SI:AM | Timberwolves and Knicks Make Big Statements With Impressive Game 1 Showings

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Tough night to be a Philadelphia sports fan, huh? The Sixers got thrashed by the Knicks and the Flyers lost in overtime to the Hurricanes. At least the Phillies won, if anyone still cares about them.

In today’s SI:AM:
🗽 Knicks cruise again
🐺 Ant’s return powers Wolves
🐅 Tigers lose Skubal

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Not a done deal

I’m not too proud to admit that I was totally wrong about the state of this year’s NBA playoffs.

Yesterday, I wrote that the first round of the postseason reinforced the idea that the Thunder and Spurs were the only two teams with a real chance of winning the NBA Finals. But not so fast! After another historically dominant win by the Knicks and an upset victory by the Timberwolves over the Spurs, I’m not so sure it’s a done deal.

In fairness to me, the main reason I discounted the Wolves was that it seemed as though Anthony Edwards would miss multiple games due to a left knee injury. But Edwards surprised everyone—even members of his own team—by suiting up for Game 1.

“Nobody expected him to play,” Minnesota’s Mike Conley said.

The Wolves were cautious with Edwards in his expedited return, bringing him off the bench and limiting him to 25 minutes, but he played an enormous role despite the restrictions. He finished with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting and was at his best in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Minnesota hung on to win, 104–102.

It’s difficult to envision a scenario in which the Wolves keep that game competitive without Edwards, considering they were already without starter Donte DiVincenzo and key bench piece Ayo Dosunmu. The Spurs are still the better team, but Minnesota stealing a game on the road changes the shape of the series. If Rudy Gobert continues playing lockdown defense on Victor Wembanyama (11 points on 5-of-17 shooting in Game 1), then the Wolves can make this a series.

The Knicks also exceeded expectations in their blowout win over the Sixers. New York cruised to a 137–98 win, just days after an even more lopsided 140–89 victory over the Hawks in the series clincher. The Knicks are the first team in NBA history to win three straight playoff games by at least 25 points, and their cumulative margin of victory of 119 points in those games is the largest in any three-game span in playoff history.

Blowing out a team by 40 in a playoff game is impressive. Doing it twice in a row against two different opponents is unheard of. The Knicks’ offense is humming right now. Their 74.4% effective field goal percentage in Monday night’s game was the third-highest in playoff history. The previous franchise record for points in a playoff game was 135—a number the Knicks have now surpassed in back-to-back games.

A well-rested Knicks team winning convincingly against a Sixers squad that is average defensively and just finished a grueling seven-game series against the Celtics isn’t a huge surprise, but the fact that the Knicks just had two historically dominant offensive showings in a row should make us think more seriously about their championship aspirations.

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. A fun choice by the Tigers broadcast team to show the in-base camera while the grounds crew pulled the tarp on the field.
4. Ivan Barbashev’s late game-winning goal for the Golden Knights against the Ducks. (The goal was controversial because the play easily could have been whistled dead for icing.)
3. The first three possessions of the Timberwolves-Spurs game: a block by Victor Wembanyama, a block by Rudy Gobert and another block by Wemby.
2. The Yankees’ pregame tribute to John Sterling.
1. Taylor Hall’s overtime game-winner for the Hurricanes against the Flyers. He was knocked to the ice but got back on his feet in time to put home the rebound.

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