The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t just beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night they soul-snatched them. In a 128-85 blowout that felt over by halftime, the Paycom Center crowd got exactly what they wanted: a massive “W” and the return of Nikola Topic.

The Serbian playmaker, back from a 13-game developmental stint with the OKC Blue, logged 12 minutes of fourth-quarter action. It wasn’t a stat-sheet stuffer two points, two boards, two dimes but it didn’t need to be. After the year this kid has had? Just seeing him handle the rock at the NBA level felt like a win for the organization.

The Long Road Back to the Hardwood

From the G League to the Bright Lights

Topic hasn’t seen NBA floor time since late February against Detroit. Back then, he looked a step slow, struggling to find his rhythm while the Thunder’s deep rotation got healthy. Sam Presti and Mark Daigneault did what this franchise does best: they sent him down to the G League to get cooked.

It worked.

In 13 games with the Blue, Topic was a flamethrower. We’re talking 18.4 points and nearly eight assists a night. The most encouraging part? He shot 46.5% from deep. For a guy whose jump shot was the biggest question mark coming out of the draft, those numbers are screaming “NBA ready.”

Why Topic’s Return Matters Now

Look, the Thunder are gearing up for a deep playoff run. They don’t need a 20-year-old rookie to save them. But with five games left in the regular season, Daigneault needs to know what he has in the cupboard. Topic ran the point for the entire fourth quarter against LA, looking like a natural connector. He wasn’t hunting shots; he was moving the defense, punishing switches, and playing with a pace that suggests the game is finally slowing down for him.

Overcoming the Unthinkable

It’s easy to forget that Topic’s path to this 43-point blowout was a nightmare.

• The Knee: Tore his ACL right before the 2024 Draft, watching his stock slide to No. 12.
• The Health Scare: Just as he was findng his footing this year, a testicular cancer diagnosis sidelined him again.

Hell, most players would’ve written off the season. Instead, Topic made his debut in February against Milwaukee and has been chipping away ever since. That kind of mental toughness is exactly why OKC grabbed him. He’s got ice-water veins and a level of resilience you just can’t teach.

Will He Crack the Playoff Rotation?

Probably not. Let’s be real when the rotations shrink in a week or two, OKC is going to lean on their established core. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams are going to eat the lion’s share of the minutes, and the bench is already crowded with proven spacers.

But this isn’t about May; it’s about the bigger picture. Topic is 6-foot-6 with elite vision. Seeing him hit a bucket and facilitate the offense with zero hesitation against the Lakers proves the G League stint did its job. He’s not a project anymore he’s a piece.

Jayson Tatum wasn’t supposed to be walking, let alone torching the Milwaukee Bucks for 30-plus in April. Hell, back in May when his Achilles snapped like a rubber band in the East semis, the vibe around TD Garden felt more like a funeral than a title defense. The “experts” penciled in a gap year. A rebuild. A lottery flier.

Instead? Boston just hung a 133-101 beatdown on Giannis and company Friday night, and Tatum looked every bit like the First Team All-NBA monster that owned the league before the injury. The Celtics aren’t just surviving; they’re thriving, sitting 2.5 games up on the Knicks for that coveted two-seed with five games to go.

“I’m super excited,” Tatum said, cooling his heels after the blowout. “I wasn’t sure I was gonna even have this opportunity to play playoff basketball this year. Just knowing it’s around the corner… I’m grateful. It’s all good things.”

The Recovery That Defied the Odds

Ten months. That’s all it took. Usually, an Achilles tear is a death sentence for a superstar’s season and sometimes their bounce but Tatum has been an outlier. He isn’t just “available”; he’s cooked every defender the Bucks threw at him.

Since he rejoined the rotation, the Celtics have gone on an absolute tear, posting an 11-2 record. He’s attacking the rack, punishing switches, and his side-step three looks as fluid as ever. If there’s any rust, he’s hidden it well.

How did the Celtics stay afloat without JT?

This is the part that makes no sense. On paper, losing your franchise pillar usually triggers a tank. But Joe Mazzulla’s squad turned into a bunch of grinders. They stayed in the top four of the East all winter, surviving on defensive grit and high three-point volume from the supporting cast. They overachieved so hard that Tatum’s return didn’t just fill a hole it became a massive tactical advantage.

Turning Point: The Friday Night Statement

The Bucks game was the “we’re back” moment. Milwaukee tried to get physical, but Boston’s ball movement was clinical. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, it was garbage time.

• The Bench Spark: Boston’s second unit turned a six-point lead into a 20-point chasm while Giannis sat.
• Defensive Clamps: The perimeter defense was suffocating, forcing the Bucks into contested heaves all night.
• The Tatum Factor: He played with a lightness we haven’t seen. No hesitation on the drive. No limping. Just buckets.

Can Boston actually win it all?

Six months ago, that question would’ve gotten you laughed out of a Southie bar. Now? The betting markets have Boston as a legitimate threat to win the East. They have the playoff DNA, the championship experience from ’24, and now they have their closer back in the mix.

The Knicks are looming, and the top-seeded Cavs look scary, but nobody wants to draw a healthy Tatum in a seven-game series. The “rebuilding year” narrative is dead. Boston is hunting for Banner 19, and they’re doing it with a guy who wasn’t even supposed to have his sneakers laced up until October.

Game Recap: Knicks Jump Chicago Early, Never Look Back

NEW YORK The jab came before tip. The response came fast.

And the scoreboard? Yeah, that got ugly in a hurry.

Walt Frazier didn’t wait for the game to start. On the broadcast, cool as ever, he lined it up and fired.

“I was talking to some friends… eradicated, obliterated, devastated,” he said. “They thought I meant Iran. I meant the Bulls.”

Cold.

Then the New York Knicks went out and backed every word of it 38-16 after one. Game basically cooked by the time folks found their seats.

No Karl-Anthony Towns either. Didn’t matter. Knicks pushed pace, bombed away from deep, punished every lazy closeout. Chicago couldn’t guard a chair.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls looked… yeah, exactly how Clyde described it.

Key Performances

Knicks’ Collective Beatdown

No one dude had to go nuclear. This was by-committee violence.

Ball popped. Extra passes. Corner threes. Bench mob came in and kept the pressure on sparked a run that turned a bad start into a full-on avalanche.

They hunted mismatches, dragged bigs into space, spammed pick-and-roll. Chicago’s defense? Late rotations, blown coverages, zero resistance at the rim.

Bulls’ Night Same Story, Different Arena

Flat. Slow. Disconnected.

They couldn’t generate clean looks, settled for tough jumpers, and when they did get something decent brick. On the other end? Getting cooked in transition and halfcourt.

Five wins since the deadline. Nineteen losses. That’s not a slump. That’s a spiral.

Turning Point: First Quarter, Lights Out

Why did this game end so early?

Because it never really started.

38-16 after 12 minutes. That’s it. That’s your turning point.

Knicks came out flying ball movement crisp, shooters ready. Bulls came out like it was a shootaround walkthrough. By the time they tried to punch back, the deficit was already sitting in the 20s.

You don’t climb out of that on the road. Not with this roster. Not with this energy.

The Bigger Picture in Chicago

What happened after the trade deadline?

Short answer: nothing good.

Chicago is 5-19 since the deadline. The roster shuffle didn’t stabilize anything. If anything, it exposed more holes especially defensively. Their defensive rating has cratered, and the offense doesn’t have a go-to bucket getter to stop runs.

There’s also the cloud hanging over everything with Jaden Ivey’s situation adding noise. Not an excuse, but it hasn’t helped.

Right now, they’re not tanking clean. Not competing either. Just stuck in the middle, which is the worst place to be in this league.

Are they even set up for the draft?

That’s the kicker.

Chicago already won too many games early. So even with this late-season collapse, they’re staring at mid-lottery odds probably around pick No. 10 in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Not bad. Not franchise-changing, either.

So yeah, they need ping-pong ball luck. Badly.

Meanwhile in New York…

Can the Knicks build on this?

They should. This was clean, professional, no-nonsense.

Even without Towns, they controlled tempo, defended the arc, and didn’t mess around with a struggling team. Good teams do that step on your neck early, don’t let you breathe.

This felt like one of those “handle business and move on” nights. Nothing flashy. Just efficient.

But hey when your broadcast opens with a roast and you follow it up by dropping a 38-point first quarter?

That hits different.