The 2024 NBA Playoffs continued on Tuesday with a tripleheader of first-round action. In the opener, the Minnesota Timberwolves used a huge fourth quarter run to take a 2-0 series lead over Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns.
After falling in Game 1, the Indiana Pacers took care of business in a big way against the Milwaukee Bucks by the score of 125-108 behind a big performance from Pascal Siakam.
Meanwhile, the night cap saw the Dallas Mavericks even their first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers with Luka Doncic doing his thing. Here is a look at the biggest winners and losers from the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday.
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Winner: Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota Timberwolves
Raise your hand if you had Jaden McDaniels as the Minnesota Timberwolves’ leading scorer en route to taking a 2-0 series lead. We didn’t think so. Even then, the forward has proven to be valuable on both ends of the court for Minnesota. That came out in droves during Tuesday’s 12-point win over Phoenix. McDaniels shot a robust 10-of-17 from the field while scoring 25 points. He played great ball against Kevin Durant and Co. on the other end of the court, too. It led to Minnesota finishing plus-24 in McDaniels 41 minutes of action. That was the biggest tell in this one.
Loser: Phoenix Suns “big three”
It’s hard to go with just one Suns player here. General manager James Jones built a big three in Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Everyone knew that this was going to be a top-heavy roster. Heading into the NBA Playoffs, it was all about the three All-Stars stepping up. That did not happen Tuesday night. Durant (6-of-15), Beal (6-of-16) and Booker (6-of-13) combined to shoot 18-of-44 from the field. They also combined for a whopping 12 of the Suns’ 19 turnovers in a game that saw them outscored by 29 (31-2) in points off turnovers. That’s brutally bad.
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Winner: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
No, Anthony Edwards did not have a good shooting night (3-of-12 from the field). No, it did not matter. The young guard played a great all-around game in outperforming Phoenix’ backcourt of Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Edwards played great defense. He grabbed five rebounds and dished out eight assists. This is just the latest example of Edwards not letting a bad shooting night impact his overall performance. That’s the maturation process we’ve seen from him, and it has Minnesota with a 2-0 series lead in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Loser: Jae Crowder, Milwaukee Bucks
With Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined, the Bucks need some sort of production from their frontcourt. Brook Lopez (22 points), Khris Middleton (15 points) and Bobby Portis (14 points) provided that to an extent Tuesday night. Crowder most definitely did not. This stat line is about as bad as it gets. The veteran scored two points in 15 minutes of action, shooting 0-of-3 from the field. Milwaukee finished a laughable minus-21 when he was on the court. Talk about being a net negative in every way possible.
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Winner: Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers
This is why Indiana acquired Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors ahead of the NBA trade deadline. It needed another top-end scorer to go with Tyrese Haliburton. After dropping 36 points in the Game 1 loss to Milwaukee, Siakam came through when it counted the most. A game that saw Haliburton score just 12 points also included this All-Star forward shooting a ridiculous 16-of-23 from the field. He scored another 37 points, adding 11 rebounds and six assists without a single turnover. Talk about an absolutely brilliant performance from Siakam as Indiana evened this series at one.
Loser: Patrick Beverley, Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are not relying on Beverley to score a lot of points in the NBA Playoffs. Rather, it’s all about providing veteran leadership and solid defense. None of this came to fruition in Tuesday’s 17-point loss to Indiana. Beverley shot 1-of-5 from the field and scored all of five points. He lost his cool a couple times throughout the game. It all led to the Bucks finishing minus-27 in his 34 minutes of action. That tells us everything we need to know about his “impact” in Game 2.
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Winner: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
It was another grind for Dallas on offense again Tuesday after scoring just 97 points to open the NBA Playoffs over the weekend against the Clippers. Remember, Doncic had 33 of those 97 points. Averaging 33.5 points in his career against Los Angeles in the postseason, the MVP candidate was back up to his old tricks in Southern California. He hit a dagger three late in the fourth quarter, finishing with 32 points on 11-of-26 shooting. Doncic added six rebounds and nine assists as he took control when it counted the most to even the series.
Loser: Los Angeles Clippers supporting players
With Los Angeles’ big three failing to have big games Tuesday night, the hope was that its supporting cast could step up. Russell Westbrook shot just 2-of-9 from the field. But he played a stellar all-around game. Instead, the failures were on Terence Mann and Norman Powell. These two wings combined to shoot 4-of-17 from the field while scoring all of 11 points. In a game that saw the Clippers struggle big time shooting the ball (37%), they needed one of these players to step up. It did not happen.
Winner: P.J. Washington, Dallas Mavericks
When Tim Hardaway Jr. went down to injuy in the first half Tuesday night, the Mavericks knew someone had to step up behind Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. After struggling some through the first half, that’s what Washington did. He hit on three big treys in the second half, finishing the game with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Washington added six rebounds and two blocks in playing a stellar all-around game as Dallas evened this first-round series.
Loser: Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
Was Kawhi Leonard 100% in Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday? We doubt it. Did he need to get his footing after missing the past nine games with a knee injury. Yes. This doesn’t take away from the fact that Los Angeles had a difficult time incorporating Leonard back into the lineup, especially on the offensive end of the court. The two-time NBA Finals MVP scored just 15 points on 7-of-17 shooting in 35 minutes of action. The Clippers also finished minus-eight with Leonard on the court in a game that they lost by three points. The good news? It’ll get better from here.
