Mitchell and Harden carry Cleveland's playoff torment of Toronto into Game 6
Cleveland holds a 3-2 series lead heading into Game 6 at Scotiabank Arena, and the Cavaliers have now beaten Toronto 12 straight times in the playoffs. LeBron James left Ohio years ago; the humiliation he perfected stayed right there in the rotation. Donovan Mitchell and James Harden are doing the rest.
Minnesota holds a 3-2 edge but faces Denver shorthanded as Nuggets fight for survival
The Minnesota Timberwolves host the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 on April 30, holding a 3-2 series lead but doing it without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo. Denver staved off elimination with a 125-113 win in Game 5, driven by a Nikola Jokić triple-double and a Spencer Jones spark off the bench. The Wolves need one more win at home to advance; the Nuggets need two straight to survive.
Cade Cunningham has been brilliant, but the Pistons are one loss from erasure in five games.
Two years ago the Detroit Pistons won 14 games. Fourteen. They were the worst team in the NBA, a franchise treading water so low the league's lottery odds barely felt like a lifeline. Wednesday night, facing elimination in Game 5 against the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic, they find out what the last two seasons actually meant. A 30-win turnaround, a No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and the first playoff win since 2008 are either the foundation of something real or the setup to a punchline the rest of the league never tires of telling.
A 20-10-10 triple-double from KAT sends Game 5 back to Madison Square Garden
Karl-Anthony Towns posted a 20-point triple-double and the Knicks blew out the Hawks 114-98 in Game 4 to even this first-round series 2-2. New York had dropped two straight, including a one-point gut-punch in Game 2, before finding their game in Atlanta. The series heads back to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on April 28.
OKC leads Phoenix 3-0, SGA drops 42 in Game 3, sweep on the line in Game 4
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points in Game 3 and the Oklahoma City Thunder now lead the Phoenix Suns 3-0, one win away from a first-round sweep. OKC heads into Game 4 having outscored Phoenix by an average of 20 points across three games, winning by margins of 35, 13 and 12.
Carrick's side six points from Champions League qualification with five games left
Manchester United host Brentford at Old Trafford on Monday night six points from guaranteeing Champions League qualification, with five games remaining in the Premier League season. Michael Carrick's side arrive on the back of a 1-0 win at Chelsea and have scored in each of their last 21 league matches, the longest such run of the post-Ferguson era. Bruno Fernandes is two assists shy of Thierry Henry's all-time single-season Premier League record of 20.
Spurs vs. Blazers is less a series than a stress-test of the NBA's next decade.
San Antonio holds a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 in Portland, and the basketball itself almost doesn't matter as much as what produced it. Victor Wembanyama set a Spurs franchise record with 35 points in his playoff debut. Dylan Harper authored a career night in Game 3 to flip the series. Scoot Henderson answered with a playoff career-high 31 points for Portland. This is not one team hunting a ring and another just happy to be here. These are two franchises that bet their next decade on youth, and the receipts are coming due on the same floor at the same time.
A 22-year-old's two-goal game ties the series and ends an eight-year home playoff drought
Cutter Gauthier scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 4:52 left in the third period, to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 on Wednesday at Rogers Place. The series is tied 1-1. Game 3 on Friday at Honda Center will be the first Anaheim home playoff game since 2018.
OKC's first-round perfection reaches 10-0, but Jalen Williams' injury clouds Game 3
Oklahoma City blitzed Phoenix 120-107 in Game 2 on April 22, pushing the Thunder to 2-0 in the series and an unblemished 10-0 all-time in first-round playoff basketball. The win came with a cost: Jalen Williams, OKC's second star alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, left with an injury, and his status for Game 3 is uncertain. Phoenix, the eighth seed, now hosts a must-win on Saturday night or faces the brink of eliminaton.
San Francisco wins Games 1 and 2 to set up a sweep bid against the defending champions
San Francisco held the defending World Series champions to a combined seven hits across 18 innings and enter Thursday's series finale one win away from sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park. The Giants took Game 1 on April 21 by a score of 3-1, then shut LA out completely in Game 2, 3-0, behind a Landen Roupp start and a three-RBI night from catcher Patrick Bailey. A team that sat at 6-12 not long ago has won four of five and is making real noise in the NL West.
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