On Mother’s Day, the Indiana Pacers made the New York Knicks call them daddy, while the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves continued to refuse to win a home game. Here are three stars from Sunday’s NBA playoffs.
Turner occasionally has games where he looks like one of the best centers in the league. His combination of shot-blocking and three-point shooting is extremely rare outside of any court with Victor Wembanyama on it. Sunday’s Game 4 blowout of the Knicks was one of those Turner moments.
Myles Turner throws up the rainbow 3 to beat the shot clock
— NBA (@NBA) May 12, 2024
Indiana jumps out to a 24-8 lead on ABC! pic.twitter.com/9g9YuHD85J
His biggest play was an impossible-looking shot to beat the buzzer. Once that went in, Pacers fans might have correctly guessed everything was going their way in Game 4, as they cruised to a 121-89 win over the Knicks. Turner delivered three blocks and made all five of his shots, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc.
Turner’s numbers would have been more impressive had Indiana needed him for more than 25 minutes. He got his work done efficiently and emphatically in Game 4, and what more can you ask for?
Aaron Gordon scored 27 points as his Nuggets evened their second-round series with a 115-07 victory over the Timberwolves, but he did it on only 12 shots. He was 11-for-12, making both his threes and all three of his free throws. Gordon blocked more shots (two) than he missed (one).
Aaron Gordon.
— NBA (@NBA) May 13, 2024
Difference maker in Game 4.
27 PTS
11-12 FGM
2-2 3PM
7 REB
6 AST
2 BLK
Nuggets tie the series... Game 5 is Tuesday at 10:30pm/et on TNT! pic.twitter.com/XrNcxJ8ku4
Gordon was everywhere Sunday, helping to confound the league’s top-ranked defense. The Nikola Jokic-Jamal Murray two-man game has been huge for the Nuggets, but so has Gordon’s chemistry with Jokic in the post. Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns have to decide between staying back and risking a Jokic floater, or coming up on the three-time MVP and giving Gordon a path to the rim.
And when Gordon is hitting turnaround jumpers over Gobert, the Wolves defense doesn’t have a chance.
Aaron Gordon is 10-FOR-10 in Game 4
— NBA (@NBA) May 13, 2024
Nuggets looking to tie the series... they lead midway through the 4th quarter on TNT. pic.twitter.com/ayYU01bTjq
Gordon has sublimated his game to help the team, and after the game credited Jokic for helping him play selflessly. The Nuggets rode that selflessness to a 2-2 tie in a series where no home team has won a game yet.
"If a 3-time MVP can do it, I can do it to."
— NBA (@NBA) May 13, 2024
Selflessness is contagious @Double0AG pic.twitter.com/IuSaOgQqXu
In a game where his teammates had trouble scoring, Anthony Edwards delivered a 44-point game. It wasn’t enough for the Timberwolves to defend their home court and take a 3-1 series lead, but the difference in the game was what happened in the short time he rested.
Anthony Edwards had 44 points, 5r, 5a. He played 45:20. The Wolves won those minutes by 5. They lost the 2:40 he sat by 13 points
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) May 13, 2024
If Tom Thibodeau was still coaching the Timberwolves, we might not see Edwards spend another second on the bench in this series. He didn’t look gassed as he drove on the Nuggets over and over late, but the Wolves couldn’t get enough stops for Edwards’ heroics to matter.
Playoff career-high 44 POINTS for Anthony Edwards in Game 4.
— NBA (@NBA) May 13, 2024
Left it all on the floor.
His @Timberwolves will look to move to 5-0 on the road this postseason in Game 5 (Tuesday, 10:30pm/et, TNT). pic.twitter.com/0PSmhpIkR9
But facing a Denver team that’s regularly getting big scoring performances from three players — Sunday it was Jokic, Gordon and Jamal Murray combining for 81 points — Edwards needs more than 13 points on 5-for-18 scoring from teammate Karl-Anthony Towns. Or better than the 5-for-9 Gobert shot from the foul line, or Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s 0-for-4 from three-point range (1-for-7 overall).
Or he could play all 48 minutes. That might be what Minnesota needs to win again.
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