NBA Semifinals: Thunder on the Brink of a Sweep, Wembanyama Ejected, and the Pistons Refuse to Die
The conference semifinals have given us just about everything you could ask for. The defending champion Thunder are one win from a sweep. Victor Wembanyama got himself ejected in a series that's now suddenly even. The Knicks are sitting back, rested and waiting. And the Pistons, somehow, refuse to go away.
Start in the West, where Oklahoma City has been almost cruel to the Lakers. A 108-90 statement in Game 1 turned into a 125-107 win in Game 2, and then Ajay Mitchell stepped into a huge role in Game 3 with Jalen Williams sidelined by injury and helped close out a 131-108 win. That was the Thunder's third straight double-digit victory, putting their point differential for the series at plus-59, nearly 20 points a game. The Lakers have had stretches where they looked competitive, but turnovers and OKC's sheer depth have been fatal every time. LeBron James, at 41, has left everything on the floor and it still hasn't been close to enough. No team in NBA history has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit, so if the Thunder finish the sweep Wednesday, there's a real chance it's the last game LeBron ever plays. That's a staggering thought for a player with four championships, four MVPs, the all-time scoring record, and a first-round alley-oop to his son Bronny that made him part of the first father-son duo in NBA history to share a playoff floor. Lakers coach JJ Redick spent his Game 3 press conference ripping the officiating, and Austin Reaves said afterward he felt "disrespected," but the tape says something simpler: Oklahoma City has just been the better team, in every phase, every night.
The most chaotic series of the round is happening in San Antonio, where the Spurs and Timberwolves are now tied at two apiece. Minnesota stole Game 1 on the road with a 104-102 buzzer-beater, San Antonio answered with a 133-95 blowout that ranks among the most lopsided playoff wins in years, and the Spurs took Game 3 as well, 115-108, to grab a 2-1 lead. Then Game 4 turned the whole series on its head: Victor Wembanyama threw an elbow at Minnesota's Naz Reid early in the second quarter and got ejected, and without their franchise player, San Antonio simply came apart. Anthony Edwards exploded for 36 points, Rudy Gobert took over the paint with Wembanyama's rim protection gone, and the Timberwolves evened things up at 114-109. It's a brutal juxtaposition. Wembanyama had set a single-game playoff record with 12 blocks just three games earlier in the Game 1 loss, establishing himself as the most dominant defensive force of this postseason, and then a single lost-composure moment in Game 4 handed Minnesota new life and raised real questions about how a 21-year-old handles pressure at this level. This is now a best-of-three, with Game 5 Tuesday back in San Antonio, and the Spurs need their star to turn that frustration into production rather than physicality if they want to survive it.
Detroit's story might be the best one of the four series. Two years removed from setting the NBA record for the longest losing streak in a single season, the Pistons took a 2-1 lead over Cleveland behind home wins of 111-101 and 107-97, with Cade Cunningham and Tobias Harris carrying the load. Cunningham's 25 points and 10 assists in Game 2 were the headline, and Harris chipped in 21 of his own that night. That stretch extended Detroit's playoff winning streak to five games, dating back to their comeback in a grueling first-round series against Orlando. Cleveland finally broke through at home in Game 3, winning 116-109 behind 35 points from Donovan Mitchell and a strong finish from James Harden, who delivered nine crucial fourth-quarter points after being nearly unplayable through the first two games. Through three games he actually has more turnovers, 11, than made field goals, 10. Game 4 is Wednesday in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers are unbeaten this postseason, so there's a legitimate path back into this series if Harden can find any consistency. Through it all, Cunningham has been the best individual story of the entire playoffs. He leads everyone remaining with 302 total points, averaging north of 27 a night on elite efficiency.
While all that chaos plays out, the Knicks are just waiting. New York swept Philadelphia, hasn't lost a game since the first round, and looks like the most complete roster left in the East. Their defensive numbers across the second round rank among the best of any playoff run in recent memory, and they tied the NBA playoff record with 25 threes in the Game 4 clincher against the 76ers. The one real question mark is OG Anunoby's health; Miles McBride has been an excellent fill-in, but Anunoby's defensive versatility against elite offenses isn't something this roster can fully replace, and his availability for the conference finals is still unresolved.
If the current trends hold, we're headed for a Knicks-Pistons Eastern Conference Finals, with New York's extended rest from the sweep running into Detroit's battle-tested toughness from two brutal series in a row, and a Thunder-Spurs matchup out West that would pit the defending champions' depth against Wembanyama's singular talent, assuming San Antonio can survive a Minnesota team that clearly isn't going quietly after Edwards just announced himself as a legitimate superstar with that 36-point takeover in Game 4. This week decides it. Timberwolves at Spurs Game 5 is Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern on NBC and Peacock, Cavaliers-Pistons Game 4 follows Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern on the same networks, and Thunder-Lakers Game 4 closes the night at 10:30 on Prime Video. If Oklahoma City finishes the sweep, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will be waiting on whoever survives Spurs-Wolves. The NBA Finals tip off June 3 on ABC, and the road there runs entirely through the next several days.
