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Simulation Station: Can Celtics make surprise NBA Finals run from loaded East? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The start of the 2026-27 NBA regular season is less than 48 hours away, and the first game is an exciting matchup between the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons.

The Celtics had a very busy offseason, highlighted by the blockbuster trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Paul George and two first-round draft picks.

The C’s also signed center Mitchell Robinson and point guard Mike Conley Jr. in free agency, while re-signing Neemias Queta, Ron Harper Jr. and Jordan Walsh. Payton Pritchard reportedly signed a two-year extension last week.

So, the roster will definitely look a bit different for Tuesday’s season opener. Despite the loss of Brown, a lot of experts are bullish on the Celtics’ ability to be a top-three team in the Eastern Conference standings again.

But can the Celtics make a surprise run to the 2027 NBA Finals?

Our friends at Sim Station simulated the entire 2026-27 campaign. Let’s take a look at the results below.

Celtics stats

NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum put up solid all-around stats, but his numbers wouldn’t be good enough to return to first-team All-NBA status.

Part of the reason for Tatum’s lower-than-expected scoring average could be the fact that Paul George averaged just under 18 points per game and Derrick White scored a career-high 17.3 points per game.

Jaylen Brown’s Sixers debut

NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown finished third on the Sixers in scoring with 25.2 points per game.

It would be his third career season averaging 25-plus points per contest.

NBA Cup

NBC Sports Boston

The Celtics finished atop East Group C with a 3-1 record.

They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup tournament before eliminating the Detroit Pistons in the semifinals.

The Celtics’ rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers is re-ignited in the NBA Cup final, where L.A. wins its second in-season tournament crown.

Eastern Conference standings

NBC Sports Boston

The Celtics finished with a 47-35 record, good enough for third in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the conference.

They tied the 76ers but owned the tiebreaker, therefore earning homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Two of the best stretches of the season for the C’s were a seven-game win streak from Jan. 16 through Jan. 27. They also went 14-4 from Feb. 9 through March 21.

Awards and leaders

NBC Sports Boston

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won NBA MVP for the third straight year. He becomes the first player to win three straight MVPs since Celtics Hall of Famer Larry Bird in 1984 through 1986.

Utah Jazz guard Darryn Peterson wins Rookie of the Year.

The scoring champion is Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, who averages 32.4 points per game.

2027 NBA Playoffs

NBC Sports Boston

The Celtics get their revenge on the Sixers. Philly beat the Celtics in Game 7 of the first round last season, but in this simulation, it’s Boston advancing in a first-round sweep.

The Celtics meet the Pistons in the conference semifinals, re-igniting a rivalry that hasn’t had a playoff series since the 2008 conference finals. The C’s survive by winning Game 7 on the road in Detroit.

Another rivalry series awaits in the Eastern Conference finals, where the Celtics end the Knicks’ title defense in a short five-game series. The C’s advance to the NBA Finals with a Game 5 victory at Madison Square Garden.

For the first time, despite both teams making a combined 11 NBA Finals appearances since 1999, the Spurs and Celtics finally meet with a championship at stake.

After losing to the Knicks in five games in last season’s Finals, the Spurs prevail and win their sixth championship with a dramatic Game 7 victory in San Antonio.

Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama wins Finals MVP after averaging 26.4 points per game in the series, including a stellar Game 4 performance in which he scored 36 points with 17 rebounds.

Steph Curry to play in Warriors' season opener vs. Lakers after tweaking ankle originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – A collective sigh of relief can be felt throughout the Bay Area and the entire basketball world from Steph Curry avoiding a serious injury on Sunday during Warriors open practice when he limped off the court.

The news got even better the next day. 

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Monday that Curry will be good to go for Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. Curry has a sprained right ankle but was a full participant in Monday’s practice. 

“I’m always concerned when Steph limps off,” Kerr said Monday. “But I went down and checked on him and he told me immediately he was fine.” 

Curry rolled his right ankle trying to make a move on De’Anthony Melton as part of Sunday’s light scrimmage in front of thousands of fans. He bounced the ball hard twice in frustration, flapped his arms and limped to the sidelines, where he then continued limping down the hallway and to the Warriors’ locker room.

Steph Curry limps off the court at open practice and he just went back to the locker room @NBCSWarriors

Real quiet in here now pic.twitter.com/cLEFcOwTGt

— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) October 18, 2026

Curry missed 43 games last season, including more than two months to runner’s knee. He averaged 13 points per game in the preseason in a little under 18 minutes a night, shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range. 

While Curry appears ready for the regular-season opener, the already shorthanded Warriors continue to battle the injury bug. Brandin Podziemski and Charles Bassey both didn’t participate in Sunday’s open practice, and both are questionable for Wednesday’s game in LA. 

Bassey had his right knee wrapped in ice Sunday and is dealing with tendinitis. Podziemski has lower back soreness he sustained on the practice court ahead of open practice. Neither practiced Monday. 

Kerr is considering them each day-to-day right now. The Warriors will practice Tuesday ahead of their flight to LA and conduct a shootaround Wednesday morning prior to playing the Lakers.

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Five years ago, the Stephen Curry led Golden State Warriors won a fourth title together over the Boston Celtics. Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, and Curry are all still in place, and yet these Warriors are perhaps as far off as they’ve ever been from their championship winning days. Father time is undefeated, and often times the end of an era can be a bit unceremonious. The Warriors are a dying dynasty at best, or in reality, a dynasty that’d been dead for a few seasons now. As they look to what’s next, can they give the Curry era an ending that it deserves?

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Golden State Warriors: Over/Under 36.5 regular season wins (-110/-115)

To win Pacific Division: +430

To win Western Conference: 35/1

To win NBA Finals: 75/1

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Last season: 37-45, lost in second play in game

Key additions: Yaxel Lendeborg (12th pick in Draft), Brandon Williams (Dallas)

Key losses: Jonathan Kuminga (Minnesota), Quentin Post (Memphis), Pat Spencer (Phoenix)

The Warriors have pretty clearly reached the place that no NBA franchise wants to be. They are stuck in the middle, with a clear ceiling and a floor that make you wonder exactly what the plan is here. Jimmy Butler is still working his way back from a knee injury he suffered last year, and Steph, Draymond and Al Horford aren’t getting younger. Beyond that, Kristaps Porzingis still has a mystery illness, apparently. 

When you look at the roster to try and find the next generation of guys who will try and get the Warriors back to making deep runs in the playoff, they’re banking on Yaxel Lendeborg being that guy. Of course, Lendeborg won a national title at Michigan with Dusty May, Morez Johnson Jr. and the rest of their group, so he knows how to be a part of winning basketball. I just wonder what the long term path is here. I get giving Curry all the tools he deserves to give it an earnest shot, but there is very little in the way of future assets to build around. In the immediate, the Warriors figure to be around the same as they were last year. But in the long term, there’s many reasons to be concerned about the long term viability of this franchise.

Prediction: unenthusiastically over 36.5 wins

In late September, the NBA announced its points of emphasis and areas of focus for officiating, which included videos with narrated examples of the league’s new “points of education.” A week later, NBA.com’s Jeff Zillgitt broke them down in prose. So, with NBA Opening Day on October 20—and the Bucks’ season officially starting on October 21—it’s time fans hit the books. Of course, that’s arduous. So here, condensed for your convenience, are the “Cliff Notes.”

Offensive off arm

The point of emphasis: The league is cracking down on offensive players using their off arm to push off and create space.

Why you should care: Defenders might finally be able to, you know, have some semblance of a chance to defend again. And with Taylor Jenkins prioritising a return to defensive aptitude—and Bucks fans wanting a return to the dawg days—this could work in their favour. Then again, as Zillgitt wrote, “There is some leeway, a fine line in which the player can use his off arm against the defender as the player with the ball uses his off arm to firm up or feel for the defender.”

Need more? Check out the NBA’s official video:

Two-handed screens

The point of emphasis: Screeners better do so legally—and that means without two hands.

Why you should care: Jericho Sims committed 28 offensive fouls last year, tied with Victor Wembanyama for the 10th most in the entire league. But Sims isn’t called for the same type of offensive fouls that Giannis was—he’s not barreling through opponents on his way to the cup. No, Sims’ come mostly from illegal screens. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Gyro Step podcast’s Rohan Katti:

F it Jericho Sims illegal screens from last season https://t.co/KdYgh3Gwve

— Rohan Katti (@RKattiJr) August 28, 2026

Get your nose in the books and your reps in the lab, Jumpman!

Flopping

The point of emphasis: Players called for flopping will receive a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded a free throw. But for such a foul to actually be called, it has to meet the STEM criteria:

• Secondary
• Theatrical
• Exaggerated
• Movement

Head snaps do not. They are embellishments, drawing attention to something that is illegal, so they are permissible.

Why you should care: Call me defeatist, but you probably shouldn’t. How can a referee possibly process a call that has its own set of four criteria in an instant? This will likely go the way of past points of emphasis—called several times early in the season only to be forgotten by December.

Reckless closeouts

The point of emphasis: Don’t be reckless when closing out. Simples.

Why you should care: If the Bucks’ preseason is anything to go by, they’ll be hoisting up a lot of long-range bombs this season. With that, they’ll face an increased number of closeouts. And with that, they’ll (potentially) face an increased number of reckless closeouts. Notably, “the shooter can fall to the floor in a sitting motion if he feels he’s protecting himself on a closeout.” Moreover, doing so “is not considered a flop.” So, pull up a pew, fellas. Stay safe!

Want more on these? Check out the NBA’s official video:

Wasting time before free throws

The point of emphasis: This one’s on the defensive team. They—players and coaches—need to stop time-wasting once a foul is called. Either challenge the call or don’t. Any filibustering will result in a delay of game violation.

Why you should care: For all the joy that NBA games bring, at times they drag on so much that it’s as if you’re back in the year 2000 listening to The Opposite of H20. This point of emphasis, then, might give you a few of those oh-so-precious minutes back. Paired with the absence of Giannis’ free throw routine, you might even find yourself looking for things to do!

And, just in case you truly are a sicko and want the tape, here it is:

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What do you think, Brew Hoopers? Has the NBA got its points of emphasis right? And if you were in charge, what rules would you like to see emphasised?

Last year’s Toronto Raptors were one of the most fun teams in the league, a whirling dervish on defence that could be absolutely devastating in transition. But, the team’s lack of shooting hamstrung its halfcourt offence, forcing athletic slashers like Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett to operate in a phone booth, leading to some close losses at the end of fourth-quarter slogs. While swapping Brandon Ingram for Kawhi Leonard will undoubtedly give the offence a boost, the question remains: have the Raptors done enough to address their shooting deficiency?

Outside shooting is a force multiplier in today’s NBA. Not only can a hot shooter flip a scoreline in an instant, but the threat of a marksman with a quick trigger pulls defenders away from the paint, giving his teammates more room to attack the paint, especially important for teams like Toronto who are built around a young star who lives at the rim.

Leonard, the headline-grabbing new addition, knocked down 38.7% of his outside shots last year and was above 41% the three seasons before that. He’s an excellent three-point shooter, but he really makes his money in the midrange, where he’s one of the game’s premier iso scorers. In some ways, he’s a more physically strong and deadlier version of Brandon Ingram. His shooting skill will be a boon and he shot more threes (6.8 per game) than ever last season, but, for the Raptors, whether or not his teammates can space the floor for him is just as vital as whether or not he can space the floor for others, since he’ll have plenty of the ball at the end of the shot clock.

If we assume that the Raptors’ last preseason starting lineup (Leonard, Barrett, Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and Jakob Poeltl) will be their regular season starting unit, only two of those players (Leonard and Quickley) shot above league average from three last year. Barrett has had a 40% season in his past, but has only shot 36% or better one other time in his seven seasons in the league and, like Leonard, he doesn’t toss them up at particularly high volume. Barnes is a career 30.1% shooter from beyond the arc and will be treated as a non-shooter in the playoffs, and Poeltl’s range barely extends beyond the basket. Quickley has a fast release and is unafraid to pull up from well beyond the arc, but he’s more streaky than automatic. He’ll probably need to up his three-point volume even more (he was at 6.8 attempts per game last year, the same as Kawhi) to really move the needle for a team that was just 26th in three-point attempts and 21st in percentage last season.

In fact, of the top eight Raptors in minutes per game last season, only Ingram (gone, but accounted for by Kawhi’s arrival), Quickley, and Sandro Mamukelashvili (also gone) shot better than league average from deep and only one other regular (Ja’Kobe Walter, at a sizzling 40.9% on 3.7 attempts per game) did so. Even if the Raptors opt to finish games with Collin Murray-Boyles at centre instead of Poeltl, CMB is still an unproven shooter who hit 34% last year on less than one try per night. Even a super small-ball lineup with Barnes at the five might not have particularly great spacing, unless Walter has a breakout season or Barrett finds consistency from deep. Jamison Battle can really shoot, but it’s not clear he’ll have a big enough role to make a significant impact and their best defensive guard, Jamal Shead, has only made 32.2% of his threes in the NBA.

This year’s Raptors team will still be plenty dangerous and they’ll be an absolutely miserable team to have to play against, whether in the regular season or the playoffs, but it may take another roster move, or a breakout shooting performance from CMB, Walter, or Shead, for them to have enough offence juice to take down the league’s elites in a playoff series.

Sorry.

It’s the start of the NBA season this week, meaning Phoenix Suns basketball is back. But the most talked-about topic in Suns basketball right now is the comments from someone who’s not on the team anymore, Kevin Durant, who had a back-and-forth with team owner Mat Ishbia on the framing of the former Finals MVP’s tenure with the team.

So despite the fact that Suns basketball is returning in two days, we’re gonna start with the back and forth between the team’s owner and the Houston Rockets superstar for questions we want your answers on.

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If not Kevin Durant, what should the Suns have done to improve the roster?

It’s February of 2023.

Mat Ishbia buys the team, and the team still has their draft picks, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, and Cam Johnson. INSTEAD of trading for Kevin Durant, which Ishbia has deemed a mistake since the decision, what should the team have done with the assets at their disposal to improve the roster as the Suns were struggling and coming off a disappointing playoff performance that saw them embarrassed on their home court in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks?

You be the GM.

The opening night starting center will be?

Both Khaman Maluach and Oso Ighodaro started at least two of the team’s five games this preseason, with Maluach starting at center in the final three games, with the last one being alongside the team’s four other presumed starters, Jalen Green, Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Miles Bridges.

While Ighodaro didn’t play in the team’s final two games, he should be ready for the start of the season, so let’s not factor in health. If you’re the coaching staff making the decision between the two, who are you picking and why?

What are your Suns predictions for the season?

The start of the regular season calls for prediction time, and in a Western Conference that’s lost LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis since the start of last season, there’s been a lot of turnaround over the past 12 months when the Suns began the 2025-26 campaign. Last year, the Suns surprised many when they won 45 games and made the playoffs after losing Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal in the previous offseason. This year, they’re not gonna take as many by storm, as reflected by their win total projections by the sportsbooks and prediction markets.

What are your predictions for the 2026-2027 Suns season?

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On the Suns’ Plate This Week

The regular season is here!

Phoenix has two games this week. On Wednesday at 7 pm AZ time, they’ll play the new-look Portland Trailblazers for their first game of the season. Then on Saturday at 7 pm AZ time, the Suns will host the Golden State Warriors in their regular-season home opener in a rematch of the 8/9 play-in game from a season ago.

We are back!