Here is what caught our editors' eyes last week:
Denver facing elimination - Can Nuggets beat their nemesis?
In 2023, the Denver Nuggets won their first-ever NBA championship. A year later, the Minnesota Timberwolves shattered their hopes of a repeat, eliminating them in a thrilling seven-game second-round series. Denver entered as the higher seeds but still fell to a team led by Anthony Edwards.
The Nuggets have yet to return to the NBA Finals since that title run. This season looked promising for a deep playoff run – the third-seeded Denver held home-court advantage and opened against the sixth-seeded Timberwolves, the franchise that haunts the Nuggets in their dreams.
The Mile High City took game one, but the next two belonged to Minnesota. Denver desperately needed to win Game 4 to tie the series and avoid a brutal 1-3 deficit. But shortly after the start, the matchup turned into a nightmare for Minnesota.
Less than two minutes after the tipoff, Donte DiVincenzo went down with a leg injury. A few hours later, a brutal diagnosis hit: torn Achilles. Shortly before halftime, superstar Edwards suffered a knee injury, leaving Minnesota without two key starters.
But the Timberwolves had a secret weapon. His name was Ayo Dosunmu – the guard erupted for a career-high 43 points, knocking down all five of his triples. He put his team on his back and stepped up to cover for his teammates. Minnesota won 112-96. Now, Denver are on the verge of elimination.
But it’s not over until it’s over, and the Timberwolves might have the toughest step ahead of them. They still have to beat the talented Nuggets one more time, but down two leaders, it won’t be an easy task. Denver want to finally prove that Minnesota aren't their nemesis.
That they can beat them in the postseason. Now, they have the perfect set-up for it, as history is on their side. Led by Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets famously overcame a 3-1 deficit in 2020 against the Utah Jazz, then repeated the feat in the next round - becoming the first team in NBA history to do it twice in the same postseason.
Now, they have another chance to prove that Minnesota aren't their postseason nightmare. Will Denver save their season, or will Minnesota continue the hunt?
Michaela Gaislerová
Boston looking imperious
The Boston Celtics weren't meant to be this good this season. It was meant to be a gap year. However, with some phenomenal coaching from Joe Maszulla during the regular season, and the return of Jayson Tatum from a lengthy injury layoff more recently, Boston are looking good.
The Celtics have stormed to a 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, and they are a team performing at championship level.
Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two exceptional players, and on Sunday night, Payton Pritchard was the man who shone, scoring 32 points in Boston's crushing 128-96 win on the road.
The Eastern Conference isn't particularly demanding, and they should be feeling extremely confident of making it to the NBA Finals.
Tolga Akdeniz
Farce of a basketball game between Raptors & Cavs
A Game 4 in the play-offs, in a tight series, is always an enticing prospect: it’s the game that can turn everything on its head. A win would have put the Toronto Raptors in a commanding position, whilst a victory for the Cleveland Cavaliers would have given them a match ball at home.
But instead, the spectators were treated to a mess of a basketball game. To the eye, the match was very disappointing (to say the least), with far too much isolation play, very imprecise attacks, and few moments to get excited about. But looking at the statistics sheet, one figure illustrated this point better than any interpretation.
14/70 from three-point range. A 20% success rate.
The combined three-point shooting record for both teams reads: 10/40 for the Cavaliers and 4/30 for the Raptors. One wonders what must be going through the players’ minds to keep shooting relentlessly when it’s clearly one of those nights where nothing is going in.
As for the coaching staff, what’s the point of them if they’re not capable of coming up with something else?
That’s the problem with having a game that revolves around the three-pointer. Yet neither of these teams ranked in the top 10 for three-point percentage during the regular season. In the end, despite the presence of one of the NBA’s best passers in James Harden, or a Scottie Barnes who’s no slouch in that department, neither team managed more than 20 assists in this match.
The Raptors were the least bad, winning 93-89 and keeping the suspense alive. Game 5 in Cleveland promises to be important, to say the least. But let’s hope the spectacle on offer is of a much higher standard. What we might tolerate in an obscure regular-season fixture is simply unacceptable in the playoffs. Let's wait and see...
Sébastien Gente