Star power isn’t there but there are some excellent narratives. Potential Tatum revenge series vs Knicks, Pistons and Cavs both trying to prove how real their success really is, red-hot Hornets and Hawks trying to pull off big upsets in the first round

East is much better than in recent years. Pistons as 1 seed, Celtics with Tatum healthy, and even watching the Hawks and Hornets surging into playoffs.

As usual

In the last 2 years the eastern conference is 7-5 vs the west in the finals

Unless Lebron starts playing like he’s 25 again Luka is probably done for the year brother.

Bron co stars are about to be Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura for the first round… Luka is done lmao

They haven’t said it outright, but I think it’s likely he is. 

Might be a first round knockout if he isn’t back by then + no Reaves.

If they don’t make it out of RD1 he is

Beat the Nuggets 2–1 in the year and probably would’ve finished higher in the standings but yeah sure they weren’t a threat.

Cause then either one of us or the Spurs takes the other one out and OKC plays the winner in the WCF

Two biggest threats are Nuggets and Spurs, and If they finish 2 and 3 they will have to take each other out before playing us

OKC would only need to play one of the nuggets or the spurs

I’d imagine neither nugget fans nor thunder fans want to see each other in the semis. Thunder players are on record saying playing the Nuggets was the hardest series for them all playoffs

We go from facing the Nuggets r2 to facing either the Rockets or the Lakers. Nuggets and Spurs also take lumps out of each other before the WCF.

Our path to the final becomes like twice as easy and I genuinely think that our title odds would increase by a noticeable amount if you swapped the Lakers and Nuggets.

If we get past the 1st round, we won’t meet them in the second round. They’ll have a bloodbath against the Spurs, instead. No disrespect to any of the remaining teams, but those two are a tier above. Them tiring each other out and eliminating one of them is the best case scenario for us.

OKC gets a bye straight to the conference finals before they have to be tested at all

it’s a compliment, the ²⁄₃ seeds are outside of okc’s bracket til the west finals.

Because we see Denver and San Antonio as the major threats in the playoffs, and we very much would like them to be on the same side of the bracket.

Because there’s a chance the one seed is guaranteed to play what’s left of the Lakers/Rockets.

Because then the Nuggets and Spurs have to play each other before they get to play OKC in the WCF.

Cause both the Spurs and Nuggets can smack the Thunder.

It would be very on brand for us to play a competitive game when your best players are out. See Detroit game

Lakers vs OKC Blue would likely give a more fun game to watch. XD

I’m joking, but yeah… OKC is getting healthy AT THE END OF THE SEASON, and they have/had the toughest remaining schedule. So they get to work out any kinks against the strongest competition, while also getting really valuable minutes to their guys that have been out most of the season…

Isn’t that literally the recipe that they went into last playoffs with? Chet missed 50 games, IHart was out so often JDub was filling in minutes at the 5, and SGA started to really ramp up his production to make up for their missed time on the court. Has OKC just figured out the league so well they’ve produced a similar result to their path to the playoffs last year? Or is it really just coincidental to how the league shaped out both years?

Surely the Lakers can’t be blown out by 40+ in two consecutive games right?

proceeds to get blown out by 40+ again

Do you think they can stay 3rd seed and beat Mavs, Jazz and Warriors? It’s possible. Curious what Lakers fans are thinking

With the way this season has gone, your best bet is not to face the Spurs at all. While we’re just hoping Nuggets can stay healthy

I think I do want OKC to face both back to back, if they win out? They’re undisputed as the best team in the league. If they lose? It was an insanely tough set of series matchups that any other team probably loses to as well. Kind of a win/win scenario for the OKC narrative.

However, I don’t think any team has a strong chance in a series against OKC. I know the Spurs had their number, but that was 4 months ago when OKC was on the tail end of their historic start to the season. It might’ve just been a case of running into the first extremely strong team during that stretch, being the Spurs. And the lighter schedule they had faced up until them had given them a false feel for the amount of competition the Spurs were going to bring.

I don’t personally believe that, I think a couple of those Spurs games were a bit high on the 3pt variability, at the same time OKC’s 3pt variance was on the lower end for them. (If you look at the matchups, Spurs shot some of the best from 3 for the entire season, and OKC shot some of their worst from 3 for the entire season, so if you try to find the mean, it would indicate that OKC looked weaker than they generally are, and Spurs looked stronger than they generally are, which might indicate a different looking series if they matched up in consecutive games, like in the playoffs)

Now, none of that is to say that I believe Spurs are not a good team, or a great team, or even a top 3 team in the league. I genuinely think they are in exactly the same spot OKC was in in 23’-24’ and a lot of what I’ve said comes from just how young and up-n-coming they are. After this season is over, a lot more will be understood about their true strength, as we can expect them to continue to improve. (barring any major injuries, which can derail any team, and I pray to any god that will listen that it doesn’t happen to them)

I see this decade of Basketball ending on a huuuuuuge upswing as the old guard of KD/Harden/Kawhi/Lebron/Curry/Lillard, is fully transitioned to SGA/Luka/Wemby/Jokic/Cade/Maxey/Tatum/Haliburton.

dropping to the 4th seed and playing the rox is not a bad way to end up. LA still plays utah/dallas which could be wins and 3 potential/prolly loses to suns, okc and warriors. Thats ⁵²⁄₃₀.

The Nuggets might get that 3rd seed and be 53-29 and have to play minny.

The west is tough there’s no definite way for OKC to “walk” into the WCF

For the exact opposite reason Rockets fans are delighted

Its not ant I’m worried about tbh, its Jaden. I have no doubt ant will just force himself to form for the playoffs, but without Jaden to guard Murray you’d 4-1 us in the first round

Would still require Denver to lose a game.

with no Luka or AR that has to be impossible, that team has no depth

And Nuggets have to play, uh, Blazers, Grizzlies, Thunder, and then Spurs again.

Yea hopefully it’s a great playoffs trying to see good playoff games

The other issue is how you get OKC.

Like, if you play OKC in round 1 after they play the 8-seed (probably LAC or Phoenix or Golden State) and you play Houston (probably won in 5-6 games), vs playing them in the WCF after a war against SA (and they likely breezed through Houston)

I mean I know you guys have been kinda inconsistent but I can’t see a way the Lebron-only lakers take you more than 5 games. I see you guys and the Nuggets as pretty evenly matched so ultimately I’d rather just know at least our second round opponent has had a challange (also if it makes you feel any better, in the Spurs sub people talk about Ant like he’s the boogeyman, a lot of us really don’t want to see you guys lol)