s headed: Feels like Jokić has something in store for them, so maybe Denver wins it? It would have to be in six, though.
(6) Timberwolves lead (7) Warriors 2-1
Steph Curry’s hamstring injury really deflated how fun this series was supposed to be. We’re still seeing the Warriors make the Wolves work a bit, and it’s all with the hope that Curry will be back by Game 5. But Minnesota has a chance to put this virtually out of reach with a Game 4 win tonight, fueled by Anthony Edwards.
The Last 24
Draymond Green is sick of image he has
🏀 So frustrated. Draymond Green said there’s an agenda to make him look like “an angry black man.” He’s sick of it.
🗣️ No running. Tyrese Haliburton said he wasn’t hiding from the media after the Game 3 loss. It just wasn’t his call.
🏀 Always strategizing. Jimmy Butler is taking a similar approach to the Wolves series as a different game he loves: dominoes.
🤔 Next steps? What must the Rockets do to put their disappointing playoff run behind them?
🐺 Stepping up. Julius Randle seems to have all the answers for the Timberwolves this postseason.
🇨🇦 Tough assignment. Lu Dort is keying in on a very tough assignment against the Nuggets. Stopping Jamal Murray.
🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” details how the Cavaliers are running out of hope vs the Pacers.
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Draft Lottery SZN
Where are the best fits for Cooper Flagg?
Tonight is the NBA’s Draft Lottery! It’s that special half-hour television event that could’ve been an email, but it gets stretched into a big viewing extravaganza. The whole purpose of it is to find out where the No. 1 selection will go, so we know which team ends up with Duke super freshman Cooper Flagg. A little fuzzy on how the lottery works? Mike Vorkunov has you covered!
These are the odds for landing the No. 1 pick or moving up to the top four in the draft, via the great Tankathon website.
The “No Dunks” crew predicted the winner of the lottery with pickleball and a toilet hat.
We’re going to have a mock draft for you on the website once the results are known, and we’ll even do our own in The Bounce tomorrow. But for now, these are my five most intriguing fits for where Flagg could end up.
Five most intriguing fits for Cooper Flagg
5. Rockets – It would be brutal for Phoenix to land this pick only for it to go to Houston. It would be so fun for Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün to get Flagg as a teammate.
4. Jazz – The Jazz need a star, and we can’t ignore how funny it would be for the first white American-born No. 1 overall pick since Kent Benson (1977) ending up in Utah would be for the internet.
3. Trail Blazers – Only a 3.7 percent chance of happening here, but I love the idea of Scoot Henderson setting up high-flyers like Shaedon Sharpe and Flagg. This would be extremely fun for a young team already learning defense.
2. Wizards – I love the young core they have with Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George. But the Wizards need “the guy,” and Flagg fills that possibility better than anybody they have put together.
1. Spurs – Tell me you haven’t wondered what it would look like for Victor Wembanyama and Flagg to be teammates for the next 10-15 years. This would be unfair but the fun kind!
Three Flagg landing spots I’m least interested in
3. Hornets – I know they’re trying to change the culture with this franchise, but it looked the exact same as always most of this season.
2. Pelicans – It’s an awesome city, and I want good things for it, but we cannot risk another high-flying Duke forward being injured there all the time.
1. 76ers – I really don’t want to subject Flagg to wondering if Joel Embiid and Paul George will be available to play any given night.
Make sure to check out John Hollinger’s top prospects big board.
Punch It Home
Two very different punches from the weekend
I wanted to focus on two very different moments from the weekend that involved what could be interpreted as “punches.” Let’s start with yesterday’s Pacers-Cavs game. As you saw above, Cleveland looks to be in some serious trouble. The Cavs were off to a tough start in Game 4, but being down 22-10 in the first isn’t insurmountable.
That’s when we saw this moment between Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin and Cavs forward De’Andre Hunter. As the Pacers were trying to run some pick action on the perimeter, a foul was called. The next thing we knew, Hunter walked over to Mathurin, pointed at him while saying something and then shoved him to the ground with two hands.
Are you wondering why Hunter shoved him? If you still haven’t noticed it, watch carefully when it cycles around again. It’s that little shot Mathurin gives the stomach of Hunter. You can watch the whole moment here.
The officials reviewed the moment and eventually decided this was worthy of an ejection of Mathurin from the game. He was assessed a flagrant-2 for a “closed fist” hit on Hunter. During the review, Hunter mocked Mathurin by pointing to his head to be smarter than that. He also said he’d meet him off the court too.
It didn’t hurt the Pacers too much, considering they were up 80-39 16.5 minutes later at halftime. That “lethal” punch by Mathurin is apparently worthy of an ejection, which seems ridiculous. But was it as lethal as what Anthony Edwards did in the game against the Warriors in Game 3?
Before the Wolves rallied to take Game 3 and control of the series, Anthony Edwards needed to get things going a bit. After being dunked on or nearby a little bit by Jonathan Kuminga, Edwards decided to get some revenge in the lane. Towards the end of the third quarter, Edwards blew by Kuminga at the top of the key, planted both of his feet around the dotted circle and detonated a dunk by punching it home on Kevon Looney.
It feels like Edwards has a Dunk of the Year candidate every couple of weeks. Or at least a poster dunk worthy of a lot of views. Kuminga probably owes Looney a dinner or something for allowing this to happen.
If Mathurin gets ejected for that “punch” on Hunter, then it’s pretty shocking that a much more violent “punching” by Edwards with this dunk didn’t bring about a more severe penalty. And if you thought this entire section was just some ruse to openly mock the ejection of Mathurin for calling that a closed fist punch, you’ve earned yourself 100 Bounce points, redeemable at any Bounce Theme Park around the world.
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(Top photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USA Today Network via Imagn Images )