NBA Playoffs 2024: Heat enjoy barrage, OKC has biggest playoff win since ’16, Moyer-Gleich to debut
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2024 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Miami Heat didn’t miss often from 3-point range. The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t miss often from anywhere.
The Heat connected on 23 3-pointers — tying the second-most in franchise history for any game and setting a team record for a playoff game — on the way to a 111-101 win over top-seeded Boston to even their Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
And the top-seeded Thunder shot 59%, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren combined for 59 points, on the way to a 124-92 romp past New Orleans for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference series.
The Heat won on a night where they made only 14 2-pointers, a franchise playoff low. Oklahoma City enjoyed its biggest playoff margin of victory since April 16, 2016, when it topped Dallas 108-70.
NATIONAL TV SCHEDULE
Thursday
7 p.m. — Cleveland at Orlando, NBA TV
7:30 p.m. — New York at Philadelphia, TNT/TruTV
10 p.m. — Denver at L.A. Lakers, TNT/TruTV
Friday
5:30 p.m. — Milwaukee at Indiana, ESPN
8 p.m. — L.A. Clippers at Dallas, ESPN
10:30 p.m. — Minnesota at Phoenix, ESPN
Saturday
1 p.m. — Cleveland at Orlando, TNT
3:30 p.m. — Oklahoma City at New Orleans, TNT
6 p.m. — Boston at Miami, TNT
8:30 p.m. — Denver at L.A. Lakers, ABC
BETTING GUIDE
Boston has home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and currently is the favorite to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
Losing Game 2 to Miami didn’t really affect those odds whatsoever.
The Celtics are listed at +140, ahead of defending champion Denver (+240). Next up: Oklahoma City (+1200), New York (+1400), Dallas (+1600), Minnesota (+1800), the Los Angeles Clippers (+2000) and Milwaukee (+2200).
After that, it’s Cleveland (+4000), Philadelphia (+5000), then Indiana, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers (+6600). From there, the odds get real long — Miami is +30000, while New Orleans and Orlando are at +50000.
IT’S HER CALL
Ashley Moyer-Gleich makes her playoff officiating debut on Thursday. She was selected as part of the crew for Game 3 of the Cleveland-Orlando series.
When the 36-year-old Moyer-Gleich takes the floor, she’ll become the second woman in NBA history to referee a playoff game and the first since Violet Palmer worked her last of nine postseason assignments in 2012.
Scott Foster and Curtis Blair are the other refs working alongside Moyer-Gleich on Thursday.
AWARD SEASON
The NBA awards started getting announced this week. On Tuesday, Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey won Most Improved Player over Chicago’s Coby White. And on Wednesday, Minnesota’s Naz Reid won Sixth Man of the Year in a very close vote over Sacramento’s Malik Monk.
Clutch Player of the Year comes out Thursday (Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan or Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and Coach of the Year follows Sunday (Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault, Minnesota’s Chris Finch or Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley).
All those announcements will be made on TNT’s pregame shows that night.
The schedule for the other awards has yet to be revealed. There’s Rookie of the Year (San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren or Charlotte’s Brandon Miller), Defensive Player of the Year (Wembanyama, Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert or Miami’s Bam Adebayo) and Most Valuable Player (Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’ Luka Doncic or Gilgeous-Alexander).
WHAT TO KNOW
— Tom Thibodeau’s sideline demeanor isn’t tough to read. “I let Thibs be Thibs,” the Knicks’ Josh Hart says.
— The Celtics went cold from deep.
— Preview for Thursday’s games: Cavaliers-Magic, Knicks-76ers, Nuggets-Lakers. Orlando, Philadelpha and L.A. have to win, or else they’ll be down 3-0.
— Brooklyn introduced new coach Jordi Fernandez.
STAT OF THE DAY
There have been five games in NBA playoff history where a team has made at least 23 shots from 3-point range.
Heat forward Kevin Love has played in four of them — three times on the team making all those 3s (twice with Cleveland, once with Miami), and once on the losing side (when Milwaukee made 25 3s against the Heat last season).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They’re a very good team and we were able to get one here. And we’re going to rest up, go back to our cave in Miami and gear up for a very competitive Game 3.” — Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, after his team won Game 2 in Boston.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba