2025-26 NBA Thread

[WilyWestbrook0]

Spurs and Bulls both lost last night, leaving the Thunder as the only undefeated team.

[pwaldo]

Spurs and Bulls both lost last night, leaving the Thunder as the only undefeated team.

I'd say that the Thunder are clearly the best team in the NBA but looking at their schedule they have played a bunch of duds to start the season. The Rockets were the best team they have faced and they almost lost to them. Still like the Thunder at 100% strength but it will be difficult for them to repeat.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Lenny Wilkens passed away. I was at the game in the 1990s when he broke Red Auerbach's win record; I still have a souvenir from that game indicating his then-record. I was a little girl then, and my mom kept that souvenir for years until I found it in a stash of stuff she had hoarded.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ilkens-dies-88

[pwaldo]

Lenny Wilkens passed away. I was at the game in the 1990s when he broke Red Auerbach's win record; I still have a souvenir from that game indicating his then-record. I was a little girl then, and my mom kept that souvenir for years until I found it in a stash of stuff she had hoarded.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ilkens-dies-88

For some reason I thought he was already dead. But I just checked and Don Nelson and George Karl are still alive and I thought they were dead too so I probably should pay more attention to the basketball side.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Mavs fans have understandably chanted this a lot, and now it looks like it's finally done - Nico fired:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-nico-harrison

[WilyWestbrook0]

Thunder with an absolutely massive beatdown of Luka and the 8-3 Lakers on national TV tonight.

I think their only real competition this year will be the Rockets and Nuggets.

[pwaldo]

Thunder with an absolutely massive beatdown of Luka and the 8-3 Lakers on national TV tonight.

I think their only real competition this year will be the Rockets and Nuggets.

I think so too if everyone stays healthy but it wouldn't shock me to see a playoff upset where the Spurs or Lakers get real hot for a series and knock off the Thunder in the second round. Whoever does it wouldn't go on and win the title but I could see some fatigue or overconfidence tripping up the Thunder or any NBA title winner as it is very difficult to repeat in any sport now.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I think so too if everyone stays healthy but it wouldn't shock me to see a playoff upset where the Spurs or Lakers get real hot for a series and knock off the Thunder in the second round. Whoever does it wouldn't go on and win the title but I could see some fatigue or overconfidence tripping up the Thunder or any NBA title winner as it is very difficult to repeat in any sport now.

The Thunder have a historically great defense and just thumped the Lakers, so teams can't 'get hot' to beat them - they would be more apt to stop OKC's offense, which is their weakest point. They are heavily reliant on SGA. They are getting some good production from Mitchell and Wiggins this year to help make up for JDub being injured early, so their system is working well, but offense is still their weakest point. I doubt guys like Mitchell and Wiggins could produce offensively to the same degree against playoff defenses. With that in mind, the Rockets and Nuggets have the best shot as they're both great defensively. The Spurs I think are too young to contend yet. Wemby is only 22, Castle is 21, and Harper is a rookie at 19. No team with stars that young with absolutely no playoff experience has ever won. The Thunder were the second youngest team to win last season after the 70s Blazers but their core was still old enough to have some prior playoff experience, including SGA at age 26. So if OKC loses this year, I think the Rockets and Nuggets have the best shot by far. Nuggets have done it before with Jokic and the Rockets are really stacked with a good mix of vets and young players and defenders - they already took OKC to a double overtime game early in the season. OKC won but neither teams were at full health so I think the best games between those teams is yet to come.

[pwaldo]

The Thunder have a historically great defense and just thumped the Lakers, so teams can't 'get hot' to beat them

I said playoff upset and I stand by that. I think the only scenario outside of an injury that will stop the Thunder from repeating would be a shock loss in the second round to the 4 or 5 seed. In this scenario the Thunder have the #1 seed locked up and maybe don't play much of the regular season near the end at full strength because they don't need to. They rest and get to 100% and crush the 8 seed. They win in 4 games but the 4/5 seeds battle it out and go to a 7 game thriller. They are tired but they don't have the rust like the Thunder will have sitting all that time. So they get an upset win in game one and then win a close game 2 over the Thunder. I can see Luka or Lebron hitting a game winning shot to do it. The Thunder get back on track to even up the series but it goes 7 because of that rusty series start and they end up losing. Whatever team does that goes on and loses the next round to the Rockets or Nuggets who would be the 2 or 3 seed and in the other half of the bracket.

That's the only way I see them losing without an injury. I don't think the Nuggets or Rockets can take them down because by the time they will play each other you are looking at the WCF and I think that benefits the Thunder because they are younger and will be fresher in a sense by the time the match up happens. Playing the #8 seed should be a very easy match up while everyone else will have a somewhat harder fight. Plus even if they could be the Thunder they will have to fight each other in a series before they play the Thunder if the seeds all stay the same and advance with no upsets. That should be enough to get the #1 seed into the NBA Finals which it should be the Thunder and I really don't see any team from the East being a threat to this Thunder team.

Now we have a long way to go and injuries happen and a lot of teams are going to be sellers so the playoff rosters will look all different but right now that's how I see it.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I said playoff upset and I stand by that. I think the only scenario outside of an injury that will stop the Thunder from repeating would be a shock loss in the second round to the 4 or 5 seed. In this scenario the Thunder have the #1 seed locked up and maybe don't play much of the regular season near the end at full strength because they don't need to. They rest and get to 100% and crush the 8 seed. They win in 4 games but the 4/5 seeds battle it out and go to a 7 game thriller. They are tired but they don't have the rust like the Thunder will have sitting all that time. So they get an upset win in game one and then win a close game 2 over the Thunder. I can see Luka or Lebron hitting a game winning shot to do it. The Thunder get back on track to even up the series but it goes 7 because of that rusty series start and they end up losing. Whatever team does that goes on and loses the next round to the Rockets or Nuggets who would be the 2 or 3 seed and in the other half of the bracket.

That's the only way I see them losing without an injury. I don't think the Nuggets or Rockets can take them down because by the time they will play each other you are looking at the WCF and I think that benefits the Thunder because they are younger and will be fresher in a sense by the time the match up happens. Playing the #8 seed should be a very easy match up while everyone else will have a somewhat harder fight. Plus even if they could be the Thunder they will have to fight each other in a series before they play the Thunder if the seeds all stay the same and advance with no upsets. That should be enough to get the #1 seed into the NBA Finals which it should be the Thunder and I really don't see any team from the East being a threat to this Thunder team.

Now we have a long way to go and injuries happen and a lot of teams are going to be sellers so the playoff rosters will look all different but right now that's how I see it.

I'm guessing you think this because the Nuggets almost beat them in the second round last playoffs after the Thunder swept the Grizzlies in the first round, and so you're standing by that and extrapolating a difficult second round series for the Thunder into the next playoffs. I think that second round Nuggets series was their toughest (besides the Pacers Finals, which also went seven) because the Nuggets have Jokic and a good supporting cast, and now this year they have a deep bench, so they could be scarier. I don't think it was a case of the Thunder being rusty after the first round sweep, I think it was tough because Jokic and the Nuggets match up great against them. Second round rust would apply more to teams with more of a flow based offense. The Thunder are primarily a defensive team, and defense is something that doesn't rust over like offense can. In fact the Thunder had a consistently subpar offense for ALL the postseason and still won, so again, I think the trick is how well other teams match up against them and how well they can handle the Thunder defense. The Lakers don't match up well with the Thunder and so I don't think they would pose the same kind of threat as the Nuggets did last year and will likely continue to this year; sure, they didn't have LeBron in the first season matchup where the Thunder just destroyed them, but LeBron is 41 and can't just run around fast young guys anymore either, which the Thunder have. The Rockets are another good matchup due to their size. The Thunder's defense is primarily perimeter swarming. They were able to eke by the Nuggets and Jokic because Caruso almost killed himself trying to guard Jokic, but he's still very undersized, and it would be hard for him to do that again, especially now that Jokic has even MORE weapons than before. The Rockets meanwhile have an excellent big in Sengun who no one in OKC can really match up with. Sengun is much stronger than Chet and more mobile than IHart and I could see him posing some major problems there.

So I just see it differently, I watch the West teams a lot, and the way to beat the Thunder is not hoping that they will be rusty after a first round sweep (their offense is ALWAYS worse in the postseason, whereas their defense never is because defense is not subject to rust like shooting touch is), it's by having a good matchup like the Nuggets and Rockets do regardless of round played.