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It took a little bit longer than expected, but the first round of the NBA playoffs is finally over after a trio of Game 7s this weekend.
The 76ers beat the Celtics in Boston on Saturday behind a spectacular performance from Joel Embiid and will face the Knicks in the conference semifinals. Like Philadelphia, the Pistons came back from a 3–1 series deficit to beat the Magic and will face the Cavaliers after Cleveland beat the Raptors on Sunday night.
It was a shock that the Detroit-Orlando and Boston-Philadelphia series went the distance, let alone that one of the underdogs completed the upset. But the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference playoffs (three seven-game series and a Knicks-Hawks matchup that went six) is a reminder that the conference has no answer to the West’s two dominant forces.
After the first round, there’s little reason to believe that any team in the East can defeat the Thunder or Spurs. The Pistons were nearly as good as Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the regular season, but falling behind 3–1 to the Magic exposed all sorts of warts. The two-seed Celtics should have been a stronger title contender after getting Jayson Tatum back from a torn Achilles in March, but they collapsed against the Sixers. The Knicks also had some trouble with the Hawks in a series that went six games, although they looked more like a championship-caliber team in their historically lopsided win in the clincher.
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Reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson chats with Sports Illustrated about the continued growth of the league and her growing impact on and off the court. The Las Vegas star describes her A’Two sneaker release and her experience meeting Beyoncé.
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