2025 playoffs

Kelal Ware had a huge impact on that game. On the other hand Zacharie Risacher was horrible. Just missing wide open shots. Ended up getting benched. Not what you want to see from your 1st overall pick.

Its pretty crazy how much Zach Edey has increased his mobility in the past 2 or 3 years. He does not look like a liability on the floor at all. Very happy with how he has developed I’ve been watching him play for a long time now. Its sad that the Raptors traded their pick for Jakob Poeltl thatended up being #8 Rob Dillingham one pick ahead of Zach Edey.

Edey to Raptors with the 8th pick last year would have been a no brainer getting the Canadian guy would have been a good marketing ploy and he’d have been a perfect fit. Playing behind Poeltl and then assuming starting role in due course.

Ware too has had a very solid rookie year, no doubt being with the Heat and their excellent set up has helped him develop.

AD had an excellent game for Dallas but Memphis had more depth.

NBA Draft Room ran a simulation mock this week and had Dallas ending up at 2nd and getting Harper. They probably need some lottery luck to get into the top 4 to be relevant again.

Vintage James Harden tonight. Buzzer beater three to end the 1st quarter with 15.

Kris Dunn has had a huge impact on the defensive end shutting down Jamal Murray and offering resistance to Jokic when they switch. On the offensive end however he’s had some great oppurtunities as a spot up shooter, as a slasher and as a cutter on some pretty tic tac toe passes which he has not been able to consistently convert on. If he were this game would be a blow out. The stats show a different story but hes had a few times where he refused to shoot op[en shots or try to finish at the rim through traffic.

I see VJ Edgecom,be as a similar playstyle. His worst case scenerio is a more athletic Dunn. If he can do what Dunn does defensively and just be able to convert as a high level role player to me thats worth a top 5 pick. The NBA does not have many defensive playmakers at the guard position and even less that are not a liability offensively.

What a game. This might be one of the best series all year. I’m gonna try to watch every game.

Clippers cant keep them off the glass! Westbrook gets a tip on every loose ball he’s still amazing.

The Timberwolves are very impressive vs Lakers. Denver vs Clippers could be a great series.

The Thunder are absolutely slaughtering Memphis.

GSW vs Houston is the series I’m looking forward to the most as despite GSW having to come via the play in if Steph gets his shooting sneakers on and Playoff Jimmy turns up I think they can shock Houston.

Lebron’s playing like a 35 year old tonight.

OKC with the comeback. That one stinks. The Grizzlies have had some real embarassing playoff losses during the Morant era.

Clippers win their first home game. Aaron Gordon maybe injured. Nuggets coach has no impact on his team and seems noticably frustrated.

Gary Trent Jnr and Giannis are pretty much saving the Bucks’ play off hopes on their own.

The Cavs are really impressing me given the Heat you’d feel will always battle hard with their play off pedigree.

The Thunder are through but could easily have lost both games if Memphis if Ja hadn’t got injured. I’ll be interested to see how they go against the more battle hardened Clippers or Nuggets.

What a game. Denver beats the Clippers on a Gordon buzzer beater dunk with 0.01 seconds on the clock. Clippers cqame back down by 22. If LAC took a 3-1 lead in the series Denver probably wouldn’t be able to come back. This series has been fantastic.

Yeah the Clippers ended the season on fire. I forget the actual record but they were the best team the last two months and Kawhi was looking great. Denver on the other hand has been going through things all year. I actually think these two teams are probably my favorites to win it all. I’ll never pick Boston to win it all… I dont trust Cleveland to beat Boston. I dont think OKC is experienced enough, they are just so young. Lakers just have no Center, T-Wolves actually look good as well now that the playoffs have started I wouldnt be shocked if they won the West.

T-Wolves could be dark horses they have size advantage over GSW but maybe not Houston. I’d take OKC to match up well against T-Wolves if it was the conference final.

I just think GSW will go deep. Boston vs Knicks could be a top series too.

Siakam trade has worked out well for the Pacers.

Dame has done his left Achilles tendon in and could miss a chunk of next season too. He turns 35 this summer so would be well into his 36th year before he returns.

The Bucks have a number of veterans with player options for next season too so how their future looks I don’t know.

Giannis is only just 30 and we see other guys being elite into their mid 30’s (LBJ is a freak so I’ll not expect Giannis to be that elite at 40). Giannis has a title so doesn’t need to chase one.

If you look at teams with assets then Brooklyn, Spurs, Utah, Houston and OKC jump out. If OKC win this year I don’t see them going all in for him. Houston might as they have been linked with KD and Giannis has 6 years on him. Brooklyn is a big market and have assets and cap room. They would ideally need a good run of the draft balls and another top free agent to become a contender with Giannis.

The Spurs have the picks and also Wemby. Utah have no real pieces but a load of draft picks and Danny Ainge to make deals.

Toronto is interesting and have assets. If teams miss out on Flagg could they make an offer and trade for Giannis? If the Bucks want to rebuild getting an Ace, Tre, VJ etc could be tempting?

Giannis has two year’s guaranteed on his current deal so his trade value won’t get any higher on this deal. I don’t know when he could next extend as that contract will be a very important one as it could pretty much take him to the end of his career.

The Bucks are pretty much out of draft picks either traded away or rights to swap for the next 5 years so to rebuild around Giannis will be very hard and trading him and tanking won’t be easy. But the risk is he walks in two years time and they get nothing back.

Back to the play offs and the Cavs are totally destroying the Heat. Pat Riley might be making moves this summer.

What a tragedy. 82 to 38 right now Cavs vs Heat. They need to trade everyone.

I dont see them trading Giannis and I dont see Giannis demanding a trade but I doubt he resigns and he’lll probably be pretty open about it. Theres some pretty crazy articles about him that recently released.

Sam Amick:

. I asked Giannis a very blunt question: “Hey, what happens if it just doesn’t work this year?” And he did something kind of wild—he grabbed a nearby staff member by the shoulders. I didn’t even know the guy. Had no idea what his job was. But Giannis grabs him and says: “Hey, if we lose this year, do you think you get fired?” Giannis literally said: “You think you get fired?” And the staffer was like, “Yeah, maybe.”

Now that John Horst has a new contract, I can share this part: I wrote in a story that Giannis alluded to the GM. Well, the “alluded” part was this—he literally looked at John, looked at me, and said: “Sam, if we don’t win…” (Then he drew his finger across his throat.) Yeah, and just to be clear—they have a good relationship. Giannis was being playful

The Cavs won 64 games so it’s no fluke. Just that a lot of us have the thought Boston has more experience and might edge Eastern Conference.

The Heat had a losing season and traded Playoff Jimmy so aren’t the team they were however good their coaching and front office are.

I watched the game. The Heat gave up and the Cavs never let up.

Im just gonna say it. Draymond Green is one of the best players in the world when his shot is falling. Hes one of the alltime greats and I think he will only be truly appreciated when he retires. Guy just makes winning plays.

I love the physicality in these games but the refs gotta stop reviewing every play and skirmish and just realize this is gonna be a physical series. Keep the game moving.

Gotta love Fred having the big night but Houstons young players just arent equipped for this level of ball. Esp3ecially Jalen Green and Jabari Smith. They just make zero IQ plays all game well, feeding the GSW vets.

Draymond and play off Jimmy came up big for GSW last night. I thought Houston might have used their bench depth a bit more though. Jeff Green has over 1.100 games behind him if you need an experienced head he jumps out at me. Cam Whitmore also not seeing any time.

I dont think I’ve ever wanted the Pacers to win more than right now.

Oh no… That was bad. Stay tuned folks theres gonna be some questions for Giannis.

After a phenomenal game by Gary Trent incl;uding 12 points in OT he bobbles the ball out of bounds and Indiana wins the game. Milwaukee blew two leads and kept letting Haliburton get to the rim. The two teams almost started fighting at the end of the game as well.

The Warriors cannot last a full playoff run let alone a series. Even if they get by Houston it seems like the mileage will catch up to them. Everyone of those guys is injured. Stephs thumb, Butler is limping, Back when Toronto beat GSW people said we got lucky because they couldnt get healthy…well they still cant stay healthy.

I don’t think this needs its own post but who would you guys rather have. Luka or Edwards?

I’d take Luka over Anthony Edwards at their current peaks. The Lakers maybe have one more year with LBJ and he has a final run but they then rebuild around Luka.

I like this Pistons team I hope they come back. I’m just a big fan of the Thompson twins in general and enjoy watching Cade play the game.

Cold.

Well thats it for Detroit. Great job by the Detroit fans in this series and also by cheering their team despite the loss. This young Pistons team outplayed their talent level for sure.

Great job by Duren tonight. 9/10 FT’s and as Norrin said fouled KAT out of the game.

But man… Jalen Brunson would not be denied. I remember alot of people questioned the Knicks signing him. Some people thought it was a bad move for the Knicks and a bad move for him. But I yhad him on my fantasy team the year before so I knew he was ready for a larger role and liked the move. I didn’t think it would look like this.

Jalen Brunson probably has the most team friendly contract in the NBA. Detroit will come back stronger next year. I always smile when Lakers come up short as their entitled fans start moaning.

You are sound Norrin but in lots of sports the very top teams almost expect success. The Lakers have Luka who is a top 10 NBA player as their building point and I’m thinking LBJ opts in for next season too.

Nuggets had a huge 2nd quarter and worryingly for Clippers it is a real team effort. Jokic for example hasn’t done it on his own.

How come the Rockets and GSW series always seems a day or so behind the other ones?

Aaron never became the star people had hoped being a top 4 pick but he has had a rock solid career, has an NBA title, has made a stack of money and is such a good team player. He can certainly step up and play the major minutes in the play offs.

My dumbass thought the game was starting at 9:00. Who wouldve thought this wouldve been a blowout. Watch out for the Nuggets.

On a side note have you guys seens Hassan Whiteside’s Peurto Rico highlights? He’s built like Shaq right now. His whole upper body looks like Zion Williamson its ridiculous. Lakers should have signed this guy before the postseason I’m pretty confident he could have at least helped them.

I think Hassan only started playing again in the last month or so. If he is available in the summer I could see team’s looking at him.

We mentioned Gordon as the leagues most underrted player. Myles Turner is defenitely in that conversation as well. He’s never even been on an All Defensive team. This Indiana team would be lost without him.

Jarrett Allen dunks all over Turner. Ouch.

Nesmith is also underrated. He had a 50/40/90 season this year.

Buddy Hield is shooting like peak Steph tonight. GSW up by about 10 nearing HT and Steph hasn’t got a point yet. If Steph finds his scoring boots then Houston could be in real trouble.

Great win by the Pacers at the Cavs too.

Warriors really had to win this game. They basically paid a quarter billion dollars for Jimmy Butler.

Warriors came through but will they have the size to match Gobert and Randle etc. The Warriors would still have had to pay Wiggins for another couple of seasons. They gave Steph the extra year in 26/27 almost as a thank you. If they hadn’t done that then they wouldn’t have needed to have extended play off Jimmy and could have had this season and next with the duo, With an option to extend if things went well.

GSW make a load of money so can easily pay the luxury tax but the extra games all help.

Houston have fallen victim to Steph and GSW several times in the past decade. They are still a young team but there has been talk they might look for another proven star player. FVV is a quality player but he has a huge team option which could be a golden ticket trading chip along with one young player and some future picks they have.

I don’t expect a knee jerk reaction from Houston as it was their first time in the playoffs in 5 seasons and they are still a young team. If they got lucky in this year’s draft lottery it opens up even more options, if they stay where they are they still have options and a trade could possibly happen.

Houston could keep their core together and possibly move FVV and some of the picks they hold. With talk of KD being moved could Houston take a couple of years of him and send FVV and maybe a pick or two they have from Phoenix.

It will be interesting to see where the Brooklyn and Phoenix draft picks end up after the lottery to see if the Rockets did the right deal with the Nets.

Boston vs Knicks could be a really good series and Thibs will make them real hard old school play off games. I just feel that Boston will get through though.

DSW were a borderline play in team before Jimmy Butler trade so it has worked out this season and its keeping Steph interested. They can maybe add a veteran FA or two who wants to be on a contender and try for one more run.

You guys keep calling for them to trade Fred but this team wouldve gotten swept if he didnt play. They wouldnt have even made the postseason without him they were 10W-12L in the games he didnt play. It’s not all about counting stats and analytics, there were plenty of times this series where Fred had to rally his team to stop a run or scream at his guys on the bench and instruct them.

The peice they need to dangle is Jalen Green. He was absurdly bad and his extension kicks in next year which will pay him $33 mil. Jabari Smith has good counting stats but he also looked like a fish out of water all season and was not able to deal with the physicality. With Green, Smith, Sheppard, Whitmore and plenty of picks to sweeten the pot they have plenty to offer to improve their team.

However I don’t think the awnser is to try and bring in the 1st “superstar” that becomes available. I mean if you can reasonably bring in a player like Giannis or Devin Booker then great but realistically I feel if you got what GSW got out of Hield, what DET got out of Beasley or what MIL got out of Trent and replaced Jalen Green that probably would have wonthem the series. Try to find yourself a KCP or Aaron Gordon, just steady and reliable player willing to fit into a role.

With FVV it is just that huge team option that can fund the bulk of any salaries in trades and if a team receiving him is in tank mode they just refuse the option. Otherwise there is no reason for Houston to trade him, he is only about 31 years old, has relatively few miles on the clock and has title winning experience.

Reed Shepherd does need to see more playing time I feel. Jabari Smith is the interesting guy as far as trades go as he is eligible for his 2nd contract this summer so how does that deal look?

Eason is also extension eligible and Jalen and Sengun’s new deals kick in.

Would Stephon Castle have possibly been a better fit for Houston I wonder?

There were the question marks about his shooting but his intangibles and all round game could well have seen him get many more minutes than Reed got or is Stephon too similar to Amen Thompson?

Reed playing behind CP3 and learning from wouldn’t have done him any harm.

Stephon wouldve been benched. He’s a great talent but the Spurs gave him a very long leash. Castle started the season off very slowly like 35% FG and 25% 3pt the first 20 games or so. I missed our Fantasy League Draft and ended up with him through the autodraft and tried to trade him to Norrin 20 times throughout the season he never bit. Castle would not have gotten that same patience from Houston Udoka and also FVV dont have time for that.

That being said even if Sheppard or Castle were able to average 20 and 10 next year your not gonna be able to replace the experience FVV has. 60 playoff games and a championship theres only a handful of guards in the league with that resume. His impact can’t be replaced by a rookie. Look at what happened to all the young players in the playoffs other than a handful of them, they all broke.

Man I hate the Celtics.

Denver’s gonna smoke OKC. Thunder’s just too young imo. We will see if they are the exception but I just don’t think you can win in the NBA without experience. Prove me wrong but thats why the Sam Presti model will never work, at some point you gotta pay these guys to keep them together and thats most likely going to be the same time it takes for them tyo have enough experience to win it all.

I think the Nuggets are gonna win this game.

lol

They are too young. Holmgren lost composure at the end of the game and missed his free throws. He was shooting 86% this postseason but he missed both. I’m not gonna lie I could see it in Chet’s eyes all game, especially when Jokic got that foul for pushing him on the fastbreak and they benched Chet afterwords. The moments just too big for them right now and this Denver teams been there and done that.

You notice how this Championship level competitors start throwing their weight around when things arent going their way. Draymond Green took Jalen Green out of the series by doing it to Houston. Jokic does the same shit. Hes all done it all season too. He broke Scottie Barnes entire face this year when Barnes was talking trash. I didnt watch all 82 Denver games but Im sure theres more cases. He took Chet out of the game mentally. He took Dort out with that elbow. They found a way to break them. Hes a tough guy to play against because you have to guard him, hes the best player in the world and you also gotta be careful he doesnt literally break your bones when you actually find a way to bug him.

Its almost a dark art how to disrupt a game and stay on the court. The likes of Draymond and going back a bit further Bruce Bowen and the Detroit 2004 team were masters of this. Even MJ knew the trash side and he had Rodman.

Of the younger teams I coul;d see Detroit although eliminated this year perhaps getting to grips with this part of the game quicker than lets say the Cavs who are a stronger team.

“Play Off” Aaron Gordon had another big showing and with the favourites both suffering home losses the play offs have suddenly come alive.

OMG Haliburton. They recently voted him the leagues most underrated player. Redo the polls!

Amazing comeback by the Pacers. It’ll be very hard for Cleveland to win the series from here.

The Pacers really play as a team without one guy being the outstanding scorer. Rick Carlisle has really got the team playing some of their best basketball since his earlier JO era stint with them. Kevin Pritchard has built a very good roster too. I always liked his draft day trade deals in his Portland days wondering what he would do.

Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird still there as advisors/consultants – there is a lot of experience and knowledge in their ranks.

Every games been an upset so far in the 2nd round. I think teams like the Cavs, Celtics, Twolves just didnt really get as much competition in the 1st round. Like the Knicks/Pistons series was a war but the Celtics kind of just steamrolled the Magic. Same with the Cavs playing against Miami.

Great point about teams being battle hardened in the first round as opposed to having a clean sweep or winning in 5. I’d always think the team which had the easier opening round and is more rested should be favourites especially the likes of the Celtics who are proven winners and have loads of experience. But maybe the tiredness kicks in more later in the play offs.

GSW scored 54 points with their 3 point shots whilst T-Wolves only scored 15. So T-Wolves are going to need to get an incredible amount of field goals to be competitive in this series if GSW continue to shoot like this.

The second matches for Boston and OKC are both huge tonight.

Steph Curry out for at least a week which would be next 4 games. I think GSW might almost be out if he doesn’t return until game 6 at the earliest.

Boston well ahead in 4th quarter but we know what happened in the last game.

Why didnt they call a timeout. You know some of these NBA coaches tend to outthink themselves. Thats why the best coaches in the league are the Spoelstra’s or Carlisle’s. who keep it simple and structured. Call a timeout and draw up a play!

I dont mind watching the Celtics lose though and the Knicks deserved this win, they just wanted it more.

Still all upsets. I think OKC is gonna blow out Denver in this game though.

It is a very likeable Knicks team. In an era where the league does not want small guards, and doesn’t want an undersized wing like Josh Hart, it is nice to see that there is still a place for guys who just go at it.

Boston has an incredibly talented and versatile team, but have a coach who thinks they have to win by paint-by-numbers tactics. It is just dumb. It is like when a baseball team tries to swing for the fences when the wind is howling in. You have to win the games that are being played. To chalk up losses to randomness is an admission of a coaching failure. Boston is not reliant on shooting variance by limitations of their players’ talent, but by ideological choice. They are now likely to get bounced as a result.

I wonder if Brad Stevens could consider returning to the bench if Boston’s tactics cost them another tilt at the title?