Basketball Intelligence For 4/29/26, Part Two
Today's Best NBA Reporting And Analysis
THE PLAYOFFS
For J.B. Bickerstaff and Jamahl Mosley, being ‘family’ doesn’t matter during NBA playoffs
David Aldridge, The Athletic
BOS-PHI
Joel Embiid cancels out Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum in 76ers’ Game 5 win: ‘He carried us’
Tony Jones, The Athletic
Celtics add to their reputation as a team that loves to make things hard on itself
Jay King, The Athletic
LAL-HOU: Lakers need to use Rockets’ pressure to sharpen their playoff edge
Law Murray, The Athletic
MIN-DEN: The Nuggets miss Peyton Watson badly
Jake Fischer, The Stein Line
NYK-ATL
How serious are these Knicks? We’ll find out in Game 6 in Atlanta
James Edwards III, The Athletic
New York is running its offense through Karl-Anthony Towns—and the Hawks have no answers
Michael Pina, The Ringer
The Knicks and ‘all the little things’ have Hawks’ backs against the wall
John Hollinger, The Athletic
OKC-PHX
Thunder are still ‘evolving,’ and a recent sweep showed how far they’ve come
Joel Lorenzi, The Athletic
ORL-DET
How the Detroit Pistons Can Salvage an Unrecognizable Playoff Showing
Dylan Edenfield, Palace Of Piston
SAS-POR
Spurs meet the playoff moment with perfect harmony around Victor Wembanyama
Jared Weiss, The Athletic
TOR-CLE
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen know it’s now or never for them to step up as Cavs face Game 5 playoff crossroads
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
What must the Cavs fix to win Game 5 vs. Raptors?
Chris Fedor/Ethan Sands/Jimmy Watkins, cleveland.com
THE DRAFT
NBA lottery reform: Five biggest questions about league’s new anti-tanking proposal
Sam Quinn, CBS Sports
Will NBA’s proposed draft lottery reform stop tanking? Maybe, but it’s risky
Sam Vecenie, The Athletic
NBA Draft lottery changes are shortsighted, confusing, and create new problems
Ricky O’Donnell, SBNation
Lotto confusion: NBA’s new proposal is overly complicated
Zach Harper, The Athletic
The NBA’s Proposed Anti-Tanking Fix Could Create a Bigger Problem
Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated
The NBA’s Attempt To Fix Tanking Could Create An Even Bigger Problem
Bryan Toporek, Forbes
The NBA introduced a new half-measure to fix tanking
Prince Grimes, USA Today
2026 NBA Mock Draft
Danny Chau, The Ringer
Lajae Jones Scouting Report
Ersin Demir, NBA Draft Newsletter
Darryn Peterson’s interior scoring and learning from Cooper Flagg
Logan Adams, Propsects & Concepts
TEAM-SPECIFIC
LAC: 3 Lessons Clippers Must Learn from 2026 NBA Playoffs
Cem Yolbulan, Sports Illustrated
LAL: An eight-city, yearlong conversation with LeBron James
Dave McMenamin,ESPN