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2025-2026 NBA Thread

#81
As a Toronto sports fan, I am loathe to cheer for any team from Philly or Boston... but in this matchup, I've gotta pull for the 76ers. Maxey is such a fun player to watch. So fast and skilled. He kills the Raptors and I can't stand it, but he is a treat to watch play against any other team. VJ Edgecombe was incredible last night too. The pace the guys play at when Embiid is out is more enjoyable.

Bummer about Wemby. I hope his head is alright.
 
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#85
BKMM said:
Raptors bully the Cavs to win convincingly in Game 3! Its not going to be a sweep thank goodness... Rookie Colin Murray-Boyles with an excellent showing
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Great team win last night for the Raps! I'd love to see them do it again in Game #4, although I expect the Cavs to enter that game with a different game plan in response to last night.

Scottie and RJ were both very good. CMB's contributions off the bench were incredible. I didn't have Battle having a perfect shooting night (four 3's!) on my Bingo card, but you love to see it. Poeltl played 18 minutes and didn't kill them. It was a quieter night for BI but at least he was not hurting the team. Shead was very active with five steals and five assists. Compare the +/- and the only Raptors in the negative were the guys who played the final minute of garbage team. Starters and main bench players were positive. All the Cavs' main guys were double digits in the negative.
 
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#86
Raps win again to tie the series 2-2! I was doing yard work and other outside jobs all day and totally missed the game 🫤 Glad they won though. And glad I got a lot of work done. Hard to believe they won a playoff game in the modern NBA while shooting 4 of 30 from 3-point range as a team! 😂 The Cavs weren't shooting a whole lot better luckily.
 
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#90
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Watched a chunk of the Magic-Pistons game last night. God, the Magic are a ridiculously young team. They played really well. Not sure how the Detroit team I'm seeing was ever a 1 seed, but there may be more going on than I'm aware of.
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The Magic are a funny team. Not really a traditional #8 seed in that I think they have enough talent to be a higher ranked team. They had some nice young players and impressed at times in the previous season. Then they traded for Bane to address their lack of 3-point shooting, and there were bigger expectations coming in to this season. I expected them to win their division (the Southeast isn't exactly a powerhouse division) and possibly be vying for a top 4 position in the Eastern conference standings. They still improved on their win total this year compared to last season, but I think most people viewed it as more of a disappointment than a success. They had some ugly stretches, struggled with injuries, seemed to lose confidence in their coaching staff towards the end. And maybe it just took some time for everybody to learn how to play together, with Bane being new to the squad. Since they kicked Charlotte's butt in the last Play-In game, they've been really impressive. I feel like the team finally is beginning to look like what the front office envisioned when they traded for Bane. Better late than never! They have some great young players so I'm happy to see it working better.

As for the Pistons... Cade needs help. Tobias Harris does his thing, which isn't bad, although he's not a very efficient scorer. Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson simply need to be better. And I think they need an upgrade on Duncan Robinson next year. When he's not hitting 3's, he's essentially giving them nothing. Their bench could use some improvements as well.

No surprise to see the Thunder complete a sweep of Phoenix last night. Credit to the Suns for playing hard and trying their best. The Thunder are just too talented and deep of a team. Now OKC can rest up and wait to see if they will be playing LA or Houston in the next round.
 
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#91
Hopefully LA-Houston goes to at least 6. The more rest and recovery OKC can get the better they'll be. Yeah, that can be said for every team this time of year. But OKC has had nagging injuries to the starters all season. And JDub will most likely be back in a couple of weeks.
 
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#94
thisheregiraffe said:
Spurs are the next team to punch their ticket to the second round.

Tonight we see if the Raps can win a game in Cleveland! It's kind of necessary if they want to win this series.
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Tonight the Lakers will be the third team in the west to move on.
No KD for the Rockets. They're done.

Last two LA-OKC games OKC won 123-87 and 139-96. Bring on the Lakers!!
 
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#96
Rockets and Pistons bought themselves another game.

The Raps had their chances to win last night in Cleveland... Their offensive possessions got pretty ugly in the latter parts of the game. A lot of trouble scoring beginning late in the 3rd quarter and through most of the 4th quarter. They did generate some decent looks from 3, which they were hitting at a nice clip in the first half... The ball wasn't going through the hoop in the 4th quarter 🫤 Losing BI after the first quarter certainly didn't help. Ah well, let's see if they can push it to seven games. Gotta win in Toronto on Friday night!

Props to the Cavs as well for showing more fight and aggression than usual. They usually seem like a pretty calm and cool bunch, but there was a different attitude last night. Schroeder was a pain off the bench as well. If they want to go on a deep run towards the Finals then I think they need to keep playing like they did in the second half last night.
 
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#97
thisheregiraffe said:
Rockets and Pistons bought themselves another game.

The Raps had their chances to win last night in Cleveland... Their offensive possessions got pretty ugly in the latter parts of the game. A lot of trouble scoring beginning late in the 3rd quarter and through most of the 4th quarter. They did generate some decent looks from 3, which they were hitting at a nice clip in the first half... The ball wasn't going through the hoop in the 4th quarter 🫤 Losing BI after the first quarter certainly didn't help. Ah well, let's see if they can push it to seven games. Gotta win in Toronto on Friday night!

Props to the Cavs as well for showing more fight and aggression than usual. They usually seem like a pretty calm and cool bunch, but there was a different attitude last night. Schroeder was a pain off the bench as well. If they want to go on a deep run towards the Finals then I think they need to keep playing like they did in the second half last night.
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Rockets game floored me. I would have bet everything on a Laker blow out. Oh well. One more game to wear the Lakers down. With luck it will go seven.
 
#99
I didn't see any of that Knicks/Hawks game. Checked the boxscore and saw the half-time score and had to do a double take! 🤣

I watched most of the Nuggets/Wolves game last night, couldn't quite stay awake until the end, but everything I did watch made it quite clear that Denver just didn't have the juice. Bummer that it was the wrong night for Jamal Murray to have a bad game. To be fair, the Wolves were defending really well and Murray wasn't getting any easy shots. But he often makes those tough shots. He just couldn't get them to go. Denver at least got solid performances from Jokic and Cam Johnson. But with the energy and tenacity the entire Wolves' team was playing with, a bit short-handed and without their star player on the court, you'd think they were the team on the verge of elimination. Denver didn't seem to have the same sense of urgency and desperation. Now I'm very curious to see if what they can do against the Spurs.
 
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#100
I also watched that Denver game. The Nuggets are accused in local sports radio of being soft, and they definitely are. Their defense is consistently weak, but their offense is normally strong enough to compensate.

Last night was a poor showing. And as much as I admire Jokic and love watching him, his defense at the top of the key was practically nonexistent. Lots of plays went right past him on his right, and he didn't make a move to stop them. I believe he played the entire second half, but turning into a swinging door doesn't win games. Murray couldn't shoot to save his life, and Aaron Gordon was out - hasn't been consistently healthy for three years. The Nuggets can't win close games without Gordon on the court, and he's not consistently there

The Nuggets appear to need a new coach and a number of new players around Jokic. Don't be surprised if changes take place.
 
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