The Denver Nuggets closed out the Los Angeles Clippers in a four-game sweep on Saturday night, advancing to the Western Conference finals as the rest of the NBA’s second round tightened around them and as Major League Baseball entered its second month with the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds still atop their divisions.

Nikola Jokic finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists in a 112-99 closeout win at Crypto.com Arena, his third triple-double of the four-game series and the seventh of his postseason career. Jamal Murray added 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and reserve guard Christian Braun scored 14 of his 17 in the second half, including a corner three with 2:48 left that pushed Denver’s lead to double digits for good.

“Joker just keeps finding the next read,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters in the visitors’ tunnel. “We don’t ask him to do anything different on the road than he does at home, and the guys around him understand the rhythm of it. That’s why these series have looked the way they have.”

The Clippers, who finished the regular season as the Western Conference’s third seed at 54-28, became the highest-seeded team to be swept in the second round since the 2017 Boston Celtics. Forward Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting in the loss; James Harden was held to 11 points and shot 4 of 14, his fifth straight game below his regular-season scoring average. Head coach Tyronn Lue, asked whether the roster as constructed could remain together for another postseason run, said only that “that’s a question for the next part of the calendar.”

Denver will open the conference finals no earlier than next Saturday at Ball Arena, awaiting the winner of the Minnesota-Oklahoma City series, which moved to 2-2 after the Timberwolves won Game 4 at Paycom Center on Saturday afternoon. Anthony Edwards scored 38 points and Rudy Gobert recorded his sixth straight double-double as Minnesota evened the series 107-102, sending it back to Target Center for Game 5 on Monday night. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had averaged 34 points through the first three games, finished with 27 on 9-of-25 shooting and committed five turnovers.

The Eastern Conference picture, in contrast, has narrowed in a way few projected a week ago. The Indiana Pacers leveled their series with the top-seeded Boston Celtics at 2-2 with a 118-106 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night, holding Jayson Tatum to 18 points on 6-of-21 shooting and forcing nine turnovers from the Boston backcourt. Tyrese Haliburton, whose right wrist sprain had been a question through the opening games of the series, scored 31 points and added 13 assists, his second consecutive 30-and-10 effort.

“I don’t have anything fancy to say about it,” Haliburton told the TNT broadcast. “We just played our game. They were a step slow tonight, and we made them pay for it.”

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, asked about Haliburton’s wrist after the game, said the guard had been cleared by team doctors without restriction and that the brace he had worn through the first round was no longer in use. Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla, in a brief postgame availability, said only that “the series is now a best-of-three” and that adjustments would be discussed before Game 5 on Tuesday at TD Garden.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, behind another 38-point game from guard Donovan Mitchell, took a 3-1 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks with a 116-109 win at Fiserv Forum on Friday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded 40 points and 16 rebounds in the loss but again struggled at the line, going 7 of 16, and Damian Lillard, in his third game back from an Achilles strain, scored 14 points but committed four turnovers. The Cavaliers, who can close out the series Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, have not advanced to the conference finals since 2018.

League officials confirmed that the Eastern Conference finals would not begin before Thursday, May 14, and that the West’s would open no earlier than Saturday, May 16. The NBA Finals, the league said, remain tentatively scheduled to open Thursday, June 4 in the higher-seeded team’s arena.

“The compressed first round has carried over into the bracket in ways we’ll be studying for a while,” said Karen Maldonado, a sports-media analyst at MoffettNathanson. “Three of the four second-round series are still on the table, and the one that closed was the one most analysts assumed would be the deepest. That’s the kind of postseason that resets summer storylines.”

Television viewership across the second round has continued to outpace the comparable period a year ago. ABC, TNT and ESPN executives, speaking on a joint conference call Friday, said combined audiences were running 17 percent ahead of the same week in 2025, with the Saturday night Pacers-Celtics game drawing the round’s largest audience to date.

In baseball, the April standings have largely held into the season’s second month. The Detroit Tigers, who entered Sunday at 20-9, opened a five-and-a-half-game lead in the American League Central after right-hander Tarik Skubal threw seven innings of two-run ball against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night, dropping his ERA to 1.74. The Cincinnati Reds, 19-10 and leading the NL Central by four games, completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park behind another three-hit day from shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who is hitting .341 with 11 home runs through 29 games.

The New York Yankees, at 10-19 after a weekend home series loss to Tampa Bay, parted with bench coach Brad Ausmus on Friday and announced that pitching coach Matt Blake would temporarily assume an expanded role in game management. Manager Aaron Boone, asked Saturday whether the staffing change reflected pressure from ownership, said only that the front office had been “supportive and clear” through the slow start.

Caesars Sportsbook trader Renee Caldwell, reached by phone Sunday, said futures markets for both leagues had continued to shift toward Detroit, Cincinnati and a small group of NL West favorites. “Two weeks ago we said the April surprises were going to fade,” Caldwell said. “They haven’t faded. The recreational books are now pricing them in for June.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in a statement released Sunday morning, said league offices would announce Tuesday’s full Game 5 broadcast windows within 24 hours of Monday’s Minnesota-Oklahoma City game. Officials said further conference finals scheduling, including potential weekend day games, would be confirmed by the close of the second round.