2026 NBA Playoffs - first round series

[Mori Chu]

You guys watching the various first round playoff games this weekend? Let's discuss here.

[AmareIsGod]

Rockets lost! No KD!

[pickle]

Draymond already said that Kevin’s great. How can anyone doubt the infinite wisdom of Draymond?

[Mori Chu]

I thought the Nuggets looked pretty strong yesterday. Triple-double for Jokic, 30 points for Murray, they've got Braun back, they seem to have a coherent 9-man playoff rotation. I like the Nugs to go far. Bad matchup for Minnesota imo.

[Mori Chu]

Do you guys think the Rockets loss to LAL in game 1 indicates deeper problems or is a one-off or fluke? Lakers looked pretty strong against Houston despite missing Luka and Reaves. Not having KD hurts Houston (as if we hadn't already won that trade as it was!). Sengun looked pretty bad and felt like he got exposed against LA. And all their exciting, athletic young guys just couldn't hit a shot or get a basket when they needed one. They had so many possessions where they struggled to get any good looks and put up ugly bricks. You can really feel their lack of a PG out there, and a general lack of floor leadership. Are they in trouble?

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Do you guys think the Rockets loss to LAL in game 1 indicates deeper problems or is a one-off or fluke? Lakers looked pretty strong against Houston despite missing Luka and Reaves. Not having KD hurts Houston (as if we hadn't already won that trade as it was!). Sengun looked pretty bad and felt like he got exposed against LA. And all their exciting, athletic young guys just couldn't hit a shot or get a basket when they needed one. They had so many possessions where they struggled to get any good looks and put up ugly bricks. You can really feel their lack of a PG out there, and a general lack of floor leadership. Are they in trouble?

I came here to talk about it as well. It wasn’t vintage LeBron for me last night, but the difference between one team playing as unit, versus a collection of talent that just got together outside the gym and sign for the local tournament as a team to fill roster requirements. We have looked as limited as them every time Booker has been out but I can’t believe that Sengun grew so dependent on Durant over just one year.

In theory, if you draft a starting 5 from the players that saw court time yesterday, besides LeBron, you could exhaust the entire Houston’s rotation before thinking about taking Smart (too old) Kennard (too slow as a defender), Rui (too inconsistent) or Ayton (too Ayton).

Even as I can’t honestly envision a LeBron-Kennard one-two punch eliminating the Rockets, I have to say that if Finals’Run Ayton (19 points on 8 of 10 shooting, 11 rebounds and THREE from 3 FT… career average is 2.3, this season he is taking 2 per game at a 64.5% career low rate) decides to show up, maybe we have a series here.

[TOO]

Kevin Durant LED teams can't win shit. I hope him and his coach out like the cockroaches they are.

[Mori Chu]

It has to be said that Ayton had a great Game 1 against Houston: 19 points on 8-10 shooting and 11 rebounds. Basically exactly what the Lakers needed. If you're a Houston fan hoping for optimism, you'd say that it is unlikely the Lakers can repeat that specific performance three more times:

- Lebron had a very impressive performance, a near triple-double, and he may not be able to keep that up;
- Luke Kennard had 27 points, which he is unlikely to be able to maintain;
- Ayton will famously now disappear for 2-3 games and give the Lakers jack squat.

I could see Houston roaring back to win Game 2, but who knows.

[Split T]

All comes down to KD…the rockets without KD aren’t beating anyone.

[Furlanfufi]

I think Durant destroyed any confidence Segun had.

[BKinSJC]

Through all the game ones: one game decided by fewer than 10 points (Rockets at Lakers, which was a 9 point LA victory.) And one game won by the road team, Orlando over Detroit. Average margin of victory on Saturday: 11 points. Average margin of victory on Sunday: 22.75 points.

Not the most competitive or thrilling first weekend.

[Mori Chu]

Wemby unanimously (!) wins the Defensive Player of the Year award.

[TOO]

As he should for probably the next 10 years.

[pickle]

Hawks take one from the Knicks.

[BKinSJC]

And Minnesota gets one in Denver.

[Mori Chu]

Suddenly both series get interesting. Knicks fans are roasting Mikal Bridges for blowing a game-winning shot attempt in that game. Mikal had only 10 points on 3-10 shooting, along with 1 rebound and 2 assists. Oof. CJ McCollum had 32 for the Hawks. This year's #1 draft pick Zaccharie Risacher got a DNP-CD; what a bust. I have hardly heard a mention of him all year except to mention that he has been disappointing.

[pickle]

He does suck. But I’d take him in a trade if it doesn’t take any real assets.

[ShelC]

Knicks fans act like losing a playoff game is the end of the world. I understand they have PTSD after the Pacers series last year but they go overboard every time. The FO overrated Mikal so he's been in the crosshairs because of what they gave up to get him. They love Brunson when he's clutch and winning them games, they hate him and call him a ballhog when he takes a bunch of shots end of game. The bigger issues are Brown's coaching and KAT's passiveness on offense. He disappears for stretches which was his rep in Minny but fans want to blame Brunson for that too.

[Superbone]

Yay! More Doris Burke on Wednesday!

Sports TV News & Updates
@TVSportsUpdates
·
45m
ESPN's NBA announcer assignments for Wednesday + this weekend

Magic-Pistons G2: Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler
Suns-Thunder G2: Dave Pasch, Doris Burke

Nuggets-Wolves G4: Breen, Jefferson, Legler
Cavs-Raptors G4: Ryan Ruocco, Jay Bilas
Spurs-Blazers G4: Pasch, Burke

[TOO]

Yay! More Doris Burke on Wednesday!

Sports TV News & Updates
@TVSportsUpdates
·
45m
ESPN's NBA announcer assignments for Wednesday + this weekend

Magic-Pistons G2: Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler
Suns-Thunder G2: Dave Pasch, Doris Burke

Nuggets-Wolves G4: Breen, Jefferson, Legler
Cavs-Raptors G4: Ryan Ruocco, Jay Bilas
Spurs-Blazers G4: Pasch, Burke

Fuck man. It's already hard enough to watch as it is.