The 2021 NBA playoffs are back in full force tonight, with three marquee games that could put three of the league’s biggest franchises firmly against the ropes.

Tuesday NBA Playoff Schedule

• Celtics @ Nets (6:30PM CST)
• Lakers @ Suns (9:00PM CST)
• Mavericks @ Clippers (9:30PM CST)

As the schedule details above, tonight kicks off with Boston trying to upset Brooklyn on their home court, and then finishes with a LA double-dip as the Lakers and Clippers both look to avoid being down 0-2. Over the last 426 playoff series, 399 teams (93.7%) have gone on to win their series after going up 2-0, so while tonight might not seem like must win scenarios for the Celtics, Lakers, and Clippers, in reality it really is.

While these three games bring a multitude of different storylines to the table, there’s plenty of other drama going on around the league in the first few days of the playoffs. For example, the Utah Jazz find themselves behind 0-1 to the feisty Memphis Grizzlies, and according to multiple sources, things are extra tenuous behind the scenes in Salt Lake City:

If that doesn’t satisfy your content needs, here’s the mayor of New York City (Bill de Blasio) publicly calling out Atlanta’s Trae Young for “hunting fouls”...

Add in Heat Culture™ being down 0-2, the Damian Lillard/Nikola Jokic superstar battle, and the Philadelphia 76ers trying to finally deliver on Sam Hinkie’s vision, and it appears as if the league is chalk-full of great storylines less than one week into the start of the 2021 playoffs.

As for the Minnesota Timberwolves, there’s not too much to add on that front right now. We’ll start picking up the Wolves-related #kahntent again here at Canis in the very near future, but for now the spotlight remains firmly on the NBA playoffs as we navigate these next few days to sort out which teams are contenders and which teams are simply pretenders.