What happened in three snapshots in the NBA Playoffs on Monday, April 22, 2024.

Zion Williamson spoke with the media on Tuesday and said there's a "realistic" chance he returns from his hamstring injury during the playoffs.

Williamson suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the New Orleans Pelicans loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Play-In last Tuesday.

Williamson said the extent of the injury isn't as bad as the one he suffered last year.

The Philadelphia 76ers trail the New York Knicks 0-2 in their first round series after losing two close games at Madison Square Garden, but Joel Embiid remains optimistic his team can win four out of the next five games.

"We're good," Embiid said. "We're going to win this series.

"We are going to win this. We know what we got to fix. We did a better job today, so we are going to fix it.

"We are the better team. We are going to keep fighting."

Embiid had 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the game.

Kawhi Leonard is questionable for Tuesday night's Game 2 against the Dallas Mavericks.

"He's going to go through practice today and we'll see," said head coach Ty Lue on Monday.

Leonard has missed the last nine games with inflammation in his right knee.

The Clippers are up 1-0 in the series. 

Jarred Vanderbilt is looking to return to the Los Angeles Lakers lineup for Game 3 on Thursday, sources told ESPN.

Vanderbilt, who is out due to a right foot sprain, has been increasing his workout intensity over the last two weeks.

Vanderbilt and Christian Wood have not been cleared for Game 3, though the Lakers are hopeful that both will be back for Thursday.

The Lakers are down 2-0 in the series. 

The Philadelphia 76ers plan to file a grievance with the NBA over the officiating across the first two games of their first round series against the New York Knicks, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

The Sixers trail New York 0-2 after the first two games.

New York was trailing Philadelphia by five points with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game when Jalen Brunson bounced in a three-pointer. Josh Hart then stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey with ball eventually finding its way to Donte DiVincenzo who missed a three-pointer, but Isaiah Hartenstein collected the offensive rebound, passed it to OG Anuonby who then found DiVincenzo for a three-pointer to go up by one.

Nick Nurse claimed he was trying to call timeout before Maxey had the ball stolen to begin the sequence.

Joel Embiid described the officiating at the end of the game as "[expletive] unacceptable."

Tyrese Maxey missed Monday's shootaround with the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of Game 2 due to an illness and is listed as questionable.

Maxey had 33 points in 44 minutes in Philadelphia's Game 1 loss.

Maxey was the only player missing from shootaround.

Joel Embiid is also questionable due to left knee injury recovery.

What happened in four snapshots in the NBA Playoffs on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have some additional frontcourt help coming in their first round series against the Denver Nuggets. Christian Wood will be available to play for the Lakers when the series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3.

Wood hasn't played since before the All-Star break. He had an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in mid-March.

Prior to getting hurt, Wood had appeared in 50 games. He averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game off the Lakers bench.

Los Angeles lost Game 1 at Denver on Saturday. Game 2 will be played on Monday, then Game 3 will be in LA on Thursday, April 25.

Kawhi Leonard has been declared out for Game 1 by the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers host the Dallas Mavericks in their first round series.

Leonard has been out with inflammation in his right knee.