Canada's NBA footprint keeps growing

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Three Canadians are playing prominent roles in the second round of the playoffs, a fourth made some noise before bowing out, and another just finished fifth in MVP voting. Let's unpack:

Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins and RJ Barrett are still in the title hunt.

Of the three, Murray's chances of winning the Larry O'Brien Trophy look the best. His Denver Nuggets are the top seed in the Western Conference and are up 2-0 on Phoenix, which might be without point guard Chris Paul for a while due to a groin injury. Denver also features arguably the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic, the two-time MVP centre who's averaging close to 28 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists in the post-season. Murray is proving to be an excellent sidekick, averaging 25.7 points in his return to the playoffs after a knee injury ruined his past two seasons.

Wiggins' Golden State Warriors lost Game 1 to the Lakers last night as L.A. big man Anthony Davis dominated with 30 points, 23 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. But the Warriors' bid to repeat as NBA champs is very much alive with Steph Curry still at the top of his game and Wiggins looking solid since his return from a two-month leave of absence. He's averaging 17.8 points in the playoffs, a slight uptick from his regular-season production.

Barrett's New York Knicks are a long shot, but the Eastern Conference appears more wide open than expected with top-seeded Milwaukee eliminated in the first round, defending East champion Boston looking a bit shaky and Philadelphia's newly crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid missing games with a knee injury.