While you clinch your 2nd journey to the West Finals in three years.
Mavs Transfer On: Dallas rallied from 17 down to succeed in the West Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years
Proper On Time: P.J. Washington obtained off to a gradual begin, however delivered within the clutch for Dallas
A New Chapter: The Knicks-Pacers rivalry will get so as to add one other Recreation 7 to its lore
Curler Coaster: The Nuggets-Wolves collection has seen large swings, however will get settled at this time
seventh Heaven: Prepare for at this time’s Recreation 7s with the very best performs and pics from previous Recreation 7s
Buckle up for 2 Recreation 7s to shut out the Convention Semifinals.
Knicks-Pacers (3:30 ET, ABC): The newest chapter on this storied rivalry will get written at this time at Madison Sq. Backyard. | How We Bought Right here
Nuggets-Wolves (8 ET, TNT): The Nuggets look to maintain their title protection alive, whereas the Wolves look to advance on the 20-year anniversary of their final Recreation 7 win. | How We Bought Right here
Dallas Clinches At House: Trailing by 17 within the third quarter, the Mavs refused to let this collection return to OKC for a winner-take-all Recreation 7 — organising a wild end in Dallas.
Luka Doncic posted his third straight triple-double (29 pts, 10 reb, 10 ast) to guide the comeback, as Dallas gained the 2nd half 69-52 to come back away with a 117-116 win on P.J. Washington’s free throws with 2.5 seconds left.
- fifth Participant Ever: Luka joined Nikola Jokic (4 straight), Wilt Chamberlain (4), Draymond Inexperienced (3) and Russell Westbrook (3) as the one gamers with three consecutive Playoff triple-doubles
Dallas advances to its 2nd West Finals in three years with Luka as the one starter remaining from the 2022 squad. His new supporting solid delivered within the series-clincher over the West’s No. 1 seed.
- Kyrie Irving (22 pts, 4 3s) is now 14-0 in series-clinching video games; he’s the one participant in NBA historical past undefeated in closeout video games with no less than 10 video games performed
- Derrick Jones Jr. (22 pts, 4 3s) posted his third straight playoff career-high in scoring with 16 of his factors coming within the 2nd half
- Dereck Energetic II (12 pts, Playoff career-high 15 reb) was a plus-26 in half-hour off the bench, turning into the first rookie to put up a double-double in a clinching sport since 2018
- P.J. Washington (9 pts, 5 reb, 2 3s) overcame a gradual begin to ship within the clutch. Extra on his night time in Part 2
SGA’s Playoff-Finest Not Sufficient: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC with a playoff career-high 36 factors with eight assists in 43 minutes.
- Jalen Williams (22 pts, 9 reb, 8 ast) and Chet Holmgren (21 pts) each put up their highest-scoring video games of the collection, with Chet’s alley-oop dunk giving OKC the lead with 20 seconds left
Traditionally Shut Sequence: Whereas the Mavs gained the collection 4 video games to 2, the composite rating over six video games was dead-even at 636-636.
- That is the sixth collection over the previous 20 years to complete with a complete level differential of 1 level or much less – and the 2nd incidence this postseason (Knicks-Sixers, 1st Spherical)
What’s Subsequent: The Mavs await the winner of at this time’s Recreation 7 between the Nuggets and Wolves to see who they may face within the West Finals, which tip off Wednesday with the Mavs on the highway.
P.J. Washington entered Recreation 6 as Dallas’ 2nd-leading scorer within the collection (19.4 ppg), however obtained off to a gradual begin within the series-clincher.
- How Sluggish? By 3½ quarters, he was scoreless (0-3 FG, 0-2 3P) with three rebounds, two assists and three fouls
Clutch time was a a lot completely different story. He scored all 9 of his factors within the last 5:19 of the sport, together with two clutch 3s and the game-clinching free throws.
- For The Tie: Washington’s first bucket of the sport – a left nook 3 with 4:11 to play – tied the sport to finish Dallas’ comeback from 17 factors down
- For The Lead: His solely different bucket of the sport – a proper wing 3 with 2:01 left – put the Mavs up by 3
- For The Win: After Holmgren’s alley-oop put OKC up one with 20 seconds left, Luka drove deep into the paint and obtained the ball to P.J. within the nook because the protection collapsed on him. A pump faux obtained SGA to chew and P.J. drew a foul with 2.5 seconds left
- Clutch Free Throws: Washington entered Recreation 6 taking pictures simply 2-for-5 from the free throw line for the collection. However he calmly hit the first FT to tie the sport and the 2nd to present the Mavs the lead
- He deliberately missed the third to pressure OKC to rebound and heave a shot from ¾ court docket because the Thunder had been out of timeouts
Washington, who joined the Mavericks on the commerce deadline together with Daniel Gafford to bolster the Dallas frontline, offered the final word definition of “It’s not the way you begin, it’s the way you end.”
- 🗣️ Mavs Coach Jason Kidd: “It wasn’t Luka or Kai making the game-winner. It was the belief of Luka and the ball touches the paint, they collapse, he trusted P.J. We discover a method to win.”
Reggie Miller. Patrick Ewing. Rik Smits. John Starks.
Jalen Brunson. Tyrese Haliburton. Josh Hart. Myles Turner.
The names could also be completely different in 2024 than they had been in 1994 and 1995. However the Knicks-Pacers rivalry is burning as shiny as ever because the groups meet of their third Recreation 7 at this time in NYC (3:30 ET, ABC).
- Bridging the Previous and Current: Many legends of this rivalry have been in attendance on the Backyard all through the collection
In a rivalry already full of iconic moments – Reggie’s eight factors in 9 seconds, Ewing’s tip-in dunk to succeed in the Finals, Reggie’s 25-point 4th quarter – who will ship the following efficiency that will likely be mentioned many years later?
We’ve already had just a few candidates earlier within the collection:
- Brunson’s return for the 2nd half drew “MVP” chants as he warmed up earlier than scoring 24 of his 29 factors to place NY up 2-0
- Andrew Nembhard with the longest bucket of his profession – a 31-foot 3-pointer with 16 seconds left in Recreation 3 – to reply Brunson’s 3, put the Pacers up for good, and elicit a uncommon Mike Breen “Bang!” on back-to-back possessions
House Is The place The Hart Is? The house group has gained every of the primary six video games of this collection. For the playoffs, the Knicks are 5-1 at MSG, whereas the Pacers are simply 1-5 on the highway.
- House Is The place The Hart Is? The house group has gained every of the primary six video games of this collection. For the playoffs, the Knicks are 5-1 at MSG, whereas the Pacers are simply 1-5 on the highway.
- OG Anunoby, who has missed the previous 4 video games after leaving Recreation 2 late with a hamstring damage, can be listed as questionable
One group is 48 minutes away (or possibly extra with time beyond regulation) from a visit to the Jap Convention Finals and a matchup with Boston.
- 🗣️ Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau: “You’re going to get examined bodily, mentally, emotionally and also you’ve obtained to have the ability to get by means of that. And so no matter it’s that we’re going through, we are able to overcome. Simply hold battling.”
- 🗣️ Indy’s Pascal Siakam: “It’s going to take every little thing. Quite a lot of loopy stuff goes to occur.”
The winding distinctive path to tonight’s Recreation 7 (8 ET, TNT) started a yr in the past when the No. 1 Nuggets eradicated the No. 8 Timberwolves within the first spherical in 5 video games.
Beginning with that collection, these groups have met 15 occasions over the previous 13 months heading into tonight’s collection finale. They’re separated by a complete of six factors.
Minnesota 1,588; Denver 1,582.
The common season noticed Denver, Minnesota and OKC in a battle royal for the highest seed within the West. The Thunder edged out the Nuggets by way of tiebreaker and the Nuggets completed one sport up on the Wolves – giving Denver home-court benefit tonight.
Each groups have confirmed they’ll win on the opposite’s court docket on this collection.
- Video games 1 & 2: Minnesota went into Denver and locked the Nuggets down, showcasing the league’s top-ranked protection as they held Denver to 89.5 ppg to turn out to be simply the third defending champ to drop the primary two video games at residence
- Video games 3-5: The champs might have been staggered, however they had been removed from carried out
- A pair of Jokic masterpieces (24 pts, 14 reb, 9 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk in Recreation 3; 40 pts, 13 ast, 0 tov in Recreation 5) and an excellent Aaron Gordon sport (27 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast, 11-12 FG in Recreation 4) put the Nuggets again within the driver’s seat
- Recreation 6: The Wolves responded to their first three-game shedding streak of the season with the second-largest Recreation 6 win (+45) in NBA Playoff historical past – and the most important win when going through elimination in a best-of-seven collection
It units up Minnesota’s first Recreation 7 in precisely 20 years. On Might 19, 2004, Kevin Garnett led the Wolves to an 83-80 win over the Kings to advance to Minnesota’s first (and, to this point, solely) West Finals.
- 2004 to 2024 Connections: The 2004 Wolves had been led by the late Flip Saunders, whose son Ryan is an assistant with Denver in 2024
- Elston Turner was an assistant coach with the Kings in 2004 and is now an assistant for the Wolves, whereas Gregg Farnam was the Wolves coach in 2004 and stays in 2024
Can Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Cities and the Wolves have fun that 20-year anniversary with the franchise’s second Recreation 7 win ever … and turn out to be the sixth group since 2007 to remove the champs a yr after shedding a collection to them?
Or will Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Nuggets avenge their lopsided Recreation 6 loss and hold their title protection alive?
It’s a particular Sunday.
Recreation 7s don’t simply determine collection — they outline legacies.
Moments turn out to be reminiscences, finishes evolve into fairy tales, and triumphs flip timeless.
Get Prepared: Feeling the Recreation 7 vibes? Similar. On the lookout for just a little additional hype this morning? Our video group’s obtained ya, with just a few selection Recreation 7 cuts to begin the day.
🔥 Hearth Images From Latest Recreation 7s