Good morning. The Warriors are the first team to advance to the second round
Good morning. Ghostface Ziller is out for a couple days so you’re stuck with me, Ricky O’Donnell. Let’s basketball.
Steph Curry and the Warriors complete the sweep: Mind-bending, last-seconds heroics aside, the likely MVP really hadn’t shot the ball all that well from deep against the Pelicans. That changed in Game 4. Steph finally found his stroke, going 6-of-8 from three-point range to pace Golden State to a series-clinching 109-98 victory.
Can Steph pass the ball, too? Yeah, Steph can pass the ball, too.
Meanwhile, the Bucks staved off elimination: The Bulls always seem to have a homecourt advantage in Milwaukee, but Tom Thibodeau’s team certainly didn’t play like it on Saturday. Chicago turned the ball over 26 times in Game 4, which gave the Bucks just enough room to squeak out a 92-90 victory. They won on a brilliant last-second play to shake Jerryd Bayless free for a buzzer-beating bucket -- thanks in large part to some absent-minded defense from Derrick Rose.
Chicago’s lone bright spot: At least there’s Jimmy Butler. The fourth-year wing did all he could to ensure a sweep, going 12-of-17 from the field for 33 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the loss. He’s making it look so easy. Not bad for a guy who had to go to junior college out of high school and was selected with the last pick of the first round in 2011.
No sleep ‘til Game 4: No one would have blamed the Nets for rolling over against the top-seeded Hawks in Game 3, but Lionel Hollins’ team wouldn’t let it happen. Brook Lopez scored 22, Bojan Bogdanovic added 19, Thaddeus Young chipped in 18 and 11 and Brooklyn knocked off Atlanta, 91-83. The Hawks only shot 6-of-30 (20 percent!) from deep ...
... so, what’s wrong with Atlanta’s offense? Even when the Hawks went up 2-0, their offense didn’t look right. Our own Jeje Gomez took a deeper look and noticed that the Hawks stopped taking (and converting) shots at the rim and started missing more jump shots than they usually do. Can Mike Budenholzer find a way to right the ship?
#Pray4MikeConley: The Grizzlies’ point guard was already beat to hell. He really didn’t need an extra elbow to the face.
Death of Hack-A-Big? Maybe! Adam Silver is “on the fence.“
Paul Pierce is saving the Wizards: This is why Washington signed him. It only took 82 games to figure out that he should be played at power forward.
We still can’t get over James Harden’s 42-point special: James Harden is good. More at 10.
Making sense of Rondo’s end in Dallas: When Bethlehem Shoals writes about Rondo, you are morally obligated to read it.
Finally: As one of 11 living Americans who enjoys both college basketball and the NBA, I’ve spent the past two days on the AAU circuit in Lexington and Louisville. There’s been floor-slapping moms, grandmas in bedazzled Kentucky sweatshirts talking about potential recruits in the same loving way they might talk about their grandchildren and several brilliant individual performances from a really talented 2016 class. Get familiar with Josh Jackson before he’s a top-five pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
