Team that will be most missed in the postseason…
Golden State Warriors. It seems totally wrong to have a postseason without Stephen Curry, but regardless of how good he still is, that’s how the cookie crumbles when you don’t give him an adequate supporting cast. Hopefully the Warriors will take advantage of the summer to overhaul a clearly understaffed roster. CDL
Golden State Warriors. We may well have seen the end of the Big Three era. It’s going to be really weird when Klay is galloping around Chase Center in a Utah Jazz uniform and Draymond is, ahem, working out his frustrations in Detroit. AL
Memphis Grizzlies. We should watch the newly acquired Marcus Smart transform Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr and company into a group capable of going deeper into the playoffs. Instead, we’ve had an endless series of injuries: Last week, Memphis listed 13 players for the game against the Lakers, which seems nearly impossible. Morant, fresh off suspension, led the Grizzlies to a 6-3 record before suffering a season-ending injury. Smart only played 20 games, Bane 42. It’s a shame not to see what kind of chaos this core could have caused. Wait until next season. DL
St. Anthony’s incentive. But that’s not really because of his team. It’s because of Victor Wembanyama. He’s the most exciting player missing this postseason and this might be the only time in his career he’ll sit out. The 7-foot-4-inch Frenchman is on the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and Third Team list despite the Spurs winning just 22 games. He is one foreigner. JU
High seed at risk of leaving early
O Minnesota Timberwolves had a truly impressive season, and Anthony Edwards will clearly be at the top of the league’s star rankings for years to come. But they drew a worst-case scenario first-round opponent, the Phoenix Suns — a high-octane offense powered by All-Star veterans with plenty of postseason experience. CDL
Oklahoma City Thunder. They face the Sacramento Kings, who have already ended the Warriors dynasty and split the season series with OKC this year. What’s more, the Kings are still worried about last year’s first-round exit, and Domantas Sabonis has played like a man on a mission. AL
Minnesota Timberwolves. Karl-Anthony Towns never reached the second round of the playoffs. Will this year be different? It better be: The series that Towns considers the most important of his career comes after the Timberwolves’ best regular season since Kevin Garnett led Minny to the conference finals in 2004. So yes, expectations are high, but their opponents aren’t. are a common sixth seed. Phoenix, with Kevin Durant the healthiest in years, beat the Wolves 3-0 this season, in which Devin Booker was his usual All-Star self, playing alongside a tweaked roster better suited to reaching the Finals. The bookies aren’t buying it: Minnesota is a slight underdog despite the seeds and will surprise few if it comes out early, again. DL
Milwaukee Bucks. With Giannis Antetokounmpo injured and about to miss a few games, Milwaukee, a team that has been failing, could be eliminated by the Indiana Pacers, who have beaten them multiple times this season. Damian Lillard has carried the Bucks at times, but has also looked less than his share this year. While the inexperienced Thunder and Timberwolves could get there early, the Bucks could actually get swept. JU
Remote chance of winning
I don’t know how much of a consideration a team with a star who will likely finish second in this year’s MVP voting can be, but the Dallas Mavericks are my favorites to upset the venerable Denver Nuggets and get out of the West. Luka Doncic has never been better, he and Kyrie Irving have sorted out their chemistry, the Mavericks’ trade deadline moves have been sensational, and they are firing on all cylinders at the perfect time. CDL
Philadelphia 76ers. If they can overcome the New York Knicks, who, let’s be fair, haven’t exactly overcome their playoff demons, the conference seed will be the Sixers’ oyster. AL
When you’re the second seed, you shouldn’t have a remote chance at 40-1, but the New York Knicks they are just that. Knicks fans first point to NBA point guard Jalen Brunson as the main reason their team could compete for the title. The fact that New York is 20-3 when OG Anunoby is on the court, and just a .500 team while he was out, might be a better reason to believe the Knicks could win their first ring since 1973. The key to this turnaround is keeping the oft-injured British forward out of the coach’s room and on the court, a challenge amid the physicality of playoff basketball. DL
Earlier this year, in our “bold predictions”, I said that a debuting team could win the championship this season. So I’m going to stick with this and say what Los Angeles Clippers, a four-seed, could hold on. In fact, I think the winner of Clippers-Mavericks will reach the Western Conference Finals and face Denver. JU
Most important player this postseason
Jimmy Butler is lame, Joel Embiid still doesn’t look right, and while the Knicks look formidable, they’re still missing a star and a half in Julius Randle and a sub-fully healthy Anunoby. The stars are aligning for the Boston Celtics to finally get over the hump, pending one thing: Jayson Tatum finally slay your postseason demons and look as good in the later rounds as you did during the regular season? Can he become unstoppable in the clutch? Tatum is the key to the Celtics. CDL
Joel Embiid. The reigning MVP proved the haters right by twisting his knee when Philly opened the playoffs against Boston last year. And behold, he is wounded again. If the Sixers falter again, there will be more than a few fans ready to move forward in this “process” – if they haven’t already. AL
We often ask ourselves, “What if Kyrie Irving Could you just keep your head down and play Hall of Fame basketball, wouldn’t that be awesome? And so it was in 2023-2024, when Irving finally shared less of his less endearing personality off the court, he stayed out of the NBA doghouse while thriving in Dallas alongside Doncic. All Kyrie needs to do to be vital to his team is be present, which he did for 58 games, while answering all the questions about whether he and Doncic could play together. Now Irving is poised to be the difference-maker for Dallas against a Clippers team that eliminated Luka’s Mavs from the playoffs twice. DL
It’s a long list, from rookie Chet Holmgren to Anthony Edwards, Doncic, Giannis, Nikola Jokić and Kristaps Porziņģis. But the answer is Jalen Brunson. If he heats up, the Knicks could reach the Eastern Conference Finals and challenge the Boston Celtics. JU
Western Conference Finals
Nuggets about Mavericks. CDL
Nuggets about thunder. AL
Timberwolves over Mavericks. DL
Nuggets about Mavericks. JU
Eastern Conference Finals
Celtics over Knicks. CDL
Celtics over Bucks. AL
Knicks over Magic. DL
Celtics over Knicks. JU
Your NBA champion will be …
Denver Nuggets. The biggest challenges the Nuggets will face will come long before they reach the Finals, if they make it there. The West is an absolute Gauntlet this season, much more difficult than the one they went through last year. Denver will have to kill off a healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis, followed by a huge, tough Timberwolves team or Durant and Booker with a better supporting cast than last year, and potentially Doncic and Irving and a red-hot Mavericks. Yes, the Celtics had a sensational regular season and will theoretically be better rested due to a much easier path to the Finals than Denver, but beating the best of the best gives me more confidence in the team, and the Celtics simply won’t have to. I have the Nuggets in Game 7. CDL
Denver Nuggets. Boston tries and tries – and be clear: the preseason trade for Holiday was at least successful in getting them back to the Finals. But at the end of the day, no one beats Wiz – and by that I mean the seven-foot Serbian whose game and supporting cast remain head and shoulders above the rest. AL
New York Knicks. The league is so wide open that the Knicks will win what I will call a “title of opportunity.” There will be plenty of surprises when the bigs collapse, allowing the Knicks to breeze through an open championship window, winning their first ring since the Nixon administration. Few would look at their lineup and say, “that’s a championship team,” but with a little help, a lot of hustle, and the teamwork that has made New York so resilient this season, it’s more than possible that Broadway will host one of the most unlikely ticker tape parades in New York history. And yes, I know I said the Wolves are in danger of being eliminated early, but if they can survive the first round, I like them to gain momentum and reach the final. DL
Boston Celts. This may come back to haunt me, but it also feels like their year. They won 64 regular season games, while the next best total was 57. While I would pick Denver in a vacuum, they seemed a half step slow and played a lot of games last year. Boston is younger, fresher and perhaps hungrier. If Tatum can avoid wilting late in games and if Jaylen Brown can take care of the ball, they he must to win. But Boston needs to take this, something they have avoided doing since the Garnett era. Boston over Denver in seven. JU
