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. 

There are very few players in the NBA capable of physically matching up with Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid. Listed at seven feet and 280 pounds, the former MVP often overpowers opponents with his sheer strength. The Knicks just might have a solution. 

Center Mitchell Robinsonis one of a handful of players capable of standing toe-to-toe with Embiid.

Robinson left a relatively small imprint on New York’s 4-2 first-round series win against the Atlanta Hawks, as he averaged just 13.8 minutes in the six games. Since Embiid is such a critical piece of Philadelphia’s success, Robinson’s role will be even more important, making him the Knicks' X-Factor in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. 

Standing on business

Robinson’s defensive impact should be significant. He will be tasked with protecting the rim and defending Embiid.

We’ve seen Robinson guard Philadelphia's star center well in the past. In New York’s 2024 first-round series with the 76ers, Embiid shot 12-for-34 (35.3 percent) from the field when guarded by Robinson, according to NBA Stats. When he’s healthy, Robinson has the adequate mix of strength and foot speed to stay with Embiid.

Defending Embiid is a difficult task. After returning in the middle of the first round from an emergency appendectomy, he averaged 28.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists. He’s a skilled center capable of attacking on face-ups from the midrange. Embiid's also a good post-up player who can pick on any mismatches if opponents switch smaller players on to him.

Embiid also has a knack for getting to the foul line. The big man attempted 37 freebies in 146 minutes during the first round, and is fifth in free-throw attempts per game during the playoffs. There will probably be times in this series where Embiid causes Knicks starting center Karl-Anthony Towns to have foul trouble.

That means the Knicks will likely need more minutes from Robinson, and it’s safe to say he will see a substantial playing time increase. Staying out of foul trouble will be something to watch for the Knicks' reserve center.

One question to ask is how much we'll see of New York with Towns and Robinson on the floor. The two-big lineup was only on the floor for 14 minutes in the first round, according to PBP Stats. Though it’s a small sample size, the Knicks had a plus-26.9 net rating with both bigs in the game.

Philadelphia has mainly played a wing like Kelly Oubre or Paul George at the four, and the Knicks might look to avoid having Towns guard a perimeter player.

Vertical threat

On the offensive end, Robinson is not expected to score much. But he should contribute, with Robinson’s primary responsibility being to attack the offensive glass. During the regular season, he led all NBA players who played in at least 60 games in offensive rebound rate (20.1 percent).

Philadelphia’s main weakness over the past few years has been defensive rebounding. Per NBA Stats, the 76ers ranked just 26th in defensive rebound rate (67.8 percent) this season.

Robinson will be valuable as a screener to get Jalen Brunsonor any of New York’s other ball-handlers free. Quietly, Robinson has also become much more of a vertical threat in the pick-and-roll this season. He made 52 alley-oop field goals according to NBA Stats, the most he's had since the 2019-20 season. During the first round, Robinson converted seven of eight lob attempts against the Hawks.

Philadelphia will have to keep a body on him to prevent those easy finishes, which could open up easier perimeter looks for the Knicks' three-point shooters.

Robinson probably won’t surpass more than 25 minutes a game during this series, but his play might be the largest swing factor.

The Sixers this past Saturday exorcised 40-odd years’ worth of postseason demons when they defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 7 at TD Garden, overcoming a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in franchise history.

Now, get over it.

There’s no rest for the weary as the Sixers will kick off their second-round series with the New York Knicks Monday night at Madison Square Garden. These teams met just two years ago, with the Knicks winning in six games. Prior to that, they hadn’t played each other since 1989, with New York sweeping the best-of-five series.

With such a quick turnaround, consider this a preview for Game 1 and the series overall.

It was a weird season series with the teams splitting four games and neither winning at home. There’s some quirky context to add as well. The two games the Sixers won at MSG were with the Knicks playing on the second night of a back-to-back. One of New York’s wins in Philly was without Joel Embiid and Paul George, with the Sixers coming back from a West Coast trip. Only putting it out there to say we didn’t see the optimal versions of these teams face off this season.

The Knicks went 53-29 in the regular season, good for the East’s third seed. They dispatched of the Atlanta Hawks in six games with a 140-89 drubbing in the elimination game. They had a top-10 offense (3rd) and defense (7th) during the regular season. They’re a formidable opponent.

They’re still led by Villanova legend Jalen Brunson. After another All-Star campaign, he had a strong series against the Hawks, averaging 26.3 points on 56.9% true shooting. The Sixers will have their hands full containing the lefty guard with his craftiness, footwork and ability to draw fouls.

But the Sixers have the requisite bodies to throw at Brunson. Kelly Oubre Jr. defended Brunson very well in that 2024 series, forcing New York to change the gameplan by Game 3. Rookie VJ Edgecome was also tough on Brunson during this regular season.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Paul George matched up on Brunson from time to time after the veteran wing was an absolute defensive maven against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the first round. Quentin Grimes, who started his NBA career as Brunson’s teammate, will surely see time on the star guard, too.

Karl-Anthony Towns joined Brunson at this year’s All-Star game and also had a strong series against Atlanta. The veteran big averaged 18.7 points, 11.3 rebounds (2.8 offensive) and 6.0 assists while knocking down 44.4% of his threes. Towns was the Knicks’ primary starter at center this season, which presents an interesting matchup with Joel Embiid.

Towns has never fared well against Embiid defensively, but his ability to shoot and hit the offensive glass could present challenges on the other end. Embiid was moving pretty damn well by the end of the Boston series, but we’ll see how the big fella holds up as the minutes pile up. Of course, Embiid will also see Mitchell Robinson, who’s had some success against the former MVP. Robinson only averaged 13.8 minutes against the Hawks. Expect that number to jump. You could even see OG Anunoby get the assignment — with designated help, of course.

The chess match between Nick Nurse and Mike Brown should be interesting. Will Embiid force the Knicks to go to their two-big look more? Could that give the Sixers an advantage with Paul George playing the four and Towns needing to guard him or Oubre in space? How do the Sixers handle screens and switches with Brunson, who is outstanding at finding mismatches?

All of this and we haven’t really touched on New York’s supporting cast. Anunoby had an outstanding first round, averaging 21.5 points while benefiting from all the space Brunson and Towns were creating. Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges didn’t have their best series, but we know what that Wildcat duo is capable of in the postseason.

Deuce McBride is a player who’s never missed a shot against the Sixers (not technically true, but it sure feels like it). You’ll likely see all of McBride, trade deadline addition Jose Alvarado and former Sixers first-round pick Landry Shamet get reps on Tyrese Maxey. The player Maxey will probably see the most of is Hart, who did a solid job at times on him two years ago in the playoffs. It’s safe to say Maxey has grown quite a bit as a player since then. They also have veteran guard Jordan Clarkson as a potential flamethrower off the bench.

This Sixers starting group is much better than the one the Knicks saw two years ago. In fact, there’s a legitimate argument to be made this is the Sixers’ best starting group of the Joel Embiid era. Embiid and Maxey are humming right now. George’s two-way excellence in the first round was crucial. Edgecombe is playing nothing like a rookie, while Oubre has filled in the gaps, despite not shooting as well as he did in the regular season.

Of course, New York is quite different, having moved on from Isaiah Hartenstein and Donte DiVincenzo — who both killed the Sixers in that series — and with the six-time All-Star Towns in the fold. They also have Brown instead of Tom Thibodeau, which means their starters will be much fresher than in previous postseasons.

The Sixers’ bench is where things are going to get interesting. Nurse was essentially in a seven-man rotation by the end of the first round. Grimes is really the only reserve who will play big minutes. The guess here is Nurse continues to roll with Andre Drummond as his backup five given New York’s size. The veteran big played a little over eight minutes in Game 7. That’ll probably be the norm for this series.

The other x-factors on the fringes of the rotation are Justin Edwards and Dominick Barlow. Both guys are in a tough spot, having barely played in the first round. Edwards had some decent moments while Barlow struggled a bit. Again, the Knicks’ size is not just with their bigs, as they feature multiple long wings. That could lead to minutes for either player. While Drummond will get the first crack at backup minutes, Adem Bona could still be heard from in this series if the team needs a bit more energy and athleticism off the bench.

The good news for both teams heading in: the injury report is basically clean. Embiid is listed as probable with a right hip contusion. He took a pretty good beating at the end of Game 7, so it’s good to see he should be ready to go for Game 1.

Eastern Conference Semifinals schedule: New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/q1UMwKeGDu

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 3, 2026

This should be a fun one. The Knicks are a good basketball team, but they’re far from unbeatable. The Sixers have a legitimate chance to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001 — just as we all envisioned when the season began!

Game Details

When: May 4, 8 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Watch: NBC, Peacock
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers

Minnesota Timberwolves at San Antonio Spurs
Date: May 4th, 2026
Time: 8:30 PM CDT
Location: Frost Bank Center
Television Coverage: Peacock, NBS Sports Network

After vanquishing the Denver Nuggets for the second time in three postseasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves now find themselves staring at an entirely different kind of monster.

That’s not hyperbole. That’s just what happens when the next player standing between you and a third consecutive Western Conference Finals berth is Victor Wembanyama.

The Wolves just survived Nikola Jokic, the mountain disguised as a man, and the best player on the planet. They spent six games trying to wear him down, body him, frustrate him, make him run, make him defend, and make Denver’s offense feel like it was being dragged through wet cement.

It worked.

Now they get Wemby.

Different animal. Different problem. Different nightmare.

Jokic beats you with angles, patience, touch, and strength. Wembanyama beats you by being 7-foot-5. Guys drive into the paint and suddenly look like they’re trying to finish over a tarantula wearing a Spurs jersey.

Beyound their centerpiece stars, the two teams could not be more different. The Nuggets were battle-tested veterans, former champions who knew how to survive ugly possessions, hostile buildings, and playoff pressure. The Spurs are the opposite. Young, hungry, and probably too inexperienced to know what they’re supposed to be afraid of. They don’t carry the burden of the past. They don’t have the same old legs that Minnesota was able to drag into deep water against Denver. You’re not going to run San Antonio into exhaustion. The Spurs are young and they’re going to keep coming.

The Wolves have to throw out the Denver notebook. Attacking the rim over and over again won’t work in Round 2. You cannot build an offense around repeatedly challenging Wembanyama at the rim. The Wolves just spent a series feasting on a defensive weakness. Now they’re walking into the league’s most terrifying defensive cheat code.

And if that wasn’t a big enough challenge, they have to do it without Anthony Edwards, at least for now.

That’s the shadow hanging over everything. Donte DiVincenzo is done for the season. Edwards remains the great unknown. Will we see him in this series? When? And if he does come back, will he be anywhere close to the version of Ant that can bend an entire playoff series?

Until that answer arrives, the Wolves have to survive without their superstar, which sounds insane, except we just watched them do it. We watched them close out Denver with Jaden McDaniels turning into an alpha, Rudy Gobert anchoring the defense, Julius Randle supplying grown-man buckets, Mike Conley finding one more vintage performance in the couch cushions, Terrence Shannon Jr. attacking like he didn’t realize he was supposed to be nervous, and the whole roster becoming something more than a list of names.

That has to carry over, because San Antonio is not waiting around for Minnesota to get healthy. The Spurs are coming off their own first-round win over Portland, Wembanyama’s first playoff series victory, and you can already feel the league’s machinery starting to hum. The NBA has been waiting for Wemby to matter in May. Now he does.

The Wolves’ job is to make sure this series doesn’t become his coronation.

With that, here are the keys to Game 1.

1. Defense Has to Be the Anchor Again

Minnesota beat Denver because its defense became the defining force of the series. Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels suffocated Jokic and Jamal Murray. Against San Antonio, the assignment changes. The Spurs are not as dependent on two players in the exact same way Denver was, but Gobert and McDaniels remain the foundation of everything Minnesota needs to do defensively.

Gobert now gets the ultimate French basketball legacy duel: the master against the prodigy. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year against the player who has inherited his throne as the most terrifying defensive presence alive. Rudy is not going to out-shine Wemby. That’s not the job. The job is to be physical, disciplined, and stubborn. Make Wembanyama feel contact. Push him off his spots. Make him work through strength instead of letting him glide into rhythm.

McDaniels, meanwhile, has to be everywhere. He won’t have one clean Murray-style assignment all series. He’ll need to hound ball handlers, switch onto wings, fight through screens, recover, contest, and generally keep the Spurs from getting comfortable in their offense.

But the gameplan can’t rely on two players alone. This has to be a full-team defensive effort. Ayo Dosunmu needs to bring perimeter pressure. Jaylen Clark may need to enter with his rabid-wolverine act and turn the energy up another notch. Randle, Naz Reid, Shannon, Conley… everyone has to be connected.

2. Make Wembanyama Feel It

Wemby is not Jokic. You cannot guard him the same way. You cannot attack him the same way. But you can make this series physically taxing, and that starts with Julius Randle.

This is a huge Randle series. Maybe the defining series of his Wolves tenure so far. Because if there is one player on Minnesota who can put a shoulder into Wembanyama’s chest, force him to absorb contact, and make him deal with brute strength over and over again, it’s Julius.

We’ve seen those two clash before. Wemby’s length is absurd, but his frame can still be tested by a motivated, aggressive Randle. The Wolves need bully-ball Julius to body Wemby and send him skittering around the floor like a baby giraffe.

Make him work. Make him defend. Make him absorb contact. Make him fight for position. Make every possesion take its toll.

Young legs or not, playoff physicality adds up.

3. Attack Smarter

This is where the Wolves have to make the biggest adjustment. Against Denver, the answer was obvious: get downhill, attack the basket, and force Jokic into defensive decisions he did not want to make. That plan won the series.

Against San Antonio, that same plan could get your shot sent into the third row.

The Wolves still need paint touches. They still need to collapse the defense, but it can’t be reckless. You cannot drive into Wembanyama without a plan. You cannot challenge him just to challenge him. This has to be smarter offense.

That means floaters, pull-ups, quick decisions, drive-and-kick. Make Wemby move and keep him guessing. Pull him away from the rim when possible. Use spacing to stretch him out before attacking behind him.

If the Wolves simply try to recreate the Denver rim-pressure formula, San Antonio will eat them alive. The attack has to evolve.

4. Knock Down Your Shots

This is the series where the three-point line becomes life support. Minnesota survived a poor shooting night against Denver because the rim was available. That luxury is gone. Against the Spurs, the Wolves need to punish space when they get it.

That is where the loss of Edwards and DiVincenzo stings. Those are two high-volume, high-confidence three-point shooters. Without them, the burden shifts. Ayo, McDaniels, and Naz have to hit.

The Wolves don’t need to shoot 45 percent from three, but they cannot live in the 20s.

Against Wembanyama, empty possessions are brutal because clean looks are harder to generate. When the ball moves and the open shot appears, it has to go down. Mid-30s or better from deep probably gives Minnesota a real chance. Anything below that, and the math starts to suffocate them.

5. Someone Has to Become the Hero

Until Edwards returns, this is the reality. Someone has to step through the door every night.

In Game 4 against Denver, it was Ayo with 43. In Game 6, it was Jaden with 32 and the performance of his life, and Terrence Shannon Jr. went from emergency option to playoff contributor.

The Wolves cannot survive this series by asking for one guy to replace Ant. That guy does not exist. They need a rotating cast of heroes. One night it might be Randle bullying Wemby. One night it might be McDaniels turning defense into offense. One night it might be Naz catching fire. One night Shannon might hit San Antonio with a downhill burst they weren’t ready for.

This is where depth, belief, and momentum all collide. Minnesota has to keep finding unlikely answers until its superstar returns.

The Next Mountain

The Wolves just took down Denver, and that should mean something.

Not just because the Nuggets were their biggest rival. Not just because Jokic is the best player alive. Not just because they did it without their starting backcourt. It matters because it proved something about this group. The switch that we spent all season begging them to flip?

It’s on now.

This team is playing connected, hard, unselfish, desperate basketball, and that gives them a chance.

But San Antonio is not Denver. Wembanyama is not Jokic. The Spurs are not old legs waiting to be worn down. This is a new puzzle, and the Wolves cannot win this series by replaying the last one. They have to adapt. They have to grow. They have to find a new way.

And they have to do it shorthanded.

That is the challenge.

But after what we just saw against Denver, who’s ready to say they can’t?

This team has already authored one improbable chapter. Now comes the next one. A new giant. A new series. A new test of whether this undermanned pack can keep hunting.

Game 1 is where we start find out if the Denver series was the peak…

…or just the beginning.

The Mavericks ended the year 26-56, a 12th-place finish in the West. They split their final two games with a loss to San Antonio (139-120) and a win at home against Chicago (149-128). Cooper Flagg led the team in scoring this year with 21 points per game. In fact, he led the team in total points (1473), rebounds (466), assists (316), and steals (84). 

Grade: C+

Dallas had one of the strangest seasons of any team in recent memory. From the moment the NBA calendar flipped over in June until the final game, there was no shortage of drama for the Mavericks. It began with Dallas selecting Cooper Flagg number one in the draft, adding a remarkable young talent to a team with a lot of veteran experience. Playoff dreams were still on the table when the season began, but they fizzled out quickly. From the moment Nico Harrison was fired on November 11, 2025, the expectations and focus of the organization shifted towards the future.

Dallas did its best to give us entertaining basketball in a season that should have had none. They played the most clutch games in the league (45), but went just 17-28. They were fourth in pace (~102.6 possessions per game) and had a lot of fun performances. Cooper Flagg scored 51 points, Naji Marshall had a near 30-point triple-double, and even Khris Middleton exploded for 35 points in just 25 minutes against the Grizzlies.

Of course, with the updated expectations came the balance between blatant tanking and losing the “ethical” way. Dallas opted for the latter most of the time, but because they still had Flagg and other talented players, they ultimately fell short of securing a top chance at the number one pick. Dallas will enter next week’s draft lottery with the eighth-best odds at a consecutive number one selection and just a 29 percent chance to move into the top four.

The first month of the season was an unenjoyable mess, and the really fun moments were few and far between after that. The Mavericks were always going to be behind the eight ball this year, but even still, their performance did not warrant anything better than a C+. By March, or maybe even before, consistent watchers were anticipating the sweet release of game 82. It is all over now, and the excitement will only build.

Straight A’s: Cooper Flagg

Cooper Flagg capped off his sensational rookie campaign by becoming the 19th number one pick to win Rookie of the Year. The list is littered with Hall of Famers and All-Stars, and Flagg projects to be just that. His season averages of 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.1 stocks (steals plus blocks) were all top five in rookie rankings, including number one in points per game. He provided some of the most incredible rookie moments we have seen in recent memory, like the aforementioned 51-point game and a 49-point, 10-rebound explosion against his Duke roommate and Rookie of the Year runner-up, Kon Knueppel. There was so much to love about Flagg in his first NBA season, but instead of telling you, I will leave you with 20 minutes of his best plays: 

Failed the class: Nico Harrison’s vision

Harrison’s tenure in Dallas will, of course, go down in infamy. Not just as a touchy subject for Mavericks fans, but as the poster boy for modern dysfunction in American sports. Harrison traded Luka Doncic in the name of defense, and it was on Anthony Davis’ frail shoulders to show the world that Harrison was right. Unfortunately, for both of them, this vision crashed and burned in spectacular fashion.

Davis played just five games, with Dallas winning two of them, before getting hurt. By the time he came back, the Mavericks had dug themselves into a 5-14 hole, and one that they could not dig themselves out of. During that absence, general manager Nico Harrison was fired, and Davis only played 20 games for Dallas before getting traded to Washington in February.

All in all, Harrison’s gamble had two glaring oversights. He did not realize the emotional importance that Luka Doncic had. This was made clear in his press conference after a disastrous end to the 2025 season. He also failed to realize that you need a point guard in the modern NBA. Dallas started rookie forward Cooper Flagg at point guard for nearly a month to begin the year, and the options they had when they moved on from that plan were not much better. Defense cannot win championships if your offense cannot score. And so, down went Harrison alongside his ambitious idea.

Extra Credit: Jason Kidd

With so much going on around the team this year, playing hard on a nightly basis is a tough ask. Yet, they did, and they did so without any excuses. There are a lot of negatives you could discuss with this team, but effort is not one of them. And that starts with the coach. Jason Kidd has his flaws. He is too experimental in the regular season, he is weird in postgame press conferences, and he has all but explicitly stated he was in on the Luka Doncic trade. But one thing has remained consistent in his time as head coach: he gets his team to play hard. And if Kidd is going to be with the Mavericks long-term, that is a good quality to have in your head coach.

Inside the NBA Playoffs, where every possession matters — lessons from Durant, Brunson, Stephen Curry, and more on pressure, leadership, momentum, and what it takes to win.

The NBA Playoffs don’t just raise the stakes; they rewrite the rules. Possessions stretch, pressure multiplies, and reputations are built (or broken) in real time. From rising stars to all-time greats, the game slows down and sharpens all at once. Across eras and experiences -- from Kevin Durant to Stephen Curry to Jalen Brunson -- one truth keeps surfacing: the playoffs demand a different version of you.

Here are 10 lessons pulled straight from those who’ve lived it.

Lesson 1: The Playoffs Are a Different Sport

Ask Paolo Banchero, and he’ll tell you plainly: The playoffs feel like a completely different season. The pace slows, the scouting tightens, and every weakness gets exposed. What works over 82 games won’t necessarily translate in a seven-game series. The adjustment isn’t just physical; it’s mental. You have to think about the game at a higher level, possession by possession.

Lesson 2: Every Possession Feels Like an Eternity

“You feel every possession,” Stephen Curry has said, and that’s not exaggeration. In the playoffs, there’s no autopilot. Each trip down the floor carries consequences. Momentum swings harder, and mistakes linger longer. It’s not just about execution; it’s about endurance under pressure.

Lesson 3: Stay Aggressive—Don’t Let the Defense Dictate You

For Cade Cunningham, one early playoff lesson stood out: passivity is a trap. When defenses load up, show bodies, and force the ball out of your hands, the instinct can be to defer. But that often kills rhythm. The best players stay aggressive within the flow—probing, adjusting, and forcing the defense to react rather than dictate.

Lesson 4: Leadership Doesn’t Have to Be Loud

Jalen Brunson embodies a quieter kind of leadership. No theatrics, no unnecessary noise -- just consistency, poise, and trust. In playoff environments, where emotions can spike, that steadiness matters. Leadership isn’t always about speeches; sometimes it’s about showing up the same way every possession.

Lesson 5: Momentum Can Flip an Entire Series

Young teams often learn this the hard way. Chet Holmgren has described how quickly things can turn, from double-digit leads to sudden collapses. One run, one quarter, one missed opportunity can shift everything. The playoffs are less about controlling the entire game and more about surviving -- and capitalizing on -- those swings.

Lesson 6: Find Your Closing Move

Every great player needs a way to shut the door. For Curry, it became the now-iconic “night night” celebration, a symbol of finishing the job. But the gesture is just the surface. What matters is the mindset behind it: confidence built through repetition, ready to surface when the game is on the line.

Lesson 7: Spacing Wins Series

Big men like Amar'e Stoudemire have long understood a simple truth: if you’re getting doubled, you need shooters. Floor spacing forces defenses into impossible choices. Stay home on shooters, and stars can attack. Collapse the paint, and the perimeter becomes lethal.

Lesson 8: Experience and Size Still Matter

There’s a reason veteran teams tend to thrive deep into May and June. Legends like Hakeem Olajuwon have emphasized how size, chemistry, and experience can overwhelm younger squads. Talent alone isn’t enough; discipline, execution, and physicality separate contenders from hopefuls.

Lesson 9: The Stage Demands More

There’s nothing like playing under the lights at Madison Square Garden or in a hostile road arena. Former players like Mark Jackson recall those moments as defining, where nerves, energy, and expectation collide. The playoffs amplify everything, and not everyone rises to the occasion.

Lesson 10: Your Window Isn’t Guaranteed

Few moments capture the fragility of it all like Kevin Durant’s Achilles injury in the Finals. One instant can shift the trajectory of a career. The playoffs aren’t just about chasing a title; they’re about maximizing the opportunity in front of you, because nothing is promised beyond it.

Final Thoughts

The playoffs expose everything — your habits, your mindset, your weaknesses, your edge. They demand adaptation, resilience, and belief at the highest level. As players across generations echo in different ways, you can’t fully explain playoff basketball. You have to experience it.

And once you do, it’s all you think about.

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Should we just cancel the rest of the NBA playoffs and declare injuries the winner? They’ve already dominated this postseason far more than one team possibly could. The Oklahoma City Thunder are playing without their second-best player, Jalen Williams, after what feels like his 10th hamstring injury. In the series against the Denver Nuggets, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Donte DiVincenzo tore his achilles, and Anthony Edwards gruesomely hyperextended his knee. Wolves backup Ayo Dosunmu put up a heroic 43 points in Game 4, then returned to the bench two games later to nurse an injured calf. The Nuggets lost Aaron Gordon to calf tightness midway through the series and played entirely without Peyton Watson, who was sidelined by a hamstring strain.

Jayson Tatum’s record-quick comeback from an achilles tear was the feelgood story of the season, at least until he hurt his leg, which ruled him out of a vital Game 7 that his Boston Celtics lost to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Los Angeles Lakers’ starting rotation lacks Luka Dončić until further notice and played four of six games against the Houston Rockets without another of their stars, Austin Reaves. The Rockets’ Kevin Durant played 78 of 82 regular season games, then missed every game of the Lakers series but one thanks to a bad knee and a bone bruise in his ankle. We of course had to save the most ridiculous injury for last: Victor Wembanyama was knocked out by the court itself after tripping on a drive and whacking his jaw on the hardwood. (He missed all of one game and wishes he could have missed zero.) Perhaps it was an omen.

Related: Embiid urges 76ers fans not to sell playoff tickets to Knicks fans: ‘If you need money, I’ve got you’

This is how the NBA is now. Ten hyper-athletic men powered by modern training regimens share a 94-by-50-foot rectangle, sprinting back and forth and leaping into the air and often crashing into each other as they do. An unconscionably long 82-game regular season sands down the players’ durability. Mix in the extra dose of vigor and roughness that comes with the heightened stakes of the playoffs, and bodies break down. Injuries that affect the outcome of games and series, that make you want to turn off the TV, are a constant risk.

This isn’t to say that this postseason has lacked drama or dopamine. Among the relatively uninjured, somehow, is none other than 41-year-old LeBron James, who continues to find escape routes from the bounds of time. The Sixers pulled off a miraculous comeback from 3-1 down to eliminate the Celtics, the Pistons did the same against the Magic. The Toronto Raptors’ RJ Barrett hit a game-winning three-pointer that kicked high, high off the back of the rim and through the hoop. (I immediately thought of Tyrese Haliburton’s shot against the Knicks last year, the most indelible memory from one of the best runs of clutch plays in history – before Haliburton tore his achilles in the next series.) The shorthanded Wolves banded together to topple the Nuggets; I wanted their scrappy crew to win so badly that it hurt a little bit. But all this brilliance can’t be worth the trail of broken bodies left in the wake. These playoffs feel like a stay-healthy contest rather than a way to determine the best team in the league, which hurts the viewing experience. Far worse is the intensifying feeling that professional basketball itself is incompatible with health.

There are sports, like boxing, in which physical damage is inextricable from the appeal. Basketball is different, or should be. The attraction is in the manipulation of space required to splash a three-pointer, in the precision and explosiveness that goes into a chase-down block. One player bodying another via dunk or block is satisfying, but we don’t want the other player to be hurt. Moses Moody caving his knee in while jumping for a dunk is not supposed to be part of the experience, nor is the epidemic of achilles and calf injuries. Fans should not be wincing every time their favorite player clatters to the ground and is slow to get up, which seems to happen a dozen times per game. No superstar escaped this season unscathed: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the luxury of not playing many fourth quarters thanks to his team usually putting the game away by then, but still missed time in February because of an abdominal strain. Nikola Jokić hyperextended his knee, after which his searing form from early in the season failed to fully return. Cade Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung in March. Dončić’s hamstring betrayed him in the middle of one of the hottest runs of form of his career. The latter two MVP candidates had to seek exemptions for the league’s 65-game rule to be considered for the honor.

That we’re only one round into the playoffs feels impossible. After his team finished off the Nuggets, Wolves coach Chris Finch looked tired rather than triumphant: the younger, healthier San Antonio Spurs were already waiting in the conference semi-finals.

“Before the series started, I figured the real winner of this series was going to be San Antonio, because both these teams were going to take a lot of pieces out of each other, and they did,” Finch said. “So I’m not sure what we have left standing before we go down there.” It’s easy to envision the Spurs essentially winning by TKO over what remains of the Wolves, or the Thunder forcing James into debilitating exhaustion midway through their series.

There’s a lot to be excited about for the rest of the playoffs, a likely Spurs-Thunder showdown in the Western Conference finals at the top of the list. Still, it’s hard to be too jazzed when more injuries are almost certain to join the pile. Last year’s NBA finals, brilliant through six games, will always be blemished by Haliburton’s achilles tear early in Game 7. In the 2024 finals, Dončić, the best player on the floor, was clearly carrying an injury. We can hope that injuries won’t insert themselves into this year’s finals, but recent history suggests mercy is unlikely.

Practically everybody agrees that the season needs to shorten, perhaps by a lot. Maybe the games do, too. Reverting first-round playoff series to best-of-five, as was the case before 2003, could keep players healthy a little bit longer. Maybe a seven-game series is too much punishment on a human body under any circumstances. For as long as the NBA resists change, its players will pay the price.

After the Lakers mercifully ended the Rockets’ bizarre, injury-marred season on Friday, the agony of defeat appeared tempered by exhaustion. The camaraderie between the players was also striking. Durant, who has had a tough season, hugged James tightly. He giggled with Dončić on the sidelines. Fred VanVleet, the Rockets’ vital point guard who sat out the whole season with a torn ACL, mingled with the players. It looked like everybody had finally been relieved of the burden of the game: the faces atop those beaten bodies, at last, smiling.