NBA Player News

This could be the last game of their season. Davis isn’t going to miss this one, no matter how bad he’s hurting. He’ll play a ton of minutes as they look to keep their season alive.

After scoring just six points in the first half, Irving once again turned it on for the second half and scored nine points in the third, which included a contested 3-pointer just before the buzzer. He was consistently better in the second half during their first round series against the Clippers, but his production in the second half of this game wasn’t enough to secure a win on the road. If Irving can put together two solid halves in Game 2, they may be able to steal a game on the road and head to Dallas with the series tied.

Gafford had a quiet first round series against the Clippers, but he was much better in the first game of this series. He recorded his first double-double of this postseason and swatted five shots, which was his highest block total in a game since March. Gafford has a better matchup in this series, and with Maxi Kleber sidelined for at least three weeks, he’ll continue to see extra minutes. He played 27 minutes in this game, which was more minutes than he played in any game in the first round. He’ll play a large role once again in Game 2 on Thursday.

Lu Dort had Doncic in the Dorture Chamber in this game, which is a matchup that Mark Daigneault will continue to deploy. However, that doesn’t mean that it will continue to work like it did in this game. Luka deals with the full attention of the opposing team’s best defender every night, so this is nothing new. As one of the league’s best players, Doncic should be able to bounce back in Game 2 on Thursday, and if Dallas wants to steal a game in OKC, they’ll need him to.

OKC has plenty of depth, which means that there are multiple options that can change a game on any given night. Wiggins was the difference-maker in this game, and he was able to make an impact on both sides of the ball off the bench. He scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half, and the Thunder outscored Dallas by 18 points in his 23 minutes on the court. This doesn’t mean that Wiggins will continue to produce to this level moving forward, since he didn’t do much in the first round against New Orleans.

Holmgren did a bit of everything in this game, which included plenty of production on the defensive end. After failing to record a defensive stat in their closeout win over the Pelicans, Holmgren got back on track in this one. While the steals and blocks are nice for DFS leagues, his defensive impact goes beyond the box score. Holmgren is a big reason why the Thunder has yet to allow 100 points in a game so far during this postseason. They’ll look to keep that streak going in Game 2 against Dallas on Thursday.

SGA played well in their first round sweep of the Pelicans, but SGA had arguably his best performance of this postseason in Game 1. His field goal percentage was once again significantly worse than it was during the regular season, but he came close to recording a triple-double. He took over this game with Jalen Williams struggling for the first three quarters, and the Thunder used a dominant fourth quarter to seal the win in the first game of the series. Game 2 will be on Thursday, and SGA will look to have another big game to help OKC remain undefeated in the postseason.

Pritchard played a decent-sized role off the bench in the first round, but he didn’t make a significant impact like he did in this game. However, he kicked off this series with a solid performance as a reserve, and he wasn’t the only one. Luke Kornet, who has filled in as the backup center behind Al Horford, collected 10 rebounds and two blocks. Pritchard and Kornet should both continue to play important roles off the bench, but it is unlikely that either contributes in the box score to the level that they did in this game.

White was solid in the first half of this game, but he caught fire in the third, scoring 14 of his 25 points in the period. White has been arguably the best player for the Celtics during this postseason, and this was his third straight game with at least 25 points. Boston is one of the deepest teams in the league, and White has stepped up with Kristaps Porzingis injured. He should continue to shine as Boston looks to return to the Eastern Conference Finals by collecting three more wins in this series.

After only having one 30-point game in round one and scoring less than 20 points twice, Brown got off to a much better start in this series. He took over early in this game and scored 15 points in the first quarter, though they didn’t fully take control of this game until after that. Despite an off-night from Jayson Tatum (18 points on 7-of-19 FGs), the Celtics were still able to get a big win to open up the series. If Brown continues to play this well, Boston should have no issues returning to the conference finals.

Mobley didn’t have a great series offensively against the Magic, but he was able to tie his highest-scoring game from the first round on Tuesday. Most of that came in the second half, as he scored 15 of his 19 after the break, including 10 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, his efforts weren’t enough to close the gap in the scoreboard. Mobley will continue to start at center until Jarrett Allen (ribs) returns to the lineup, and while he has shown flashes this postseason, the overall result of Mobley as the only big has been underwhelming.