NBA Playoffs scores: Kings outlast Warriors in epic opener to great series

Knicks were the only road team to win, but they weren’t the only underdog to win

Find live scores for Sunday’s day two games of the 2023 NBA Playoffs here.

Sixers win 121-101 over Nets behind late 15-2 run

Philly received solid scoring outputs from Joel Embiid (26), James Harden (23), and Tobias Harris (21), and the Sixers won relatively easily. They won every quarter and never trailed, using a 15-2 run from the 2:14 mark in the third running until the 8:01 mark in the fourth. That run, punctuated by a Paul Reed and-one reverse dunk, signaled a 20-point lead for the Sixers.

On the other side, the former Suns provided most of Brooklyn’s offense. Mikal Bridges, originally a Sixers draftee and from Philly (with his mom employed by the team), scored 23 of his 30 points (12-18 FG) in the first half, which was also his first half as a true #1 option in the playoffs. Cam Johnson was second in points on the Nets with 18 on 7-11 shooting. The two combined for 48 on 65.5% shooting while the rest of the team shot 48.8% on their way to 53 points.

The Sixers will look to take a firm 2-0 lead when they finish out this homestand on Monday at 7:30.

Celtics avoid historic collapse in 112-99 victory over Hawks

Most people around the league didn’t — and still don’t — expect this to be much of a series. Boston comes into the series as one of the best teams throughout the entire regular season and hungry to follow up last year’s Finals run with a Finals win this year. Atlanta on the other hand is dealing with the tumult of a star duo with some bumps in the road and a still-new head coach, who’s slowly getting his team to buy in.

After a 29-19 first quarter with the Celtics getting the early advantage, things went from bad to worse for the Hawks, giving up 45 points in the second. Jayson Tatum set the tone in the first with 13 points, but Derrick White took the reins in the second with 12. They finished the game with 25 and 24 points respectively.

Things nearly turned from great to catastrophic for Boston when they saw a 32-point lead early in the third crumble to just 12 at a few points in the fourth quarter. They were able to hold on enough to pull out the game one win, likely more interested in a 48-minute performance in game two, which will come on Tuesday at 7 in the Garden.

Knicks maintain control over Cavs in 101-97 win

New York was 3-1 against Cleveland during the regular season with the one loss coming in October and two of the wins coming by double-digits. They’ve had the Cavs’ number and that continued in this one; Knicks only trailed once in the second half.

Noted Knicks fanatic Stephen A. Smith talked on the ESPN halftime show for one of the games about how the Knicks still have a lot of room to play better in this series, and that’s an idea I can get behind, especially when you consider Julius Randle, who played in his first game since Mar. 29, finishing with 19 points on 7-20 FG. RJ Barrett could be much better as well; he had just seven points on 2-12 shooting.

Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell went toe-to-toe, especially in the fourth, with Mitchell winning the individual battle but Brunson winning the war; Brunson scored nine of his 27 in the fourth while Mitchell scored 14 of his 38 in the fourth. Mitchell and the Cavs look to bounce back and pick up a home win on Tuesday at 7:30 before heading to MSG.

Fox scores second-most ever in a playoff debut, Kings win wild one over Warriors, 126-123

I’ll echo the same energy that Steve Kerr had in his postgame media availability: this came down to two teams playing really well down the stretch but the Kings just played a little bit better. There are plenty of things you can parse through to make sense of it, but at the end of the day, both sides just tip their caps.

As for things I think will stick through the series, De’Aaron Fox showed up in such a big way with 38 points, the second-most points in a playoff debut. The favorite for Clutch Player of the Year scored eight of his 38 in clutch time to help seal the deal. I also think Steph Curry being an enormous swing will stick. He was +11 in the 37 minutes he was on the floor, and the Warriors were -14 in the 11 he didn’t, which includes a 13-4 run by Sacramento in roughly two minutes to close the third when the Kings took a one-point lead.

As for the flukier aspects to this game, I don’t think Domantas Sabonis will be as ineffective offensively (just two second half points on 1-5 shooting) and conversely, I don’t think Malik Monk will be as effective (I’ll bet the house that he doesn’t have 32 points on 13 shots again this postseason).

Also be on the lookout for better nights from Andrew Wiggins, who shot just 7-16 (1-8 3P) in his first game back from a long absence due to personal reasons. He still played 28 minutes and was mostly solid, but if he can round back into form from last summer’s Finals run, watch out for a potential repeat. In the short-term, look for an exciting game two on Monday at 10, where the Kings will try to finish the homestand 2-0.