NBA Playoffs 2024: Some crazy finishes, and some mad people after those finishes

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) hits the game-winning basket against Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) during the second half in Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Monday, April 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

By The Associated Press

New York was down by five with 30 seconds left. Denver was down by 20 in the second half, and still down by six with three minutes remaining.

For the Knicks and Nuggets, the finishes were marvelous.

For Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers, the finishes were maddening.

The drama level of these NBA playoffs rose considerably on Monday night, when the Knicks pulled off a Miracle on 34th Street (technically, it’s between 31st and 33rd, but play along) to beat the 76ers 104-101, while the Nuggets got six points from Jamal Murray in the final minute — including a buzzer-beating jumper — for a 101-99 win.

The 76ers and Lakers were both steaming afterward. Philadelphia was planning to formally complain to the NBA about officiating, and Lakers forward LeBron James had things to say about calls in his team’s game as well as the wild ending in New York a few hours earlier.

James ended his postgame news conference with this comment about officiating: “What are we doing?”

NATIONAL TV SCHEDULE

Tuesday

7:30 p.m. — Phoenix at Minnesota, TNT/TruTV

8:30 p.m. — Indiana at Milwaukee, NBA TV

10 p.m. — Dallas at L.A. Clippers, TNT/TruTV

Wednesday

7 p.m. — Miami at Boston, TNT/TruTV

9:30 p.m. — New Orleans at Oklahoma City, TNT/TruTV

Thursday

7 p.m. — Cleveland at Orlando, NBA TV

7:30 p.m. — New York at Philadelphia, TNT/TruTV

10 p.m. — Denver at L.A. Lakers, TNT/TruTV

BETTING GUIDE

Boston has home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and currently is the favorite to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

The Celtics are listed at +140, ahead of defending champion Denver (+260). Next up: the Los Angeles Clippers (+1300), Oklahoma City (+1400), Milwaukee and New York (+1600), then Dallas and Minnesota (+2000).

After that, it’s Phoenix (+3000), Philadelphia (+3300), Cleveland (+4000) and the Lakers (+5000). Then the odds get real long — Indiana and New Orleans are +15000, Miami is +30000 and Orlando is +50000.

AWARD SEASON

NBA awards start getting announced Tuesday (7 p.m., TNT). Up first: Most Improved Player, which will be either Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey, Houston’s Alperen Sengun or Chicago’s Coby White.

Sixth Man gets announced Wednesday (Sacramento’s Malik Monk, Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis or Minnesota’s Naz Reid), Clutch Player on Thursday (Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan or Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and Coach of the Year on Sunday (Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault, Minnesota’s Chris Finch or Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley).

All those announcements will be made on TNT’s pregame shows that night.

The schedule for the other awards has yet to be revealed by the league. There’s Rookie of the Year (San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren or Charlotte’s Brandon Miller), Defensive Player of the Year (Wembanyama, Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert or Miami’s Bam Adebayo) and Most Valuable Player (Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’ Luka Doncic or Gilgeous-Alexander).

WHAT TO KNOW

— Cleveland took a 2-0 series lead on Orlando. Magic guard Jalen Suggs got hurt early, then toughed it out in the second half.

— Donte DiVincenzo’s late 3-pointer in New York drew only the sixth known “Bang! Bang!” call from play-by-play announcer Mike Breen. “Bang!” is Breen’s signature call; the double bang is most rare.

— Tyrese Maxey played through sickness, but it wasn’t enough for the 76ers.

— Jordi Fernandez is officially coach of the Brooklyn Nets. And he’ll keep his job as Canada’s coach in the Olympics this summer after leading the country to a World Cup bronze medal in Manila last year.

— Preview for Tuesday’s games: Suns-Timberwolves, Pacers-Bucks, Mavericks-Clippers.

HOME SWEET HOME

NBA teams are now a combined 11-0 at home in the playoffs, entering Tuesday. The winning streak is technically 16 when going back to the play-in tournament — the Lakers won in New Orleans in the first play-in game last week and home teams haven’t lost since. (Play-in games don’t count in playoff stats.)

It’s the best home start to a playoff season since 2004, when teams started 13-0 on their floors.

Home teams combined to win the first 15 games of the 1990 playoffs, the longest such streak in NBA history.

The worst record to start a postseason by home teams came in 1966 — they went 0-5 over the first five days of the playoffs.

STAT OF THE DAY

The Lakers are down 2-0 to the Nuggets. This is the first time in LeBron James’ career that one of his teams has been down 2-0 in Round 1. (The Lakers were 1-1 three other times with James, Cleveland was 1-1 in the James eras there twice in Round 1 openers, and the Cavaliers and Miami took 2-0 Round 1 leads in 11 consecutive seasons with James from 2007 through 2017).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“You’ve got to make plays to get back in it and win a game when you’re down by 20. And we had a lot of guys step up and make big play after big play. We did our job.” — Denver coach Michael Malone, after the Nuggets’ Game 2 win.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba