Thunder, Spurs favored as NBA second round opens
- New York and Minnesota landed the first punches in the second round Monday, with the Knicks crushing Philadelphia and the Timberwolves stealing Game 1 in San Antonio. - The loudest number was 12 — Victor Wembanyama set a single-game playoff record for blocks, but Minnesota still escaped 104-102 behind Anthony Edwards’ return. - Oklahoma City and San Antonio entered as West favorites, but one opener already showed the bracket may be less stable than it looked.
The second round of the NBA playoffs is here, and the clean favorite story already has a crack in it. The Knicks opened by blowing out the 76ers 137-98, and the Timberwolves walked into San Antonio and took Game 1 from the Spurs, 104-102. That matters because the bracket looked top-heavy coming in — especially in the West, where Oklahoma City and San Antonio had been getting the strongest backing. But one night in, one favorite hasn’t tipped off yet and the other just lost home court. (espn.ph) ### What actually happened Monday? New York handled Philadelphia without much drama. Jalen Brunson had 31 points, with 27 before halftime, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points, six rebounds, and six assists in only 20 minutes. The Knicks are now up 1-0, and the bigger point is the shape of the win — it was another blowout, not a coin-flip playoff grinder. (espn.ph([espn.ph) was Wolves-Spurs the bigger signal? Because San Antonio came in looking like a real West threat, and Minnesota took Game 1 on the road anyway. The Timberwolves won 104-102 even though Anthony Edwards was coming back from a left knee injury and, by ESPN’s framing, was probably the least explosive version of himself the Spurs will see in the series. Stealing home court in that spot changes the feel of the matchup fast. (espn.ph) ### Didn’t Wembanyama still go nuclear? He did — just in a weirdly losing way. Victor Wembanyama set a single-game NBA playoff record with 12 blocks in Game 1, which is absurd on its own. Usually a defensive performance that huge bends the whole game. But Minnesota survived it, and that’s the part San Antonio has to worry about. If Wemby gives you a record night and you still lose at home, the margin for error gets thin. (nba.com) ### Where do the Thunder fit in? Oklahoma City still looks like the steadiest team left in the West. The Thunder swept Phoenix in the first round and opened the semis Tuesday night against the Lakers, who needed six games to get past Houston. So the market logic is pretty easy to follow — the champs got the cleanest first-round path, they have home court, and they haven’t shown much weakness yet. (espn.ph)-semifinals-round-2-takeaways)) ### Why were the Spurs favored too? Seeding, matchup history, and Wembanyama’s ceiling. San Antonio handled Portland in five games, so unlike Minnesota they didn’t come in looking scraped up. And when a team has the best defensive cheat code in the bracket, people tend to price in the version of the series where he breaks everything. Game 1 didn’t kill that case — bu(espn.ph)y by itself. (nba.com) ### Is the East any clearer? Not really. New York looked dominant Monday, but Detroit-Cleveland was still set to open Tuesday, so half the East picture hadn’t moved yet. The bracket itself is unusual enough to keep expectations loose — Detroit is the 1 seed, Philadelphia is a 7 seed still hanging around, and Boston is already out after losing to the Sixers in the first round. (nba.com) the favorites can reassert control immediately. For the Spurs, that means not letting Minnesota leave San Antonio up 2-0. For the Thunder, it means looking like the class of the conference right away against the Lakers. And for the Knicks, it means proving Game 1 was about a real gap, not just one hot night. (nba.com) ### Bottom lin(nba.com) That doesn’t erase the Thunder-and-Spurs favorite case. But it does make the West feel less like a procession and more like a fight. (espn.ph)
