NBA Playoffs: 76ers waiting for more teams to make 2nd round

Philadelphia is waiting, and inJoelEmbiid’s case, ailing.

The loneteam with a ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs will getsome company over the next few days, possibly as early asTuesday.

The 76ersfinished off a sweep of the Brooklyn Nets over the weekend, despitebeing without their MVP candidate center. Embiid isn’t the only bigname dealing with injury — all eyes will be on Miami on Monday andwhetherMilwaukee’sGiannis Antetokounmpocan play through his bruised lowerback.

A good signfor the Bucks: Antetokounmpo was participating on-court with histeammates for a shootaround practice Monday morning, a clearindicator that he’s trying to play.

WHAT'S NEXT?

There are a pair of Game 4′s on Monday,with twolower-seeded teams holding an opportunity to take 3-1 series leads.Eighth-seeded Miami plays host to top-seeded Milwaukee in an Eastmatchup, while the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers then facesecond-seeded Memphis in a West contest.

Road teamshold the leads going into Monday, and then Tuesday, it’ll be threehome teams that have a chance to join Philadelphia in the secondround.

Bostonhosts Atlanta, Denver hosts Minnesota and Phoenix hosts the LosAngeles Clippers. The Celtics, Nuggets and Suns all hold 3-1leads.

At leastone other possible clincher comes Wednesday when New York takes its3-1 lead to Cleveland. There are also Game 5’s that night in theGrizzlies-Lakers, Heat-Bucks and Golden State-Sacramentoseries.

HOWTO WATCH?

— Monday’sMilwaukee-Miami and Memphis-Lakers games are on TNT

— Tuesday’sAtlanta-Boston and Clippers-Phoenix games are on TNT, and theMinnesota-Denver game is on NBA TV.

—Wednesday’s Lakers-Memphis and Golden State-Sacramento games are onTNT. The New York-Cleveland and Miami-Milwaukee games are on NBATV.

— All thosegames will also be available through a team’s usual localbroadcaster.

— The NBAFinals will be broadcast on ABC beginning June 1.

WHOWINS THE AWARDS?

We startedfinding out those answers last week when the league office beganannouncing award winners. More awards are coming this week, withMost Improved Player (finalists are Utah’s Lauri Markkanen,Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and New York’s JalenBrunson) coming Monday and Rookie of the Year (finalists areOrlando’s Paolo Banchero, Utah’s Walker Kessler and Oklahoma City’sJalen Williams) coming Tuesday.

The NBA hasnot said when the MVP award — finalists are Philadelphia’s JoelEmbiid, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo— will be announced.

The otherwinners so far this year:

— April17:Memphis’Jaren Jackson Jr. won defensive player of the year,withMilwaukee’s Brook Lopez finishing second and Cleveland’s EvanMobley placing third.

— April18:De’AaronFox of Sacramento was revealedas the inaugural winner ofthe new Clutch Player award. Miami’s Jimmy Butler was second andChicago’s DeMar DeRozan was third.

— April19:Sacramento’sMike Brown got all the first-place votes,making him thefirst unanimous Coach of the Year. Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneaultwas second and Boston’s Joe Mazzulla was third.

— April20:Boston’sMalcolm Brogdon won Sixth Man of the Year,a race whereMilwaukee’s Bobby Portis Jr. and New York’s Immanuel Quickley werethe other finalists.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

There havebeen only two playoff games decided by exactly one point in thelast 365 days — and Golden State has won them both.

TheWarriors beat Sacramento 126-125 on Sunday, the league’s firstone-point playoff game since the Warriors won at Memphis 117-116 onMay 1, 2022.

QUOTABLE

“I didn’tthink we were going to go undefeated the whole postseason, so I’llbe curious to see how we react going home for Game 5.” — Denvercoach Michael Malone, after his team lost in overtime at Minnesotaon Sunday and missed out on a chance for a four-game sweep.