BBNBA: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jamal Murray both drop key Game 2s

A pair of higher seeds — both featuring talented former Kentucky Wildcats — had the chance to take commanding 2-0 series leads Monday night. But instead, they’ll now hit the road this week for pivotal Game 3 with both series tied 1-1.

We’ll start in the Eastern Conference as Karl-Anthony Towns and the (3) New York Knicks dropped Game 2 to the (6) Detroit Pistons, 100-94. Unlike the Knicks’ Game 1 victory over the weekend, which saw New York rattle off a timely 21-0 fourth quarter run that effectively ended the game, there would be no back-breaking stretch. Led by 33 points and 12 rebounds from Cade Cunningham, plus a massive triple from Dennis Schroder with under 60 seconds to go, the Pistons pulled off the upset and won their first playoff game since 2008 — yes, 2008!! Detroit snapped an NBA record 15-game postseason losing streak.

Towns will hope to forget this game ever happened as soon as possible. He finished with just 10 points (his second-lowest total of the entire season) and six rebounds on 5-11 shooting in 33 minutes, a far cry from his 23-point outing in the Game 1 win. Towns did not score a single point in the second half. 37 points from Jalen Brunson carried the Knicks, but none of his teammates scored more than 19.

Karl-Anthony Towns was asked about having 0 FGAs in 4th quarter of G2:

"Just trying to have the game do what it does, just executing what we talked about. Thought we got some great shots, some great looks, especially when we fought back in that game." pic.twitter.com/Un6vcbW7qe

— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 22, 2025

The next two games of this tied series now shift to Detroit. Game 3 is set for Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET on TNT.

Murray, Nuggets lose a tough one

At this rate, I’ll be shocked if Nuggets-Clippers doesn’t go seven games — and every basketball fan alive should hope it does. This has been excellent Western Conference playoff basketball through two games. (4) Denver stole Game 1 at home over the weekend in overtime, but (5) Los Angeles snuck out the Game 2 road win Monday night, 105-102.

The Clippers can thank Healthy Kawhi Leonard for making it happen. When he’s at his best, there aren’t many in the entire world more effective. Leonard poured in 39 points on 15-19 shooting while the rest of his teammates shot just 39 percent from the field. His pull-up jumper with under a minute to go was the final made bucket of the game. Nikola Jokic still managed a triple-double (26 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists), but he was hit with seven turnovers. Denver turned the ball over 20 times as a team.

Jamal Murray did what was asked of him in this one, posting 23 points and six assists (with four turnovers of his own) on 9-17 shooting (4-8 3PT). But to win this series, Denver is going to need even more from its second-best player. However, we did get a funny moment between Murray and Norman Powell when Murray literally picked up Powell by the waist during the game. Even funnier, three people were hit with technical fouls because of it, none being Murray, the instigator of it all, though.

JAMAL MURRAY & NORMAN POWELL 😳

GETTING CHIPPY IN DENVER 👀 pic.twitter.com/kYb5kvOpFD

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 22, 2025

The series now shifts from Denver to Los Angeles for the next two games. Game 3 in LA is set for Thursday at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBA TV.

Tonight in the NBA Playoffs

TIME/TV	MATCHUP	SERIES
7:00 PM ET (NBA TV)	(5) Bucks (Livingston) @ (4) Pacers (Jackson: out)	IND leads 1-0
7:30 PM ET (TNT)	(8) Grizzlies @ (1) Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace)	OKC leads 1-0
10:00 PM ET (TNT)	(6) Timberwolves (Dillingham, Randle) @ (3) Lakers (Vanderbilt)	MIN leads 1-0