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Stephen A. Smith has made an emotional plea for the New York Knicks to make some key offseasons moves in the aftermath of the team’s second round exit to the Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs, begging for star player Julius Randle to be traded for the Portland Trailblazers’ franchise player, Damian Lillard.  

The ESPN basketball analyst was on the verge of tears after the Knicks lost to Jimmy Butler and Co. in Miami on Friday night and didn’t hold back on several players in orange and blue. 

‘I needed a few minutes. Season’s over. Destiny and I always knew that the New York Knicks would lose,’ said a 55-year-old defeated Smith, a Bronx-native, before blasting Knicks’ head, Tom Thibodeau. ‘Team can’t shoot but you only play Evan Fournier in 27 games this season. Don’t give him a second of time in the playoffs. 

‘[Quentin] Grimes air ball at the end of the game… Jalen Brunson, spectacular… 41 points. But he was the only one who showed up!

‘RJ Barrett… 1 of 10 shooting from the field! Really?! Really?! And you’ve got the nerve to be sensitive about criticism…’

Virtually criticizing most Knicks starters on the night, bar center Mitchell Robinson, there was one player in particular, who couldn’t hide from Smith’s wrath. And that was star forward and the team’s second-option, Julius Randle.

‘Julius Randle… Julius Randle… Julius Randle… 3 of 14… once again playoffs arrived, once again you fold.

‘Done. Done! 

‘It’s time to trade for Julius Randle,’ Smith further said with emphasis. ‘It’s time for him to go. I want Damian Lillard. I don’t care what you gotta do to get him. I want Damian Lillard. 

‘Goodbye.’

Indeed, as Smith pointed out, Jalen Brunson was once again on fire for New York when he needed to be relied on the most, scoring on 14-for-22 shooting. But his teammates combined for only 51 points – Julius Randle had 15 and RJ Barrett 11, only converting one shot all game. Josh Hart added 11 points off the Knicks bench.

‘Congratulations to the Heat, to the organization, to the coaching staff, [Erik Spoelstra] and Pat Riley and all their players,’ Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. ‘They played tough in this series and hats off to them. But I’m proud of our guys. There’s always disappointment in the end of the season and in the end, there’ll be one team standing. […] Proud of the way this team worked all year.’ 

Brunson had 22 points in the first half, tying his third-most before intermission in any game this season – and his most ever by halftime of a playoff game. He had 15 in the first quarter when the Knicks came out flying to grab early control. 

‘Just got to give them a lot of credit. They didn’t play like an 8 seed – at all,’ Brunson said, referring to the Heat reaching the playoff through the play-in tournament after finishing as the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed ahead of the postseason. ‘They were unbelievable. The utmost respect for them and that organization. I liked the way we fought.’ 

It remains to be seen whether the Knicks front office will want to give up any of its assets for Lillard, a seven-time All Star, whose nicknamed ‘Dame Time’ for his history of making big shots in the clutch. 

Lillard, who 32.2 points in 36.3 minutes played per game this season, was honored as one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time by being name to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. 

He reached the Western Conference Finals in 2019 against the Golden State Warriors – the eventual NBA champions – averaging 34.3 points and 10.2 assists per game, arguably the most-accomplishing season in his career.

The Los Angeles Lakers have serious concerns over the condition of Anthony Davis amid reports he left Wednesday’s game with Golden State Warriors in a wheelchair.

Davis appeared to take an accidental hit to the side of the head from Kevon Looney in Wednesday’s playoff game against Golden State and was in clear discomfort when he was sat on the sidelines.

Chris Haynes then said on the live commentary that Davis left in a wheelchair after being subbed out and he did appear shaky on his feet as he tried to walk off the court on television.

Haynes later said on NBA on TNT that he had been told Davis took a hit to the temple but had avoided a concussion, He admitted it looked ‘really scary’.

Lakers coach Darvin Ham also moved to ease concerns in his post-game press conference, saying he checked on Davis in the locker room and he seemed to be ok. 

‘Obviously everyone saw he took a shot to the head,’ Ham said. ‘I just checked in on him. He seems to be doing really good already.

‘That is where it is at, that is the status of it right now.’

ESPN’s NBA reporter Dave McMenamin claimed Warriors medics were waiting outside the Lakers locker room to find out if they were needed to assist Davis.

When he was speaking to the media, Ham had no further update on when he will learn more on how Davis is. ‘We just got done with the game,’ he said. 

McMenamin said Austin Davis of the Lakers said ‘I believe he’ll (Davis) play’ in Game 6 on Friday night.

But even so, if there are any concerns of a concussion then Davis now has to be a major doubt for Game 6 on Friday in Los Angeles. 

Davis finished with 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting, nine rebounds and three assists but didn’t block a shot. The Lakers lost the game 121-106.

The Toronto Maple Leafs finally exorcised the postseason demons that have haunted the storied franchise for nearly two decades with a 2-1 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday to reach the second round of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

John Tavares scored the series winner when he took the puck from behind the Lightning net, skated in front before making a quick turnaround and unleashed a shot that went in off Tampa Bay defender Darren Raddysh’s skate.

Perhaps no team began the postseason with more pressure than Toronto, a talented but long-underachieving club that needed to win a playoff series for the first time since 2004 to avoid loud calls for major organizational changes.

‘Obviously it’s a bit of a monkey off our back and we still got plenty of work to do but this one obviously feels really great,’ said Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews.

Toronto’s last postseason series win came long before the arrival of gifted goal scorer Matthews (2016), explosive winger Mitch Marner (2016) and durable captain Tavares (2018).

That core trio has endured their share of playoff heartache, most recently in 2022 when Tampa Bay beat Toronto in a decisive seventh game as the Maple Leafs lost their opening postseason series for a sixth consecutive year.

And while ousting a Lightning team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of the previous three seasons has brought this group to unchartered territory, it is also just the first step for a Maple Leafs team with lofty ambitions.

‘It’s a little bit of a relief for sure just to be able to get that done,’ Marner said. ‘But got to make sure we’re ready because it just gets harder and harder.’

As the best-of-seven series returned to Tampa with the Maple Leafs ahead 3-2, the visitors were desperate to close things out rather than take their chances in a do-or-die seventh game.

And for once the Maple Leafs, who had gone 0-11 in series-clinching games since they last advanced, gave their eternally optimistic fan base a reason to celebrate.

Toronto opened the scoring with about six minutes left in the second period when Matthews unleashed a slapshot from the right faceoff circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Lightning drew level when captain Steven Stamkos, alone in front of the net, fired home a rebound with just under 16 minutes left in regulation.

The Tavares goal less than five minutes into overtime allowed the entire Maple Leafs organization and their fan base to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The Maple Leafs will next face the winner of Sunday’s game between the top-seeded Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers.

Elsewhere, the Rangers took a 3-2 series – with Aaron Rodgers in attendance vs. the Devils in front of a packed Madison Square Garden, as they beat their local rivals 5-2.