The Bounce: The NBA playoff series we’ve been waiting for is here

The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP award and decided to gift all of his teammates Burberry trench coats. They wore them at the MVP announcement yesterday. It looked like an Inspector Gadget Cosplay Convention. I understand this is a look and fashion beyond my age and comprehension of style. But they looked hilarious to me. Especially Chet. On Friday, the San Antonio Spurs obliterated the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 6 to close out the series and punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2017. They’ll face the Oklahoma City Thunder, their rivals from this regular season and the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas. Since December, when the Spurs beat the Thunder three times in 12 days, we’ve been hoping to see this series in the playoffs. Now we’re getting it, with the NBA Finals on the line. Let’s preview the series that begins tonight in OKC at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock (full schedule below). How did they get here? The Thunder swept their way through the first two rounds. They dispatched the Suns and Lakers in four games each. They won those games by an average of 16.6 points. The Spurs took down the Trail Blazers in five games, despite a concussion to Victor Wembanyama. Then they took down the Wolves in six games, despite Wemby getting ejected for throwing an elbow in Game 4. Their margin of victory is 14.4 points. How did the season series go? The Spurs won the season series 4-1 with the extra game coming in the NBA Cup semis. The Thunder were pretty healthy in four of the five games. What’s the best storyline? These teams do not like each other. Chet Holmgren and Wemby do not like each other. Wembanyama took a shot at the Thunder at one point by talking about ethical hoops. Wembanyama campaigned for the MVP award toward the end of the season, and SGA said he’d let his play do the talking when asked if he’d campaign too. There is pure pettiness saturating this series. It’s awesome. What’s the big hurdle for the Spurs? The Thunder are as good as anybody at forcing turnovers, scoring points off the turnovers and getting quick buckets. That’s the Spurs’ game too, but the Thunder are exceptional at it. The Spurs have to be careful with the ball in this series. What’s the big hurdle for the Thunder? It’s Wemby. He changes everything, as we saw in the series against Minnesota. We saw that in the season series against OKC. Jalen Williams had this comment about Wemby when asked about what’s taken the Thunder out of their game against San Antonio this year: “There’s this guy on their team that’s 7-foot-5 and takes up a lot of space on the court.” Key component for the Spurs: The guard play of De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle has to be as good at shooting from the outside as they are at attacking the teeth of the defense. If they can’t get into the middle of the floor, OKC’s defense will eat them up. San Antonio has an athletic advantage and must benefit from it. Key component for the Thunder: How healthy is Jalen Williams? He was a top-15 player in the league last year and was All-Defense too. But he’s played in just 33 regular-season and two playoff games this year. If he’s healthy and back toward the level we expect from him, OKC will be in great shape to defend its title. Who is the favorite? The Thunder are -250 to win. Spurs are +200 to win. What’s the prediction? Spurs in seven. I’m just believing in Wemby for the next 15 years; inexperience be damned. 🏀 Survey says. The final installment of our anonymous player poll is here. Where will Giannis play next season? 🤔 Is this right? Sam Amick and Mike Vorkunov polled NBA execs about lottery reform. “Teams that aren’t trying to tank will then get penalized.” 😡 Coming back? The Warriors expect Draymond to return. “The ball is in his court.” 🏀 My bad? Blazers owner Tom Dundon got a lot of flak for not sending two-way players to playoff games. “I just made a mistake.” 🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a preview of the conference finals. Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass. Gilgeous-Alexander became the 14th player in NBA history to win consecutive MVP awards. SGA joined Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbary, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as consecutive MVP winners. SGA received 83 of the 100 first-place votes and finished with 939 voting points overall. Jokić finished second with 10 first-place votes and 634 points, while Wembanyama received five first-place votes and 569 points. Cade Cunningham received the other two first-place votes. This is how the voting shook out: Last year, SGA won this award with an edge of 71-29 first-place votes over Jokić and 913 to 787 voting points. This season, he easily held off Jokić and Wembanyama, the latter of whom made a late charge after coming back from a hyperextended knee to lead the Spurs to the second-best record in the NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points on 55.3/38.6/87.9 shooting splits with 6.6 assists and just 2.2 turnovers in 68 games for the best team in the NBA. The question moving forward is whether Wembanyama will win MVP awards. Wemby just won his first Defensive Player of the Year trophy, the first unanimous one in league history. Bird, Chamberlain and Russell are the only players to win three straight MVPs. Can SGA get another one next year to join that rare territory before Wemby starts grabbing these? After an arduous first six games between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers, it was impossible to predict what to expect in Game 7 in Detroit. The Cavs and Pistons were both deeply flawed, and both failed to live up to expectations throughout this postseason. But they just needed to find one more victory to make the East finals. Well, the Cavs blew out the Pistons yesterday and embarrassed them on their home floor with a 125-94 victory. The 31-point Game 7 victory ties for the eighth-biggest in NBA history. It tied the Suns taking out the Lakers in 2006. • Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points and had eight assists with zero turnovers. Only Kawhi Leonard (28–9-0 in 2021) and Paul Westphal (25-9-0 in 1979) have had at least 25 and eight with zero turnovers in a Game 7. • James Harden had nine points on 2-of-10 shooting in an elimination game, and it didn’t matter. • Mitchell made the first conference finals of his career. Harden is back in the conference finals for the first time since 2018. • Jarrett Allen has 45 points and 26 rebounds total in two Game 7s this postseason. • Cade Cunningham had 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting with five assists and three turnovers. He has 111 turnovers in 20 career playoff games (5.5 per game). • Jalen Duren (seven points and nine boards) was still terrible. Cleveland will face the New York Knicks for the first time in Eastern Conference finals history. We’ll preview that series tomorrow. Let’s say goodbye to the Pistons. Was this the expected outcome? I’m not sure there was anything to expect in this series. The Pistons and Cavs had very tough first-round series and some glaring flaws. Any combination of outcomes would have made sense. Cleveland winning in seven games was definitely one of them. Who are the Pistons’ big free agents? Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren (restricted), Kevin Huerter, Javonte Green. What’s the draft situation? The Pistons have the 21st pick from Minnesota in a swap. Their 28th pick goes to the Wolves. Their 58th pick goes to the Pelicans. What’s the pressing need for Detroit? The Pistons need offensive creation outside of Cunningham. They didn’t do anything two trade deadlines ago about it. They didn’t do anything last summer about it. They didn’t do anything at this year’s trade deadline about it. Now they know for sure they need more offense to help their star. Also, what in the world do you do about Duren’s restricted free agency? He was due a max deal and played so horribly during the playoffs that you have to wonder if you can get away with offering less. Overall grade for the Pistons’ season: A The Pistons were humbled after making great strides this season, Hunter Patterson writes. While we’re here, let’s say goodbye to the Wolves. Was this the expected outcome? With the injuries to their roster, yes. Maybe this was always going to be the outcome with how San Antonio has ascended, but Anthony Edwards on one leg, Ayo Dosunmu dealing with a calf injury and the Donte DiVincenzo Achilles tear doomed any chance Minnesota had against the Spurs. Who are the Wolves’ big free agents? Dosunmu, Bones Hyland, Jaylen Clark, Joe Ingles, Mike Conley.= What’s the draft situation? The Wolves’ first (21st) goes to the Pistons. They receive Detroit’s 28th pick in the swap. Their 51st pick goes to Washington, but they receive San Antonio’s 59th pick. What’s the pressing need for Minnesota? It has to bring back Dosunmu, especially with DiVincenzo’s Achilles’ tear. It needs another initiator on offense. And all eyes will be on whether the newish ownership group is willing to keep spending the money on this roster. Overall grade for the Wolves’ season: B+