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2021 NBA Playoffs: Monday Open Thread

Monday’s playoff schedule includes two critical Game 4 matchups.

Utah Jazz v Los Angeles Clippers - Game Three Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Welcome back and Happy Monday! It’s the last week of spring before summer officially kicks off this Sunday, so I hope wherever you are logging in from today that you are appropriately celebrating the end of my second favorite season of the year (there’s only one correct order for seasons, and it can be found below):

  1. Fall
  2. Spring
  3. Summer
  4. Winter

Transitioning to basketball, there still isn’t much (if any) major news to report about the Minnesota Timberwolves, other than this little scoop from our very own Dane Moore from over the weekend:

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t somewhat shocking, as Newman-Beck played a key role in the development of guys like Naz Reid and Jaylen Nowell. With that said, I understand that Chris Finch wants to not only build out his assistant staff for the Timberwolves, but also wants to have his imprint on the G-League roster (and development) as well. Either way, a sincere thanks goes out to Newman-Beck for his successful campaign as head coach of the Iowa Wolves, and I hope he lands on his feet sooner than later with one of the 29 other NBA franchises.

As for the Minnesota Lynx, they are coming off of a very impressive victory over the weekend against the Los Angeles Sparks, and will now look to get back to .500 tomorrow night at home against the Chicago Sky. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 (8:00PM CST), but if you’re in the Minneapolis area and have a free night, I strongly suggest going to check out this latest iteration of the Lynx — they are super fun, really tough, and are starting to piece some things together both on offense and defense. I wouldn’t be shocked if Minnesota goes on a little bit of a run here over the next week or so and vaults themselves into the top 4-5 of the WNBA standings.

Monday NBA Playoff Schedule

  • Sixers @ Hawks (6:30PM CST, TNT)
  • Jazz @ Clippers (9:00PM CST, TNT)

As the schedule above indicates, Monday’s playoff action tips off with Game 4 of the 76ers at the Hawks, with Atlanta hoping to prevent going down 3-1 to the Eastern Conference’s #1 seed. With the Nets and Bucks series now tied 2-2, Philly might be extra motivated tonight to grab a commanding series lead in hopes of securing a few extra days of rest before the conference finals start next week.

The night cap on Monday is Jazz at Clippers, which could go approximately 102 different ways. When healthy, Donovan Mitchell has been nearly unstoppable in these playoffs, but as we saw in Game 3, he continues to be hindered by a sore ankle, which has breathed some life into the Clippers’ hopes of evening up the series. No team has been harder to predict in these playoffs than LAC, so tonight should be another crucial moment for Steve Ballmer’s franchise.

Have a great night everyone!