|
|
NBA Rumors
The daily league-wide NBA rumors page
By InsideHoops.comUpdated Sunday, April 20, 2025 at 4 a.m. ET
After pushing themselves in the play-in tournament the past two years just to qualify for the postseason, the Los Angeles Lakers relished the chance to earn a week off leading into Game 1 to prepare for their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The break might have allowed players to heal minor injuries and the coaching staff to dive into strategy, but what was clear after L.A.'s 117-95 loss to the Wolves on Saturday was that the Lakers were wholly unready for the raw, bruising physicality that Minnesota played with. "It's not to say our guys weren't ready to withstand a playoff-level basketball game. ... I'm not sure physically we were ready," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "And really when [the Wolves] started playing with a lot of thrust and physicality, we just didn't respond to meet that." - ESPN.com
The Knicks, whose pressure defense forced a pair of turnovers to open the final period, turned the momentum quickly and embarked on a 21-0 run over a four-and-a-half-minute span to run away with the contest 123-112 and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. That fateful fourth quarter began on the wrong foot for the Pistons, who got whistled for a five-second violation when trying to inbound the ball on the first play of the period after Knicks guard Cameron Payne unexpectedly applied pressure in the backcourt. If that wasn't bad enough, Detroit committed a 24-second shot clock violation on the following possession. And talented second-year wing Ausar Thompson blew a breakaway dunk in embarrassing fashion about a minute after that. - ESPN.com
The LA Clippers aren't the first team that has sagged off Russell Westbrook defensively, daring him to try to beat them instead of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. The Clippers know Westbrook's aggression and confidence well from his stint with them the previous two seasons. So in Saturday's Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets, they took that strategy to the extreme -- and Westbrook made them pay. Westbrook hit a huge 3-pointer at the end of regulation in Denver's 112-110 overtime victory over the Clippers at Ball Arena and made several key defensive plays against his former team to help the Nuggets steal the first game of their Western Conference playoff series -- a game in which they trailed by as many as 15 points. "Yeah, yeah," Westbrook said when asked if he recognized that his former team had been daring him to beat it by the way it defended him. - ESPN.com
The Indiana Pacers certainly savored their first playoff opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse since the 2013-14 season and appropriately celebrated their 117-98 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. But after taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, the Pacers tried to walk a fine line of taking heart in the win while also understanding that Saturday's blueprint might be hard to duplicate. After surviving a 36-point, 12-rebound effort from Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo by shutting down the Bucks' supporting cast, the Pacers know they've got to keep their collective foot on the pedal. "I haven't looked at any of the film yet, but the series is one-seventh over and Game 2 will be monumentally more difficult than this one," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. - ESPN.com
RELATED TO OUR NBA RUMORS PAGE
Also read our basketball blog, where most NBA news updates appear during the day.
ABOUT OUR NBA RUMORS PAGE
The InsideHoops.com NBA rumors page features the biggest NBA news and rumors stories from around the league. We've updated this page literally almost every day since the 2000-01 season. There is usually one main morning update, and sometimes a second afternoon or evening update. On special occassions, like around the trade deadline, the draft, or the approach and first week or so of free agency, updates are more frequent. Sometimes 5 or 10 times a day. And literally every hour or two on the biggest days of the basketball year. But in general what you should do is bookmark this page and make it a daily read. Because then you'll know everything all the hot stories that matter most.