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Williamson, who scored 40 points in last week’s play-in tournament game against the Los Angeles Lakers before having to come out at the 3:19 mark, spoke Tuesday for the first time since the injury occurred. “Super demoralizing at first,” Williamson said. “Can’t lie. The season had been going so well. For that to happen, it definitely was demoralizing. Took a day or two to kind of get past that. Now I’m on what I’ve been saying all year. Stacking my days. And getting back on the court.”

Playoffs opening weekend viewership down 9% from last year

The opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs averaged a 2.0 rating and 3.77 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and truTV, down 8% in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (2.2, 4.15M), which was the most-watched opening weekend since 2011 (4.32M). Saturday’s Lakers-Nuggets Game 1 was the top game of the weekend (NBA or otherwise) with a 2.8 and 5.65 million on ABC, down 13% in ratings and 10% in viewership from Warriors-Kings last year (3.2, 6.56M), but still the second-largest audience on the opening Saturday of the playoffs since 2002.