SI:AM | The Lakers Took Care of Business. The Heat didn’t.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I think every NBA fan is happy we’ll get to see LeBron James in the playoffs again.

In today’s SI:AM:

???? The Lakers’ hard-fought victory

???? The tales of an NBA ball boy

???? The Big Ten’s new commissioner

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The Lakers survived in a thriller

This would have seemed outrageous to say two months ago, but the Lakers actually have a pretty decent chance of winning a first-round playoff series—and who knows how far they can go after that.

The Lakers trailed by as many as 15 in the third quarter of last night’s play-in game against the Timberwolves but pulled out the victory in overtime to clinch the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. LeBron James had 30 points and 10 rebounds, Anthony Davis had 24 and 15, and Dennis Schröder contributed 21 points off the bench.

Los Angeles had been stuck in 13th place in the West as late as Feb. 25 but went 15–7 over the rest of the regular season to rise all the way to seventh—and did so mostly without LeBron, who missed 13 of those 22 games.

Winning the play-in game sets up a first-round matchup against the No. 2 seed Grizzlies, which is a far more favorable outcome than earning the eighth seed and getting matched up with the Nuggets. Memphis is a talented team but inexperienced, and will be without starting center Steven Adams, who is reportedly expected to be sidelined for the postseason with a knee injury. Any on-court concerns about the lingering effects of Ja Morant’s suspension were quelled to an extent when Memphis went 6–2 with him in the lineup after his return. But still, will the Grizzlies be able to hold off Playoff LeBron?

The Timberwolves aren’t toast yet. They’ll play the winner of tonight’s Thunder-Pelicans game Friday night, with the winner earning the No. 8 seed and a trip to Denver in the first round. Rudy Gobert was sidelined for last night’s game after punching teammate Kyle Anderson during an argument on the sideline in Sunday’s regular-season finale. Without Gobert in the middle, the Lakers outrebounded the T-Wolves 48–37. Gobert is expected to return for Friday night’s do-or-die game.

In the East, the Hawks pulled off an upset on the road against the Heat to clinch the No. 7 seed. Atlanta will face the Celtics in the first round, while Miami will face a do-or-die situation Friday night against the winner of tonight’s Raptors-Bulls game.

The Heat’s loss ruled out the possibility of a first-round rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals between Miami and Boston that went seven games, which is a reminder of how poorly things have gone for the Heat this season. After finishing first in the conference last season at 53–29, Miami was seventh this year at 44–38. The main difference is the Heat’s offense fell off a cliff this season. Last year, they ranked 10th in offensive efficiency. This year, they were 25th. They averaged the fewest points per game of any team in the league (109.5), which is why they’re fighting for their playoff lives despite having one of the league’s best defenses (second in points allowed and eighth in efficiency). If the Heat manage to win their second-chance game Friday, their reward is a showdown with the top-seeded Bucks and their smothering defense.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Today’s Daily Cover is Chris Mannix’s reminiscence of his time as an NBA ball boy.
• Mannix also recapped last night’s play-in games.
• Now that Kyle Filipowski has surprisingly decided to return to Duke, Pat Forde writes the Blue Devils are an early favorite to be the preseason No. 1. After his decision, though, a five-star Duke recruit requested to be released from his letter of intent.
• Clare Brennan has a deeper look at Monday night’s WNBA draft and which teams made the best choices.
• Mannix believes there’s no wrong choice for this year’s NBA MVP, but there is one candidate that stands out above the rest. Chris Herring also shared his full awards ballot in this week’s edition of The Playmaker newsletter.
• Ross Dellenger has a primer on the new Big Ten commissioner, a former MLB and TV executive.
• The Bruins broke another NHL record with last night’s win over the Capitals.
• The Lakers’ win means that all four California teams have reached the NBA playoffs for the first time in the same season.
• Ticket prices for the Game 1 playoff matchup between the Warriors and Kings are reaching historic heights, with the average seat costing more than $1,400, according to SI Tickets.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Luis Arraez’s cycle, the first in Marlins history.

4. The Orioles’ sprinkler celebration.

3. Connor Hellebuyck’s diving stick save in the Jets’ playoff-clinching win against the Wild.

2. The dramatic finish to regulation in the Lakers-Timberwolves game. James found Schröder for a corner three with 1.4 seconds left, but then Mike Conley was fouled on the other end and hit three free throws to send it to overtime.

1. Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier’s home run robbery.

SIQ

When the Astros played their first official game at the Astrodome on this day in 1965, what was the primary playing surface?

• AstroTurf
• Natural grass
• Dirt
• Green-dyed wool carpet

Yesterday’s SIQ: With home runs on April 11, 1959, and April 12, 1965, who is the only pitcher to hit two Opening Day homers?

• Bob Lemon
• Don Drysdale
• Bob Gibson
• Warren Spahn

Answer: Don Drysdale. In addition to being a Hall of Fame pitcher with a 2.95 career ERA, Drysdale was also one of the best hitting pitchers ever.

Drysdale hit 29 homers in his career, the sixth most among pitchers all time (counting at bats when the player was in the lineup only as a pitcher). Wes Ferrell is first on that list with 38. (Ferrell was such a competent hitter that during his 1933 All-Star season, he started 13 games in left field.) Drysdale hit seven homers in a single season twice, in ’58 and ’65, tied for the second most in a season by a pitcher. (Ferrell is at the top of that list, as well, having hit nine in ’31.) Those lists include only players who were primarily pitchers, though. Players like Babe Ruth, Rick Ankiel and, yes, Shohei Ohtani are not included. Only three of Ohtani’s 130 career homers have come in games where he pitched.

As SB Nation’s Alex Rubenstein and Jon Bois wrote in 2020, Drysdale’s 1958 season was particularly impressive. All seven of his home runs came in a 14-game span from June 26 to Aug. 23. Drysdale had 24 official at-bats and went yard in nearly a third of them. The only player with more homers in a 24-at-bat span that season was Willie Mays with eight.