2024-25 NBA Thread

[bakemeister52]

I think Thunder will roll Timberwolves but not sure of the Pacers-Knicks series. I favorite Pacers, being a Celtics fan but who knows!

Bake

[WilyWestbrook0]

I think Thunder will roll Timberwolves but not sure of the Pacers-Knicks series. I favorite Pacers, being a Celtics fan but who knows!

Bake

Thunder definitely in control of the series so far. Minnesota's only hope is to win the home games to make it a competitive series. If they drop even one of the next two games at home, they're done, IMO.

As for the Pacers, yeah, I'm favoring them too after that amazing game one comeback and their impressive series against Cleveland. I think the only team that could really consistently stop their high octane offense is Oklahoma City. OKC has the best perimeter defenders in the league and won't get punished on switches and rotations as much as other teams. Their one weakness is they still sometimes over-help and can get lax on covering the corner threes, but the hard part for Indiana will be getting the ball movement there in the first place since the Thunder are so good at reading passing lanes. It would also be cool to see two small market teams in the Finals, so I hope that's the matchup. Silver would want New York to get there though lol.

[pwaldo]

Thunder having a much less difficult time against Minny than the Jokic Machine of Denver. Just shows how great Jokic is and how much his passing creates for other players on his team. Thunder defense having such an easy time putting on the clamps against Minny because their offense is so much more predictable and easy to defend.

I don't think it is just so much Jokic but more the Nuggets seem to use 100% of their energy and effort every round. The basically don't pace themselves for a deep run but it murders anybody great they go against because you have to waste the resources to beat them going 100%. If they would have beaten the Thunder and somehow overcame the Wolves a team like the Pacers would run circles around them. If the Nuggets had a deep roster that would work but they are really stretched thin with an inury prone team. Not a good combo

[WilyWestbrook0]

The Pacers are just WOW. They know how to give the dagger. Amazing performance by Siakam. Stan Van Gundy made a bit of an error though in crediting his development to Dwane Casey in Toronto. Siakam was originally a defensive prospect who reminded me of Jerome Williams of the Pistons in the 1990s with high energy, but he was very raw offensively until Nick Nurse took over and had him work on his shot. He's now a top flight shot creator who can score in a variety of ways. I never thought he would be that kind of guy early in his career, but he's a scoring machine now.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Minnesota with a really strong first quarter to keep this series from being embarrassing. They flipped the script and are now the aggressors on both offense and defense with a massive first quarter from Ant especially. OKC really uncharacteristically sloppy ball handling and outright laziness (SGA with an 8 second violation). Their shooting also still sucks. OKC has been able to win with poor shooting, but they cannot win if Ant keeps going off and they keep coughing up the ball. Getting this series 2-1 would be huge for Minny and keep the competitive fire going (if they go down 3-0, might as well give up the sweep), but they'll also need to win the next one at home as well as I can't see them coming back from 3-1. That's a couple of days away though, so one thing at a time, and so far tonight, they're looking sharp for a change.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Pacers are just terrifying. Look like they're about to sweep the Knicks like they're dust on the floor. Their passing, defense, and shooting are amazing to watch. If they end up winning the title, and I don't think anyone can laugh at that idea anymore, they're going to be a model of phenomenal team basketball.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I spoke too soon!

What a comeback by the Knicks!

I should have known better with their comebacks in the Boston series. Indiana was just looking so unbeatable as of late, so I thought that 20 point lead would hold. But the Knicks apparently can come back against anyone.

Both conference finals now 2-1.

[pwaldo]

Minnesota with a really strong first quarter to keep this series from being embarrassing. They flipped the script and are now the aggressors on both offense and defense with a massive first quarter from Ant especially. OKC really uncharacteristically sloppy ball handling and outright laziness (SGA with an 8 second violation). Their shooting also still sucks. OKC has been able to win with poor shooting, but they cannot win if Ant keeps going off and they keep coughing up the ball. Getting this series 2-1 would be huge for Minny and keep the competitive fire going (if they go down 3-0, might as well give up the sweep), but they'll also need to win the next one at home as well as I can't see them coming back from 3-1. That's a couple of days away though, so one thing at a time, and so far tonight, they're looking sharp for a change.

I think the problem with the Thunder is that they basically rose too quickly and have a record like an all time elite team but they aren't. And I don't mean that as a slight but more of they are ahead of schedule. I mean nobody expected them to be at this point in their progress. Because of that the team is a little stunted in their ability of what we expect out of them.

SGA is a #1 scorer and while he isn't a Jordan or Kobe he is an MVP. Nothing wrong here. But their #2 scorer is Jalen Williams who is too young at this point to see if he will turn into what they want or need out of him. If an opponent focusing on SGA you need to have somebody who can step up and take the pressure off by making up his missed scoring nad at this point in his career he isn't that guy. Maybe he turns into that or maybe he won't but you can't have a guy scoring 10 points as your #2 when the going gets tough. Chet is their #3 and I'd be more harsh on him if he wasn't coming off an injury but to be honest I never saw him as a pontential #2 scorer on a team. He seems more like a rebound and defensive guy. Still like WIlliams he is too much potential and not a NOW for the Thunder. They have a great roster that sort of masks this but you need to have a good #2 scorer if you want to win a championship and they need that now and not if or when Jalen or Chet do that.

Because right now they sort of remind me of the Utah Jazz where you had Karl Malone being a scoring machine but all those teams really missed a #2 scoring option to get them over the hump. They always did well in the regular season and for the most partt went deep in the playoffs but they could never quite get over that hump with Hornacek being the #2 against the Bulls. It just wasn't good enough against elite teams.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I think the problem with the Thunder is that they basically rose too quickly and have a record like an all time elite team but they aren't. And I don't mean that as a slight but more of they are ahead of schedule. I mean nobody expected them to be at this point in their progress. Because of that the team is a little stunted in their ability of what we expect out of them.

SGA is a #1 scorer and while he isn't a Jordan or Kobe he is an MVP. Nothing wrong here. But their #2 scorer is Jalen Williams who is too young at this point to see if he will turn into what they want or need out of him. If an opponent focusing on SGA you need to have somebody who can step up and take the pressure off by making up his missed scoring nad at this point in his career he isn't that guy. Maybe he turns into that or maybe he won't but you can't have a guy scoring 10 points as your #2 when the going gets tough. Chet is their #3 and I'd be more harsh on him if he wasn't coming off an injury but to be honest I never saw him as a pontential #2 scorer on a team. He seems more like a rebound and defensive guy. Still like WIlliams he is too much potential and not a NOW for the Thunder. They have a great roster that sort of masks this but you need to have a good #2 scorer if you want to win a championship and they need that now and not if or when Jalen or Chet do that.

Because right now they sort of remind me of the Utah Jazz where you had Karl Malone being a scoring machine but all those teams really missed a #2 scoring option to get them over the hump. They always did well in the regular season and for the most partt went deep in the playoffs but they could never quite get over that hump with Hornacek being the #2 against the Bulls. It just wasn't good enough against elite teams.

OKC's defense is elite, but their offense definitely isn't. They've had a number of horrid shooting games this playoffs with only their defense bailing them out in the games of those that they won. Tonight so far they're finally shooting well, and if they can keep that up, they can go up 3-1. I still would love to see how they do against a high octane offense like the Pacers. They haven't really faced a team with that kind of offense like that out West. Their defense is amazing at forcing turnovers and being physical, but I wonder if their tendency to help will work against a team that can hit a ton of corner 3s like Indiana. PJ Washington from Dallas killed them on those last season. Obviously having Caruso helps massively, but I still see them give up that corner 3 at times. Minny's had some tonight already from Jaden McDaniels.

I do agree JDub is still a big question mark at #2. He's played a bit better in this Wolves series other than that last throwaway game, but it remains to be seen if he can live up the rest of the way through. I agree it's a lot to expect of him at his age. Chet is a good #3, but he doesn't have the strength to pound down low for a lot of post scoring. If he had more strength, he easily has the offensive skill set to get 20 a game, but I can't recall anyone as rail thin as he is being a dominant offensive force. He certainly is great defensively, although he's a mediocre at best rebounder who doesn't box out that great.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Both the Pacers and Thunder now up 3-1. Thunder will play game 5 at home while Indiana has to go back to New York. However, Indiana beat NY twice already at MSG, and they've been competitive every single game, so it wouldn't surprise me if they close it out on the road. Of course, 3-1 deficits have been overcome before, but it's super rare. The most famous is obviously the 2016 Finals with the Cavs beating the Warriors, and the Warriors themselves that year came back from 3-1 to beat Durant and the Thunder. But I'm thinking the Thunder and Pacers have pretty commanding leads and momentum at this point, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if they both move on quickly with 4-1 series wins.