RC⚜️

4 years went by fast man👨🏾‍🎓🐅 #HBCUGrad #SSU

@calebbets3 great breakdowns as always 🐐🔥

20 THINGS TO EXPECT in THE NBA TODAY: April 18th - Playoffs Round 1, Day 1 1) These two teams haven't met since November, where Harden had yet to join Cleveland. This most recent game featured a Cavs starting lineup of Lonzo, Mitchell, Tyson, Nance Jr. and Mobley... yea. The Cavs' post All-Star defensive issue has been at limiting Catch-and-Shoot, where they have allowed the 3rd most CnS 3PA -- translating to the 4th most CnS 3PM. Not an ideal formula for Toronto, who have attempted the 5th fewest 3 pointers this season. Their current leaders in CnS are Immanuel Quickley (4.8/gp) and RJ Barrett (4.5/gp). 2) Scottie Barnes v Evan Mobley is going to be a key matchup on both ends of the floor. It's not often that we see Barnes defending in his PF slot, so can present good rebound opportunity here. Barnes has a double-double in all three meetings vs Mobley this season. 3) Immanuel Quickley is questionable here with a hamstring issue, which is going to lead to defensive issues for Toronto. If he suits, he is likely to have to defend Donovan Mitchell here, which is already a tough assignment and moreso when injured. If scratched, will be an equally challenging task for the smaller Shead. Donovan Mitchell is just 1/7 to 28+ Pts with Harden/Mobley/Allen, yet this should be a strong series for him. Meanwhile, Harden is 0/7 in those games to his 21.5 Pt line. 4) Dean Wade has been involved in each of The Cavs' highest rated 2man, 3man and 4man lineups. With Toronto's overall size, I would expect a productive series from him. No Bryant also increases minute upside with small-ball lineups. Cavs are likely to trim their rotation, excluding Tyson. Wade has 15.8 PRA in the 5 with 22+ minutes alongside Harden/Mitchell, going over 9.5 PRA in all 5. 5) Safe to say we have a rivalry here in MIN v DEN. "I don't think there's anything else to call it but a rivalry... I think there's a lot of rivalries in the league now. And I think me and Denver is one of them." - Ant Some added motivation is that Ant's "extraordinary circumstances" challenge was denied, meaning he won't be eligible for any annual awards this season. The playoffs, starting with Denver, is all he has. He is questionable today with right knee management. 6) The Timberwolves have settled into guarding Jokic with Rudy Gobert straight up, which does leave Jokic with super high volume of attempts (21 & 26 FGA last 2), yet gives Rudy the ability to disrupt Jokic interior handoffs. Also, Gordon has become a much better shooter here, so previous methods that involved sagging off AG is off the table. "There's not really anyway to shut him off or stop him. You just gotta try to make him work and make it tough for him and try to wear him down... Probably gotta call God and talk to him for a little bit and ask him for a few favors. It’s going to be a tough matchup." - Julius Randle 7) Ergo, Jokic is in for a high dosage of shooting here. So far, this has been the Wolves' best strategy, winning the most recent contest by 9 points despite Jokic's 35 Pts and losing the prior one by just 4 despite Jokic's 56 Pts. On the season, he has shot equally well on Randle (16/24) as on Gobert (13/20). Issue here is that straight up on Jokic also means being straight up in the PnR system, so Jamal Murray has gotten his shots up too, with 26.3 FGA/gp this season. 8) Outside of this PnR System, it's going to be hard for the traditional Denver Spot Up guys to succeed. MIN in their L15 regular season games allowed just 20.4 CnS 3PA per game, fewest in the league. Hardaway Jr just faced off against Portland, who are tied with MIN at the top CnS spot, and scored just 3 points off 7 FGA. He is just 3/15 with 10 or fewer FGA with the full starting lineup this season. 9) For multiple seasons now, Centers have been able to generate high RA marks vs Jokic; This stems from a combination of being in solid rebounding position off Jokic's elbow game, while also generating handoff assists on the offensive end against Jokic's drop coverage. Across the last three seasons, Rudy has played 14 games vs Jokic with 28+ minutes, and has 12+ RA in 13/14, generating 14.9 per game. 10) Denver's defense has historically sent help on Anthony Edwards, leaving Minnesota role players with good looks. Jaden McDaniels is over this line in 4/4 games against Denver this season, 12+ FGA in all of them, and surpassing 20 points in 3 of those. Denver is likely to try and hide Jamal Murray on McDaniels, giving him an advantage here. 11) Denver post-ASB has surrendered the most CnS 3PA at 30.9 per game, which is a good recipe for Donte DiVincenzo. He has fired up at least 6 threes in every game vs Denver this season, and with Denver inclined to trap Ant, this spacing + added facilitation relief will be key. May be liable to minutes slicing depending on Ayo Dosunmu's effectiveness, but upside if Ant sits today. 12) DEN cranked up their PACE post ASB, and in turn rank B10 in OPP RPG & APG in that span. Recent RA logs surrendered to opposing POAs who were not defending Murray: - Holiday 17 RA | Avdija 11 RA - Fox 8 RA | Castle 14 (Murray def) - Sensabaugh 10 RA - Spencer 13 RA - Flagg 15 RA Donte has 6+ RA in all 8 games vs DEN across the last 3 seasons. Ant also a candidate for high numbers given he should face traps, while guarding Braun this season. 13) These two just faced off on April 6th, where both teams were motivated to improve their seeding. This is the best sample overall, given Trae was in the first one and KAT was out the second meeting. Overall the three games they played were all close, so Game 1 should be relatively predictable. 14) Hawks brought a lot of 2-3 zone here, with Onyeka on KAT, Dyson on Brunson, and Johnson was a key anchor of the 2. He has spent the most time this season defending OG Anunoby. In this positioning, Johnson notched 18 rebound chances, while Onyeka didn't even see his first DREB until the 2H. 15) Brunson with 26 shots here, not seeing traps and getting to choose between who he attacks of the ATL 3. He had 7 shots on Dyson, 7 on Onyeka and 5 on Alexander-Walker last meeting. Last season, he was consistently closing at 29.5-30.5 Pts in the postseason. On the year, ATL has ranked B10 in Pts allowed to Isolation and Handoffs. 16) Brunson made just 11 of these 26 FGA, with ATL holding NYK to just 108 points overall, so can see this approach holding. As a result, Hart had just 3 FGA and 3 potentials. Hart has 5+ Ast in 0/10 games with entire starting lineup + McBride/Shamet/Robinson when he has played 36 or fewer minutes. 17) Without Jock Landale, the backup Atlanta frontcourt minutes are going to be a defensive liability against Mitchell Robinson. Robinson has already averaged over a PRA/min vs ATL this season, so Okongwu may be forced into >36min again tonight. He has 9+ RA in 12/12 games without Trae and 36+ minutes. 18) No Luka or Reaves here for The Lakers, who are unlikely to see either of those two until the end of a long series or even round 2. The absence of these two means Houston can tap into more offensive weapons, such as Reed Sheppard, rather than Tari Eason or Josh Okogie. Reed is 20/25 to his 18.5 PRA mark with Sengun/Amen/KD, no Adams, and 25+ minutes. 19) Kevin Durant going to draw Rui Hachimura, yet expect a lot of added disruption by Marcus Smart in addition to traps. While Durant was held to under 20 Pts in both March meetings vs Lakers, it did not come with an added assist bonus, given his 3 APG in those two as well. Rather, Amen Thompson produced 24 PPG with a double-double in both. 20) LeBron James, our glorious king. Without Luka/Reaves, he is seeing +3.5 RA per 36min, averaging 17.9. This season, he has yet to crack 5 rebounds vs HOU while primarily defending Amen Thompson. However, he gets to now sit block off Jabari Smith Jr., a matchup where Doncic notched 6 & 9 Reb against. Leave a like if you read this all! BOL ❤️

NBA 2K MyTeam

Video games went downhill the day that people got scared to play against the tryhards instead of being hyped to try and beat them

Satou Sabally to sign a multi-year contract with the Liberty.

Stop calling for coach Jon Scheyer's job. I understand being emotional after a loss but stop being idiots.

Hey NCAA, us more about players that don’t show “loyalty,” don’t want to go through “adversity” and how player movement impacts stability. Tell us more about “tampering” and “poaching.” The Coaches Portal is ALWAYS open. Funny how silent coaches and administrators are about that.

Can’t wait to miss my exit because Apple Maps was too busy showing me a 30 second ad

@dish_answers and @CBS FIGURE IT OUT MAN, MISSING ALL THE GOOD MARCH MADNESS GAMES BRUH

He woulda jumped on Bron and been the pair of shoes I wear to church tomorrow morning #ipromise

Tf some of yall want him to say? When he woke up for breakfast and LeBron James was scrabbling eggs in his kitchen?

We will never see this again from someone at 41 Enjoy

Schultz: G Chris Paul to re-sign with the Commanders on a 1-year deal.

@KingsGuyyy YIKES

Not tweeting until the Sacramento Kings make the playoffs again 💜

Schefter: Saints DE Cameron Jordan will become free agent.

🏀 HoopGrids #969 Rarity Score: 1.58 Percentile Rank: 41.48 🟦🟦🟦 🟦🦄🟪 🟦🟦🟪 HoopGrids.com

🏀 HoopGrids #966 Rarity Score: 2.01 Percentile Rank: 44.18 🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟦🟦 HoopGrids.com

First-Ballot Hall of Famer, Drew Brees. 🐐

I really have 2 years of eligibility if we are going that route because of the COVID year! I love Louisville but this stuff is getting outrageous no way ex draft picks or nba guys should be going back to college unless it’s solely for the purpose of getting a degree😂😂😂

@UnderdogNFL i seen that 🤣

Schefter: Chargers expected to hire Mike McDaniel as OC.