Bloody Nose, Toe on the Line, Eyes on the MVP 👃🦶👀
From a surprising jump ball to a shiny new trophy, we’ve got you covered today with 3 things to know… plus a bonus from the bench. 👇
1️⃣ A Blowout With a Bloody Twist 🩸
Just a day after winning MVP, SGA showed everyone why he earned it. He led the Thunder to a 118–103 victory over the Wolves, scoring 38 points and putting the Thunder up 2–0 in the series.
But it wasn't just Shai shining on the court.
Jalen Williams added 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Chet Holmgren chipped in 22 points. The Thunder led by 8 at halftime, then blew it open with a 35–21 third quarter.
Ant scored 32 for Minnesota, but couldn’t find his range from deep… just 1 for 9 on 3s.
And if we told you somebody in the game got smacked in the face…
You might guess it was Ant going up for a monster dunk… or one of the Thunder’s lockdown defenders crashing into a screen.
🎥 Watch the jump ball that led to a surprising bloody nose.
Game 3 is Saturday… can the Wolves get back on track as the series shifts to Minnesota?
2️⃣ MVP Math Moment 👑
🎥 Before the game, SGA got his MVP trophy.
And we got more details! Turns out it was a clear win: he got 71 out of 100 first-place votes.
🏀 Who votes for MVP?
A panel of 100 basketball experts each rank their top five players. Each first-place vote counts as 10 points, second is 7, third is 5…and so on. Highest point total wins!
📊 Let’s zoom in on how the votes added up:
Now let’s zoom out. This year’s MVP voting revealed three major trends:
🚂 Mr. Consistency: Jokić got the other 29 first-place votes and became just the third player ever to finish top-2 in MVP voting five years in a row… joining Celtics legends Bill Russell and Larry Bird.
🌍 The Global Shift: For the fourth straight year, every first-place vote went to an international player… SGA is from Canada, Jokić from Serbia.
🪜 The Draft Disconnect: No #1 overall draft pick has won MVP since LeBron James in 2013… SGA was drafted 11th, and now he’s on top.
That’s how the experts saw it… but we want to know what you think!
🎤 What makes an NBA player MVP-worthy? Is it stats? Leadership? Or something else you feel but can’t quite measure?
3️⃣ From What Just Happened To What Happens Next ❓
The final score of Game 1? Pacers 138, Knicks 135 in overtime. But the real story wasn’t just the final score… it was the comeback.
The Knicks led by 14 with less than 3 minutes left. They had a 99.7% chance to win.1 Then Haliburton beat the fourth quarter buzzer, and the Pacers sealed it in OT.
📉 Here’s a wild stat: Since 1996, NBA teams leading by 14+ that late in a playoff game had won 977 times… and never lost. Now? 977–1.
What went wrong? Here’s what Knicks guard Josh Hart said after the game:
“Defensively, we let off the gas. The intensity, the physicality, weren’t there. Offensively, we were playing slower, more stagnant. It looked like we were playing not to lose.”
🎤 Have you ever been on a team that had a big lead... what did you do to stay focused?
🎯 Experts say… 51% chance Pacers keep rolling.
That’s basically a coin toss… more drama in Game 2, please!
🚨 BONUS: A New Chapter 🏔️
The Denver Nuggets have officially named David Adelman as their full-time head coach.
After stepping in as interim coach (aka the temporary boss) with just three games left in the regular season, Adelman led the team to a 3–0 finish and a hard-fought playoff run… pushing the Thunder to seven games.
He’s been with the Nuggets as an assistant since 2017 and was part of their 2023 championship team.
💡 Fun fact: Coaching runs in the family! His dad is longtime NBA coach Rick Adelman, now in the Hall of Fame.
Game 2 is done in OKC. It’s coming in New York. And the MVP crown came with a message.
Sports move fast! And Smallball-ers? We’re always ready for the next story.
According to ESPN Analytics
It was very short. -Jake
It was very short.-SAMUEL!