Ah the NBA Playoffs, the yearly tradition the Sacramento Kings got one taste of and decided to ditch like a toddler rejecting broccoli. Seriously, I’ve been covering this team for this website (and our predecessor) since Jason Thompson was drafted in 2008. Since then the Kings have been to the playoffs once and they didn’t even win their series. I wasn’t even 21 years old then and now I’ll probably be in my 40s the next time they make an appearance. Depressing.
Anyways, it has still been fun to watch these NBA playoffs which just entered the second round. There’s been some big upsets already, with the Philadelphia 76ers knocking out the Boston Celtics, Minnesota taking out Denver in the first round, and Orlando taking Detroit to the brink. I haven’t watched every game, but I’ve watched a lot of them, and here’s my quick thoughts so far.
The East is Wide Open
Boston would have been my favorite to come out of the East before these playoffs began, so their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 was shocking to me, especially after being up 3-1 in the series. Jayson Tatum being out for Game 7 was obviously a huge factor, but the 76ers earned that series win, even if I’m not sure they’ll advance much further. Joel Embiid has had some vintage MVP-like performances already, and the supporting cast of Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe has been great as well.
Their current opponent, the New York Knicks, are my new favorite to come out of the East, but I wouldn’t say that with any strong conviction. They looked a bit vulnerable early on in their first round series against the Atlanta Hawks, falling down 2-1, but they won the final three games in convincing fashion, including a 140-89 beatdown in Game 6 where they were up 83-36 at halftime. New York looked pretty comfortable in their first game against the 76ers though, winning by 39 and holding Embiid and Maxey in check.
The other series in the East between Detroit and Cleveland is a battle between one of the league’s best defenses (Detroit) and one of the best offenses (Cavaliers). Detroit nearly got upset by the 8th seed Magic in the first round, falling down 3-1 as they struggled to deal with Orlando’s size and physicality. Game 6 saw the Pistons come back after being down 24 points, with the Magic only scoring 19 points in the entire second half, something which Cade Cunningham managed to do in the 4th quarter by himself. In fact, Cade outscored the entire Pistons team 19-8 in that decisive 4th quarter as the Magic shot just 1-20 shooting from the field. Orlando spent a lot in assets to get Desmond Bane last offseason but it’s clear they still need a bit more offensive firepower going forward.
Cleveland on the other hand also had a back and forth seven game first round series against Toronto (three of the East’s first round series went seven games), but this is a real opportunity for them to advance to the NBA Finals for the first and only time without LeBron James on the roster. The Pistons have homecourt advantage and took Game 1, but the Cavaliers are a bit more battle tested and experienced overall. It should be a fun series.
Oklahoma City is still the Favorite
The road to the NBA Championship is still going to go through Oklahoma City barring some sort of major injury to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder easily took care of the Phoenix Suns in the first round in a four game sweep, and easily beat a Doncic-less Lakers team in the first game of the second series despite missing Jalen Williams. The Thunder definitely have a bit more of a villain narrative going this season thanks to everyone getting tired of SGA’s foul grifting and Lu Dort’s questionably physical defense, but it’s clear this Thunder squad is just a well-oiled machine at this point. Even if Luka comes back in this series, I don’t see the Lakers taking more than one game. I will say, it has been incredible to see LeBron James still doing what he’s doing at this age. The man is 41 and a half years old and is still dropping 25 point near triple doubles on a nightly basis. We will never see his like again.
I also think the only way the Thunder don’t repeat as champions is if they get stopped in the next round. The West-East differential isn’t quite as bad as it was in the early 2000s, but I’m not sure any Eastern team has what it takes to give the Thunder serious trouble.
Minnesota-San Antonio might be the best series all playoffs
If Game 1 was any indication, this second round battle between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the San Antonio Spurs is going to be incredibly fun. Game 1 was an intense back and forth affair the whole way through. Victor Wembanyama was a wall on defense, setting an NBA playoff record with 12 blocked shots. Anthony Edwards made a gutsy early comeback from a hamstring injury to come off the bench and put up 18 points, including 11 of them on 5-7 shooting in the final quarter. I though Chris Finch had a coaching masterclass in the fourth quarter by denying Victor Wembanyama the ball on offense and using Julius Randle as a small ball center to keep him out of the paint on the other end. Even still, the Spurs made a good run at the end and had a great look to win it all on an open Julian Champagnie three point attempt that came up short. This is definitely the series I’m going to make sure to watch each game of, as I think both of these teams have the potential to give the Thunder some trouble. But even outside of that, this series is just a fun matchup between two awesome young teams that could be the bud of a new rivalry given that I think these two will be in the Western Playoffs for quite a while. Wemby is just getting started and he’s already so good. I do think the Spurs need to get some size next to him though, as the Spurs are actually pretty tiny outside of him.
NBC’s Broadcast situation is a bit infuriating
I think NBC did a good job during the regular season, but it’s been a bit more infuriating in the playoffs so far. I find the fact that they are scheduling these second round games so that there’s an overlap annoying, and also the fact that one of them goes on NBC and the other goes on Peacock. The NBA (and sports in general) is becoming a lot less consumer friendly and at some point that trend needs to change.
Future Predictions
To cap it off here’s my predictions for the current series and going forward:
- Thunder-Lakers: 4-0 Thunder
- Spurs-Timberwolves: 4-3 Spurs
- Knicks-76ers: 4-1 Knicks
- Pistons-Cavaliers: 4-2 Cavaliers
- Thunder-Spurs: 4-2 Thunder
- Cavaliers-Knicks: 4-2 Knicks
- Thunder-Knicks: 4-2 Thunder
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