2026 NBA Playoffs prediction thread

[Mori Chu]

Let's use this thread to make predictions for this year's playoffs. I will edit this initial post once the final play-in games are done Friday night. No need to predict anything until then, of course, since we won't know some of the lower seeds. Here are the first-round matchups:

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 (Suns or Warriors)
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 (Magic or Hornets)
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks

(Do we want to do a scoring game where somebody gets the most points and "wins" for guessing the most series correctly, incl. number of games? Does anybody have a copy-paste of the rules we have used for such games in the past?)

[SunnyOrange]

I wasn't able to find the playoffs prediction thread for 2025, but in the prediction thread for 2024 the scoring was the following:

10 points for picking the correct winner of each series and 5 points for picking the number of games correct.

Additionally, the method was to predict the whole playoffs at the start of Round 1.

[Split T]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 5
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 5
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 7

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers -Celtics in 7
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Hawks in 6

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 5
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Spurs in 7

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 6 Hawks - Celtics in 5

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 2 Spurs - Spurs in 6
2 Celtics vs 4 Cavs - Cavs in 6

Finals

Spurs vs Cavs - Spurs in 6

[Charlie Smithy!]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 5
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 5
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 7

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers -Celtics in 7
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Hawks in 6

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 5
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 6 Hawks - Celtics in 5

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 7
2 Celtics vs 4 Cavs - Cavs in 6

Finals

Nuggets vs Cavs - Nuggets in 5

[Split T]

I actually already hate my picks and will probably change them lol

[SunsRIt]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 7
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 6
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 5

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 5
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers -Celtics in 5
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Knicks in 6

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 5
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Pistons in 6
2 Celtics vs 6 Knicks - Celtics in 6

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 3 Nuggets - Thunder in 7
2 Celtics vs 4 Cavs - Celtics in 6

Finals

Thunder vs Celtics - Thunder in 6

[BKinSJC]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 5
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 6
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 5

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 6
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 5
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers -Celtics in 5
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Knicks in 7

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 4
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Pistons in 7
2 Celtics vs 3 Knicks - Celtics in 7

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6
1 Pistons vs 2 Celtics - Celtics in 6

Finals

Nuggets vs Celtics - Nuggets in 6

I just like the Nuggets to get one more championship before the Spurs and Thunder split the next ten years. The Suns, on the other hand, will never win in my lifetime.

[SunnyOrange]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 5
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 5
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 5

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 5
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers - Celtics in 5
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Hawks in 7

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 6
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Spurs in 7

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Pistons in 7
2 Celtics vs 6 Hawks - Celtics in 5

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 2 Spurs - Spurs in 7
1 Pistons vs 2 Celtics - Celtics in 6

Finals

Spurs vs Celtics - Spurs in 6

[ShelC]

Knicks won't lose to the Hawks. Should be a relatively easy 5 but the Knicks tend to make things hard on themselves so it'll go 6. Raps over Cavs in 6 or 7. Cs over Sixers in 5. Pistons over Magic in 5.

Nuggets - Wolves should be a great series. Could go either way. Blazers-Spurs could be interesting too but it'll probably be Spurs in 6. Thunder in 5 and Rockets in 5.

[Mori Chu]

OK, here are my picks. As usual, I don't know anything and am almost always wrong. But we'll see. I think the team I am most interested to watch in the playoffs is the Nuggets. I think they're a dark horse to go deep into the playoffs; I almost picked them to beat the Thunder but don't quite have the guts. I am also going with the Knicks over the Celtics primarily due to matchups (Knicks have lots of good long defensive wings) and the fact that the Knicks have beaten them before.

First round:
1 Thunder vs 8 Suns: Thunder in 4
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets: Rockets in 5
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers: Spurs in 4
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves: Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic: Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors: Cavs in 5
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers: Celtics in 4
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks: Knicks in 6

Second round (conf. semis):
1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets: Thunder in 5
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets: Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs: Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 3 Knicks: Knicks in 7

Third round (conf. finals):
1 Thunder vs 3 Nuggets: Thunder in 7
3 Knicks vs 4 Cavs: Knicks in 6

Fourth round (NBA Finals):
1 Thunder vs 3 Knicks: Thunder in 5

[The Bobster]

I'm a little tardy on this......

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 4
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 5
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 5
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 6

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 5
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 6
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers - Celtics in 5
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Hawks in 7

[BKinSJC]

WEST

1 Thunder vs 8 Suns - Thunder in 5
4 Lakers vs 5 Rockets - Rockets in 6
2 Spurs vs 7 Blazers - Spurs in 6
3 Nuggets vs 6 Wolves - Nuggets in 5

EAST

1 Pistons vs 8 Magic - Pistons in 6
4 Cavs vs 5 Raptors - Cavs in 5
2 Celtics vs 7 76ers -Celtics in 5
3 Knicks vs 6 Hawks - Knicks in 7

Conference Semi-Finals

1 Thunder vs 5 Rockets - Thunder in 4
2 Spurs vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6

1 Pistons vs 4 Cavs - Pistons in 7
2 Celtics vs 3 Knicks - Celtics in 7

Conference Finals

1 Thunder vs 3 Nuggets - Nuggets in 6
1 Pistons vs 2 Celtics - Celtics in 6

Finals

Nuggets vs Celtics - Nuggets in 6

I just like the Nuggets to get one more championship before the Spurs and Thunder split the next ten years. The Suns, on the other hand, will never win in my lifetime.

Denver flaming out in the first round pretty much kills my picks.

[Split T]

I had nuggets winning the while thing and then switched last second to spurs winning

[Mori Chu]

Denver flaming out in the first round pretty much kills my picks.

Yeaaaaah oof, I had the Nuggets going to the WCF before losing to OKC. Whoops! :-/ Surprised by the Wolves. Don't think they can get much further without Ant and DiVincenzo, but we'll see.

[Superbone]

I thought for sure after Ant and Divencenzo went down that they'd win out.