2025 NBA Postseason Thread - It's The Offs Baby

My preseason pick was OKC, so I'm sticking with it. But the C's are the defending champs and the most experienced, so they should still be considered the favorite until proved otherwise.

celtics and thunder def seem better than the other teams but who knows thats why they play the games also jaylen browns knee might be fucked

offs time baby. the nba second season. the one that matters. all the marbles. where careers and made. where chumps are exposed. this is it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JKDedKQ5Zo

voted warriors due to fan duties but the celtics will win the 2025 nba playoffs.

jaylen's knee won't matter for the first two rounds

quick flight to germany and he'll be fine

it has been reported that he received an injection

take it to the juiceman thread

nagging injuries like this are usually manageable early in the playoffs when there are more off days but if this is the type of injury that needs longterm rest or a clean up procedure or something then i could see it becoming an issue when they're playing every other day

nuggets will win the NBA playoffs

jaylen situation feels like one of those ones where we get into the ECF and in game 3 or 4 he is randomly horrible then the next game he is able to lock in but then the one after he kinda looks ineffective and broken down again and you just feel like you have no idea what player you're getting until the games start. feel like we've seen this kinda rhythm happen w/ players like butler, donovan mitchell recently off the top of my head

weird year for jaylen in general, raw numbers way down.

hes been pretty bad recently not moving well but its unclear how much of that was just coasting/taking easy on the knee

one thing that worries me about this celtics team is jaylen and jrue had down years but it was somewhat covered up by other guys having good years the problem is some of those guys are pritchard and kornet who arent necessarily prime playoff contributors, on the other hand maybe zinger will actually play in this years off

really hope we get a game that will be known in the future as "The Payton Pritchard Game" at some point, feels like a reasonable ask. "The Luke Kornet Game" less so but a man can dream

there was a kelly olynyk game so anything is possible

I honestly think Kornet will be a bigger factor in the playoffs than Pritchard.

if zinger and horf are both playing there might not be many minutes for him unless they go with a lot of two big lineups, i would like to see him get a chance tho hes been so good

I love hoops, haters are nincompoops, Luka to LeBron alley-oops...Lakers in 5

xp

right, I can definitely see him getting a fair amount of playtime if Jaylen Brown and/or Al Horford's minutes are limited.

i’m sorta bought into the theory that the NBA is an unprecedented physical grind that makes repeating extremely difficult. i think it was on a recent hoop collective they were talking about how after game 7 of denver minny last year the nuggs guys were talking about how they were worn down and the t wolves just wanted it more. and then you pair that with some of the minor red flags you can find w/ boston as lagoon has outlined

speaking of unprecedented grind, i am conflicted about whether i want the knicks to flame out and fire thibs or persevere against the pistons and see the 4th playoff series win by my favorite team in 20 years.

probably the latter but the former does sound weirdly freeing

that is a tough call, maybe thibs will be fired even if they win a series

is he in the hot seat?

i’m sorta bought into the theory that the NBA is an unprecedented physical grind that makes repeating extremely difficult.

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, April 15, 2025 4:06 PM (seventeen minutes ago)

champ hasnt made it past the second round in five years or smthn

i know people think knicks-pistons should be competitive but the idea of the knicks losing is just crazy to me. that would be a catastrophic outcome after last offseason. if you had told knicks fans at the start of the season they were fully healthy and lost to the pistons in round 1 they would have burned the city down

anyway, i think we can assume that the knicks are locked into most of this core for the next 2-3 years minimum so they probably need to take their lumps against boston to see where the pain points truly are and what they can do to fix some of it. if boston does have to start trading some guys bcuz of the second apron then it’s possible this knicks team could beat them a few seasons down the line. but it probably starts with them getting their asses kicked

that would be a catastrophic outcome after last offseason.

This is why it needs to happen.

is he in the hot seat?

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Tuesday, April 15, 2025 3:22 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

ny reporters in the know like stefan bondy have bandied about the possibility of thibs being let go if they flame out in the first or are uncompetitive in the second

i wouldn't be mad at a thibs firing, they need a coach who will tailor his system to the personnel and not stubbornly stick with his philosophy no matter what.

makes sense

not the biggest thibs fan but i think hes done pretty well with this group 5th in offense 13th in defense, not sure how much more youre going to wring out of them, the defensive effort could maybe be better they might be tired of his voice lord knows i am and i can just kinda hear it through the tv

the lack of competitiveness against the real best teams in the league is a concern. they were, what, 0-12 vs the big three? you gotta win at least one of those, man

the starting lineup now has a negative net rating, too, which is remarkable.

yeah i mean theres just flaws in the roster that good teams can exploit pretty easy

not the biggest thibs fan but i think hes done pretty well with this group 5th in offense 13th in defense, not sure how much more youre going to wring out of them, the defensive effort could maybe be better they might be tired of his voice lord knows i am and i can just kinda hear it through the tv

― lag∞n, Tuesday, April 15, 2025 2:54 PM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the 13th in defense thing is a bit of a mirage — there’s a big logjam from basically 12th-24th only being separated by a couple of points/100. all those teams in the middle have traded places a lot over the past month.

i was surprised it was that high

knicks have gotten better on that end since the return of mitch rob

yeah hes crucial wonder if well see the twin towers lineup

it’s the ins which means trae young is on my TV

he is the play-in god

go hawks

yeah this one’s over

cmon hawks

trae young’s hair situation above the neck continues to be a matter of national concern

no one can explain it

hawks are letting me down

Down 20 to the magic. These combined shooting percentages yuck

hawks are letting me down

― lag∞n, Tuesday, April 15, 2025 5:14 PM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

magic are starting cory joseph man, I really wouldn’t worry

theyre just a physical team they play hard hawks are nicer you want hawks

hawks closing the gap hawks baby

Congrats k3v, awesome win

can’t believe the boys pulled that out

why on earth would OKC want to *extend the game by several possessions* i cannot get over this

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Monday, May 5, 2025 11:30 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah not only do you have to trust a young team to make pressure FTs you also have to inbound vs. Jokic and Russ both of whom can be chaos elementals in situations like this

and on the flipside watching joker make ft after ft, not ideal for the whole being in control of the game, having momentum thing

the whole strategy is contingent on you making every free throw to keep the lead at 3 the entire time and to make your team go like 6-6 from the line in that situation… daignault should have to post a written apology

both coaches have very similar stupid haircuts

22 and 14 + the game winning pull up transition 3 is a pretty great game

aaron gordon is hilarious; the real joker. can't wait to see what else is in his bag of tricks.

really fun games tonight.

I’ve been a nuggets fan for almost 25 years and (other than jokic obviously) I am pretty sure aaron is the most beloved nugget of my lifetime. I’m so happy for him

Aaron Gordon is the greatest

Did you all catch SGA frantically trying to stop Daigneault from burning his last challenge, to no avail

can't get over how much that is not how fouling up 3 is supposed to be done. they were running it like intentional fouls

Jalen Willams 5/20 fg

so which of the 60 win team is most afraid right now, i think its the cavs cause of garlands injury, tho the nuggets win was the most legit least reliant on shooting variance

cool game from jokic okc made him a scorer and he obliged, he was also a rebounder

nugs won the rebound battle 63-43
thunder won turnovers 9-18

Russ really put a stamp on that game too if not for him it wouldn’t have been close enough for that finish

seems like the nugs dont have any choice but to go with the full westbrook experience, its dicey but whatre you gonna do

porzingis situation is troubling for the celtics he missed time with a mystery viral infection towards the end of the season then came back and was good but he sucked in the first round then left the game last night with an illness

then theyre just generally banged up too jaylens knee tatums wrist jrues hammy idk

the whole strategy is contingent on you making every free throw to keep the lead at 3 the entire time and to make your team go like 6-6 from the line in that situation… daignault should have to post a written apology

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, May 6, 2025 12:39 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this was troubling they just kept fouling right away instead of letting the clock run which is the whole point of the thing for the clock to run out while youre still ahead

daignault had a rough playoffs last year thunder kept doubling luka and getting killed by passes to the corner and the rim

Of the 3 winning teams, Pacers seemed the most in control for the duration of their game. Nuggets only found a window in the final minutes when OKC forgot how to manage the game. Celtics handled the Knicks well in the first half, and then decided to miss a million shots, yet somehow kept it close to the end.

yeah pacers seem like a pretty even match for the garlandless cavs and even if garland does return he might not be that effective having a fucked up big toe isnt good for basketball

fouling up three really only makes sense if on their next possession your opponent is going have a hard time getting a decent shot off so like under five seconds no timeouts

otherwise just guard the three point line try to make them use clock

i think the cavs have to be worried. idk if you guys saw but hunter and mobley are hurt as well — mobley was kinda hobbling at the end of the game. windhorst was saying that the cavs were already kinda wary of that match up to begin with

OKC handled much of that game but that rebound differential is interesting bcuz that was one of the reasons they lost last year, getting pounded by lively and gafford. i know i hart was supposed to help against that, i wonder what happens to chet’s minutes in this series

i think boston should be fairly concerned about the playoffs at large but i still think this series should be pretty easy for them

i thought russ was keyed up last night in a good way, his energy made an impact on the game and he didn’t do anything stupid. including on the last play where before he passed it to gordon i was like “oh russ is about to careen to the rim on two dudes here.” idk how long that can last but he was channeling his passion for good last night

hart had his hands full with jokic

the nuggets still dont have a bench and mpj is almost a non factor, playing a six man rotation will have to bite them

they barely have a 6 man rotation with mpj so hobbled. assuming he doesn't really recover during these offs it feels like the starters -mpj +russ are all gonna avg 40mpg this series, the remaining 40 will be 20 to mpj, 10 to watson, and 10 to whoever comes up when adelman spins the roulette wheel. would be real nice if one of the yung'uns had a breakout game but hard to bet on that with this roster

i thought watson was okay last night

actually one thing i kept thinking was that w/ braun, russ (good version), watson out there w/ gordon they looked pretty formidable defensively on the perimeter -- just way more active and athletic than what you would typically see from a murray, MPJ led unit. shai shot a hair under 50% and j dub had a really poor game, they were kinda reliant on an outlier caruso game. i wonder if there's something denver can lean on there

but also if i take a big step back -- the nuggets escaped with a W despite an average murray game and i think to win the series he's gonna need to pull at least two 30 pieces out of the bag against prob the toughest match up in the league for a 2 guard. i think you can probably get one more W bcuz joker puts up another 42-22 type game but idk if you're getting three of them

i thought watson was okay last night

actually one thing i kept thinking was that w/ braun, russ (good version), watson out there w/ gordon they looked pretty formidable defensively on the perimeter -- just way more active and athletic than what you would typically see from a murray, MPJ led unit. shai shot a hair under 50% and j dub had a really poor game, they were kinda reliant on an outlier caruso game. i wonder if there's something denver can lean on there

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, May 6, 2025 8:57 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

braun had a bit of a confounding defensive regular season, by the eye test just wasn’t as much of a dog as on defense as he was last year — but has been great defensively this playoffs. his containment of harden and now shai has been really crucial for them

agreed about the nuggets defense overall too. they’re playing with energy and connectedness I haven’t seen them have in a while

they escaped with an amazing win last night but MPJ is going to be a big wild card in this series. they’re going to need like at least 2 really good games from him because murray is going to have his hands full and russ can’t be expected to play like this every game

infuriating thing about playing OKC is they just steal the ball all the time, like balls being poked loose in situations where it just never happens vs other teams, very annoying.

caruso in particular is a such a demon

braun won at kansas and then the following year with the nuggets he's prob just sick of not winning championships

OKC picking up Caruso was unfair to the rest of the league. I mean, geez, they still have a boatload of draft picks to play with and they're already at the top tier. They shouldn't be allowed to sign FAs.

they traded josh giddey for him

They should have been required to trade presti for him instead of giddey.

the bulls are happy with their terrible gm

infuriating thing about playing OKC is they just steal the ball all the time, like balls being poked loose in situations where it just never happens vs other teams, very annoying.

― brony james (k3vin k.), Tuesday, May 6, 2025 12:14 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm its not cool at all

honestly if I were the Celtics I'd be feeling pretty good, I mean you bricked 45 threes and lost by 3 in OT, pretty easy to just chalk that one up to bad luck. OKC needs to toughen up a bit but they still looked like the much better team for a lot of it, also you know Denver is gonna need a lot out of Russ and his track record is not exactly great there. Cavs though should be worried there wasn't really any point where they looked like the better team

what if jokic just completely bosses this series thatd be sick

definitely within the realm of possibility. chet had some okay moments in the post on d last night but if he's not regularly hitting threes as a floor spacer i'm not sure this series is the one for him

SGA was great and ultra-efficient in game 1. But there's potential here for a Hakeem MVP revenge series right?

mobley, garland, and hunter supposedly doubtful for tonight's game

indiana's strategy of injuring their opponents' best players works for the second straight year

wow that would be a huge bummer