NBA second round begins with favorites
- New York and Minnesota opened the NBA second round with road-map-changing wins Monday night, as the Knicks crushed Philadelphia and the Timberwolves stole home court. - The loudest number was 137-98 — New York’s Game 1 blowout of the 76ers — while Minnesota edged San Antonio 104-102 despite Victor Wembanyama’s record 12 blocks. - That flips the mood around the bracket: favorites Oklahoma City and Detroit are still up, but two semifinal series already look less stable.
The NBA’s second round is no longer hypothetical. It started Monday, May 4, and it started with two very different messages. The Knicks looked like they might run Philadelphia off the floor. The Timberwolves looked like the annoying kind of underdog — the one that ignores seeding, steals Game 1, and makes the favorite play uphill immediately. That matters because this round came in with pretty clear pecking-order assumptions, but one night already bent the shape of it. ### What actually happened Monday? New York opened the East semifinals by smashing Philadelphia 137-98 and taking a 1-0 lead. Then Minnesota went into San Antonio and beat the Spurs 104-102 to grab home-court advantage in the West. Those were the first two conference semifinal games on the board, and both landed harder than a routine opener usually does. Because 39 points in a second-round opener is not normal. A close series can still start with one weird blowout, sure, but a 137-98 score says New York got the exact game script it wanted — pace, shot quality, confidence, all of it. The Knicks were the No. 3 seed and the 76ers came in as the No. 7 seed fresh off that first-round upset of Boston, so this was supposed to be competitive from the jump. Instead, Game 1 looked lopsided fast. ### What about Spurs-Wolves? That game told the opposite story. San Antonio lost by 2, and Victor Wembanyama still set a single-game playoff record with 12 blocks. Usually a night like that is enough to carry a favorite through. It wasn’t. Minnesota survived it, won 104-102, and walked out with the most valuable thing a lower seed can grab early — the series map. Now the Spurs have to win on the road later just to get back what they lost at home. ### So who are the favorites now? Broadly, the bracket still says Oklahoma City and Detroit are in strong positions because their series have not started badly. The Thunder open Tuesday night against the Lakers after finishing as the West’s No. 1 seed and defending champion. Detroit, the East’s No. 1 seed, opens Tuesday against Cleveland after coming back from 3-1 down in progress. ### Why is Philadelphia still dangerous? Because one blowout does not erase Joel Embiid, shot creation, or the basic weirdness of playoff basketball. The 76ers already came back from 3-1 against Boston in round one, which tells you two things — their ceiling is real, and this postseason has already been unstable. But the catch is simple: if New York controls the glass and tempo again in Game 2, this can turn from “upset threat” into “bad matchup” very quickly. ### Why are dates and TV windows suddenly a bigger deal? Because now the bracket is concrete. Knicks-76ers Game 2 is Wednesday, May 6, at 7 p.m. ET. Thunder-Lakers Game 1 is Tuesday, May 5, at 8:30 p.m. ET. Pistons-Cavaliers also start Tuesday, and Spurs-Wolves Game 2 is Wednesday night. Basically, the playoffs have moved from bracket speculation to actual appointment viewing — and possible Games 5 through 7 are already penciled into mid-May. ### What’s the bottom line? The second round opened with two reminders. Seeding still matters — Oklahoma City and Detroit remain in favorable spots. But Game 1 matters too, especially when it either becomes a 39-point warning or a road upset that steals the geometry of the series. After one night, the bracket looks less tidy than it did on Monday afternoon.
