Thursday night will be one of those nights where sports fans show their appreciation for the inventor of the “previous channel” button. The first round of the 2023 NFL Draft will air on ABC, while Game 6 of the first round between the No. 2 Boston Celtics and No. 7 Atlanta Hawks (Boston leads 3-2) will air on TNT. And given the speculation about the uncertainty of this draft and the way this series is going, both are must-haves.
A multitude of questions will be answered tonight as 31 football players will find out where they will play this season, while basketball fans will find out if they will have a Game 7 between the Celtics and the Hawks on Saturday.
Draft week is always a “thing,” and this year was no different. Has been reported that the Carolina Panthers know who they’re taking at No. 1, but we won’t know until the name is out. and between 38,500 simulated drafts that have been created, along with Press conference introducing Aaron Rodgers with the New York Jets On Wednesday, as usual, the league has found a way to stay in the news.
While the NFL will dominate the NBA in TV ratings tonight, that doesn’t mean the association hasn’t conquered social media and water cooler chatter all week. Look, nothing beats the NFL, especially since the draft is the last “real” thing on the league schedule until preseason games begin. But let’s not act like the NBA hasn’t been where the fun is.
Monday
Jimmy Butler lost his mind when he scored 56 points over the Milwaukee Bucks in Miami, tying the fourth-highest scoring performance in an NBA playoff game, while leading a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback to take a 3-1 lead in the series. That was followed by LeBron James scoring 22 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out 7 assists as the seventh-seeded Lakers could take a 3-1 series lead over the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
Tuesday
The Nuggets put the Timberwolves to bed, as Denver won that series 4-1. The Suns did the same for the Clippers when Devin Booker and Kevin Durant combined for 78 points. But the star of the night was Trae Young, as he finished with 38 points and 13 assists after scoring 16 in the fourth quarter before sending the series back to Atlanta with a deep game-winning dagger.
Wednesday
New Yorkers are being obnoxious and irrational because the Knicks beat the Cavs to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since the Carmelo Anthony era. The Lakers ran out of gas against the Grizzlies as that series heads back to Los Angeles. And the overrated Sacramento Kings are one loss away from blowing a 2-0 lead to the Golden State Warriors because Mike Brown always messes up a good thing. But, the talk of the night was Jimmy Butler, again. The Miami leader converted a horizontal layup at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, where the No. 8 Heat beat the No. 1 Bucks on their home floor to end the series in five.
The last three days in the NBA have been so wild that between the games, the coverage of the NFL Draft and Aaron Rodgers, many people ignored the fact that Ime Udoka… the man at the center of one of the biggest sports stories of the past year – had his introductory press conference in Houston when he returned to coaching in the NBA.
This week, the NBA proved that while the NFL’s Thursday night party may be bigger, its week-long festival has been even better. Following the draft on social media could be the way to go on Thursday, because you never know what Trae Young might do.
