2025-26 NBA Thread

[bakemeister52]

Being a Celtic fan, I don't like the Knicks, but I think they will walk over the Cavs! The west will be a good series and would love to see the Spurs win, but the Thunder are good.

Bake

[WilyWestbrook0]

Being a Celtic fan, I don't like the Knicks, but I think they will walk over the Cavs! The west will be a good series and would love to see the Spurs win, but the Thunder are good.

Bake

Yeah, the Cavs have too many glaring weaknesses that showed up in the earlier series and continue to show up in this one. The guards have a tendency to ignore their bigs and play hero ball, they commit careless turnovers, they miss rotations and don't communicate consistently on defense, etc. It's just maddening. They're the East team I've been following now for over a decade, but I just can't shake the skepticism that they can deliver what it takes to get to the Finals with this current team. If they do, somehow, the Spurs or Thunder will eat them alive. Speaking of which, that series has really lived up to the intensity so far. The first game drew the highest ratings ever for a WCF game, and the second was similarly competitive. As an OKC fan, I'm obviously rooting for them, but Wemby and the Spurs may just be better at this point. I'm sure the NBA would love this series to go 7 and preferably for Wemby and the Spurs to win since people love them more and Wemby is the future of the league.

[pwaldo]

Chet has way too many games where he's too laid back. At his skinny frame, he needs to be getting into his moves and shot bag and help pick up the offensive slack.

Yeah it just seems like he hasn't improved since he was drafted. Like he should have taken the jump to something better than a #3 scoring option at best by this point.

The Thunder evened it up partly because the Spurs can't get an MVP like performance out of VW every night. This series should be a brutal dog fight and I have really watched nothing of the Knicks so far this playoffs but I doubt they can keep up with the Spurs or Thunder unless either team suffers an injury. But then again last year the Pacers took the Thunder to a game 7 last year and may have won if not for an injury so I have no clue at this point.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Yeah it just seems like he hasn't improved since he was drafted. Like he should have taken the jump to something better than a #3 scoring option at best by this point.

The Thunder evened it up partly because the Spurs can't get an MVP like performance out of VW every night. This series should be a brutal dog fight and I have really watched nothing of the Knicks so far this playoffs but I doubt they can keep up with the Spurs or Thunder unless either team suffers an injury. But then again last year the Pacers took the Thunder to a game 7 last year and may have won if not for an injury so I have no clue at this point.

I don't know who on the Knicks could effectively guard Wemby or SGA; maybe OG could defend SGA decently, but he'd need help. The Pacers had great team defense last year and were very physical, which is how they stayed competitive.

Another great game in the Spurs series - I honestly thought the Spurs were going to totally dominate with that 15-0 start and I prematurely said on another forum OKC was probably done, Spurs and Wemby would be too good at home and would win the series at that rate. But then OKC just chipped away methodically and are up at the half by 7. I think it's been evenly reffed so far, too; there was a lot of talk about IHart grabbing Wemby last game, but they're calling those now and I think this is a well-played game where both teams are just going at it hard and clean, and I hope it stays that way.

[WilyWestbrook0]

All right, I'm going to call out Coach Atkinson of Cleveland. Not only did he fail to call a timeout during that absurd run in game one, he now is saying the Cavs have won 2 of 3 games analytically. So what? Who cares? Games are determined on the scoreboard, not analytics. This guy is basically asking for a firing if they get swept. It's not all his fault they've sucked and played heartless with no defense in this series, but he sets the tone, and he's doing and saying some real nonsense.

Thunder: yikes they really need at least one of JDub or Ajay Mitchell to score. That last game was sheer dominance by San Antonio. Credit to the Spurs for playing OKC-style defense, especially Castle on SGA, along with some crisp rotations. And getting Wemby more lobs is good. It's kind of a tough call as to how much they should play him on the perimeter vs. inside, because he can sometimes get shoved around and risk injury in the paint, but his height gives him such an advantage on plays like lobs. Such an immense talent. As San Antonio gains experience and gets more bench help (they are pedestrian in the minutes without Wemby on the floor), they'll become unstoppable. OKC needs to beat them while they can. And that means they need to get some of their better players back on the floor for game 5. Probably JDub as his injury sounds less severe than Mitchell's and he's the guy with more experience. Oh, and Chet - do something. It was embarrassing listening SGA hem and haw and be left flabbergasted as to how to include him more - Chet should know by now what needs to be done, but he's been so mid for a guy who was supposed to be a star at this point.

[WilyWestbrook0]

And Chet shows up! That was the biggest difference last night, along with McCain bouncing back with some big shots late in the game and Caruso showing again why he's the second most valuable Thunder player. Great defensive performance from Wallace as well and another strong game from IHart.

Both SGA and Wemby were honestly bad. SGA did have that amazing move that left Wemby stumbling to the floor and touching it, but overall, neither looked MVP-like last night. Most of their points came from FTs. They shot poorly, and Wemby continues to rebound poorly. The Spurs' inexperience and Fox's lingering injury are showing up in bad ball-handling as well. But OKC could have had their own excuses with their 2nd and 3rd best ballhandlers out, yet they showed up. Homecourt helps too.

OKC is now just one win away from the Finals. I still think this goes 7. Each game, each team makes adjustments, and I will bet the Spurs do, especially going back home. They'll work on getting Wemby in better spots to score. But OKC does have homecourt advantage. If they choke this series away, I'll be extremely disappointed. But they cannot underestimate the Spurs, even with their youth. The Spurs have shown they can beat them more than any other team in the L, so they cannot let up at all. Spurs still have a chance. Plenty of teams have come back down from 3-2.

Whomever comes out of this series, I still think the West team wins. People are starting to hype up NYK because they were so dominant against the East teams and showed offensive brilliance. But of course they did, all the opponents they faced gave up on average more than 115 PPG in the RS. What surprises me is how many fans think they can sustain that offense against defenses like the Spurs' and Thunder's. They won't. Their best hope is that the refs call defensive physical defense really tight, like they did for much of last night. That will benefit NYK, who can take advantage at the line. But I still think the Knicks lose in five or max six games to either of these teams.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Spurs with complete dominance from start to finish in game 6. I called it - this is going 7, and as I expected, Wemby took over in game 6.

That said, this series has gotten out of hand in some ways with the physicality. I generally like how both OKC and SA play defense, but stuff like IHart and Wemby pulling people's hair and reckless fouls like Ajay Mitchell's earlier in the series and Carter Bryant's last night stain what has otherwise been a great series of basketball. And of course there's still too much flopping.

Due to the inconsistent nature of reffing and players taking advantage of the system, Silver is looking to introduce AI to help reduce error in officiating:

https://fadeawayworld.net/artificial...er-adam-silver

I hope game 7 is aggressive but clean basketball between the Thunder and Spurs.

[pwaldo]

The league wanted a game 7 and not shockingly they got a game 7. The Knicks should be a boost for TV ratings so I'm guessing they want the Spurs over the Thunder to showcase their new chosen superstar?

[WilyWestbrook0]

The league wanted a game 7 and not shockingly they got a game 7. The Knicks should be a boost for TV ratings so I'm guessing they want the Spurs over the Thunder to showcase their new chosen superstar?

Yeah Wemby is more marketable and the Spurs have the championship history/legacy and market size.

I keep seeing people hating OKC and saying the league favors them, but why would they? OKC has passionate fans, but it isn't a big market, and SGA has a more reserved personality than a guy like Wemby. The NBA has no incentive to favor them. But I keep reading how people hate them because of flopping and dirty defense. SGA is great and I can see that yeah, he flops to the floor too much, and a guy like Dort makes some dirty plays on defense - but it's not like the whole team is like that, or that those guys are the only players in the league that flop (Brunson is up there too) or make dirty plays (Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, Draymond Green etc). Most of their supporting cast is likable enough - Jalen Williams seems like an easygoing guy. Chet is kind of annoying but I don't see anything loathsome about him. And most of their defensive players are just physical and aggressive, like Caruso and Wallace, rather than outright dirty. But people talk about them like they're the most unethical team in history and it's become trendy on social media to hate them like they're the most unlikable championship team ever. I think this must be mostly young fans because old school teams like the 2000s Malice at the Palace era Pistons, or the late 1980s Bad Boy Pistons, make the Thunder look soft by comparison. I guess that's just social media these days - run a narrative based on TikTok videos and YouTube clips and just farm outrage on those kinds of platforms. If OKC ends up losing, I wonder if the Knicks or Spurs are next on the trendy hate list, or if people will make exceptions for them because they're big market or have stars with more exciting personalities or whatever.

Anyway, I just want competitive ball. If the Thunder don't make it, hopefully Knicks and Spurs will live up to the hype.

[pwaldo]

Don't really know why anybody would think the league would want to have the Thunder beat the Spurs. One the Thunder already were in the NBA Finals last year and they really don't make noise ratings wise. But the bigger issue is that you have a guy the league and many people want to propel as the next it star in the league on the Spurs. Both the Thunder and Spurs aren't really big marketable franchises but one already has a guy that the world has basically seen and passed on being the next big thing while a win by the Spurs here and then against the Knicks is going to create a hype machine from so many people going into next season where VW would be odds on favorite to be the MVP. It is basically a passing of the torch going from Lebron as the hyped up nba guy to VW if that happens. Something the year would prefer over a 2 time championship for the Thunder. Heck they would rather have the Knicks beat the Thunder than have the Thunder repeat.