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Game 1 of an NBA playoff series is a tricky spot for prop bettors. And that’s what we have tonight, with the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks tossing up the ball on their Round 2 set.

In the postseason, team tactics change game-to-game, and bettors who can get ahead of those adjustments can find value in the player props. But in series openers, there’s an aura of mystery around each team’s approach.

With regular-season meetings and carryover from the previous series swaying the market, the Game 1 unknowns level the playing field between bookies and bettors. Hopefully, we can take advantage of it.

Here are my best NBA picks and prop predictions for our 76ers vs. Knicks predictions on Monday, May 4.

Best 76ers vs Knicks props for Game 1

Player	Pick
Joel Embiid	Under 9.5 rebounds	-135
Mikal Bridges	Over 1.5 threes	+130
Josh Hart	Over 4.5 assists	-112

Game 1 Prop #1: Joel Embiid Under 9.5 rebounds

-135 at bet365

Joel Embiid's return was the turning point in the Philadelphia 76ers' series win over the Celtics, specifically on defense.

Embiid played drop coverage on screen action and plugged up the paint, allowing his teammates to put pressure on the perimeter with little threat from Boston’s bigs from outside.

Against the New York Knicks, however, Embiid matches up with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, who are comfortable playing away from the paint and can stretch the floor. The Knicks are running Towns as a point forward out of the high post, and Hart has an active engine on offense.

While Embiid was a beast on the boards vs. Boston, recording double figures in three of four games, he won’t be in the primary rebounding position in this Round 2 series. And with a sore hip (plus bum knees and a recent appendectomy) along with a quick turnaround to travel to MSG, Embiid’s mobility won't be great in Game 1. 

Player projections sit between 7.2 and 11.5, but most models are short of nine rebounds, with my number at 8.6 boards from Philly’s big.

Game 1 Prop #2: Mikal Bridges Over 1.5 made threes

+130 at bet365

No one caught more flak in the first round than Mikal Bridges.

New York’s shooting guard was MIA for most of the series with Atlanta, scoring 11 or less in the first five games before suddenly showing up with 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting in Game 6. That includes a 2-for-2 mark from beyond the arc.

Bridges, who shot just 6-for-17 from 3-point range in Round 1, brings that momentum in this matchup with Philadelphia. 

The 76ers did a great job clamping down on Boston’s studs from outside, and while the Celtics struggled from distance, it wasn’t all Philly’s doing. Almost 83% of Boston’s 3-point attempts came without a defender within at least four feet, as the C’s just whiffed on open looks.

Philadelphia presents a tougher interior defense than the smaller Hawks, which will push New York to the perimeter and force the Knicks to fire up from deep. Bridges, who shot less than three triples per game in Round 1, averages more than five 3-point attempts per home game on the year.

Player forecasts range between 1.4 and 1.9 makes for Bridges, with the bulk of models short of two triples. But this is a bet I’m willing to go against the grain with, given the matchup and plus-money return.

Game 1 Prop #3: Josh Hart Over 4.5 assists

-112 at bet365

As mentioned above, Hart could draw Embiid as his primary defender should the 76ers opt to throw smaller forwards at Towns. 

Hart is very active on offense and isn’t afraid to mix it up in the paint, but he won't find a clean look at the rim with the Sixers’ 7-footer shadowing him. 

New York will try to draw Embiid out, and Hart will be a conduit for spot-up shooters or cutters to the rim. He dished out five or more assists in the first three games against Atlanta and finished the series averaging 4.3 assists on 5.5 potential dimes.

In three regular-season matchups with Philadelphia, Hart enjoyed some of his best passing performances. He recorded six, seven, and nine helpers in those outings. His projections for Game 1 bounce between 4.6 and 5.4 assists, with my number at five dimes tonight.

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The playoffs are officially lit, and our beloved Knickerbockers just mostly demolished the Atlanta Hawks on their way to the second round. Can they keep it rolling? Will the vibes stay electric deep into June? As usual, the Posting & Toasting crew has squeezed back around the round(ball) table to cut through the noise and tackle the juiciest questions surrounding New York’s second-round showdown with a hungry, rising Philadelphia 76ers squad. Our panel of basketball geniuses tackled the following questions:

How many games will the Knicks-76ers series last, and who advances?

Antonio: Six. I preferred the Celtics to the Sixers in the second round, so I don’t expect it to be easy, let alone after what the Hawks did to the Knicks early, as little as that means at this point. Embiid is going to have one game where KAT can’t handle him, struggles with fouling, and gives Philly enough. And I just don’t believe Maxey/Edgecombe/George won’t combine for at least one strong game, making that two wins for the Sixers.

Miranda: Five. Joel Embiid is in the middle of a stretch of playing one playoff game every other day for at least two weeks. You get a flat tire, a donut can get you to the next rest stop, but push it beyond that and it’s gonna pop.

Zeno: I actually think the Knicks matched up better with the Celtics, should they have advanced, but there are still plenty of reasons to believe that the Knicks will prevail. Atlanta pushed the Knicks to six games, but it was perhaps the least competitive six-game series ever. This one will also go six, and the good guys come out on top, but it’ll look a lot like the 2024 clash that sent heart palpitations across the entire Northeast.

Kento: Like the first round, this series will go six games. But unlike the first round, there won’t be that many blowouts. The 76ers aren’t your traditional seventh seed. They have two players in Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey, who are All-NBA level talents, have Paul George, who is still a very capable player, especially as a third option, and rookie standout VJ Edgecombe has given this team some much needed youth, and athleticism. That being said, the Knicks have rebounding, depth, rest, and home-court advantage on their side.

Polaniecki: Sticking with Knicks in six again. However, all six are going to be dog-fights until the final buzzer. We should be in for a very fun week-and-a-half of Knicks basketball that will have us screaming and cursing back and for the a whole lot.

Beyond Jalen Brunson, who is the most important Knick in this matchup?

Antonio: Given what percolated through the first round, there’s no answer to this question other than Towns. The Knicks flipped a switch, turned KAT into an uber-hub, and he didn’t even have to score more than 10 points to still look delightful and do whatever he pleased. Now, for the important and more concerning/why-he’s-key part: It’s Embiid in front of him, and that doesn’t only mean talent, but also dealing with shithousery. This feels like the ultimate test for KAT and his easy-whistle tendencies.

Miranda: Karl-Anthony Towns. The last thing Embiid or the Sixer defense wants is Embiid away from the hoop. Their leading shot-blocker was Adem Bona, which sounds like a punchline. Number two in rejections? Maxey. Philadelphia bossed Boston in Game 7 because the Celtics have no real centers. The Knicks have two. If they guard Towns with someone else, he can shoot and see over the top of them. If they try Embiid . . . good luck.

Zeno: This one isn’t as cut and dry as Atlanta. I’ll go with Mitchell Robinson. He’ll surely be motivated after how things went in 2024, and he might be the Knicks’ best option to guard Joel Embiid. After a series where the Knicks didn’t use him much due to the way they used Towns and an inconsistent double big lineup, he should get serious run in this one.

Kento: Josh Hart. Philadelphia has two options. Put Joel Embiid on Karl-Anthony Towns, and allow the Knicks to play the offense they want to, or put Embiid on Hart, and try to limit Towns’ effectiveness. If they, after having seen the big man’s dominance in the first round, go the latter route, that will mean Hart will be forced to make plays either via the jump shot, or by attacking a physically compromised Embiid. Hart shot the lights out from three when these two teams met up in the playoffs last season, and if he can even come close to repeating that, New York will have a much easier time beating Philadelphia.

Polaniecki: Mitchell Robinson. His minutes off the bench are going to be huge, especially on the defensive end, and his timing matters just as much as the minutes themselves. If the Knicks get pulled into a Hack-a-Mitch situation and he can’t convert at the line, it limits how much they can keep him on Joel Embiid, which then puts more of that burden on Karl-Anthony Towns.

There’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind experimenting with Mikal Bridges coming off the bench, sliding Josh Hart and OG Anunoby from the 3 and 4 down to the 2 and 3 to create more chances to keep Robinson on the floor when they’re not in the foul limit.

What must New York do to win this series?

Antonio: Play Josh Hart for 48 minutes and teach Philly what’s the real meaning of gritty. Also, don’t trust Paul George’s old rearend and leave him alone all day. Dude can still put it in with gusto, and the Sixers have an underrated four-man unit.

Miranda: Don’t get in any benches-clearing brawls. Win one of the first two games in Philly. Make. Their. Free. Throws.

Zeno: Limit Tyrese Maxey any way possible. With Embiid’s injury history, they’ll lean on Maxey to initiate offense, and he’s capable of winning a game on his own the same way Brunson is. The initial matchup should be Mikal Bridges, but he should also see a lot of Deuce McBride. He’s much more dynamic than CJ McCollum, but the strategy of showing him a lot of different bodies and looks could be effective.

Kento: Win by committee. The 76ers top two stars presents some difficult challenges for the Knicks. Embiid will get his. Mitchell Robinson may be able to slow him down more than anybody else in the league, but it’s not like the Knicks are going to get 40 minutes of Robinson holding Embiid to 15 points. Tyrese Maxey will likely also get his. He’s become one of the league’s premier guards, and we’ve seen just how dominant he can be, especially against a Knicks defense that isn’t particularly well-equipped to handle him. Jalen Brunson, and Towns may not outscore those two, but if they can get a balanced offensive effort from those two, as well as OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Deuce McBride, and Jordan Clarkson, they should have enough firepower to withstand Philly’s big two.

Polaniecki: Control the pace and stay out of early foul trouble. Stick with what worked in the second half of the series against the Hawks, but let the offense run through Karl-Anthony Towns. They also have to avoid early fouls, because that will cut into Mitchell Robinson’s minutes.

What concerns you most about the Knicks entering Round 2?

Antonio: Said it above, kinda. The Sixers have a very vivid memory of what happened the last time these two met. They have had a few good years for Embiid to teach their kids his tricks. And we all know what will happen in at least one, likely two games when things will inevitably go extracurricular. Starting 2-1 to Atlanta was manageable. Falling one game behind Philly (I’d concede not counting Game 1) could be hella dangerous territory, and the team might reach that point hella unsettled by the Sixers’ tactics. Not saying these Knicks are “soft” anymore, but I always have this fear they’ll suffer a mental short circuit if such a scenario comes to fruition.

Miranda: As great as the Knicks are at center, they’re also kinda thin. Between KAT’s gift for fouling and Mitch’s shall we say “fluid durability,” New York is only a dumb foul or a turned ankle away from needing Ariel Hukporti out on the floor. If at any point in this series the Knicks “need” Hukporti, uh-oh. Not ‘cuz I’m down on Huk. Just ‘cuz Embiid is one of one.

Zeno: Their tendency to lose focus. They played well enough to sweep the Hawks, but got lulled into a six-game series after taking their foot off the gas in Game 2 and crumbled late in both Games 2 and 3 after leading late. We’ve seen just how good they are when every man on the roster is dialed in, but can they keep that focus 24/7?

Kento: Tyrese Maxey is the easy answer. Not only is he really good, as I mentioned above, the Knicks just don’t really have a great answer for him. And to be honest, right now, not many teams do. But if I was to give a less popular answer, it would likely be VJ Edgecombe. The rookie has been among the best to defend Brunson during the regular season. I do believe in Brunson during the postseason, but Edgecombe won’t make it easy for the captain.

Polaniecki: Going back to how they played against the Hawks through the first three games, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns need to reestablish that old-school point guard–big man connection we saw in the second half of that series, where the offense flows through Towns instead of defaulting to Brunson pounding the ball until the final seconds of the shot clock every possession.

What gives you the most confidence about New York after the Round 1 victory?

Antonio: After 88 games, it looks like the Knicks know who they are and how to unlock their best version. Took them a minute, and it’s not that they will win every game by 80 points after the slaughter in Atlanta, but if they can carry the momentum into one or two wins to start this series, I see no way they end up collapsing. Also, if you are brave enough, check Philadelphia’s 6-through-14 players, then have the audacity to tell me that the bench unit can beat any Knicks five-man squad.

Miranda: Their adjustments. Last year, we watched them struggle all year against elite teams refusing to switch, then against the Celtics they did something different, and it worked. This year Towns struggled notably (and publicly) about finding his place in Mike Brown’s offense. Against Atlanta, it looked like KAT might’ve been playing rope-a-dope with the fans and the media. Seeing an offense that went beyond “Jalen, save us” is extremely encouraging.

Zeno: The depth disparity. The Knicks trust nine guys in their rotation fully, and will probably use a 10th in Landry Shamet at some point. The Sixers are legitimately running a 6.5-man rotation, only leaning on Quentin Grimes and sometimes Andre Drummond off the bench. Maxey, George, and Embiid will be on the floor so much that the condensed schedule could wear out Philly early.

Kento: Depth. The 76ers have one bench player they really trust, and that’s Quentin Grimes. I’m convinced that if Embiid could give them 48 minutes, Andre Drummond, their only other rotational player, wouldn’t even play. The 76ers come into game one having just played a physically, and emotionally draining game seven against a conference rival, and will do so on less than 48 hours rest, while the Knicks have had three full days to rest up. New York has more depth, and more rest, and the longer this series go, the less I faith I have in a 36 year-old Paul George, and a banged up Embiid to physically hold up.

Polaniecki: They’re so close they can taste it. Of the remaining 4 teams in the East, the Knicks are the best, and the know it too. They just need to avoid an upset at this point to get the Finals for the first time since 1999.

Tip-off time can’t come soon enough.

But hey, it’s just less than 10 hours away, so hang in there.

Here’s the latest ahead of Game 1 tonight.

https://x.com/i/status/2051131319984234549

Mike Brown

On OG Anunoby’s defensive versatility:

“OG is just unique and special. He gives us, like Josh, the ability to throw different defenses at our opponents. He can guard [all five positions], and we always try to mix it up with him. He did that the last series guarding [Hawks center Onyeka] Okongwu at times, and we’ll continue to try to do it going forward. So wherever we need to adjust, no matter who he’s guarding, at this point in the season, we have a pretty good feel of what we need to do to shore up this area, shore up that area or help him when he’s guarding this point guard or guarding this center.”

On the 76ers’ guards posing problems:

“They’re athletic, quick, dynamic, explosive. They can score from all three levels. They can play the pick-and-roll, they can get out and finish in transition. Maxey is the No. 1 guy in transition in the league. They pose a big problem for us with them on defense.

“They’re really good in passing lanes. Great anticipation, long arms, quick, explosive, great at all those things, which equates to a lot of turnovers for teams. Their guards can give anybody a handful of problems on both ends of the floor.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s importance this series:

“[Robinson] can be big [for us]. Mitch is unique, so no matter who we play, Mitch is extremely important to what we’re trying to do — the way he offensive-rebounds, the way he’s a vertical threat in the pick-and-roll game, the way he protects the rim, his versatility guarding — he can switch onto some ones and some twos. He can’t guard those guys whole possessions, but he can switch onto those guys and make it tough. All that stuff is extremely important for us this series or no matter who we play, so we need him to bring it at a high level, as well as everyone else.”

Jalen Brunson

On building from first-round lessons:

“When you go through a playoff series and you find a way to win, you’re moving on, you see where you’re pushed. You see where you have to get better. You build off that. I think we found a way to build off the two losses that we had. Even going back to Game 1 (of the Hawks series), the way we finished that fourth quarter was how we lost Game 2. When you lose, it’s all about how you evolve and adjust to get better.”

Josh Hart

On Knicks fans traveling to Philadelphia:

“I expect it to be similar, because Knicks fans travel. They’re probably the best fans in the NBA in terms of traveling and going to games. It might be cheaper to do that than go to the Garden. They love New York Knick basketball, they’re passionate about it, and we love it. We need them to come out and support.”

“Knicks fans travel. They are probably the best fans in the NBA in terms of traveling and going to games. Might be cheaper to do that than to go to the Garden. That’s our fans. They love New York and basketball and are passionate about it. We need them to come out and support home games, but obviously on the road.”

On New Yorkers’ persistence:

“Good thing about New Yorkers, man, they’re persistent. They don’t care, bro. They’re going to do it, man. And for a lot of people, everything revolves around money. So, you know, if they get a good price for those tickets, they’re going to sell them, and New Yorkers are passionate about the Knicks and they’re going to come out and show love.”

“Good things about New Yorkers, they are persistent. They are going to do it, man. For a lot of people, everything revolves around money. If they have the tickets, they are going to sell them. New Yorkers are passionate about the Knicks. They are going to come out and show up.”

On how to stop Tyrese Maxey:

“Probably just asking Tyrese to slow down a little bit. That’d be nice. The style defensively is gonna be totally different. CJ, he doesn’t have that quick acceleration at his old age, so you can be a little bit more physical with him. He’s an Unc. Tyrese and Edgecombe, they’re on the young side. They’re quick, they’re explosive, so there’s definitely a different style of defense. Gonna tell them to slow down a little bit so I can get my hands on them and be physical. It’s a fun matchup.”

On first-round wins meaning nothing:

“Not a damn thing, ‘cause that’s not the goal. The goal isn’t to advance through one series or two series. That’s not a goal that we have individuals or as a team. So to be honest, that’s pretty irrelevant. We’ve gotta make sure do what we’re supposed to do and we focus on advancing through this series. Down the road, hopefully we can appreciate that stat but as of right now it’s pretty irrelevant.”

Mitchell Robinson

On the NBA’s reprimand for his post after the Game 6 ejection:

“Honestly, I forgot. I wasn’t paying attention.”

On Joel Embiid ‘dirty player’ talk:

“No, I don’t. I really don’t live in the past. It is what it is. I just move on.”

Nick Nurse

On scouting the Knicks after eliminating Boston:

“What did we go 2-2 against [the Knicks]? Nobody could win at home? Yeah we’ve played them a lot. It seems like it’s been a while now, though, this season. I mean, listen: I think they’re very good. I think their starting lineup is incredible. I think they’ve continued to bolster their bench. I think they can play in a variety of ways: They can play one-big, two bigs. Brunson’s obviously a big problem. The rebounding’s a big problem. [They’re] a much bigger team in general all-around than [the Celtics]. I think they’re very, very good, and it’s gonna be a tremendous challenge.”

Hours after losing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the Orlando Magic have fired head coach Jamahl Mosley.

And you can fire up those Dusty May rumors … now.

Despite entering the NBA Playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, Mosley and the Magic built a 3-1 series lead over the No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons. But Orlando blew that series lead in historic fashion, collapsing in Game 6 after building a 24-point advantage early in the game. Over the final 23 minutes, the Magic were outscored 55-17, and outscored 31-8 in the fourth quarter alone.

The collapse was completed on Sunday, as the Pistons rolled to a 116-94 victory to complete their comeback from a 3-1 series deficit.

Now Mosley is out, and early reports indicate Orlando is focusing on Michigan head coach Dusty May. According to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein, “[l]eague sources say that the Magic are admirers of Michigan’s Dusty May and would have a level of interest if he were indeed available.”

There are, however, some significant potential hurdles. First, as Stein notes, is the notion that the “expectation at this point in the college game is that May will stay” at Michigan, who knocked off Connecticut for the national championship. In addition, the Magic could have some potential rivals for May’s services, as there are other jobs available in the NBA. New Orleans, Portland, and Chicago all have open spots, and the NBA world is waiting on a decision from Steve Kerr, who could step away from Golden State.

Then, of course, there is this question: Does May even have NBA aspirations, after winning a title at Michigan?

May led Michigan on a romp through March Madness to win the program’s first national championship since 1989. The Wolverines are expected to lose Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara, and Morez Johnson to the 2026 NBA Draft, where all three are projected as top-20 picks. Only Johnson could return. Michigan already has an impressive transfer portal haul lined up, but it’s going to be a completely new team, which is par for the course in this era of college hoops.

May reportedly won’t sign a contract extension at Michigan until July. Is Michigan a better job than the Magic at this point? It feels that way coming off the national championship run, but the NBA will always have allure.

If the Magic can’t land May, expect former Bulls coach Billy Donovan to also draw interest.

As this season played out, most Sixers fans were probably unmoved or even disappointed with head coach Nick Nurse.  The ones that were unmoved were probably set in their ways that the team was stuck in a holding pattern, waiting out the big contracts of Joel Embiid and Paul George and there wasn’t much the head coach could do. While the calls for Nurse’s firing were never overly loud, the growing amount of skepticism amongst the fanbase that Nurse could pull the Sixers out of the rut of mediocrity they had fallen into were enough of an indictment.

Had the Sixers fallen in the first round to Boston, it would have been three straight years without winning a playoff round for the franchise. A team that was known for second-round exits was on the cusp of not even getting to the second round with regularity and fading back into NBA purgatory. That’s the same spot they were in back when they lost to Boston 14 years ago in the second round. Say what you want about the last 8-10 years of Sixers basketball, they’ve at least been nationally relevant and worth talking about come May. They just haven’t done a lot of winning in May. Armed with a fully healthy rotation by the time Embiid returned last weekend against Boston, it was up to Nurse to maximize his roster and at least see if his team could strike some fear into the Celtics, if not win the series.

By the time the series was over, there wasn’t much doubt as to who the better team was. Sure, Jayson Tatum didn’t play in Game 7, but the Sixers thoroughly outplayed the Celtics in their three wins in the series prior to Saturday night. They led most of the way on Saturday and withstood every push the Celtics made to steal the game. You don’t win three games on the road in a best-of-seven playoff series as the lower seed by accident. The narrative had flipped completely from Game 1 to Game 7 as the Sixers went from heavy underdogs to just flat-out better than the Celtics. It was a shocking twist that can mostly be attributed to Nurse coaching circles around Joe Mazzulla.

A lot of people will tell you that basketball is the sport in which coaching matters the least. You can only have five players on the court at one time and often times the team with more talent is the one that prevails. While there is merit to that, it shouldn’t diminish the amount of credit owed to Nurse for Philly’s surprising rally from 3-1 down against the Celtics.

Development of young players and maximizing the usage of role players are often times two things a coach in any sport can score some points with his fans over. VJ Edgecombe looked timid in Philadelphia’s blowout loss at home in Game 4. The rookie was anything but those two adjectives for the rest of the series. He scored in double figures in all three of the final three games in the series. His field goal attempts increased in each game as did his three-point attempts. He rebounded well for a guard for the entire series. The rookie was playing with a lot of confidence as the series reached its conclusion and contributing immensely on both ends of the floor. Edgecombe had a +19 rating in Game 7, making him the team leader in the +/- department in the series-clinching win.

It’s fair to still have questions about Philadelphia’s bench after the series win. But the Sixers might have bowed out in five games had it not been for an outstanding Game 5 from Quentin Grimes as a reserve. Andre Drummond didn’t stuff the stat sheet, but for the first time in a playoff series it didn’t feel like the minutes without Embiid on the floor were a nightly sweat. If you do want to look at the statistical performances of Drummond, be sure to circle his 26 minutes with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, eight rebounds and +12 rating off the bench in the Game 2 victory before Embiid returned. Philly might not be the deepest team left in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, but if Nurse can hit the right buttons out of the ones he does have to push, the Sixers can be successful with a shorter rotation.

Another key for Philadelphia in the first round was Paul George deciding to turn back the clock. It is possible that the 25-game suspension George served allowed the veteran wing player to recharge a bit and he came back with a renewed focus that resulted in him locking in on basketball in ways we’ve never seen him do in a Sixers uniform. However, a veteran like George, who’s played on teams in both Los Angeles and Indiana that went to the conference finals, might not have recommitted himself to this Sixers team if he didn’t think they were capable of a deep playoff run. Nurse has cultivated an environment of cohesion that has resulted in a more connected Sixers team. That has made it easier for everyone to buy into what their roles are. At least some of that culture has to be responsible for George’s recent uptick in production.

With all of this said, we must still acknowledge the obvious that Embiid was the best player in the series. The big man became the first player in NBA history to score at least 100 points in a playoff series he did not play the first three games of. Of course, you need talent to win in any sport. But Nurse has raised the ceiling of his roster in the blink of an eye. A world once existed in which Nurse was the fall guy for problems that could primarily be attributed to Daryl Morey and Elton Brand. That world no longer exists. Nurse has exceeded all of our expectations this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliersemerged from the rock fight against the Toronto Raptors. It was far from the prettiest series on the first-round slate. The number of times I thought this team was dead in the water was more than two hands can count.

After RJ Barrett’s moonshot homage to Kawhi Leonard, it seemed like this Cavaliers team was bound to also pay homage to previous iterations of the franchise’s past and fold in Game 7. However, just when it looked like the Cavaliers were going to succumb to the pressure, they came out in the second half led by Jarrett Allen and others to show that this Cavs team will not be lumped together with those shortcomings of years prior.

Allen and the Cavaliers’ recent playoff outings share a common thread. One that can be summarized by shortcomings. Allen has been the poster child for the Cavaliers being called a soft team. Ever since the Cavaliers were bounced by the New York Knicks in 2023, the label of weak-minded has followed this team through the years. The following year, it was the Celtics, last year it was the Pacers, and for all intents and purposes, it looked like it was going to be the Raptors this time.

Then, coming out of the half tied at 49 apiece, Allen emerged like a man possessed. He single-handedly authored a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds in the third quarter alone, that sparked a 38-19 run.

This, alongside others like Max Strus, Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, and Dennis Schroder, the Cavaliers came out with an edge. Those guys just understood the mentality shift the team needed after the first half of the Cavaliers succumbing to the moment. The team was too talented to be meandering at the level of the Raptors. Those guys understood this and really energized the group.

As the Cavaliers look ahead to a series against the Detroit Pistons starting Tuesday night, they should use their second half as a sign of turning the page. Riding the high would be the wrong take to walk out of Game 7 with. That edge we saw from Cleveland is something they really haven’t shown in the postseason — that counter punch was never in their arsenal.

The beauty of a series is that each one provides things to learn, but also things you can leave behind in the context of that series. Look no further than the 2025 playoffs; the Cavaliers, fresh off one of the more dominant round one series in recent memory, looked like a shell of that team, losing in the second round in short order. There is a chance to be reborn, so while the Cavaliers should carry over the mentality they showed in the second half of Game 7, they should leave behind the version of themselves that saw them fall to the Raptors in several games due to mental lapses.

If Allen’s narrative-changing outing can provide a template and inspiration for the Cavaliers, then this team has the chance to live up to its potential and talent level. The Eastern Conference is far from touting clear title contenders as it currently stands. In this parity era, anything is possible if a team gets hot. The Cavaliers certainly have a runway to the NBA Finals if they can meet the level of play we saw in the second half of Game 7.

There is always time in life to reinvent yourself, changes can always be made, and series in the playoffs are more of a snapshot than being emblematic of who a team will be. To match the physicality of Detroit, the Cavaliers will need to turn the page from the Toronto series, while keeping that edge that showed them what they are capable of.

Just wanted to highlight this post, which was well thought out and presented in an organized fashion.

In particular I liked the section on living and dying by the 3. I think most would agree that the 3 pointers have served us very well over the years and this isn’t a “they are shooting too many 3’s” critique. Rather, it is pointing out that we need to address the need of having another option to go to when they aren’t falling. Porzingis was the example given, but it doesn’t just have to be a big man. It might be a great downhill attacker or perhaps just a guard that is more skilled at feeding the rolling bigs.

That’s just one topic covered in this post, so check out the rest and jump into the discussion.

Awaiting the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, following New York's dominant defeat of the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, are the Philadelphia 76ers. 

The Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid-led Sixers are coming off a 3-1 comeback to top the Boston Celtics, and are ready to keep that momentum going against New York.

Here's what to expect from what could be a drawn-out, physical series, and who will come out on top...

The biggest question for both teams is how they’re going to make life easier for their elite scoring guards without exposing them too much defensively. New York’s offense has largely figured this out forJalen Brunson, who started slow against Atlanta but should have more opportunities against Philadelphia.

The Sixers offer him a couple of targets in Maxey and Embiid, the latter obviously being a strong defensive player but less comfortable switching out on the perimeter. They do have an assortment of defensive wings who are likely to occupy his time, though, in Paul George, V.J. Edgecombe, and Kelly Oubre Jr.

That may leave them more inclined to play Brunson straight-up, switch fewer screens, and help off non-shooters less aggressively. The Knicks have a real wrinkle to throw at them now with Brunson involved in more off-ball and screening options, so expect a chess match from the jump.

Philly likely moves to all-but-ignore Josh Hart on offense early on, maybe starting Maxey on him, forcing him to hit some threes to punish them. Hart and the Knicks will have to be ready to make them pay.

There’s few other hiding spots for the Sixers star. If he’s on Mikal Bridges, the Knicks should feed him every trip down and get solid offense out of it. These matchups very often just come down to Brunson and Maxey calling for screens to face each other, and this series may serve as a larger version of that.

The Knicks have another edge over their previous meeting, which is Karl-Anthony Towns. The Sixers likely don’t want Embiid stretched out of the paint or having to watch his foul trouble guarding Towns one-on-one, so expect George to start out on him. 

Towns will have to display much of the patience and passing ability he did against Atlanta, since these Sixers wings are built a bit better to deal with Towns and will be hunting those passing lanes. The Knicks will need another big series out of him if the Sixers overload on Brunson.

There’s two big advantages for the Knicks on paper: their rebounding and depth. New York is rebounding a third of its own misses in the playoffs after finishing top-five in rebound rate during the regular season.

Philadelphia has been solid on the defensive glass in the postseason, but doesn’t boast the same offensive rebound playoff stats or regular season numbers. The Knicks' bigs should do their job against a weak Sixers frontcourt, but it’s the battle of the guards and wings that will decide this contest. Bridges, Hart, and OG Anunobywill need more big performances. 

As for depth, the 76ers played only seven guys in their Game 7 win, with Andre Drummond and Quentin Grimes coming off the bench. Their next options are Justin Edwards and Trendon Watford.

Meanwhile New York just got great bench lifts in the first round from Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson, Miles McBride, and Mitchell Robinson, and may tap back into Landry Shamet for shooting. If they can maintain this edge it would be massive on the series, owning the first few minutes of every second and fourth quarter. 

With the Sixers offense, Maxey is the biggest puzzle piece, and the Knicks don’t have a simple answer. None of their one-on-one matchups are very clean outside of McBride, and Maxey pressures every screen coverage to its limits.

Drop and Maxey gets a full head of steam or clean pull-up, switch and live with bad matchups that likely involve Embiid putting someone in the cup, and he can blow right past or split a hedge if it’s not perfect. The Knicks will need a mix of their lead defenders and some aggressive coverages to slow him down.

Bridges or Hart likely gets the start so Brunson can hide on Oubre. There are also small things they can do try and slow Maxey down: get the refs hung up on Embiid screens, throw occasional unders in to force long pull-ups, and target him without mercy on the opposite end. 

But Maxey is only one threat. Embiid is no slouch, either, and Towns will have a huge challenge in trying to maintain him. The Knicks can live with tough mid-rangers, constant falls and flops, and the odd big performance. What they can’t live with is Towns getting in foul trouble or getting too preoccupied with the officials.

Towns will need to defend without fouling and most importantly, brush off the flop calls Embiid is bound to draw. A bad call or two may turn a game, but Towns getting in his head over bad officiating can turn the series.

If he does it right, the Knicks won’t need to be over-aggressive on help. Also expect to see some Anunoby on Embiid after past successes, especially with Towns showing he can be useful guarding and helping off a wing. 

The 76ers are going to try to attack Brunson as part of their game plan, and he’ll need to be more prepared than when he gave up multiple big nights to CJ McCollum. Expect the fearless rookie Edgecombe to go at him with gusto early on.

Philadelphia has proven itself talented and viable, but they’re going up against a very tough New York team that isn’t trying to recover from a seven-game dogfight. Combine that with the bench and rebounding advantages, and it’s tough to see the Knicks not coming out of this one victorious.

Prediction: Knicks in 6

It has been a tough stretch for major Boston sports teams.

Not that they are due any sympathy, we’re not here for that, but over the past few months we have seen the Boston Red Sox limp out of the gate and fire their entire coaching staff, the Boston Bruins get bounced out of the first round of the NHL Playoffs by the Buffalo Sabres, the New England Patriots get embarrassed in Super Bowl LX — and we will come back to them in a moment — and now the Boston Celtics blow a 3-1 series lead to the Philadelphia 76ers.

How historic was that Celtics’ collapse? Until their loss in Game 7 on Saturday night, Boston was 32-0 all-time when holding a 3-1 series lead. As for the 76ers, they were 0-18 in their franchise history when trailing 3-1 in a playoff series.

The win for the 76ers was also their first over Boston in a playoff series since 1982.

As you might expect, the fine folks at Inside the NBA had some fun at Boston’s expense following that collapse, putting together a graphic of both Celtics players and noted Boston figures together on their “gone fishing” graphic.

That graphic included Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and former NFL reporter Dianna Russini at the front of the boat, in true Titanic fashion:

The hosts of Inside the NBA tried their best to avoid the topic.

“Who are the two people at the front?” Kenny Smith asked as he perhaps tried to bait someone into addressing the topic. “I don’t know them.”

“Stop it, stop it,” pleaded Charles Barkley.

“Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on there, Tatum and Brown,” added Ernie Johnson. “That’s all I see on that boat. I don’t see anything else.”

Yes, that brings us back to the Patriots, who have been in the news these past few weeks thanks to the swirling rumors around their head coach, and his relationship with Russini. Rumors continue to follow the pair, and Vrabel even stepped away from the team for the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft for counseling, as he works towards becoming the “best version of me going forward.”

Until we see that version, we might see more and more moments like this.

BOSTON — Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid had the last laugh on Saturday night.

F**k Embiid! F**k Embiid! F**k Embiid!

In the second quarter of Game 7, as Embiid took a trip to the free-throw line with over five minutes left, that was the only thing the 2023 NBA MVP could hear. Boston Celtics fans, accustomed to watching Embiid falter against them in the playoffs for years, tried everything to throw him off.

But nothing worked.

“Obviously, coming back down 3-1 is tough,” Embiid said after Philadelphia’s 109-100 win. “I understand it because we just did it. Then, missing three of those games, and really four, because the first game was kind of just me getting back to myself. It’s tough, but it feels good to win. Obviously, we got a bigger goal in mind, but finally beating these guys feels pretty good.”

Before Saturday night, the Celtics had Embiid’s number. He hadn’t survived a playoff matchup against Boston in three previous instances (2018, 2020, 2023), plus the Celtics — in their 79-year history — had never blown a 3-1 series lead, nor had they been eliminated by the Sixers in 44 years. Historically, Boston had gone 32-0 when holding a 3-1 lead, while Philadelphia had been 0-18 when trailing in that situation.

Three weeks after undergoing emergency appendectomy surgery in Houston, Embiid went toe-to-toe with the biggest moment of his career — and conquered. He dominated the Celtics and made an example out of their defense while coach Joe Mazzulla desperately threw the kitchen sink at him. Boston trainer Drew Moore even got in on the psychological antics by refusing to hand the game ball to Embiid after a Celtics turnover, leading to a tense encounter on the sidelines.

Still, nothing could faze Embiid — not a chant, not the antics, not even the 18 Celtics banners hanging above him or the playoff demons that have haunted him throughout his career.

Embiid finished with a game-high 34 points with 12 rebounds and six assists to lead the Sixers to their biggest playoff comeback in franchise history. Twice, he dropped 30 points on the Celtics and single-handedly turned the series around just as Boston had Philadelphia on the ropes, battling for dear life.

When assessing the series immediately after Saturday night’s loss, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla began by highlighting Embiid.

“What changed in this series was Joel Embiid came back,” Mazzulla said, “and that’s what changed in the series.”

Boston failed to fully take advantage of Embiid’s absence to begin the series by losing the second game at home. Embiid returned when the series arrived in Philadelphia for Game 4 and proceeded to average 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists on 44.3 percent from the field for the series.

In Game 5, Embiid made a critical adjustment after shooting 0-of-5 from 3-point range in the first half. He abandoned the deep ball in the second half and flipped the script, shooting 7-of-10 from the field by finding offense exclusively inside the paint. Mazzulla threw Neemias Queta, Nikola Vučević, and Luka Garza at Embiid, and it didn’t make a difference.

Embiid backed them down, left them in the dust, and knocked down turnaround jumpers from the mid-range. In the second half, Embiid scored five times against Queta, five times against Vučević, and twice against Garza.

“It was tough,” Jaylen Brown said. “Embiid put a lot of pressure on us — on all our bigs, all our guards. We didn’t really have an answer for him. We tried a bunch of different things, and he’s just a big body. He also was flopping around, and he got some extra calls, and they rewarded him for that. But that’s the league that we’re in.”

In the fourth quarter of Game 5, Embiid dodged an injury scare when he took a fall and immediately grabbed his left knee — prompting a brief trip to Philadelphia’s locker room alongside a team trainer. It wasn’t the first fall Embiid took throughout the series, although the 10-year veteran, who’s battled scrutiny for his extensive injury history, claimed he feels just fine.

“I feel great. I feel amazing. I was faking it,” Embiid said of his health.

Relishing the moment Embiid had long awaited, he made sure to get everything off his chest when he spoke at the podium at TD Garden. Embiid credited his teammates for the jobs they did against Boston’s biggest offensive threats — the Celtics were held to under 100 points four times in the series.

“Those guys really took on the challenge of guarding those guys,” Embiid highlighted. “Whether it’s (Jayson) Tatum, (Payton) Pritchard — No. 11 — Jaylen Brown. So it helps when you have that. That means you can’t overhelp. You can just do your job, and obviously, knowing Boston, kind of live and die by the three. So you take that away.”

Embiid continued: “I told the guys if we wanna go two for twos against them, we’re going to win that battle because we have a lot of mismatches, starting with me.”

He refused to refer to Pritchard by name as a response to his comments from earlier in the series when Pritchard was asked about Boston’s game plan for Embiid’s then-possible return.

Embiid used Pritchard’s comments as fuel and revisited them following Game 7.

“It does also help when I saw No. 11 on their team before I came back, he said they didn’t care if I was playing or not, and they hadn’t even adjusted or had some sort of game plan for me,” Embiid said. “So, I think it also helps that when the other team doesn’t worry about you and have some solid game plan being prepared for you. So it helps you have better games. I thank No. 11 for that.”

We are defined by our choices. The ones we make, the ones we don’t, and those we make too late. For their last game of the season, the Celtics will be remembered for the latter.

The first decision that defined the game, and how it will be remembered, was the starting five.

It’s not about how you start, but it is

Late in Game 6, the Celtics coaching staff, led by Joe Mazzulla, decided to put the starters on the bench in the last 10 minutes of the game and see how the bench mob could answer.

However, when Game 7 was about to start, it was expected that the Celtics would go with their best lineup available—or at least a lineup that had played together before. But that wasn’t the case. The Celtics started with Luka Garza at center, Ron Harper Jr. and Baylor Scheierman on the wings. They also gave the Tyrese Maxey assignment to Jaylen Brown to try new things.

After five minutes, the Celtics were down by 11, and they finally put Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta on the court. In the end, the Celtics lost the game by nine points. Maybe it was the late-game decision that cost them the season, or maybe it was the first decision of the game that knocked them out of the playoffs.

Hugo Gonzalez at the rescue

It took seven games—and a 13-point deficit after the first quarter—to finally see Hugo Gonzalez on the court. Hugo Gonzalez had already proven that he could defend quick ball-handlers like Maxey, strong wings like Paul George, or big men like Joel Embiid.

Hugo Gonzalez also led the Celtics in various impact metrics, such as net rating and possession impact. The Celtics knew that one of their best versions came with him on the floor because of the chaos and versatility he brings. Yet, it took them falling off a cliff to finally use him.

Spamming the pick-and-roll

The Celtics got back into the game in the second quarter thanks to the defensive hustle brought by Hugo Gonzalez, but also with a smart offensive game plan. They finally moved away from Brown isolations and spammed pick-and-roll actions to attack the Sixers’ big men, who were struggling whenever they were involved.

This is when the Celtics offense was at its best because they were attacking the Sixers’ weaknesses. Their wings and guards are strong, but their big men are old and slow. Once you get them moving, the defensive structure collapses. It was far more efficient than mismatch-hunting isolations, especially against this team.

Finally going away from the drop

Using the big man as a safety has been at the core of the Celtics’ defensive success since 2022. It worked with Robert Williams, it worked with Kristaps Porzingis, it worked with Luke Kornet, it worked in the regular season, and it worked in previous playoffs. However, we had to wait until the Celtics were down by double digits in the second half to see it deployed against the Sixers.

The Sixers found some answers to it—and the Celtics’ defensive execution of that tactic wasn’t at its best—but it bothered Embiid enough to give the Celtics a chance at another comeback, putting them in position to win in the final minutes.

Another great choice that came too late. The Celtics beat themselves by taking too long to make the right adjustments—the ones that had worked all season. They forgot what made them elite for so long and got turned upside down by a team that was tired of losing to them.

It’s been seven days since the Spurs vanquished the Portland Trail Blazers in Round 1 of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, and now, it’s finally gameday again. For Round 2, the Spurs face a Minnesota Timberwolves squad whose size gave them plenty of trouble in the regular season (as well as Nikola Jokic in Round 1) but is facing its own questions regarding health and offensive production, with Donte DiVincenzo out and Anthony Edwards and first round hero Ayo Dosunmo questionable. To get some perspective from the Wolves’ point of view, I enlisted the help of Thilo Widder from our sister site, Canis Hoopus.

J.R. Wilco

I think you’d agree that to say that you were down on Minnesota’s chances entering Game 6 would be a pretty serious understatement. Your piece on Denver’s win over the Wolves in Game 5 was about as serious an indictment of your team’s performance as the government’s charges against Harish Chidambaran. 

And yet you guys made Nikola Jokic look ordinary and Jamal Murray look putrid. Minny took the “next man up” mantra to another level. See, that cliche is supposed to mean that when a guy goes down, his replacement is ready to play in his place. It’s not supposed to mean that the replacement suddenly auditions to be a starter on the all star team! I went from being ecstatic that the Spurs wouldn’t play Denver to being afraid that they’d be hard pressed to take down a team that’s currently under attack from the injury bug. 

So tell me, a) how did you guys take down Denver while so shorthanded, b) what should I be most concerned about in Game 1, and what are you most afraid of, besides Wemby?

Thilo

Beating Denver in Game 6 came down to a few factors: paint touches, paint deterrence, and sheer, unadulterated hatred.

Before Ayo Dosumnu went down with a calf injury, his shot diet in his 43 point masterclass in Game 4 was functionally all layups outside of his 5/5 three point shooting. The rest of the Wolves team existed in a similarly slash-friendly environment. 

There was, and this is no exaggeration, no rim protection whatsoever on the Nuggets roster to the point that Spencer Jones was the primary paint presence for Games 3-6. This enabled a TJ Shannon sighting (his only above-average skill at the NBA level is finding his way to the rim) and allowed the Timberwolves, one of the league’s most inconsistent offensive teams, to score over 110 in all but one game. 

On the other side of things, Denver could not find a way to score at their normal level when run off the three point line. As much as we can point at Jamal Murray (and laugh), Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. turning back into pumpkins hurt just as much. 

Funnily enough, Jaden McDaniels’ best defensive role is not as a perimeter stopper. While he’s more than capable there, he is arguably better suited as a help side defender (we’ll get to that later). To that point, I doubt we see a remotely similar strategy for San Antonio as we saw against Denver.

I’d say that role change for McDaniels is the biggest thing to be worried about. Outside of the obvious “we get to match your top-five player with our returning top-seven guy”, that’s the thing I hope would change.

A defensive matchup of Ayo on Fox, TJ on Vassell, and Gobert on Wemby, with Jaden roaming off of whoever of Castle or Champagnie is less intimidating could be incredibly fun, incredibly destructive, and disastrously low scoring.

As far as what’s the scariest in facing the Spurs, you guys just simply have more things you can count on than we do. While we have flexibility and house money, you have a winning formula that has been shaped by your whole season and has little to no restructuring needed.

For more concrete answers, the Wolves are already down a ton of initiators, and the defensive pressure the Spurs can put on guys who are already more used to and more prepared for facing third and fourth defensive options could instantly collapse the whole cobbled together formula the Wolves built so quickly.

That formula included a Game 6 lineup that was supersized, with Jaden McDaniels at the two, Naz Reid at the three, and both Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert filling out the space alongside TJ Shannon’s “go straight through them” play at point. The Spurs size comes primarily in the form of Wemby, how do the rest of the Spurs deal with that lineup and the size it brings?

J.R.

You say unadulterated hatred. I hear properly channeled distaste, because in my experience playing angry might work in spurts, but it will wear you out over a full 48 minutes. Shoot, even half a basketball game would probably be too much. That said, the way your crew was able to stick around with a dwindling roster until the clock struck midnight on Denver was one of the more impressive things I’ve seen in the NBA this year. Watching those Nuggets turning into pumpkins and mice was as enjoyable as it was unexpected. 

You say that McDaniels’ defense isn’t best suited for being a perimeter stopper, but I’m going to expect Fox and Castle and Harper to put enough pressure on the Wolves that he’s going to need to spend time out there on the regular, regardless of how much he would prefer to play weak side help.

As for the lineup you asked about, my primary concern with this series is Randle and Reid wrecking San Antonio from deep when they have the ball, and causing Wemby all kinds of problems as they defend. Honestly, besides Aaron Gordon, Julius probably played the best defense I saw on Victor all season. As for how San Antonio will deal with all that size, that’s the $64,000 question, and I’m so glad it’s being asked. 

For so much of the season, Mitch Johnson has allowed the Spurs to play pretty ordinary sets without much imagination or complexity. Or to be more blunt, San Antonio’s offense has often been very straightforward and bordering on elementary. In defense of this strategy, it’s been effective. Why push the team to do more when a basic offense is enough to win? Well, the answer is: the playoffs. They’re here now and Minnesota’s defense and size might be exactly what forces the Spurs to pull out all the stops. 

Now I’m not expecting them to start whizzing the ball around the court like the 2014 Spurs, but I wouldn’t complain if they did. Lacking that, I think San Antonio’s offense is at its best when Wemby is off the ball and the team takes advantage of the gravity his vertical threat creates. When teams are terrified of him getting downhill without the ball, or receiving passes anywhere close to the paint without a man bodying him, it opens up space for guys to shoot open threes and gash defenses with aggressive drives and timely cuts. That’s when defenses react to the pressure from the rest of the team such that Wemby gets single-teamed or even forgotten – which is obviously a death sentence.

Which brings me back to Wemby, and this time I won’t ask you to not use him as an answer to your question. With so much of your success against Denver being to attack the rim, and with Wemby being elite at protecting the paint and guarding multiple guys simultaneously, what do you see as the best chance that Minny has to produce points and make San Antonio’s defense uncomfortable? 

Thilo

I could take this answer in so many different directions. The answer I want to give, or rather the thing that I think people can’t read about elsewhere, is Rudy Gobert’s impact as a passer on the short roll. 

We often think of scoring in the paint as the only way to maximize drives. Either you lay it up or you don’t. Either you dunk it or you’re blocked, and so on. 

Gobert has never been one to lay it up confidently, or even dunk it safely. Describing his offensive game as invisible was doing him a kindness for many, many years. When a player’s primary offensive impact is screen assists, you need to be a real basketball degenerate to give him some credit for that side of the ball. 

However, a compliment that was once hard to give has now found itself to a more obvious, highlight-worthy place. 

Taking a page from his mortal enemy, Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert has evolved not as a play finisher, but as a play extender. There was a single play in Game 6 that led to a TJ Shannon three pointer in the right corner that comes to mind.

Pointing out just one play implies that this was a special occurrence, but this happened throughout the series. The worry with Wemby is always as much about rim deterrence as it is actual block numbers. A past version of Gobert would’ve been more willing to flail wildly at the rim in an attempt to draw a foul or do anything once the original plan of “finish the pick and roll” was flushed.

Today’s version of Gobert can rethink and create a new plan.

What does this mean on a larger scale? Improvisation is alive and well in Minnesota. Each player that should be getting rotation minutes for the Wolves has some way to deal with the court ending eight or so feet further from the rim than they are used to.

Jaden McDaniels’ mid range was fantastic in Game 6. TJ Shannon is a blur in transition. Julius Randle has his elbow touches. The list goes on. The playoffs are often about good players losing their favorite options and having to make due with their third or fourth choice.

This is no different.

The “motion offense” has been a bit of a running joke in Wolves circles ever since Chris Finch arrived in Minnesota. As much as higher management has approached roster building, Finch individually has valued one skill above all else: consistency.

Whoever is guarded by Wemby will be responsible for pulling him from the rim. Even moreso, I assume that whoever the Wolves will want to attack on switches will be the target for four of five players on the court. For the Suns in 2024, that player was Devin Booker. Last series, it was Jamal Murray. Against the Spurs? My guess would be DeAaron Fox.

There are so many more questions I’d have, but I’m sure Mitch Johnson reads this, and I don’t want to give away too many answers! We will see how this game turns out!

I’ve now written a sappy Boston Celtics playoff retrospective four times in the last five years. They range from completely overblown metaphor (I think I called the Miami Heat a history-repeating killer-basketball robot-wizard Sea Cucumber once) to full-on soliloquies about the meaning of life. We’re not doing any of that this time.

The Celtics blew a 3-1 lead to the Philadelphia 76ers, lost a heartbreaking Game 7 at home and I’m not particularly happy about it. But I shall resist the impulse to wax poetic about this team’s spiritual place in the space-time continuum because we have books to balance. The Celtics, particularly, have to attend to some serious business. But we will, out of the goodness of our hearts, quickly press F to pay respects. 

Basketball is a cruel sport because it is always reduced to its simplest variable. You play somewhere between 82 and 100 games, thousands of minutes, months of physical toil and deal with pressure most of us could not imagine, all for a chance to attempt a shot to maybe win it all. The Celtics had three good looks to take the lead down by one in the fourth quarter of Game 7, and they missed all three. 

The Celtics fought tooth and nail all season for that chance. They entered the season with too many varied expectations for me to generalize, but I can say with total accuracy that I did not believe in them whatsoever. I called for the team to maybe actually trade Jaylen Brown before the season, a foot I will gladly put in my mouth — nothing I had seen from him so far suggested he had this MVP-level campaign in him. I likewise had no reason to expect Neemias Queta could be a legit, NBA-caliber starting center, nor belief that Payton Pritchard could be more than a glorified three-point specialist. I was wrong on every count.

In that way, the Celtics were playing with house money in the casino of my brain. Jayson Tatum returned from injury and things looked like sunshine and lollipops. Expectations change, and they were dubbed “the favorites in the East” after playing above their heads for five straight months and adding back their captain. But Tatum got hurt again, missed Game 7, and “the favorites in the East” blew a 3-1 lead to the team they used to own. I could chop that long ways, short ways, diagonally or even cut off the crust; no matter how I slice it, that’s embarrassing. 

First item of bookkeeping: this is a big series for the “when healthy” brigade of NBA media, because “when healthy,” the 76ers were a better team than the Celtics. I said this three weeks ago when ranking how scary each Play-In team was. I even said it before the season, when I declared the 76ers the low-key favorites in the East. I didn’t say it … all that seriously, I admit, but I did say it! 

I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself part of the “when healthy” brigade, but I tilt towards that group; “oh (insert player or team) will never be healthy” isn’t a particularly interesting line of logical reasoning. It’s an unfalsifiable claim that assumes medical information you do not have that can be used to invalidate any hopes and dreams at any time. You could say, “oh Victor Wembanyama will never stay healthy” as a reason for thinking Cooper Flagg is the league’s most valuable young player (Max Kellerman did), but it’s a super bad-faith argument. The same goes for saying the 76ers have no chance to make the NBA Finals — if Paul George and Joel Embiid are just… chillin’? They totally could. 

But the Celtics were favored fairly heavily in the series and went up 3-1. Yes, Embiid’s status was heavily unknown, and books probably would have had it closer if they knew he would look almost like MVP Embiid for half the series. But it’s also not like Embiid just parachuted in and said “okay, it’s MVP Embiid time.” Boston’s deficiencies had more to do with how well he played than some random black swan event, and his quality was the reason the 3-1 lead didn’t hold.

That leads us to business item number two: the Celtics are not a small team, but they lack defensive size and rim protection. Queta and Luka Garza are extremely limited interior defenders who could not stay out of foul trouble, and the Celtics wound up doubling Embiid on most possessions in Game 7 with Jaylen Brown as his primary defender. Credit to Nick Nurse (who took a gamble bringing him back from injury when it felt like Adem Bona and Andre Drummond had found something in the series) for realizing Embiid could run the Celtics over like a Mack truck if he could just get out there.

Shoring up that interior defense is priority one, two and three for the Celtics this offseason. Another big, Nikola Vucevic, will be coming off the books to the delight of all Celtics fans, and his arrival via trading Anfernee Simons accomplished the Celtics’ single goal coming into the season: get under the luxury tax. Now, they will actually have some flexibility, regular roster-building resources and a few sizable trade exceptions to use. 

I could explain all the extension candidates, team options, mid-level exceptions, the works, but I can’t explain it better than ESPN’s Bobby Marks — a legit wizard with this stuff — so you should check out his offseason guide for the Celtics for all the particulars. What I can do is ask some hard questions, one’s Boston will have to answer through all the financials you can read about at your leisure. 

Question 1: How much longer will Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown form the nucleus of this roster? I feel reasonably certain that, unless he demands a trade, Tatum will be on the Celtics for his entire career. Those other two I simply don’t know. White is 32, and Brown just showed he’s at his best when Tatum isn’t on the court — that statement will be resisted by certain dogmatic elements in Celtics nation, but it is demonstrably true. I love Jaylen Brown. But he and Tatum have already won a championship together, and I wouldn’t necessarily blame Jaylen if he wanted to be the bus driver for more than half a season on his own team. 

Question 2: How much are Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta worth? Both are extension eligible, and Pritchard in particular is making an absolute pittance relative to his value as a scorer. Still, the Celtics will get real expensive, real quick if they shell out major dollar bills for two potentially replaceable pieces that were critical this year — it is worth wondering if they should be critical, or if Pritchard is better as a change-of-pace microwave off the bench rather than someone to close with.

Question 3: Which bench spark plugs are keepers? Calling Hugo Gonzalez a “fan favorite” is the understatement of the decade, but he has a long way to go as an offensive player. Same goes for Baylor Scheierman, who is a bit more sophisticated as a scorer but looked lost in the postseason. If you keep both of them, what’s up with Ron Harper Jr. and Sam Hauser? How about Garza, who is already behind Queta even when everyone knows the big rotation needs an upgrade? 

Beyond “get a center,” which is truer than true, those are the main things to think about this offseason. Thankfully for my sanity, I have achieved galactic levels of trust in Brad Stevens, the Celtics’ former head coach and now President of Basketball Operations, and essentially give him carte blanche to do what must be done. We done here? Oh, I guess I see one more thing on the meeting agenda before we go get lunch at Cava. 

When your team gets bounced from the playoffs in the internet age, one is exposed to a range of reactions; some silver-lings, some apocalyptic doomsday preppers, some coach-firers, even some “Neemias Queta was so open” screenshot-takers, but I find it best to think of all reactions in binary: they are either your reaction, or someone else’s reaction. The vast majority of them are just forms of coping, and provided they don’t delve into any unsavory territory, all reactions are valid and should be allowed to marinate before we decide who’s right and who’s wrong. Even the haters, fans of other teams, have earned their moment to hate. 

My reaction, which expresses merely my view and no one else’s, is this: the 2025-26 Boston Celtics overachieved so much that it set them up to underachieve. Among the many discussions of their failure in the series, that is a wholly unique accomplishment.