2025 NBA Season

[Harkorede]

Here comes the first plot twist to the Celtics vs Cavaliers Eastern Conference semi final series, Cavaliers have even the series, taking 118-94 win for game 2 in Boston. Just like me, I guess that's what a lot of us didn't see coming right ? I thought the Cavaliers best chance would be when the series head back to Ohio, but it maybe the dreadful Celtics aren't invisible after all... It's still a best of 7 series, and there is no result ascertained yet, but the Cavaliers first step towards a major upset have been taken tonight, and huge test of defending home court in game 3 and 4 is what awaits!

On the other side, Cavs got this good oppotunity bringing the series at home with a tie standing, they just need to duplicate the outcome and try harder to take both games at home to have a comfortable lead and hopefully win the series against Boston.

Yeah for sure, but it's going to be an easy said than done situation regardless of how prepared the Cavaliers are for their home court, because you sure would be expecting Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics to throw everything they've got at them, and anticipate every element of surprise.

----------

In the other series of the night as well Dallas and Luka Doncic got a win over OKC and the series is also tied at one apiece, interesting series we've got on our hands in both conference semi-finals.

Same thing happened with OKC, Dallas took control of the game early and kept their foot on the pedal. Both games tonight were pretty unexpected results for most bettors as both Boston and OKC have been pretty dominant this whole playoffs, but this does show everyone that no team is out of the playoffs if they show some heart.

It's game on! and It is literally anyone's series from here on, even if eventually both series heads all the way to a game 7, both favorite teams with the home court advantage would be well aware that being on home court is no longer an advantage at this stage of the playoffs.

[LogitechMouse]

Here comes the first plot twist to the Celtics vs Cavaliers Eastern Conference semi final series, Cavaliers have even the series, taking 118-94 win for game 2 in Boston. Just like me, I guess that's what a lot of us didn't see coming right ? I thought the Cavaliers best chance would be when the series head back to Ohio, but it maybe the dreadful Celtics aren't invisible after all... It's still a best of 7 series, and there is no result ascertained yet, but the Cavaliers first step towards a major upset have been taken tonight, and huge test of defending home court in game 3 and 4 is what awaits!

Many didn't expect it to happen like what happened in Game 2 in their first series against the Heat. Now what happened in Games 3 & 4 in the first round will obviously not happen for the Celtics because they have a great opponent in Cleveland.

Like I said, relying on one player on offense doesn't work already in the NBA playoffs. It's good that Coach Bickerstaff made an adjustment to his players and let them shoot as well as compared to just relying on Mitchell. Now players like LeVert, Mobley, Garland and Okuro contributed on offense and that for me is the reason why they got a win on the road. Now they need to defend their home 2 times and they are still undefeated in their home this playoff. With this win by the Cavaliers, I already changed my prediction and most probably, this will go to a 7-game series, but if the Celtics can't manage to steal one on the road, then this will end in 6 games.

Anyway, the Celtics are one of the best road teams during the regular season, so there's a chance that they can steal one on the road.

[Finestream]

It's game on! and It is literally anyone's series from here on, even if eventually both series heads all the way to a game 7, both favorite teams with the home court advantage would be well aware that being on home court is no longer an advantage at this stage of the playoffs.

Dallas were able to win even if SGA is still making big numbers in that game. The big difference is the 3 point shooting, and this time if favors the Dallas mavericks.

Dallas at    49% while OKC only shoot    33%... and the good thinga bout Dallas is that the other players are contributing as well, unlike in game 1 where only Luka and Irving. Just checked out these players who had a big game.

Washington    29
Hardaway    17
Green 11
Gafford 13//

These numbers are very important especially in a series like this.

[danherbias07]

Both underdogs won their games.
Cleveland Cavaliers was x9.00 before the game started. As soon as it was confirmed that Jarrett Allen wouldn't be playing, the odds went up and the handicap boosted to +13 if I am right.
I was thinking about taking the bet, but I had no money left in my account as I already made the bet of +11 last night. Sad. Big win for Cleveland.

Mavericks! Strong! PJ Washington was in the zone. 7/11 in distance shots. +11 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. Damn! He and Timmy helped out for the Mavs offense.
I was right about Coach Kidd being good at analyzing the floor like what I said on the other thread.

I know Coach Kidd is good at reading the floor, he did it against the Clippers.

He definitely has a secret, the media should dig into his strategy.  Nice steal from the Mavs.

[Distinctin]

Mavericks! Strong! PJ Washington was in the zone. 7/11 in distance shots. +11 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. Damn! He and Timmy helped out for the Mavs offense.

He was the key for the win in that game... What I like about the Mavs now is that they are trusting everyone on the floor and most especially is their defense that have improve significantly. Irving used to be the main man who takes the ball most of the time, but he understand his role here and even if he isn't productive in points but he was still productive on the floor making his teammates better.

The roles players of the Mavs should play good especially outside shooting as Irving and Luka will likely be consistently get doubled in the series, making them less productive but with great shooting from his teammates, them as a team is very deadly.

[Kelvinid]

Let's discuss about the Cavaliers too. How good they are with Mitchell? They steal game 2 on the road and now the series is even. I don't know, but this looks like a good series and Celtics are quite overrated. Mitchell is unstoppable as they win even without their starting forward. When Allen will return, their lineup will be more deadly, so to make sure that the Celtics can still gain advantage in the series, they need to win game 3 because if not, the pressure will be too high for them to come back.

Just imagine if the Cavaliers will win game 3 and 4, then in game 5 the series will be 3-1, that's a do or die game for the Celtics, and they are not good at that high pressure game.

[Maslate]

Let's discuss about the Cavaliers too. How good they are with Mitchell? They steal game 2 on the road and now the series is even. I don't know, but this looks like a good series and Celtics are quite overrated. Mitchell is unstoppable as they win even without their starting forward. When Allen will return, their lineup will be more deadly, so to make sure that the Celtics can still gain advantage in the series, they need to win game 3 because if not, the pressure will be too high for them to come back.

That was a mitchell show, he just showed how good he is. Mitchell is still one of the best player in the NBA now who can really carry his team behind his back. IMO, this isn't the same scenario like the Miami Heat, there's no way the Celtics will win the next 3 games to eliminate the Cavaliers. remember that this team have a good standing, they finished number 4 but they could end up at number 2 if mitchell wasn't out for a while due to injury.

Just imagine if the Cavaliers will win game 3 and 4, then in game 5 the series will be 3-1, that's a do or die game for the Celtics, and they are not good at that high pressure game.

This is possible though but unlikely to happen. However, if you really believe on that, you can put your bet with a 4-1 series record for the Cavaliers winning, that gives you a very big odds.

[ultrloa]

Let's discuss about the Cavaliers too. How good they are with Mitchell? They steal game 2 on the road and now the series is even. I don't know, but this looks like a good series and Celtics are quite overrated. Mitchell is unstoppable as they win even without their starting forward. When Allen will return, their lineup will be more deadly, so to make sure that the Celtics can still gain advantage in the series, they need to win game 3 because if not, the pressure will be too high for them to come back.

Just imagine if the Cavaliers will win game 3 and 4, then in game 5 the series will be 3-1, that's a do or die game for the Celtics, and they are not good at that high pressure game.

They steal the show with huge lead and for sure there's a lot of people got surprised on how they perform today since there's less people believing that they can able to dominate the Celtics on this match up. Now we can see that the young guys have something to provide which Celtics should fear about and on game 3 the game more be intense since for sure Boston will take their revenge since they don't want to lose and give some momentum to Cavs.

If they could able to win on game 3 then I guess Boston is in big trouble with that since Cavs is not gaining confidence to provide more good numbers so that they can  successfully eliminate them since this give them huge honor especially Boston is well know strong team and Cavs is the underdog on their series.

[Dave1]

Yeah, it was Brunson who lead the team as Julius Randle is out already and who knows he might not be back in New York uniform because the team now looks solid in both offense and defense and working very hard as a team. Because when Randle is playing its more on isolation on him and then outside 3 point shot.

Brunson is really showing phenomenal results this playoffs, and it looks like this guy is in his prime right now. But why do you think Randle won't be back with the Knicks? He has at least one more season on his contract with the Knicks, and it seems to me that he can adapt to the new conditions, i.e., when Brunson is the team leader.

Well although Randle has been offered great contract, but after that it was not the Julius Randle that everyone has been expecting of him. And the core team mates around him that time has been traded already and this is a new set of players now and it obvious that it evolves on Jalen Brunson as the new franchise players.

So with that, maybe, just maybe the management might think of trading Randle, we have seen that he struggles though this season with the shift of focus to Jalen. And now that he is out because of his injuries, we can say that the team is doing great without him.

[TravelMug]

Let's discuss about the Cavaliers too. How good they are with Mitchell? They steal game 2 on the road and now the series is even. I don't know, but this looks like a good series and Celtics are quite overrated. Mitchell is unstoppable as they win even without their starting forward. When Allen will return, their lineup will be more deadly, so to make sure that the Celtics can still gain advantage in the series, they need to win game 3 because if not, the pressure will be too high for them to come back.

Just imagine if the Cavaliers will win game 3 and 4, then in game 5 the series will be 3-1, that's a do or die game for the Celtics, and they are not good at that high pressure game.

It turns out to be a good series now with the Cavs stealing game 2 from the Celtics and the crowd was quiet because of that big game the Cavs shows. And as much as they cheer their Celtics, they can't seem to get over the hump as the Cavs limited them with just 94 points. The Celtics though have been in this kind of situation before with the Heat when we thought that they are going to sweep them as well. So we will see what the Celtics is made of in game 3 in the road against the Cavs, I'm still seeing them though still winning this series but it might be a little bit harder that the 4-1 series win against the Miami Heat.

[Questat]

Let's discuss about the Cavaliers too. How good they are with Mitchell? They steal game 2 on the road and now the series is even. I don't know, but this looks like a good series and Celtics are quite overrated. Mitchell is unstoppable as they win even without their starting forward. When Allen will return, their lineup will be more deadly, so to make sure that the Celtics can still gain advantage in the series, they need to win game 3 because if not, the pressure will be too high for them to come back.

Just imagine if the Cavaliers will win game 3 and 4, then in game 5 the series will be 3-1, that's a do or die game for the Celtics, and they are not good at that high pressure game.

It turns out to be a good series now with the Cavs stealing game 2 from the Celtics and the crowd was quiet because of that big game the Cavs shows. And as much as they cheer their Celtics, they can't seem to get over the hump as the Cavs limited them with just 94 points. The Celtics though have been in this kind of situation before with the Heat when we thought that they are going to sweep them as well. So we will see what the Celtics is made of in game 3 in the road against the Cavs, I'm still seeing them though still winning this series but it might be a little bit harder that the 4-1 series win against the Miami Heat.

I would expect a game 7 in this series  as Mitchell is just unstoppable, as long as he keeps producing, his teammates will be confident, he is their leader and he is just leading them how to win. Celtics really aren't a good defender, I mean they might not continue to double Mitchell, and with that I think the Cavaliers have a great chance of winning.

I think the Celtics aren't really good in 3 point shooting, just like the Miami heat in game 2, Miami shoot over 50%, here, Cavaliers shoot    46% but the Celtics are shooting very poorly with 23% only, something they really need to improve if they want to lead again.

[wheelz1200]

Yeah, it was Brunson who lead the team as Julius Randle is out already and who knows he might not be back in New York uniform because the team now looks solid in both offense and defense and working very hard as a team. Because when Randle is playing its more on isolation on him and then outside 3 point shot.

Brunson is really showing phenomenal results this playoffs, and it looks like this guy is in his prime right now. But why do you think Randle won't be back with the Knicks? He has at least one more season on his contract with the Knicks, and it seems to me that he can adapt to the new conditions, i.e., when Brunson is the team leader.

Well although Randle has been offered great contract, but after that it was not the Julius Randle that everyone has been expecting of him. And the core team mates around him that time has been traded already and this is a new set of players now and it obvious that it evolves on Jalen Brunson as the new franchise players.

So with that, maybe, just maybe the management might think of trading Randle, we have seen that he struggles though this season with the shift of focus to Jalen. And now that he is out because of his injuries, we can say that the team is doing great without him.

As long as julius knows the keys of the team belong to JB I wouldn't trade julius.  He's a lock for 25/9 lines each year and demands a lot of attention on the block by the defense.  With a healthy team once we traded for OG we were 14-2 with the best defense in the league over that time and then julius got injured.  No reason not to think that the missing piece was OG.  Run it back healthy next year and see what happens.

[Natalim]

Yeah, it was Brunson who lead the team as Julius Randle is out already and who knows he might not be back in New York uniform because the team now looks solid in both offense and defense and working very hard as a team. Because when Randle is playing its more on isolation on him and then outside 3 point shot.

Brunson is really showing phenomenal results this playoffs, and it looks like this guy is in his prime right now. But why do you think Randle won't be back with the Knicks? He has at least one more season on his contract with the Knicks, and it seems to me that he can adapt to the new conditions, i.e., when Brunson is the team leader.

Well although Randle has been offered great contract, but after that it was not the Julius Randle that everyone has been expecting of him. And the core team mates around him that time has been traded already and this is a new set of players now and it obvious that it evolves on Jalen Brunson as the new franchise players.

So with that, maybe, just maybe the management might think of trading Randle, we have seen that he struggles though this season with the shift of focus to Jalen. And now that he is out because of his injuries, we can say that the team is doing great without him.

As long as julius knows the keys of the team belong to JB I wouldn't trade julius.  He's a lock for 25/9 lines each year and demands a lot of attention on the block by the defense.  With a healthy team once we traded for OG we were 14-2 with the best defense in the league over that time and then julius got injured.  No reason not to think that the missing piece was OG.  Run it back healthy next year and see what happens.

The problem for the Knicks now is their health. When Randle was still active, the Knicks are already winning, so there's no reason for him to get traded as a healthy Knicks might become a championship team. Let's just look how impressive they are now, they lack big men due to injury and yet they are still fighting, in fact I'm impressed by their come back win in game 2 because they loss OG and Brunson probably injured a bit but they still manage to bring victory.

Tomorrow we will see the game 3, let's see if they can still handle the Pacers without OG who had a huge contribution in the game 2 win before he got injured. And as per report, there's even a possibility that Bruson might not play as he was lited as questionable.

[Wapfika]

Tomorrow we will see the game 3, let's see if they can still handle the Pacers without OG who had a huge contribution in the game 2 win before he got injured. And as per report, there's even a possibility that Bruson might not play as he was lited as questionable.

It will be a very hard task for Knicks to beat Pacers without OG and Brunson not only because of the home court advantage of Pacers but also they are already in close match when Knicks has strong line-up with the 2 players is active. I doubt that the current Knicks without Brunson can beat a solid Pacers.

I think Knicks will still face a difficulty beating Pacers in home court even with OG and Brunson in the court so I think they might use game 3 and 4 for regrouping then focus on the remaining games until their starters come back.

[yazher]

It will be a very hard task for Knicks to beat Pacers without OG and Brunson not only because of the home court advantage of Pacers but also they are already in close match when Knicks has strong line-up with the 2 players is active. I doubt that the current Knicks without Brunson can beat a solid Pacers.

I watched how he took the leadership on those games and it seems like they trust Brunson so much for every decision he is making on every game in this playoffs, since it is working and they're beating strong opponents like the Pacers, it's better be that way, let him be the leader and let him play his game on his own way but honestly, I want to see how will they manage to play against the Pacers without those two and if they still manage to win, then whoever wins from the series of Celtics and Cavs, they're on trouble with the Knicks for sure.

[blockman]

Tomorrow we will see the game 3, let's see if they can still handle the Pacers without OG who had a huge contribution in the game 2 win before he got injured. And as per report, there's even a possibility that Bruson might not play as he was lited as questionable.

It will be a very hard task for Knicks to beat Pacers without OG and Brunson not only because of the home court advantage of Pacers but also they are already in close match when Knicks has strong line-up with the 2 players is active. I doubt that the current Knicks without Brunson can beat a solid Pacers.

I think Knicks will still face a difficulty beating Pacers in home court even with OG and Brunson in the court so I think they might use game 3 and 4 for regrouping then focus on the remaining games until their starters come back.

Let's wait until the actual game starts. Because I am not sure with all of these reports become a tactic for these teams to make their rival confident that if one of their stars aren't going to play, they will have an advantage. I am not really sure but it seems that it's sort of a mind game to me until the game starts and with that rumored player won't be playing actually entered to the first five. 

[Volgastallion]

Well is good to see Mavericks win the game, because if they dont win i will expect a sweep in the series.

Not a super Luka Doncic but is better for the team sometimes when he play more in teamwork than for him. PJ Washington made one of his best games ever.

Tonight we have the Denver last chance to wake up, lets see if they can win against Timberwolves, hard hard game for the Nuggets.

[passwordnow]

Tonight we have the Denver last chance to wake up, lets see if they can win against Timberwolves, hard hard game for the Nuggets.

This is actually the most exciting series of this conference semifinals. Everyone is expecting that this is going to be the last game for this series and despite that, Jokic is going to be back on his horses happy because he'd got the MVP.

I think the Celtics aren't really good in 3 point shooting, just like the Miami heat in game 2, Miami shoot over 50%, here, Cavaliers shoot    46% but the Celtics are shooting very poorly with 23% only, something they really need to improve if they want to lead again.

IMHO, this happens for most teams. I remember the first game of Mavs and OKC. They're known to be great shooters but bad beats do come to most of the teams and sometimes, they've got clean hands and good shots. But there are moments that most of them experiences bad shooting.

[wheelz1200]

Tomorrow we will see the game 3, let's see if they can still handle the Pacers without OG who had a huge contribution in the game 2 win before he got injured. And as per report, there's even a possibility that Bruson might not play as he was lited as questionable.

It will be a very hard task for Knicks to beat Pacers without OG and Brunson not only because of the home court advantage of Pacers but also they are already in close match when Knicks has strong line-up with the 2 players is active. I doubt that the current Knicks without Brunson can beat a solid Pacers.

I think Knicks will still face a difficulty beating Pacers in home court even with OG and Brunson in the court so I think they might use game 3 and 4 for regrouping then focus on the remaining games until their starters come back.

Let's wait until the actual game starts. Because I am not sure with all of these reports become a tactic for these teams to make their rival confident that if one of their stars aren't going to play, they will have an advantage. I am not really sure but it seems that it's sort of a mind game to me until the game starts and with that rumored player won't be playing actually entered to the first five. 

OG is definitely out tonight but Jalen Brunson is definitely playing tonight.  He finished the game 2 nights ago with 24 points in the 2nd half he is fine.  NBA requires teams to list all questionable and probably due to injuries but this is the playoffs, if you can take the court you are playing.  No way the Knicks sell these 2 games in Indiana to bring it back tied up.  You put your foot on the pedal full bore in the playoffs.  JB will likely see 40-44 minutes tonight if it's close. 

[jakelyson]

He's doing good tactics where he just let it flow in the first half then pushed all his limits in the second half and so far so good with this strategy for they even got another win tonight and increased their chance to win this series as well. on the other hand, the Pacers still lost some options in the last quarter and they panicked when the Knicks were in full attack mode, they did not seem to have any idea what to do in that situation which choked them despite the highest lead in the first half. If they don't exert all effort to continue their dominance throughout the game in their next game, then they can say goodbye to their dream NBA championships this year.

What I think is that right now Tyrese Haliburton is not 100% although he did great with this 2nd game he is just pushing very hard and if he is not the game-maker he is pushing too hard right now but the New York Knicks right now is having a breeze with their team play OG Anunoby, Donte DiVincenzo, and Jalen Brunson is doing great with their scoring while Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein are doing a great job with the defense and providing some extra score for the team, while the Indiana Pacers if they can not make this work they will not have any chance at all,

While I think that the Pacers still have a chance of getting a win and that if the New York Knicks strategy crumbles that is the time the Indiana Pacers could get a win.

I definitely did not see Wolves going up 2-0 against Nuggets AT ALL! That is seriously incredible, this Anthony Edwards dude is doing way too much, like way more than I could ever imagine, and I am not just talking about offense, he is great there of course, but he is great at defense as well.

I can see the comparisons to MJ to be fair, not about talent or level but about the playstyle that they had on their early years. I am not saying Wolves will win the title, but I think it looks quite obvious that we are going to end up with seeing them do quite well, and maybe even have that chance. Celtics look like they do not have much competition at east this season, it would require a big upset for them to not be at the finals, and I think they may even have a chance to win the whole thing.

There are many who are saying that the resemblance is uncanny to the GOAT and many are saying that the 2nd coming of MJ is here in the form of Anthony Edwards from their appearance to their play style and how they are getting good vibes in the court it is just that great while for sure the success of the Minnesota Timberwolves is not just because of Anthony Edwards alone he surely has the support of Karl-Anthony Towns, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and even Mike Conley Jr. for sure.