Today’s Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes and 28 seconds

Good Morning. This is the Daily Breakroom and it’s Thursday, so you know what the means. We’re talking a little golf. But before we get there we’re going to chat about

• NBA playoffs

• some trouble in New York?

🏀 NBA Play-In 🏀 

We had the 9 vs 10 play-in games last night for both conferences. The losers of the game get sent home and get to unpack their golf clubs. The winners have to win one more game on Friday against the losers of the 7 vs 8 game that took place on Tuesday night. Whoever wins Friday’s game gets the 8 seed and will face the 1 seed in their respective conference in the first round.

On the same page? K, good.

We’re going to try the TL:DR version today. Of course, the full synapsis will be below.

Toronto Raptors vs Chicago Bulls

TL;DR: Bulls were down for most of the game, came back in 2nd half for 109-105 win. Will play at Miami on Friday.

Full Scoop: The Bulls clashed with the Raptors last night in what almost appeared to be a blowout. At one point the Raptors were up 19 points. That was erased in the 2nd half with some all star play from Zach LaVine, who scored 39 in the game. DeMar DeRozan also dropped 23 for the Bulls.

The Toronto offensive was led by Pascal Siakam who put up 32 and Fred Van Fleet who scored 24 but it wasn’t enough for the late Bulls push. Siakam had an opportunity to tie the game with free throws after getting awarded a shooting foul that didn’t make much sense. He missed 2 of his 3 with 12 seconds left. The Raptors go extinct for the rest of the season and the Bulls will have to face the Heat in Miami for a shot at the 8 seed.

Watch how Siakam got to the line.

New Orleans Pelicans vs Oklahoma City Thunder

TL;DR: Back and forth game that was kept close the entire time. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey combine for 63 points in win. Thunder will face Timberwolves in Minnesota on Friday

Full Scoop: This was a back and forth game with multiple lead changes throughout. We knew Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would score some buckets as he’s a top 5 scorer this year but he started off slow with only 7 points in the first half. SGA dropped 17 in the 3rd and finished with 32. Josh Giddey scored 31 points and was 1 rebound short of a triple-double. The last 10 seconds were packed with action and the Pelicans had a chance with 3 seconds left and they threw the ball out of bounds. The Thunder have a shot to get the 8 seed in the West but they’ll have to get through Minnesota first.

Check out the ending here.

Trouble In New York

Saquon Barkley won’t sign his franchise tag with the New York Giants and therefore he will not be present with the team at off-season workouts. Barkley will be missed along with DT Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence has a year left on his contract but is working on an extension.

I’m sure the Giants will get these fellas the “long term” deals they want but maybe all isn’t perfect in New York, even with the team making a playoff appearance last year.

PGA Tour w/ the RBC Heritage

The RBC Heritage is normally a quiet week when it comes to the PGA Tour. Top players take a week or two off after the Masters as it can be an emotionally and physically taxing week.

With the tours newly designated events where top players are required to play and the purses are $20 million, the normally sleepy tournaments are a lot more action packed. RBC Heritage is one of those.

The Heritage is being played at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, SC. You can watch players like Masters winner John Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, and Tony Finau on CBS and the GOLF Channel all weekend.

That’s all for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with some NHL playoff talk.

Have a great day.

-The Daily Breakroom Team