Just 322 days into his tenure as the New York Knicks’ head coach, Mike Brown has the franchise in the NBA Finals.

The Knicks have not seen the NBA Finals in the 21st century, but Brown has been there numerous times. Brown’s first Finals experience came in 2003, when he was an assistant on Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs staff. The team beat the New Jersey Nets to claim a championship, but Brown left the team following the season to join the Indiana Pacers. While Brown came close in Indiana, he eventually returned to the Finals in 2007 with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brown and the Cavs came up short in 2007, but it wouldn’t be Brown’s last dance.

It took a decade for Brown to return to the Finals in 2017, when he was the associate head coach for the Golden State Warriors. He began a dynastic run that saw him reach the NBA Finals in four of the next six seasons.

The 2026 Finals will mark Brown’s seventh time on basketball’s biggest stage, which should come in handy for a Knicks team that hasn’t been there before.

Players like Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have been there with their previous teams, but the Knicks’ biggest change this season is a big reason why they find themselves where they are.

While there was chatter about his job security throughout the season, Brown has proven why the Knicks made the right choice in hiring him as head coach.

Game 1 was a confirmation of a cultural problem. The Cleveland Cavaliers surrendered a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter, not gradually, not begrudgingly, but as if they had simply decided to stop. The New York Knicks didn’t steal the game so much as Cleveland left it unlocked, engine running, keys in the ignition.

What followed wasn’t a series. It was a confirmation.

The unbothered problem

All season, the word that kept surfacing around this team was resilient. They won back-to-back Game 7s, against Toronto, against Detroit, and the narratives wrote themselves. Mentally tough. Unbreakable. Built different.

But resilience and indifference are separated by a razor’s edge, and against New York, Cleveland spent four games on the wrong side of it. The same equanimity that helped them claw back from deficits became a kind of emotional flatness; an inability to register the weight of the moment when the moment demanded urgency. They twice held 3–2 series leads in earlier rounds and failed to close. No one seemed particularly alarmed. That should have been the warning sign.

Game 7 victories hid problems in plain sight. If you want to view both those series objectively, the Cavaliers struggled to close out teams that were much more flawed than a New York team that wasn’t going to succumb to anything but Cleveland’s best punch.

Roster construction and coaching will get their due; there is plenty to excavate there. But before any of that: the Cavaliers, for long stretches of this series, did not appear to be trying as hard as the other team. The Knicks ran. They dove. They celebrated. New York played like a city starving for something; Cleveland played like a team that had already made peace with however things turned out.

After every loss, the message was almost chalked up to an unlucky coin flip. The Cavaliers would convey all the lip service to make one think they took the loss to heart. Sure of the fact that this game would be put behind them, not far enough to not draw conclusions and improvements from, only to play identically both in scheme and effort, resulting in the same narrative for four straight games.

Game 4 was probably the most telling for me of where this Cavaliers team was, mentally and physically drained. All you want as a fan is to see your team fight for pride on its home court. Especially when your opponent can celebrate and lift hardware in front of your fans. It seemed the Cavaliers gave their “best” in the first eight minutes. When the Knicks continued to pile on the points and run in transition, that was the kiss of death for the Cavaliers’ season.

Hustle metrics, second-chance points, deflections by nearly every measure of effort that can be quantified, the Cavaliers came up short. That is not a coaching problem or a roster problem first. That is a pride problem.

James Harden absorbs a disproportionate share of the blame in these moments; always has, likely always will. Some of it is fair. Some of it is lazy. But pinning this collapse on any single player lets the other fourteen off a hook they should not be allowed to wriggle from. This was a collective failure. The Cavaliers were a soulless corpse long before anyone’s shot selection or defensive positioning became the story.

The question facing Cleveland this offseason isn’t whether to tweak the roster at the margins. It’s whether this team, in its current form, has the capacity for genuine desperation; for the kind of hunger that makes a Game 3 and 4 blowouts feel like a wound rather than a footnote. Until they can answer that honestly, the Game 1 collapses will keep coming.

If the Cavaliers are to get where they want to go, they need to realize the culture they built is one where contentment comes too easily. A culture where counter punches aren’t expected and where, once a lead is built, a loss can never follow. I think the poison from this mentality trickled from the top down, including coaching, stars like Donovan Mitchell and Harden down to the role players.

It’s an organizational issue, and if the Cavaliers want to become serious, they need to show it on the floor and not at the podium.

New York.

Knicks.

NBA Finals.

Mike Brown

On never doubting his team:

“I truly felt that this team was an NBA Finals team. I felt like we had a true opportunity. … I did have that belief from Day 1.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s value to the Knicks:

“Mitch can start for any team in the league — any team. And if he started, he might be first team all-defense and some other things, who knows? But this does not work if Mitch does not allow us to do that. If he doesn’t sacrifice himself and allows us to do that, because you’re talking about a starting center that you throw in the game maybe for 30 seconds sometimes, or two minutes, whatever it is, you pull them right back out. So it starts and ends with him, and him sacrificing himself for the team.”

On Jalen Brunson and how he compares to Tim Duncan and Steph Curry:

“The aura that those guys have, the quiet strength that they have, is unbelievable.”

On Landry Shamet’s impact in the ECF:

“Landry Shamet has continued to step up big on both ends of the floor.”

On these Knicks’ identity:

“They’re so resilient. We hit adversity during the regular season, which was fantastic. I embraced it. I wanted it to happen. We hit it numerous times. And our guys were tested then, and they stayed connected. And to see the ups and down, especially early in these playoffs against Atlanta and to see them stay connected while trying to sacrifice and believe, it’s fantastic. You don’t know if there’s gonna be carryover with those things in the postseason until you go through it, and going through it with these guys, these coaches and seeing it gives you hope for a lot of things, because the group has been fantastic.” Both Brown and the players have cited a higher level of focus since their Game 3 loss in Atlanta. They’ve been fantastic trying to pay attention to all the details that we’ve been throwing at them. And we’ve thrown a lot of adjustments offensively and defensively at them throughout the course of these playoffs. And to still see them locked in and try to be focused on the details at hand, again, that just speaks volumes of my coaching staff and the way that they’re presenting and changing and all that stuff. But more so about these players and their want to go try to get a ring.”

On his philosophy with bench players:

“I’ve been fortunate, blessed, lucky to be a part of some good coaching staffs and be with some great coaches. Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, they were guys that went deep into their bench. And they both always used to say, it’s not about now; it’s about the postseason. It’s not about now; it’s about the postseason. And you keep guys engaged by doing that, and you do develop not just a bench but the team, as well, because guys get used to playing with other guys, just in case something goes down. And so, again, it’s something I stole from them. Very few things I came up with on my own. I’ve seen it work in the past, and that’s kind of what I thought I wanted to do here. Tried to do it in Sacramento, too. So again, you’ve kind of been through it. You learn. You develop a philosophy from what you learn from and you believe in it, you try to stick with it as best you can, and that’s what we try to do here. Our guys, they’re doing a nice job getting rest, taking care of their bodies and their minds and trying to play as hard as they can. Every second they’re out on the floor, we have to keep doing that.”

On a challenging first season in New York:

“There were a lot of things that were challenging. You just kind of take them in stride and you go through it as best you can, and you know, you embrace it. I know that you have to have difficulties along the way to see if you can get through them. And not just with the players, but you got to have difficulties whether it’s with players or this or that, and you don’t want to just see how the players respond, but you want to see how Mr. Dolan responds, how Leon Rose responds, how your coaches respond to the situation, and if everybody truly respects the process, then they’ll all give it time to work itself through.”

On changing his methods as the season progressed:

“You come with an idea in mind. This is a players’ league and you have to be able to adapt, adjust – whatever you want to call it – to whatever your group’s strengths are on both sides of the basketball. It may take you a month to figure it out. It may take you half a year to figure it out. And I ain’t that smart, so it took me a little longer.”

On Tom Thibodeau kickstarting the current Knicks run:

“Thibs did an amazing job and gave us the experience and the education and the opportunity to show the world what we could do as a team. When Mike came in, making the Eastern Conference Finals this year was going to be the bare minimum. We stepped into this season with a lot of expectations.”

On the help his assistants have provided him with:

“I thank our guys because their patience has been unbelievable, and they’ve just gone with every single adjustment that I’ve thrown at them starting with Josh off the bench, experimenting with things to try to [improve] the group. Hopefully, you get it sooner or later. That’s why it usually takes a couple of years to get it in sync with the coach and players, especially when one of them is new.”

On when he felt the Knicks turned their season around for the absolute best:

“It was always a little bit of a question — whether or not we’d be able to get over the hump — but down the stretch of the regular season with 6 or 7 games to go, we started to play good basketball and do more things that involved more sacrificing from the group.”

On his situation before and after signing with the Knicks:

“Our business is funny. In my previous job [with the Sacramento Kings before getting fired], I supposedly took them to a point that was higher and it didn’t work out. I truly felt these Knicks were an NBA Finals team. I felt we had a true opportunity. Some jobs you take, you say, ‘OK, we’ll get better and we have to make the playoffs right now.’ But this one, I felt we legitimately had a chance if we could help them figure it out and the players can stay together during the process. Especially when we hit adversity. Because we hit adversity at different parts in this season. Not just us as a whole group, but even guys individually and myself as well. I did have that belief from Day 1. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. But we’re here.”

Jalen Brunson

On what’s fueling this Knicks run:

“Resilience. I think we’ve been able to stay focused, stay composed.”

On how his teammates helped him win the ECF MVP award:

“They give me the confidence. They let me be me.”

On whether or not the Knicks have already peaked entering the Finals:

“I don’t want to consider us peaking at this moment. I still think we have a lot of work to do. Us as a team, I’ve said this all year, we just want to get better every single day. That includes the times that we’re in the playoffs because there’s still time to learn, still time to get better. That’s how I’ve always thought about it. I haven’t really had the time to really kind of wonder where we are as a team. All I focus on is how can we get better from the day before.”

On the Knicks’ trust in him from day one:

“The belief that the organization has in me has been amazing, and something I don’t take for granted, and something not a lot of people get the opportunity to do. So I’m very thankful. It’s an honor to be here in this city for this organization with my teammates.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On Brunson’s ECF MVP award:

“He’s done an amazing job. He’s done an amazing job every single night showing up and doing. He deserves the credit, deserves the recognition. I’m glad he’s getting it. And it’s an honor to be part of that.”

On what helped these Knicks in reaching the Finals:

“Experience — experience teaches you a lot. This is my third conference finals in a row, and I finally got over the hump, finally got to the Finals. For me, I’m going to enjoy this moment, I’m going to enjoy tonight.”

On finally reaching the Finals and doing so with the Knicks:

“It means the world. I grew up a Knicks fan, as was documented. What’s more of an honor is growing up in the area, I feel like the word ‘hope’ has been gone from the New York Knicks name for a long time. To be a part of this team that revives the word hope in the city, it’s something special, and it’s an honor.”

On his trust on the Knicks’ winning capabilities:

“We knew our team was capable of doing this. That’s why we are here right now.”

On dealing with the title-or-bust expectations:

“I mean, we all had that aspiration regardless. So we didn’t really need to hear that because we all wanted that moment. We all wanted to see that especially after last year being in the Eastern Conference Finals and coming up short. We understand that we’ve got to take that next step. So what he’s talking about is also how we all felt. We wanted to go out there and we wanted to take that next step. Get past the Eastern Conference Finals. It was historical last year. The city went crazy and it was awesome to see the city so alive, but there’s new standards now. There’s new expectations and we’ve raised the expectations so we knew what we came into this season to do and what we want to accomplish and we’ve just go to keep our head down and continue to focus on the goal at hand.”

On Brown adapting to his players and the other way around:

“With Mike, he had to learn us and adjust to us. On the flip side, we had to do the same, as well. Now, we are at a point where we are both working seamlessly. We understand each other’s language. He is getting the best from us and we are getting the best from him. I think that speaks to a season, especially a first season with a new coach and a new system and a new philosophy. It’s a testament to the players to do an amazing job coming together and showing that unity that made us special last year. But the coaching staff being receptive to the players and adjusting with us and finding the way to get the most out of us.”

On his All-NBA snub:

“I think it talks more about our team, you know? That we’re selfless, and we’re willing to do whatever it takes for the development of our team and organization, and winning. Like you said, you brought up a lot of, I guess, stats and things like that, but it just shows that it’s a collective effort getting the job done every single night in New York, and it speaks volumes to this team.”

Josh Hart

On Brunson’s biggest trait helping him win the ECF MVP:

“Obviously he’s very humble, and he’s not gonna make too much of it until he retires. But it’s cool for him to get that recognition.”

On reaching the NBA Finals alongside college teammates Brunson and Bridges:

“It’s something that is surreal. Whenever you’re in college and in that locker room, you know the goal is the NBA. You know the percent chance of you all being on the same team is slim, if not none. It’s something you talk about and dream about, but you know the reality is almost impossible. The fact that it actually came to fruition is super cool because I know the time that these guys put in and I know where their hearts are. We already share a bond and brotherhood for life, and this is just another step. Obviously, this isn’t the ultimate goal, but you just keep adding memories. These are memories we’ll have for a lifetime.”

On having another long break ahead before the Finals:

“It’s huge. Obviously a team like Cleveland played two seven-game series, so you’re playing four more games than we played and a couple of our games were blowouts and we didn’t play too many minutes. Obviously that works in your benefit and you want to get as much rest as you can. I think it’s a sweet spot of getting enough rest but you don’t get rusty. We want to get that as much as we possibly can.”

On the rest advantage over Cleveland:

“[Playing fewer] minutes helps. I think at one point, they played 50% more minutes — or we played half the minutes or something — than the Cavs did. When you do that, obviously you’re at an advantage and you’re able to play faster and do those kinds of things. Obviously, it’s helped.”

On Brown’s head coaching job in New York:

“He was put in a tough situation with a lot of expectations but he’s handled that unbelievably. He’s coaching us in his way, his style. He’s taking input from everybody. His ability to lead us to adapt to things has been great. That’s just the kind of person he is. He’s a high-character, and a great person first and foremost.”

On dealing with Dolan’s mandate:

“We better get to the Finals or we’re going toget traded. It wasn’t pressure because that’s the goal we have. It, obviously, hits a little bit different when (Dolan) says it, but that’s the goal each and every one of us have, and we’re our own biggest critics. It just adds more fuel to that internal, inner fire to get there.”

Landry Shamet

On Brown’s coaching style and personality:

“I think he’s really, really good at not letting any of us — he talks about human nature a lot. He’s very upfront about it. When you win games in a row, respectfully, getting questions like this from you guys, he talks about it, and it’s human nature to kind of get comfortable sometimes. So he’s always checking us, curbing us on that, reminding us of kind of fighting that off. It’s a lot of the intangible stuff like that that I think he’s spectacular at, keeping us in our right headspace. Obviously, Xs and Os and game plan and how it communicates with everyone. This is a great coach. We trust him. You follow his lead.”

On Brown keeping the team focused even amid back-to-back sweeps and large leads:

“It’s human nature to kind of get comfortable sometimes. So he’s always checking us on that. Reminding us of fighting that off. It’s a lot of intangible stuff like that that I think he’s spectacular at. Keeping us in the right headspace. Obviously Xs and Os, the gameplan. He communicates with everyone. Just a great coach.”

Clyde Frazier

On Jalen Brunson’s ECF MVP award and his role as the new leader of the Knicks:

“It’s been a long time. Carrying on a tradition. Passing it down to Jalen so he’s the guy now who has to carry it. But you got to capitalize when you get there. So we’re going to stay on him. As Red Holzman would tell us at this point, ‘Hey, Clyde, we haven’t won nothing yet.’”

On expecting the Knicks to win the title:

“The way we’re playing now, I don’t think it matters who we play. Their suffocating defense, the ball movement. [Coach Mike] Brown came in wanting to run pace and space. But that was one thing they didn’t do. Now the last 11 games, the way they’re getting up and down the court, Bridges, Hart, they’re just moving and grooving.”

On the current Knicks team:

“These guys, they have 10 guys that are thriving. It doesn’t seem to matter who he puts in the game, they come up with what they need.”

Donovan Mitchell

On what to tell Cavs fans after a 4-0 loss:

“I’m sorry for the city of Cleveland. For it to be like this and the sweep. That’s ass. But I told y’all last year, and I’ll say again, we’ll be back. We’ll be ready. We’ll be hungry. And we’ll be locked in.”

On how Kenny Atkinson will deal with criticism:

“I know for a fact he’s from Long Island, he don’t give a damn”

On the Cavs’ future after an embarrassing sweep:

“I have no doubt that this group can get there. I’ve said that all year. The biggest thing is you just use it as a learning lesson. It’s a tough learning lesson, but now we know. This team that we just faced had to go through this. Maybe not this way, but they’ve been together, they’ve been a core group and had to go through this tough experience. So, this is our turn.”

On not having even enough to start putting on a fight against the Knicks:

“We did this to ourselves. That’s not an excuse. [The Knicks] are a hungry team. They beat us, swept us. So, I don’t want to diminish that, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance because we didn’t handle business … you can’t play with your food. We had an opportunity to close both series and give ourselves some rest, and we didn’t.”

James Harden

On how much better the Knicks were through the ECF:

“I can’t even answer that question, honestly. Yeah, I don’t think we had a chance as far as our best shot from a standpoint of the circumstances. Obviously, they dominated us 4-0, but I don’t know if I can necessarily answer that question because, genuinely, I do feel we are the better team. But series-wise didn’t show it, so tough question to answer. They made shots, some open and some just tough shots. I don’t think we made really any.”

On the Cavs’ season ending:

“I think we found something. It’s tough. It’s not ending how we wanted to, but I think we found something.”

On his upcoming free agency, if he declines the player option in his deal:

“Definitely want to be here. I think we found something. It’s tough. It’s not ending how we wanted to, but I think we found something.”

On Atkinson’s job through the postseason:

“He understands his team. Of course, somebody’s going to have to take criticism, whether it’s myself or Kenny or whoever, the entire team. They’re going to put it on somebody. But I think for Kenny, he did an unbelievable job of getting me acclimated as fast as possible to understanding what I’m supposed to be doing out there. It’s just an unfortunate situation. Any team coming off of a tough, two series against two defensive monsters, it would have been challenging.”

Zohran Mamdani

On the Eastern Conference Finals outcome:

“I’d like to report a sweep.”

Spike Lee

On predicting a Knicks championship:

“I don’t care about San Antonio. OKC. We’re going to win. May 8, 1970 [the first Knicks championship]. I was at the Willis Reed game. Thirteen years old. So going to keep it going. This is a team of destiny, heart, drive. … It reminds me of Willis, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Dick Barnett, Cazzie Russell. I’m going back. I’m old, though.”

Steven A. Smith

On the Knicks going to the NBA Finals:

“Finally, 27 years, 27 years, we here and we ain’t finished. We ain’t finished. I said we were going to the Finals. We’re going to win the Finals! We’re going to win the Finals! Go New York, Go New York, Go. Contain myself, I’m cool. Four more, four more, four more.”

Fat Joe

On the Cavs preventing celebrities from buying courtside seats:

“We had bought some courtside tickets to the game, and once they found out it was superfan Fat Joe, they were like, I can’t sit courtside. New York Knicks fans can’t sit courtside. They took the tickets away courtside after we purchased it, so shame on you all.”

For the first time in 26 long years, the Knicks have advanced to the NBA Finals, and are now just four wins from heights unseen in half a century. 

Their eventual foe has yet to be determined, as the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder battle for the Western Conference in a 2-2 draw entering Game 5 on Tuesday night.

The way the Knicks have played since Game 3 of the first round, no fan would be out of line for outsized confidence in either potential matchup. However, the reality is the Spurs and Thunder are leagues ahead of any competition New York has faced thus far in the postseason, and each present unique challenges in a league where styles make fights.

With that in mind, which team would be the better matchup for the Knicks?

Spurs

The Spurs offer some nice narrative arcs for the Knicks, with Mike Brown getting revenge for the 2007 Finals and the franchise for 1999. Fans also like this idea because the Knicks went 2-1 against them during the regular season and in their NBA Cup Championship game.

You normally can't bank on regular season results, but they can be indicative of certain advantages, much like San Antonio’s dominance over OKC this season. This won’t be some walk in the park, but the Knicks have real leverage in this matchup.

First, they have the best one-man answers to Victor Wembanyama in the league -- with OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson. Both already showed how they can stymie him without pulling too much of the remaining defense's attention.

Second, they have the perimeter defenders to bother Spurs guards in De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper. Mikal Bridges has locked up every All-Star caliber guard thrown at him this postseason, and Josh Hart and Miles McBride are coming up huge as well.

Finally, there’s the five-out option the Knicks can lean on to circumvent the Spurs’ suffocating defense. Wembanyama won’t be allowed to easily roam or protect the paint if he has to stretch out to Karl-Anthony Towns or Anunoby.

San Antonio is also a younger, less-tested team, although they’ve answered the call through two rounds and aren’t making it easy for the reigning champions. They definitely have their own edges in the series.

The Spurs will have many defensive guards and big wings to throw at Jalen Brunson, and have proven themselves much more versatile and flexible schematically than some of the other foes the Knicks have faced. They’re also comfortable playing at New York’s pace.

Oklahoma City Thunder

New York dropped two competitive games to Oklahoma City during the regular season, and will definitely come armed with fewer strategic edges should they meet. Still, the way the Knicks have jelled, it’s anybody’s game.

The Knicks will need to tap into all of their offensive creation -- Towns in the pinch post, Brunson ball, transition -- to test the Thunder's defense. They boast enough scrappy defensive guards to wear Brunson down, so the more he can get off the ball and still find success is key.

Towns will have to be especially patient and choosy with his approach. Scoring on the tandem of Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren won’t be easy if the offense isn’t flowing, and his creation will be tested against a lot of reaching arms.

They’ll likely start Bridges, who has the poise and ability, on MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and see how aggressively they’ll need to help. Beyond Bridges there aren’t a ton of clean one-on-one matchups to try, and over-extending the defense will lead to lots of open threes, so much of this series would ride on him.

One thing working heavily in New York’s favor would be the injury list. Jalen Williams has been battling a hamstring issue, while Ajay Mitchell is out.

Knicks fans might be on top of the world now, but in eight short days they’ll begin the team’s toughest series to date. Whoever they play, it’ll be a grueling, emotional, and unmissable final hurdle to the championship.

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The seesaw battle in the Western Conference Finals shifts back to the Paycom Center tonight for a pivotal Game 5, as the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder enter tied at 2-2.

With tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. ET from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, our Covers experts have you set with their best NBA picks for Tuesday, May 26.

Spurs vs. Thunder Expert Picks Tonight

Pick	Odds
Jon Metler: Spurs +4.5	-110
Jason Logan: De'Aaron Fox o14.5 points	-112
Joe Osborne: Thunder TT o110.5	-115

Odds courtesy of bet365.

Jon Metler's expert pick: Spurs +4.5

Price: -110 at bet365

This is a classic NBA Playoff situation where regular-season power ratings haven’t fully caught up to what’s happening in the series. Matchups matter more in the postseason, and right now, the San Antonio Spurs look like the better team, especially with Jalen Williams dealing with a hamstring injury.

I make San Antonio closer to a 3-point underdog, and that number already assumes Williams plays on a minutes restriction. If he’s ruled out entirely, the value on the Spurs only increases. Defensively, San Antonio has the perfect combination to disrupt the Oklahoma City Thunder's offense.

Victor Wembanyama protects the rim at an elite level, while Stephon Castle can pressure Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the point of attack and force him into tougher shots. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City is relying a bit too heavily on role players offensively for my liking.

Jason Logan's expert pick: De'Aaron Fox Over 14.5 points

Price: -112 at bet365

De’Aaron Fox is more than 10 days removed from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the first two games of the WCF. He’s played 31 minutes in each of the past two outings, scoring 12 and 15 points on a collective 12-for-27 shooting in those games, but seeing limited action in the fourth quarter of those blowouts (just nine total 4Q minutes).

A tighter finish will have a healthier Fox logging his normal workload, seeing closer to 40 minutes tonight. The Thunder have injury issues in their backcourt, leaving bigger guards Lu Dort and Alex Caruso to try to keep up with Fox.

Game 5 projections all sit north of his 14.5 O/U scoring prop, ranging from 15.1 to a ceiling of 18.7, with most projections at 17+ points tonight.

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Thunder team total Over 110.5 

Price: -115 at bet365

I’m expecting a strong offensive bounce-back from OKC after that ugly 82-point showing in Game 4. This is still a team that entered that game leading all playoff teams in both scoring and offensive rating, and championship-level offenses usually respond well at home.

Game 4 was also misleading in some ways — despite being the lowest-scoring game of the series, it was played at the fastest pace yet, and the tempo has increased in every matchup in this series so far.

The Thunder are averaging 118.3 points per game at home this postseason and have cleared 110.5 points in 10 of 12 playoff games.

More Spurs vs. Thunder Game 4 picks

• Spurs vs. Thunder prediction
• Spurs vs. Thunder props
• Free NBA picks
• Best NBA betting sites

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For all the noise surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers this season, one of the loudest debates now involves a player who doesn’t even wear purple and gold.

Former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce stirred things up this week when he argued that Jaylen Brown deserved Luka Doncic’s spot on the All-NBA First Team, claiming Brown “did the most with the least” while Doncic benefited from playing alongside LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

“I know that’s saying a lot because Luka did lead the league in scoring, but he had more to work with, too. Think about it. He had LeBron all year. You got Reaves, you know, a lot of most of the year,” said Pierce, on the “No Fouls Given” show on X. 

“I thought [Brown] was in the MVP conversation,” Pierce said. “When you’re in the MVP conversation, you should be 1st Team… I would’ve probably removed Luka (Doncic) for Jaylen.”

That take immediately raised eyebrows in Los Angeles.

Doncic didn’t just make First Team All-NBA because of reputation. He earned it by leading the NBA in scoring at 33.5 points per game while also averaging 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds.

Even with injuries constantly disrupting the Lakers’ lineup, Doncic remained the engine behind a team that secured the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.

Pierce’s argument also ignored an important reality: Doncic, LeBron and Reaves were rarely healthy together. The trio appeared in just 29 games together all season, hardly the superteam setup Pierce described.

Paul Pierce says Jaylen Brown should have been first team All-NBA over Luka Doncic:

“I know that’s saying a lot because Luka did lead the league in scoring, but he had more to work with, too. Think about it. He had LeBron all year. You got Reaves, you know, a lot of most of the… pic.twitter.com/YB1s3vTPJ3

— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 25, 2026

That doesn’t diminish Brown’s season.

The Celtics forward was phenomenal while carrying Boston after Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tear cost him most of the season. Brown averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists while helping keep the Celtics near the top of the Eastern Conference despite major roster turnover.

But replacing Doncic specifically feels more rooted in Pierce’s devotion to the Celtics and their longstanding rivalry with the Lakers than actual production.

The Lakers star became the focal point of everything defenses tried to stop nightly, yet still delivered one of the league’s most complete offensive seasons.

Doncic missed the Lakers’ final five regular season games and the entire postseason with a significant hamstring strain.

Without him, the Lakers squeezed past the Rockets in six games in the first round before being swept by the top-seeded Thunder in the conference semifinals.

Pierce may still bleed Celtics green, but this debate probably says more about the rivalry than the ballots themselves.