NBA Official 2026 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Paramore]

 

[BacktoBasics]

This is no gift as far as I’m concerned. McDaniels will give us trouble. Gobert has something to prove to Wemby.

It’s gonna be a lot tougher than the Blazers.

 

[Fabbs]

Some great reporting on Seguen and Lebron mixing it up.
Chaitanya Dadhwal thru Fadeaway World.

MSN

 

[2Trill]

This is no gift as far as I’m concerned. McDaniels will give us trouble. Gobert has something to prove to Wemby.

It’s gonna be a lot tougher than the Blazers.

Good. I dont want an easy path. The more adversity, the better for this squad. I dont want the haters to have anything to say when we win.

 

[benefactor]

This is no gift as far as I’m concerned. McDaniels will give us trouble. Gobert has something to prove to Wemby.

It’s gonna be a lot tougher than the Blazers.

It is, but I also think we are going to see Victor do an Olajuwon versus Robinson on Rudy at some point in the series

 

[LeBowen]

This is no gift as far as I’m concerned. McDaniels will give us trouble. Gobert has something to prove to Wemby.

It’s gonna be a lot tougher than the Blazers.

We almost swept the Blazers despite not having Wemby in two games, it can't get easier than that.
Just take care at home in the first two games and we're good.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Even as a fan, shit was getting of hand with his placement among the pantheon of all-time greats from prominent voices like Lowe, Simmons, SVG. The playoffs track record is officially spooky after this embarrassing series loss. This what I pointed to @DTW the other day. Jokic is going to need another impressive title run to justify those lofty proclamations. He and Denver were being sized up as if they were on the cusp of a dynasty.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1993743447178793084

https://twitter.com/x/status/2045315096038043853

Oh yeah. I don't mind Jokic as a player but his fanbois have been so over the top with their proclamations of his all time greatness. The current pace of the game makes comparisons to older guys who played a slower, half court game ridiculous. There's way more possessions and therefore way more chances to stuff the stat sheet now.

 

[spursistan]

Denver are going to have to significantly upgrade the defensive talent around Jokic if they are to contend again because one of the main takeaways of these playoffs is that Jokic is clearly past his peak (2022-2024). The advanced metrics boxes tell the whole story: a gradual performance slippage has kicked in.

 

[Trifecta]

Our guard play (Castle and Harper) will be key in this series against some length that Minny will bring. Fox has the quickness to generate his shot.

My concern also is when Wemby sits and Kornet comes in…REBOUNDING will be key and eliminating 2nd chance pts with the athleticism that Minny will bring!!!

Last watch out for those corner 3s - stay home on defense and let Wemby own the paint and have a block party!

 

[Mugen]

It is, but I also think we are going to see Victor do an Olajuwon versus Robinson on Rudy at some point in the series

That's the WCF tbh

 

[ginobilized]

Denver are going to have to significantly upgrade the defensive talent around Jokic if they are to contend again because one of the main takeaways of these playoffs is that Jokic is clearly past his peak (2022-2024). The advanced metrics boxes tell the whole story: a gradual performance slippage has kicked in.

View attachment 1908

My question is HOW do you build a defense around players like Jokic and, I'm going to say it, Harden? It's going to be hiding them vs building a 5-man rotation. Same could be said for building an offense around Gobert. You can't really. The NBA is turning into a 2-way league fast. I don't think you can successfully hide Jokic. Just my opinion.

 

[SpursFan86]

Denver are going to have to significantly upgrade the defensive talent around Jokic if they are to contend again because one of the main takeaways of these playoffs is that Jokic is clearly past his peak (2022-2024). The advanced metrics boxes tell the whole story: a gradual performance slippage has kicked in.

View attachment 1908

Ehh, the advanced metrics for the regular season don't really point to a decline. He obviously struggled in this series but not sure a 6-game sample size against Gobert should hold more weight than the whole regular season. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say he's definitively still in his peak, but not sure the decline is as severe as the numbers above would imply.

I do agree that Denver needs a pretty big revamp if they plan to get back to true contender status. AG's unreliable health is a major issue, and they need additional creators outside of Murray. That Christian Braun contract that's about to kick in is looking like an outright disaster though They're in a tough spot for sure.

 

[Dex]

I'd rather have a wounded Minny team over Denver who is really only missing Gordon...but end of the day, it's the Western Conference semifinals. Anybody you play at that point is going to present problems, you just gotta go out there and beat 'em

 

[spursistan]

Ehh, the advanced metrics for the regular season don't really point to a decline. He obviously struggled in this series but not sure a 6-game sample size against Gobert should hold more weight than the whole regular season. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say he's definitively still in his peak, but not sure the decline is as severe as the numbers above would imply.

I do agree that Denver needs a pretty big revamp if they plan to get back to true contender status. AG's unreliable health is a major issue, and they need additional creators outside of Murray. That Christian Braun contract that's about to kick in is looking like an outright disaster though They're in a tough spot for sure.

eh, what about the 14-game sample size in 2025? He's clearly come down from the previous two post-seasons. And, yes, the playoffs are where you get game-planned for and where the flaws and falloffs come into sharp relief.

 

[blueguy]

It's easy to write off Denver, but I would be reluctant to blow it up. I think a Spurs-like approach that they took in 2010-2012 would be best. Internal development, tweak your role players, bide your time, and hope to draft well or move up in a draft for a player that you think will move the needle.

Just getting off of Braun, trading Cam Johnson (for the right price, at least a first-rounder???), and getting Watson back will put them in a good position for the next few seasons.

 

[Ice009]

Just gonna leave this here:

Just finished watching the game and amazed the Wolves were able to pull it off. They played their asses off and are tough team regardless of who plays or not.

All I got to say to this video, Valanciunas fucked up by playing hard against a Spurs team with no bigs. It's pretty much on him. If he didn't go all out and punish the Spurs' lack of size in that last game of the season, maybe they're in round 2 with a real chance to beat OKC. They got what they deserved.

This is a terrible loss for Denver. Like "fire your HC and make some other major changes" type of bad. No Ant, no Donte, no Ayo, no fat-head, and you still can't close it out. Give credit to Minnesota for being some dawgs, but this loss can't happen if you're the Nuggets.

Unfortunately the Nuggets got down big in the series (1-3) and it gave Minnesota a lot of confidence.

Duncan: 5, Joker: 1

Let us proceed.

Look, no disrespect at all to Jokic, but another one of those Anthony Davis type things were the media already forgot about Duncan and starts putting players up there on the same level after one ring.

Spurs in 6 hard fought games. Expecting Ant man to make a return . CB is going to be huge . Got to fight fire with fire.

As weird it sounds I'm not looking forward to playing the Wolves. Spurs are the favorites to win the series against them but they are a very annoying bunch and has a lot of size compared to the Spurs.

It's going to be a wild series. That is what I said a few days ago, and still believe Minnesota are going to be tough. I wanted to play them because I think Minnesota's defense will test the Spurs and if they are able to get through it, it should help prepare the Spurs more for OKC. I really don't want to look ahead, though. I also thought the Wolves deserved it because they really did outplay Denver up until all those injuries. Can't believe how tough the played tonight. I also love defense and the Wolves play it. I don't like teams that don't emphasize defense or really focus on it. I don't like all offense only. I love defense, but man, Wolves will be tough.

I'm also not sure how much guys like Shannon played throughout the season and how much scouting there is going to be on them. Might be hard for the Spurs to scout some of these guys that never got a lot of court time during regular season games to know their tendencies and how they play. Not sure if that will be an issue? Then you got guys like McDaniel's playing a different role that we haven't seen him in, so I am not sure how he'll play either as he'll likely do things he doesn't normally do. Spurs have to make sure they bring it. Dot the i's and cross the t's. No fucking around.

Wholesale changes coming for the Nuggets tbh, starting with Coach Opie…

That Braun extension looks absolutely horrible right now.

IMO. should never have fired Mike Malone. I liked Malone. Should have just shit canned Calvin Booth if they didn't like each other and were playing games behind the scenes. Don't fire a championship winning coach, just get rid of Booth instead. Even stupider doing it just before the playoffs last season. They were not a lower ranked team like Memphis (no offense to Memphis, but they shouldn't have done it either) with no chance at the championship that could stuff around and just fire their coach before the playoffs.

It’s gonna be tougher than the Blazers, boys. Even though they’re banged up.

Yep. Not going to be easy at all. Spurs have to make sure they're locked in.

Devin Brown was all over this. Worry about who you’re facing in the 1st round and don’t ball out in a meaningless game 82 that doesn’t affect your seeding. Rookie coach Getting Harper injured playing 3D-chess

Darn, that's a pretty good take from DB. DB's been on some great Spurs teams, so he knows what's important and what the focus should be.

Timmy had fn Matt Bonner and a washed McDyess next to him against prime ZBo and Marc Gasol thanks to Pops infinite wisdom of gluing Splitter to the bench all season tbh

Very true.

Said all along it was a bigger mistake that Denver won than the spurs losing the last game. Minny was built to beat Denver. Their GM has said in the past that was their blueprint. Denver should have been tanking the last week of the season not just the last couple games to drop to the 4/5. I bet the Spurs felt it was better to have Minny/Denver beat each other up than have Minny stomp the Luka less Lakers and come in fresh.

Darn, maybe the Spurs were playing a different kind of game letting that one go. I don't think so, but I don't know what their plans were.

Most unwatchable great team in league history. Also what does Clay Bennett have on Adam Silver for them to be getting this whistle?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2049294150122488037

Wow, that Clay Bennett must have something on them. I said it earlier in the season, but how is OKC getting the kind of whistle they get? OKC isn't a big market, is it (I don't know since I am outside of the US)? I would have thought the NBA doesn't give a shit about OKC and just call the games more evenly. Maybe they flip the script and don't give them any of those calls whoever they play against in the WCF or Finals if they make it that far?

 

[LeBowen]

 

[Ice009]

View attachment 1909

Just play it freaking legit and see who is the better team. F-ing NBA. Who actually decides what officials are assigned to each game? Is that completely the NBA being able to choose whoever?

 

[Valparaiso]

Denver are going to have to significantly upgrade the defensive talent around Jokic if they are to contend again because one of the main takeaways of these playoffs is that Jokic is clearly past his peak (2022-2024). The advanced metrics boxes tell the whole story: a gradual performance slippage has kicked in.

View attachment 1908

I don't know if it's a fair assessment to say Jokic's 6 game playoff sample with injured teammates is more relevant than his 65 game regular season sample, where he posted the best BPM, WS/40, and assist% of his career, especially if your argument is that "advanced metrics tell the whole story."

 

[spurraider21]

i dont understand these stats super well, but from what ive heard, BPM values center assists more than assits from other positions. so joker gets massive BPM numbers due to his style of play

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2050266162236100908

 

[DAF86]

Christian Braun's 5 year 125 mil contract kicks in next season

Never overpay for your average home-made talent, tbh.

 

[Mugen]

Never overpay for your average home-made talent, tbh.

Especially when he's likely a product of the best passing big man of all time tbh.

 

[BatManu20]

Jokic's greatness has masked how poorly run the Nuggets' front office is for a while tbh. There's a reason they fired Calvin Booth last year. Denver made the same mistake Milwaukee made after they rang in 2021, which was overpaying the current guys on their roster instead of continuing to try and improve the team. They maxed out Murray and MPJ after their title run and it's been all downhill ever since.

MPJ, who was never a Max player to being with, collapsed in the Playoffs 2 years in a row and they had to attach a FRP to get off his deal and swap him for Cam Johnson, who they're likely going to try and trade already this offseason so they can re-sign Payton Watson. But they're still stuck with 3 bloated contracts regardless in Murray (3-yrs/$157M), Gordon (3 yrs/$104M), who's on the wrong side of 30 and can't seem to stay on the floor, and now Braun, whose atrocious 5-yr/$125M Extension doesn't even kick in until next season. Good luck moving those contracts right now. And they don't have either of their FRP's in 2027-28 either.

Hard to envision the Joker winning another title there tbh. The roster construction just isn't suitable for him. He needs to be surrounded by elite/athletic defenders & 3PT shooters like SGA is. Instead he's surrounded by shitty defenders on bloated contracts & a sidekick who continually shits the bed against anyone not named the Lakers. And Jokic isn't absolved from blame either, he bares lots of responsibility for this First Round loss as well, but he's your franchise player and a generational talent. You have to warp the roster to fit him, and they haven't done a good enough job of that.

 

[spurraider21]

MPJ was more important than people ever gave credit for, and he was really hurt during their playoff run last year. iirc it was his shooting shoulder.

it wasnt just the shooting (which is more dangerous than Cam). even if his man to man defense is meh, he gave them legit size and range on defense in a way that Cam Johnson simply doesnt, and he's always been a solid rebounder

Braun and Gordon were the overpays. Gordon is a good defender but i dont get why people keep referring to him as the nuggets rim protector. he isnt that. murray has badly struggled against minnesota during their playoff series', and thats a problem. but otherwise i dont think paying him was a mistake

the nuggets werent able to replace some of the guys from their title team.

- KCP was a very good 3&D player for a few years, but he left in free agency and they never filled that gap. Braun is a solid defender and athlete but he's not giving them what KCP gave. I guess Spencer Jones has come close.

- Bruce Brown was playing nearly 30mpg for those teams and he was an effective 2-way player. they never replaced that impact, and even Brown upon his return hasnt lived up to the level he was at that year

- Reggie Jackson was there, and you could argue Hardaway Jr replaced his value.. but Jackson was another ballhandler who could drive to the rim. nuggets only have murray for that role now

- Jeff Green was their reserve 4/5 who gave them pretty solid minutes as the old vet. they had nobody the last couple of years. and where was valanciunas during this playoff series?