The Oklahoma City Thunder and New York Knicks have each punched a ticket to their respective Conference Finals, but two more tickets remain up for grabs as we approach a pivotal pair of Game 6s on Friday night.
The Detroit Pistons will look to avoid elimination in the second round at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers after a storybook 60-win season, while the rising San Antonio Spurs are on the verge of what is likely the first of many trips to the WCF during the Victor Wembanyama era with a 3-2 lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Cavs Comeback Trail
The No. 4 seed Cavaliers are on the verge of closing out the No. 1 seed Pistons, thanks to what can either be described as a heroic Cleveland comeback or a horrific Detroit collapse depending on how you wanted to frame it. The Pistons led by nine points with three minutes remaining and at one point led by as many as 15, but the Cavaliers’ late Evan Mobley-led charge may end up being the decisive swing in the series.
It’s a swing that would have certainly seemed unlikely after the Pistons took a resounding 2-0 lead last week, in which James Harden drew significant talk show ire for yet another miserable postseason performance with just 10 points on an abysmal 3-of-13 shooting. Young Thug once said his good friend Harden “didn’t have internet” when the hoop star once caught flack for a controversial clothing item he wore during a press conference, but it certainly seems like Harden is making a direct response to all of the criticism he received in those circles after Game 2.
In Games 3, 4, and 5, Harden is averaging 24.3 points per game and has racked up at least six assists and three 3-pointers in each performance to lead the Cavaliers down the comeback trail. Harden tallied 24 points and 11 assists in Game 4 before parlaying that with a 30-point, eight rebound, six assist showcase during Game 5 on Wednesday to help pick up the slack from a disappointing performance from Donovan Mitchell.
Spurs On The Brink
In Minnesota, the No. 6 seeded Timberwolves will look to stave off elimination against Victor Wembanyama and the No 2 seeded Spurs after San Antonio took a 3-2 lead with a decisive 126-97 in Game 5 on Tuesday. A big reason the series was even tied at two to begin with was because of Wembanyama’s second quarter ejection during Game 4. Wemby, however, led all scorers with 27 points while also racking up 17 rebounds to put his team back in the driver’s seat for a trip to the Western Conference Finals.
The Spurs surprisingly started the series off on the wrong note with a 104-102 loss in Game 1, which certainly didn’t help dispel the notion that “Star Killer” Anthony Edwards could be out for yet another postseason victim. San Antonio promptly answered back with big wins in Games 2 and 3, but the Timberwolves’ capitalizing on Wembanyama’s absence in Game 4 breathed more life into the possibility they could pull off yet another upset in a 7-game series. The Spurs dominance in Game 6 most likely extinguished those chances, but you can’t count Edwards and company out in these situations, either.
The Cavaliers and Pistons are set to tip off from Detroit at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST, while the Timberwolves and Spurs will tip off directly after at 9:30 p.m. EST/6:30 PST from San Antonio. Both games will be available for streaming on Prime Video.
