The Minnesota Timberwolves are catching fire

 

                                             (Credit: Matt Blewett/Imagn Images) 

The NBA playoffs are in full swing and one of the upsets underway is the 6th seeded Minnesota Timberwolves taking a 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers. On Sunday, the Wolves won 116-113 behind 43 points, nine rebounds, and six assists from Anthony Edwards, closing the game out on a 14-6 run. The Wolves took game one in Los Angeles 117-95, lost game two in Los Angeles 94-85, and then bounced back to take game three in Minneapolis 116-104 before winning on Sunday in Minneapolis. 

A major reason for the Wolves' success this postseason is the performance of their star shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who is averaging 29.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game during the series. Edwards is only 23 years of age in his fifth NBA season, playing like a guy who has been in the league for a decade. He makes smart decisions with the ball, knows when to attack the rim, when to pass it out, etc. He's got superstar gifts and isn't solely consumed with getting buckets even though that's what he does best. 

In addition to Edwards, forward Julius Randle has been playing fantastic as well. Randle had 25 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in Sunday's win, averaging 22.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game for the series. Edwards has needed somebody to be a reliable number two man and Randle has been that. And then of course, other guys like Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, and Jaden McDaniels have done their part as well. It's been a true team effort. 

If the Wolves can close out the Lakers, don't be surprised to see them make another push to reach the Western Conference Finals like they did last year. And if they get that far, who's to say that they can't reach the NBA Finals? When you got a superstar like Anthony Edwards, you're always in contention. 

Update: The Timberwolves took the series 4-1, defeating the Lakers 103-96 in game five. Rudy Gobert had a ridiculous 27 points and 24 rebounds. 

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The NBA needs to simplify its playoff system

 

                                             (Credit: Jesse Johnson/Imagn Images) 

The NBA playoffs begin later this month on April 19th. Before that, the NBA will hold the "SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament" from April 15th to April 18th. Click here to check the format out on NBA.com. 

In case the graphic the NBA has posted confuses you, you're not alone. I'm well versed in brackets and tournaments, but just looking at the graphic, it's kinda hard to figure out what exactly is going on. From what I can tell, it looks like the winner of the 7/8 game in each conference becomes the 7 seed while the loser plays the winner of the 10/9 game. The winner of that game becomes the 8 seed. The top six seeds are safe and locked into their respective seeds. 

While I love the idea of making things more exciting at the end of the regular season, I find the "Play-In Tournament" to be kinda clumsy. Like, upon looking at the bracket, you can figure it out, but during the game I'm sure there's plenty of confusion of what exactly the hell is going on in terms of what happens to the winner and the loser. 

What I propose is the NBA streamlines and simplifies things. If they want to make things more interesting than just sending the top eight teams to the playoffs from each conference, that's cool. But this play-in tournament just doesn't seem like the right way to do it. 

What I propose the NBA does is simply have a best-of-three game series decide the final two spots in each conference: 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9. If they want to reduce travel, they could have the lower seed be home the first game and then next for the two games (if a third game is necessary) the higher seed could get home court advantage. That would be easy for fans to understand while also rewarding the 7th and 8th seed with home court advantage. You could call it the "NBA Playoff Wild Card" round. You could get the three games done over the course of five days and then start the playoffs. 

What I like about my format is you get the extra playoff action you want, you make each game really intense, and you also have a format that fans can better understand. It's a simple tournament bracket. Top six seeds get a bye. Winner of the 7/10 series faces the the 2 seed. The winner of the 8/9 series faces the 1 seed. 

On top of that, I also propose the NBA brings back best-of-five for the conference quarterfinals. Best-of-five was way more entertaining as it made each game matter a bit more. Best-of-seven isn't ideal because a lot of times these top seeds advance rather easily. But if you make it best-of-five, especially if a team is coming in hot after winning a best-of-three series, you suddenly have a real possibility for some first round upsets, which the NBA playoffs could always use more of. 

Overall, I think my solution is better than what the NBA currently has. Heck, I think just keeping it top eight is better than what the NBA has. Top eight was easy to understand. This whole play in tournament thing that's double elimination is just kinda weird and feels gimmicky. Make it make sense. That's all I'm asking. 

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Could Jimmy Butler give the Golden State Warriors one Last Dance?

 

                                             (Credit: Getty Images) 

The Golden State Warriors have won four NBA championships since drafting Stephen Curry back in 2009. They've gone from being a laughing stock to a dynasty. One of the few NBA franchises to make such a transformation. With Curry now at 37 years old, Klay Thompson traded to the Dallas Mavericks, and Draymond Green only a couple years behind Curry at 35, Father Time is catching up. He always does. 

To give them a push for one more title run, the Warriors made a trade to land Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat, giving up Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and a protected first round pick. The Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors, and Detroit Pistons also were involved to help facilitate the deal. 

In 20 games with the Warriors, Butler is averaging 17.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.3 assists per game. The Warriors are 16-4 in those games, turning them into one of the top teams in the Western Conference. They are currently 41-31 overall and 7th in the Western Conference, but if they keep this up with Butler, they got a legit chance to rise to as high as 4th with 10 games to go. 

If the Warriors do end up getting a top five seed in the Western Conference, it would be foolish to count them out. This is a team that has championship DNA and while he has never won an NBA championship before, Butler did lead the Heat to two NBA Finals appearances, so he knows what it takes to get there. Especially as an under-seeded team (5th seed in 2020 & 8th seed in 2023). 

At this point, it does feel like the stars could be aligning for one final championship run. Much like the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls team that Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was a player on. The Warriors have had many different eras during their dynastic run: One NBA championship before the Kevin Durant era, two with Durant, and one more post-Durant. If they could win a fifth title and have it be Jimmy Butler's first with him being the catalyst, that would be pretty special. 

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Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has first 30-20-20 game in NBA history

 

                                            (Credit: Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images) 

On Friday night in a 149-141 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic became the first player in NBA history to have a 30-20-20 game (30 points, 20 rebounds, & 20 assists). Jokic actually slightly eclipsed that mark with 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 22 assists. Not to be ignored is the fact that he also had three steals and just four turnovers while shooting 13-22 (59.1%) from the field. Just an all-around brilliant performance that the NBA has never seen before. 

While he sometimes gets discounted a bit for not appearing to have out-of-this-world athleticism, Friday's performance reminded the basketball world that Nikola Jokic is truly an all-time great and one of the best big men in NBA history. As if leading the Denver Nuggets to an NBA championship didn't already hammer that home. We all knew Jokic was special, but still. One can't help but be in awe of what we saw. 

As far as which aspect of this performance is most impressive, the answer is simply all of it. In truth, any game with where you have 30+ points or 20+ rebounds or 20+ assists is a great night. But to do all three in one game? There's really no words that can perfectly capture just how special this was. All you can do is be in awe. 

I don't know where Jokic ranks among the NBA's greatest big men, but he's definitely in the conversation with guys like Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Arvydas Sabonis, and Bill Russell. In many ways, he's kind of giving the NBA a heavy dose of what it would have been like to play against Sabonis in his prime. Due to being behind the Iron Curtain, Sabonis didn't get to play in the NBA until he started to enter the twilight years of his pro career, but Jokic has been able to play at the peak of his abilities and carry the torch that Sabonis never fully got to carry. 

It's really special that we get to watch Nikola Jokic in real-time. I'm sure when his career is over, we'll look back and feel like we didn't appreciate him enough. He really is the kind of guy that might only come around once, so we better appreciate him while we still can. 

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Is Duke freshman Cooper Flagg worth tanking for?

 

                                           (Credit: Rob Kinnan) 

One of the most talented prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft is Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who is averaging 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. Listed at 6'9", 205 pounds, Flagg has a great blend of size, skill, and athleticism. He's really the whole package out there, which is why many mock drafts have him going number one overall. 

Having watched Flagg play a bit since I cover Stanford for Rivals.com and thus am tuned into ACC hoops, I have to say he looks like the real deal to me. The most impressive aspect of his game is what I said at the beginning, namely his combination of size, skill, and athleticism. He is capable of playing multiple positions on the floor and with the NBA really valuing guys who can play a variety of spots on the floor, that makes Flagg especially exciting. 

The other thing about Flagg that shouldn't go unnoticed is the fact that he's the go to guy on a national championship contending team. Duke is on pace to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and in my opinion should be favored to win the NCAA tournament. The fact that Flagg is doing all that he's doing while playing winning basketball makes him all the more impressive. It's one thing to put up big numbers on a bad team. But to produce like he's doing while having your team in the national championship conversation? That's a whole different matter. 

The final thing that stands out about Flagg is his efficiency. He's 49.1% from the field, 37.5% from 3-point range, and 82.1% from the foul line. Those are very solid shooting percentages. He is averaging 2.9 turnovers per game, so that's something he can improve, but aside from that he's playing clean basketball on both ends of the floor, averaging just 2.6 fouls per game. 

If you are the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets, you should absolutely feel vindicated in stinking it up this season if it means you end up with Cooper Flagg. He's undoubtedly a player worth tanking for. It'll be fun to see who wins the sweepstakes for the Duke superstar and how deep he'll guide the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament. 

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The Dallas Mavericks gave up on Luka Doncic

 

                                             (Credit: LM Otero/AP Photo) 

The biggest move at this year's NBA trade deadline was undoubtedly the three-way deal between the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Utah Jazz that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers and Anthony Davis to the Mavericks. Given that Doncic is one of the brightest young stars in the NBA, it was a shocker to the basketball world to see the Mavericks willingly trade him to a Western Conference foe. Davis will be turning 32 years old later this season and being as injury prone as he is, it's far from a guarantee that he'll produce to the level that the Mavericks want him to. Actually, on that note, Davis reportedly might need to undergo surgery to address an injury, so there ya go. 

Doncic in contrast is turning 26 years old later this season and is only in his seventh NBA season. He's arguably not even in the prime of his career yet. At least he shouldn't be. Most guys peak at the ages of 28-30. To trade one of the brightest young stars in the league before he's hit his prime can only signal one thing: The Mavericks gave up on Doncic. 

Now the obvious question is why? Why did they give up on him? They were faced with either having to give him a max deal this summer or trade him at the deadline and they chose to move him. Why? 

The word on the street is the Mavericks were worried about Doncic's conditioning and durability. When looking at his career stats, you'll see that in four of his seven seasons, he's played 61-66 regular season games. He's barely cracked 70 games once as a rookie with 71 games played and in a league that plays 82 games per regular season, you need guys who can play at least 75 games per season with a good deal of regularity. Doncic hasn't hit that mark once. And if he's not able to hit that mark, it's hard to have faith in him being able to play deep into May and June during the playoffs. Though I should note, Doncic did play in all 22 playoff games for the Mavericks last season in which they lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in five games. 

Still, the questions about durability and conditioning appear valid when you look at Doncic's body of work. He's getting a lot of money to play in the NBA and when he's missing 20% of the regular season, that makes him cost a good deal amount more per game played. Of course, the irony of this trade is what I mentioned earlier which is that Anthony Davis is injured all the time. He's at least played in 75+ regular season games three times in his NBA career, but he too is frequently playing around 65 games per season if not fewer. 

Obviously, as I said, the Mavericks really didn't want to pay Doncic a max deal and just didn't have the faith that they could build a consistent title contender around him. That's pretty amazing considering that they were in the NBA Finals last season. For Doncic, this could prove to be a wake up call for him to get in better shape and take his conditioning more seriously. Or it could just plant even more seeds of doubt in his mind. It'll be interesting to see how he responds.

Note: Just want to say thank you to FeedSpot for including NBALord.com as one of the top 100 best basketball blogs in 2025! Click here to check out the full list of blogs that have made the cut. 

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2025 NBA Paris Games are a reminder of how international the NBA has become

                                           (Victor Wembanyama. Credit: Stephanie Lecocq-Imagn Images) 

Back in 2020, the NBA had their first installment of the Paris Games, an extension of the NBA Global Games, which have been going on since the very beginning of the 1990s. I still remember the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves playing in Tokyo in 1999. This past week, the NBA returned to Paris as the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers played a pair of games. The Spurs won the first game on Thursday by a final score of 140-110 while the Pacers got even in the second game on Saturday by final score of 136-98.

Of course, the big star of the event was Spurs 7'3" wunderkind Victor Wembanyama, who hails from Le Chesnay in the Paris region. The games were a homecoming for Wembanyama as he got to showcase his skills in front of an enthusiastic French crowd that included former Spurs star and fellow Frenchman Tony Parker. Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.0 blocks during the two-game showcase, putting up 30 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and five blocks in the victory on Thursday. 

The Paris Games are a reminder of how international the game of basketball has become. 30 years ago, if you had two NBA teams playing in Paris, there wouldn't have been any French players participating, let alone be the star of one of the teams. As a matter of fact, it was Tariq Abdul-Wahad (drafted as Oliver Michael Saint-Jean) who became the first NBA player to ever have been raised in France when the Kings selected him 11th overall in the 1997 NBA Draft. Soon thereafter, Tony Parker burst onto the scene for the Spurs and as they say, the rest is history. France is now a hotbed of NBA talent, producing some of the brightest stars in the game. 

As I occasionally mention, I cover Stanford for Rivals.com over at CardinalSportsReport.com. Their star basketball player is Maxime Raynaud, who also hails from France and has played with Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert as part of the French national team. After Stanford's dominant 88-51 victory over Miami last week, I asked Raynaud for his thoughts on the Paris Games. He was certainly excited to see how they played out and what kind of show Wembanyama would put on. 

"Yeah, I mean, it's amazing," Raynaud said. "I'm sure happy for Vic. I love the fact that he's able to take the league back to his hometown and I love the fact that he took the time to spend time with the kids in Nanterre where they worked out. I hope he's going to have an amazing game and just put French basketball on the, I don't even know how you say that, we're already on the map. 

"But yeah, no, super happy for him, super happy with the way he's playing this year, and I really hope he's going to dominate this game. I mean, that's what he does every night. So yeah. And at the same time, I hope they're going to enjoy the city a little bit. I mean, the City of Love, you know what I'm saying? Gonna have a good time." 

Overall, it seems like the Paris Games went well for the NBA in terms of their global outreach. It's a bit of a bummer neither game was close, but the main thing is that Wembanyama played well and reconnected with his roots. I'm sure the NBA fans in France were thrilled with the product and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters. 

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