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Anthony Black played 28 minutes in Tuesday’s win over the Hawks, amassing 16 points (6-of-7 FGs, 1-of-2 FTs), four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three three-pointers.
Orlando’s starting backcourt of Cory Joseph and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope combined to score 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field. Black was one of two reserves to pick up the slack, combining with Cole Anthony to score 42 points on 16-of-24 shooting. The second-year guard scored 41 points in Orlando’s final two regular-season games, likely boosting his confidence ahead of the Play-In tournament. Tuesday’s victory means Black and the Magic will be the seventh seed in the East, and they’ll face the reigning champion Celtics in the first round. Game 1 is set for Sunday in Boston.
Christian Braun stuffed the stat sheet on Thursday with 23 points (8-of-14 FGs), 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals, one block and three three-pointers in Game 6 against the Thunder.
It took the best playoff performance of Braun’s career, but Denver was able to defend homecourt and force a Game 7. Braun set a new playoff career high for points and contributed value across the board to help keep the Nuggets’ season alive. They’ll head to OKC for the final game of this series on Sunday. Braun likely won’t repeat this type of performance, but they’ll need him at his best once again.
Julian Strawther provided a boost off the bench with 15 points (4-of-8 FGs), two rebounds and three three-pointers in Game 6 against the Thunder on Thursday.
Denver has been trying to find a solution for who to play with both Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook struggling. Well, Strawther stepped up to help force a Game 7. He has only played more than 10 minutes during this postseason in blowouts, but he was able to set a new playoff career high for points in the win. Expect Strawther to continue to play a large reserve role on Sunday as Denver looks to advance to the conference finals.
Jalen Williams turned in a full line on Thursday with six points (3-of-16 FGs), seven rebounds, 10 assists, three steals and one block in Game 6 against the Nuggets.
JDub was able to contribute a well-rounded stat line, but he wasn’t able to have much success as a scorer. That has been the story for most of this series; Williams was great in Game 3 and was efficient in Game 2, though they didn’t need him to score much in that blowout win. However, between Games 1, 4, 5 and 6, Williams has shot below 40 percent from the field in each of them and below 30 percent in three of them. He needs to continue to find other ways to impact the game, which he has done, but they truly need a better scoring performance out of him in Game 7 on Sunday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points (11-of-16 FGs, 8-of-11 FTs), three rebounds, six assists and two three-pointers in a 119-107 loss to the Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday.
SGA carried the offensive load for OKC once again in this game, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates. Gilgeous-Alexander has been unstoppable for most of this series, outside of Game 3. He has scored at least 30 points in four of the six games in this series, and this was his highest-scoring performance in Denver this season. They’ll return home for Game 7 on Sunday. In a matchup between the two MVP candidates, expect SGA to be aggressive early on and have a monster performance.
Chet Holmgren recorded a double-double on Thursday with 19 points (8-of-14 FGs), 11 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block and two three-pointers in Game 6 against the Nuggets.
Holmgren finished with a double-double for the third time this series, but it wasn’t enough for the Thunder to get the win and advance to the conference finals. The box score numbers were mostly strong, though he did shoot just 1-of-3 from the free throw line for a second straight game. They’ll get a couple days off before Game 7 in Oklahoma City on Sunday. Holmgren will need to continue to play well, but his main job will be trying to slow down Nikola Jokic.
Astros’ top prospect Brice Matthews landed on the minor league injured list on Thursday after suffering a concussion.
The 23-year-old infielder sustained the injury while sliding. He’ll need to pass through the concussion protocol before he’s able to return to game action. In 37 games at Triple-A Sugar Land, Matthews was hitting .234/.375/.375 with four homers, 13 RBI, 16 stolen bases and a 45/28 K/BB ratio.