Starting 5: Thunder, Pistons go up 2-0, plus a preview of Friday's slate

Top-seeded Pistons & Thunder pull away late to grab 2-0 series leads at home and more from Thursday's action.

Cade continues to close

games on the biggest stage.

This Playoffs’ leader

in clutch and 4th-quarter points struck again Thursday for a 2-0 series lead.

5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀

Clutch Cade:

More late heroics from Cunningham puts Pistons up 2-0

Next Thunder Up:

With SGA in foul trouble, Jared McCain & OKC’s depth shine for 2-0 edge

Spurs at Wolves:

Fox fuels Spurs’ transition attack entering crucial Game 3 in Minnesota

Knicks at Sixers:

Josh Hart is embracing the unglamorous as New York seeks 3-0 lead in Philly

WNBA Tip-Off:

Season 30 starts tonight – Get up to speed with what to know for Opening Weekend

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Friday’s Game 3s:

Both Conference Semifinals hit the road, with Minnesota looking to go up 2-1 at home and Philly aiming to get on the board:

Knicks at Sixers

(

7 ET, Prime

|

Tap To Watch

)

Spurs at Wolves

9:30 ET, Prime

Playoff Hub:

Get the latest news, analysis and stories from every series

all in one place

.

Season 30 Tips Tonight:

The

WNBA’s Opening Night

features a three-game slate on Ion, with the Toronto Tempo making their franchise debut. Read on in Section 5 for a full Season 30 preview.

1. CUNNINGHAM, PISTONS BUILD 2-0 EDGE

A 14-point lead

was down to four as the 4th quarter started.

Three unanswered

Cavs makes later, including a floater from this season’s 4th-quarter points leader, Donovan Mitchell, and Cleveland was up for the first time since 3-0.

But Mitchell

would get just one more field goal.

This was Cade

Cunningham’s

closing frame.

Pistons 107, Cavaliers 97:

Cunningham scored 12 of his

team-high 25 points

in the final six minutes of the 4th after Detroit responded with a 10-2 run to stay ahead of Mitchell (31 pts, 6 reb) and Cleveland to go up 2-0 in the series. |

Recap

Final Flurry:

The Cavs were back within two (89-87) with six to go when Cade ignited a personal 7-4 run, ensuring Detroit would lead by five or more the rest of the way

A Finisher Emerges:

Cunningham now leads this Playoff field in Clutch points (15), along with 4th-quarter total points (84 in the 4th)

“He’s a killer closer,”

coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “In the 4th quarter, he does his best work.”

“I just enjoy my team.

I don’t want my season to end. I enjoy winning,” Cunningham (10 ast) said of his recent finishes. “Just trying to make the best play.”

Also filling up the 4th?

Tobias Harris (21 pts, 7 reb, 2 stl, 2 blk), who has stepped up to join Cade as a top-3 4th-quarter scorer in the Playoffs (60 pts)

“It’s the understanding

of what the moment calls for, and that’s what this group is finding,” Bickerstaff said. “… And then being able to execute it in the moment.”

Supplying Scoring:

Cade has now scored 20 or more points in all 15 Playoff games in his career, joining Anthony Davis (16), LeBron (19), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (27) as the only players with such a streak

Speaking Of Streaks:

Harris is right there with Cade, logging 20+ points for the seventh consecutive game, which matches the longest 20+ streak of his career, including the regular season

Lending A Lift:

Daniss Jenkins scored 11 of his 14 bench points in the 1st half, Ausar Thompson (10 pts, 7 reb, 2 stl)

came up clutch

defensively and Duncan Robinson (17 pts) canned five triples

Not All Offensive:

Bickerstaff noted Detroit’s defensive timeliness as well, adding nine steals and five blocks to its postseason leads while holding its opponent under 100 points for the fourth of six wins

“The turnovers,

the little things, little details; a lot of this stuff is self-inflicted,” Mitchell said of the Cavs. “We’ll get home, we’ll clean that up, we’ll go from there.”

The series

shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 Saturday (3 ET, NBC/Peacock), where the Cavs are 4-0 this postseason.

2. THUNDER SHOWCASE DEPTH AGAIN, TAKE 2-0 LEAD

A minute and a half

into the 2nd half, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had four field goals and four fouls.

OKC trailed

by five.

SGA would finish

with 22 points and an OKC win, but getting there looked different for the defending champs.

Thunder 125, Lakers 107:

Chet Holmgren (22 pts, 9 reb, 4 stl, 2 blk), Shai and Ajay Mitchell (20 pts, 6 ast) formed a

20+ point trio

for OKC, helping outscore L.A. 68-49 in the 2nd half as the Thunder responded with the reigning MVP on the bench to take a 2-0 series lead.

Austin Reaves

(31 pts, 6 ast) notched a career playoff-high in scoring in just his 3rd game back in the lineup, while LeBron James added 23 pts, 6 ast, and 3 stl in his 300th career Playoff game. |

Unplanned Break:

SGA went to the bench with four fouls at the 10:34 mark of the 3rd quarter, as a Reaves free throw made it 66-61 L.A.

Storm Cover:

After an exchange of 3s, a Holmgren slam set off a 27-9 game-changing run, which featured six different Thunder scorers, capped by Alex Caruso’s hook shot for a 91-78 lead

Standout Minutes:

The Thunder wouldn’t trail again, and Jared McCain was a key reason, scoring 8 of his 18 bench points in that span

“It’s just the next man up mentality,”

Shai said of his team. “McCain was just big-time tonight… Barely played in the first series, and he’s got huge minutes this series… Just speaks to his character and his work ethic.”

“He’s ironclad,”

coach Mark Daigneault said of McCain. “He was huge tonight … You need everybody, we trust everybody.”

“It’s all trust

in everything that I do,” McCain said. “And I think that’s helped me be confident in those moments.”

One More Run:

In the 4th, 7 quick points from LeBron and a Reaves triple pushed L.A. back within five (99-94), prompting a second, decisive Thunder strike

Three-Man Weave:

This time, a 21-9 barrage from Holmgren, Shai and Cason Wallace gave OKC its largest lead of the night (120-103), with 16 combined from Chet and Cason

The strong finish

moved the defending champs to a perfect 6-0 on their quest to repeat. And they haven’t just won games, they’ve handled their business.

Total Control:

OKC has outscored its opponents by 105 points through the first six games of the Playoffs, winning five by double digits

One of Four:

They join the 2009 Cavs and the 1985 and ’87 Lakers as the only teams in NBA history to start the Playoffs 6-0 with a +100 score differential

“We did a good job

staying present,” Daigneault said of OKC’s response to L.A.’s aggressive 1st half, where it shot 51.1 FG%. “Winning the next battle in front of us, sticking together and getting contributions from everybody.”

OKC aims for

a 7-0 Playoff mark and a 3-0 series lead against the Lakers in L.A. Saturday (8:30 ET, ABC).

3. ON PRIME: FOX FUELS SPURS INTO MINNESOTA FOR GAME 3

It was in Minnesota

where De’Aaron Fox got the call that changed everything.

It was Feb. 2, 2025.

Fox was playing Call of Duty in a Minneapolis hotel room as the Kings prepared to face the Wolves the next night.

Then the phone rang.

The All-Star guard, who had spent all eight of his NBA seasons in Sacramento, was being traded to the Spurs.

“It’s a very unique opportunity,”

Fox said of

joining the Spurs

. “With the way they’re built, with the athleticism, with the length that they have and also the youth, I just felt like this could be a special team.”

Tonight (9:30 ET, Prime),

Fox is back in Minnesota, looking to give the Spurs a 2-1 lead in the West Semis against Anthony Edwards’ Wolves.

For San Antonio

, while Victor Wembanyama often plays the role of hero, Fox’s leadership helps set the tone.

Leading The Hunt:

After a Game 1 loss where the Spurs shot a Playoff-low 27.8% from 3, San Antonio attacked in Game 2, outscoring Minnesota 58-36 in the paint.

It started with Fox,

as he and Victor Wembanyama scored San Antonio’s first 11 points, all from within six feet – a point of emphasis that sparked a 38-point win.

“We’re at our best

when he’s in attack mode,” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson of Fox postgame. “He probably has the strongest ripple effect on our team.”

It Showed:

Fox dropped 14 in the 1st half, with his downhill attacks snowballing into a transition avalanche as the Spurs outscored the Wolves 29-5 in fastbreak points

Pace-Setter:

That’s San Antonio’s most fastbreak points all Playoffs, sparked by the Spur who covers more ground than anyone on the roster: Fox (

2.3 miles per game

Running Mates:

Fox’s energy proved contagious, with Stephon Castle (21 pts), Julian Champagnie (12), Dylan Harper (11) and Devin Vasell (10) combining for 54 points – including 16 on fastbreaks

Fox’s fingerprints

were all over, from lookahead outlets to pick-pockets turned transition buckets – including a dish to Champagnie for a

crowd-popping 3

, putting San Antonio up 30.

“He’s the catalyst for us,”

said Johnson of Fox. “If you go back and watch our best moments, he’s usually right in the middle of all of it.”

Those moments

are what make this run special for Fox, fresh off the first Playoff series win of his career after ousting Portland in Round 1.

And he’s hungry

for more.

“It definitely feels good,”

said Fox of winning his first Playoff series. “[But] I’ll celebrate when we win a championship.”

On the other side

is another electrifying guard in Edwards, who seeks a 2-1 series lead at Target Center. Minnesota is unbeaten this postseason (3-0) and 29-15 overall there this year.

“They were the more

desperate team,” said Edwards after Game 2. “We got to come out and match that physicality.”

4. ALSO ON PRIME: KNICKS RELY ON HART AS 2-0 SERIES SHIFTS TO PHILLY

Every Knicks run

seems to start with Josh Hart somewhere in the middle of it.

That loose ball.

The timely board. The clutch stop.

Whatever

New York needs to get it done, Hart seems to deliver.

The Knicks wing

has built his reputation doing the dirty work, becoming the connective tissue for a New York team heading to Philly tonight with a 2-0 lead

(7 ET, Prime).

That mentality traces

back to Hart’s Villanova days, where former coach Jay Wright inspired a young scorer to embrace the ugly, writes The Athletic’s Rustin Dodd:

Everyone knows

someone who takes pride in the unglamorous…

Their worth

isn’t tied to a title … but to the standards they uphold and the care they give.

They turn every role

into art.

Four years into retirement,

Wright still points to one of his players in particular who best embodies that mentality: Josh Hart, the beating heart of the New York Knicks…

“I used to love scoring,”

Hart told reporters earlier this season. “Now I love getting guys shots.” |

Read More

All Heart:

Boasting a +13.8 plus-minus, Hart has done it all for New York, serving as a primary wing defender, while ranking top-3 on the team in Playoff rebounds (8.8), assists (4.8) and steals (1.8).

Tonight,

New York may need even more from its do-it-all wing, with OG Anunoby (21.4 ppg in Playoffs) listed as questionable with a hamstring injury

The Sixers,

meanwhile, are leaning on Tyrese Maxey to spark a response.

After a quiet Game 1,

Maxey broke loose in Game 2 for 26 points and 6 dimes, pushing New York to the brink in a game that featured 25 lead changes – the most in a Playoff game in 11 years.

With Joel Embiid questionable

(hip, ankle), Philly may need another big night from its turbo-charged guard to cut into their 2-0 deficit.

And after coming back

from 3-1 vs. Boston, Maxey’s confident they can rally again.

“We definitely feel like

we can pull ourselves out of this one,” said Maxey. “Gotta go home and get two.”

5. WNBA’S 30TH SEASON TIPS OFF TONIGHT

The WNBA

launched back in April of 1996 with eight original franchises.

Tonight, the W’s 30th

season tips off with a league-high 15 teams and counting.

Here’s a look

at your first chances to watch this weekend:

Opening Night:

Ion has Friday’s three-game season opener, with the Liberty hosting the Sun (7:30 ET), the Toronto Tempo’s franchise debut against the Mystics (7:30 ET), and the Valkyries beginning Year 2 visiting the Storm (10:30 ET)

Saturday brings

a doubleheader on ABC featuring Caitlin Clark’s Fever against the Wings’ UConn backcourt (1 ET), and a Finals rematch for the defending champion Aces (3:30 ET)

Plus

, NBA TV has the Portland Fire’s franchise debut (9 ET), and League Pass has Angel Reese’s first game for the Dream (8 ET)

On Sunday

, USA Network joins the WNBA family, showcasing the Sparks’ season opener against the Aces (6 ET)

With this highly-anticipated

milestone new season finally here, WNBA.com brings you all the details of what to look out for in 2026:

Reshuffle & Deal:

After a dominant second-half march to the 2025 championship, can the Aces lead the pack again for a fourth title in five years?

New City, New Country:

Two new teams take flight this season, in the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo

UConn, Texas:

Top draft pick Azzi Fudd re-joins her NCAA title-winning Huskies teammate Paige Bueckers for the Dallas Wings

Check out the rest

of WNBA.com’s

10 Things to Look Forward to

in Season 30

Between expansion drafts

, the first-year player draft and a whirlwind free agency, W rosters have seen plenty of change since the Fall. Get caught up on the offseason sprint with this year’s GM Survey:

Pocket Aces?

40% of General Managers believe Las Vegas is headed for its second repeat in five years

Winner Stays:

Also picked to repeat? GMs think the Kia MVP Award stays with the Aces’ A’ja Wilson

Stepping On Stage:

Seattle’s Dominique Malonga and Chicago’s Rickea Jackson each received 15% of the vote for top breakout season candidates

Been Busy:

Dallas’ draft magic earned it top votes for best offseason, while the additions of Angel Reese in Atlanta and Gabby Williams in Golden State were considered the most impactful

Check out

the

survey’s full results

here, and stay connected to the W’s 30th season all Summer long at WNBA.com

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