The NBA playoffs continued in style on Thursday night with wins for the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder and the LA Clippers.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 31 points and Jalen Brunson hit 30 as the Knicks held on for a 118-116 win over the Detroit Pistons to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.
The Pistons, who host game four on Sunday, have lost eight straight home playoff games since 2008, within one of an NBA record set by Philadelphia from 1968 to 1971.
Tim Hardaway Jr. hit a three-pointer with 5.8 seconds left to pull the Pistons within three but Detroit didn’t get a final shot off because Jalen Duren’s pass went out of bounds on the other side of the court.
Chet Holmgren scored all but one of his 24 points in the second half as Oklahoma City rallied from a 29-point deficit to beat Memphis for a 3-0 lead in the first-round series.
Down 29-points late in the 2nd quarter…
Watch every @okcthunder bucket as they STORM all the way back to take a 3-0 series lead! ⛈️⛈️ pic.twitter.com/hl3jASk2pU
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2025
Memphis point guard Ja Morant was injured with just over three minutes left in the first half, with this side leading 67-40. They got the next basket after he exited and still led by 26 points at half-time.
Oklahoma’s 29-point comeback was the second-largest in an NBA postseason game since play-by-play data began being recorded in the 1996-97 season.
The top-seeded Thunder, who won Game 1 131-80 in the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history, didn’t even have a lead in this one until the fourth quarter. Now, they can close out the series on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points as the Los Angeles Clippers rolled to a blowout 117-83 victory over Nikola Jokic and Denver to take a 2-1 lead in their series.
👀 Courtside at the first postseason game at Intuit Dome! #NBACelebRow pic.twitter.com/iIOSSr7aBh
— NBA (@NBA) April 25, 2025
James Harden and Norman Powell added 20 points apiece in the first playoff game at the new Intuit Dome.
