East playoffs: Bucks crumble, Celtics advance, Pistons pressure Sport 6

The 2025 NBA playoffs are in full swing, and our NBA insiders have you ever lined for each recreation within the march to the Finals.

One Japanese Convention semifinals sequence is about after the No. 4 Indiana Pacers eradicated the No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks in time beyond regulation Tuesday. The Pacers advance to tackle the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers, who swept the No. 8 seed Miami Warmth on Monday.

As for the opposite East semis sequence? One staff is in with the No. 2 Boston Celtics ousting the No. 7 seed Orlando Magic on Tuesday. The defending champions will await the winner between the No. 3 New York Knicks and the No. 6 Detroit Pistons — who will probably be heading to Sport 6 of their high-drama sequence.

Because the East playoffs proceed, here is what issues most and what to observe with the second spherical looming.

Soar to a sequence:
Cavaliers-Warmth | Celtics-Magic
Knicks-Pistons | Pacers-Bucks

Extra protection:
West first-round takeaways
Schedules and outcomes | Offseason guides

Tuesday’s video games

Sport 5: Pacers 119, Bucks 118 (OT)

What we realized:

The Pacers continued their dominance over the Bucks, rallying from a 20-point deficit in Sport 5 to return again and win the series-clinching contest in time beyond regulation on a game-winning layup from Tyrese Haliburton. Indiana eradicated Milwaukee for the second consecutive season and the Pacers are 8-3 in opposition to the Bucks within the playoffs throughout that span.

It units up a second-round matchup between the Pacers and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, who’ve the perfect offense within the NBA and simply swept the Miami Warmth of their first-round sequence. If the Pacers can pull off an upset, they may return to the Japanese Convention finals for the second straight season.

The Bucks didn’t go down with out a struggle, due to a 30-point, 20-rebound triple-double from Giannis Antetokounmpo and a brand new beginning lineup that started the sport on a 13-0 run. Coach Doc Rivers made a shocking change, inserting Bobby Portis, AJ Inexperienced and Kevin Porter Jr. into the beginning unit in favor of Kyle Kuzma, Brook Lopez and the injured Damian Lillard. However the season led to heartbreaking style with Gary Trent Jr. committing two turnovers within the remaining 30 seconds of OT after having only one your entire sequence earlier than.

— Jamal Collier

Sport 5: Celtics 120, Magic 89

What we realized:

Even with the gentleman’s sweep of the seventh-seeded Magic, you higher consider that the defending champion Celtics are glad to be finished with this sequence.

The Magic characteristic a number of prolonged, aggressive defenders, they usually spent the sequence working the Celtics off the 3-point line and bothering them with a bodily, bruising protection, which continued in Sport 5, making the Celtics visibly pissed off.

However Orlando can be (very) offensively challenged, and when its star ahead Paolo Banchero picked up three fouls in fast succession early within the third quarter, momentum shifted in an enormous manner. Banchero went to the bench with 9:46 remaining within the third, and the Celtics outscored the Magic 30-9 the remainder of the quarter, together with closing out the third on a 24-4 run. Ballgame.

Did the Magic present a blueprint for sluggish the Celtics’ 3-point barrage? Or are they simply completely constructed to take action? The latter appears extra doubtless, because the Celtics have struggled in opposition to Orlando lately, however now, the Celtics can get pleasure from some relaxation earlier than going through the winner of the Pistons-Knicks sequence within the subsequent spherical.

— Baxter Holmes

Sport 5: Pistons 106, Knicks 103

What we realized:

That issues look rather a lot totally different when Detroit’s Ausar Thompson is taking part in a stable recreation on offense, and a clear sufficient one on protection, to remain on the ground. He is been the perfect defender on Knicks star Jalen Brunson by far, and with Thompson logging 29 minutes in Sport 5 — probably the most he is performed in any recreation this sequence — Brunson struggled, capturing simply 4-for-16 for 16 factors. He had scored not less than 30 in every of the prior 4 contests.

Sport 6: New York at Detroit (Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT)

What to observe for:

The well being of Brunson and Josh Hart, who each left the sport with slightly below three minutes left. They then returned to the sideline, awkwardly standing on the scorer’s desk till there have been lower than 30 seconds remaining.

After the sport, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau advised that he did not wish to burn the one remaining timeout he had, and that he additionally did not wish to have his staff foul with the Pistons within the bonus. However the determination to not do both, with two of the staff’s starters able to reenter the competition, will probably be closely debated.

— Chris Herring

Sport 4: Cavaliers 138, Warmth 83

What we realized:

It was 70-25 late within the second quarter of Sport 4 — a margin representing rather a lot for each the Cavs and the Warmth, as the previous strikes on to the second spherical of the playoffs after securing a four-game sweep of the latter.

It was as lopsided a rating as you’ll in all probability ever see in an elimination recreation. The Cavs began 11-of-20 from 3-point vary, whereas the Warmth began 2-of-23. Let’s simply say the depth ranges of the 2 groups weren’t leveled up, with the Warmth’s lethargy setting fairly the distinction to that of the Cavs.

Cleveland broke the Warmth with a powerful end to Sport 2. In Video games 3 and 4, when Cleveland guard Darius Garland was out with a sprained toe, the Cavs leaned into boosting De’Andre Hunter’s taking part in time and giving further minutes to Dean Wade, two forwards who shared the out there taking part in time. The outcome was huge lineups that successfully walled off the paint for the Warmth and made for arduous denials of Tyler Herro, who largely had a depressing sequence.

Taking part in the massive lineups is a lesson for the Cavs ought to they get right into a pickle in opposition to stronger groups later within the postseason; going again to them may show to be a useful curveball, as considered one of Cleveland’s few weaknesses is a scarcity of dimension within the backcourt. In any other case, there wasn’t a lot studying available this night.

— Brian Windhorst