2026 NBA Season

[Russlenat]

By the way it looks like Rockets can finish the season ahead of Lakers but still they face themselves in the first playoff series.

Either way they’ll probably face each other in the first round of the playoffs, and even if the Lakers get home court advantage, I still doubt they can get past the Rockets. I’m even thinking this could be a sweep to be honest. I like LeBron, but at his age I don’t think he can carry this team against a hungry and healthy Rockets squad.

That win by the Lakers didn’t really mean much for me. It was against a Warriors team without Curry, so it’s not really a big deal in my opinion.

[LogitechMouse]

A big night for LeBron as he took down the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors by 16. 2 rebounds away from a triple double for the king. He seems to be turning iron at the right time right before the playoffs.

That’s the maximum effort he can give, I think, but still in the playoffs I really doubt they will survive if he’s the only one carrying most of the production. For sure he’ll get tired at some point.

Not being butthurt here, I bet on the Warriors too, but I was wrong because I didn’t check the injury report. I thought Curry was playing, but sadly he was resting I guess. I understand it was a needed win for the Lakers after that losing streak, but honestly I don’t think it happens if Curry was there.

If that's how they will play against the Rockets, they have a chance.

Distributed offense. That's one solution for the Lakers to have at least a chance to win in the first round. Let's also give credits to Kennard as well because with the absence of Luka, he's their starting PG, and he's averaging around 9 APG in his last 3 games. This is what we are saying when we say we need ALL of them to step up in every way possible. The Lakers really are lucky to have him because they traded Gabe Vincent for him, and as of now, it's obvious that the Lakers won on that trade.

Also, give credits to Bronny as well for scoring 10 points. In the playoffs, every point is needed. Anyway, looking at the standings, the Lakers are still 4th but tied with Rockets. Both of their final 2 games will be crucial because the team that will have a better record will have the homecourt advantage.

[Questat]

Also, give credits to Bronny as well for scoring 10 points. In the playoffs, every point is needed. Anyway, looking at the standings, the Lakers are still 4th but tied with Rockets. Both of their final 2 games will be crucial because the team that will have a better record will have the homecourt advantage.

He did? I wasn’t able to watch that game, but the Lakers winning at home against the Warriors is really not that surprising at all.

But against the Rockets in a best-of-7 series, I still have a lot of doubt. We’re not talking about a Luka and Reaves-less Lakers against them, we’re talking about a fully healthy Rockets team, and that’s a very different problem. For me, LeBron is just about equal to Durant in terms of impact at this stage, but when you look at the rest of the roster, I don’t think the Lakers can really match up well with them.

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I still think a first round exit for the Lakers is very possible.

[Stavri]

Yeah, at least a breather for Lebron and the Lakers to win against a Curry-less Golden State. But not sure if this is a mental boost for them as they've wo against a team that is struggling. But as what we said, a win is a win and so the Lakers got their 51th under JJ Reddick. But looking at the roster, without Luka and Reaves, there's a lot of good news as Ayton, Kennard and LaRavia step up for them. Knicks over Celtics, but Jaylen Brown didn't play for the Celtics and they have him sitting and most likely to rest him and be ready for the playoffs.

Even a mental boost wouldn't be enough for Lakers to play big in playoffs while not having Doncic and Reaves both.    The other players you mentioned can also contribute of course.

But none of them can take a big responsibility. All of other players with good shooting just need to play strongly at the same time consistenly. I doubt that.

By the way it looks like Rockets can finish the season ahead of Lakers but still they face themselves in the first playoff series.

if Lakers plan on bringing back Doncic and Austin during the playoffs, it might actually be a blessing in disguise to lose home court advantage against Houston.
since it’s a given that both will miss at least the first two games, there’s a real risk of falling behind 0-2 right at home. If that happens, they might never be able to turn the series around and you'd end up putting the players at a massive, unnecessary risk for nothing.

[Beparanf]

if Lakers plan on bringing back Doncic and Austin during the playoffs, it might actually be a blessing in disguise to lose home court advantage against Houston.
since it’s a given that both will miss at least the first two games, there’s a real risk of falling behind 0-2 right at home. If that happens, they might never be able to turn the series around and you'd end up putting the players at a massive, unnecessary risk for nothing.

It’s proven wrong since there’s some playoffs game last year that the winner of the series lose both 2 games at home court then manage to do the same against the enemy home court.

Home court advantage on playoffs is not that big impact although there’s some advantage on it because playoff match is a series game which means both teams can analyze thoroughly their opponent weaknesses.

It’s up to the team if they can resolve their weaknesses or not on the series. It’s still a blessings for Lakers if the 2 can comeback while there’s still on the playoffs run.

[OgNasty]

A big night for LeBron as he took down the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors by 16. 2 rebounds away from a triple double for the king. He seems to be turning iron at the right time right before the playoffs.

That’s the maximum effort he can give, I think, but still in the playoffs I really doubt they will survive if he’s the only one carrying most of the production. For sure he’ll get tired at some point.

Not being butthurt here, I bet on the Warriors too, but I was wrong because I didn’t check the injury report. I thought Curry was playing, but sadly he was resting I guess. I understand it was a needed win for the Lakers after that losing streak, but honestly I don’t think it happens if Curry was there.

If that's how they will play against the Rockets, they have a chance.

Distributed offense. That's one solution for the Lakers to have at least a chance to win in the first round. Let's also give credits to Kennard as well because with the absence of Luka, he's their starting PG, and he's averaging around 9 APG in his last 3 games. This is what we are saying when we say we need ALL of them to step up in every way possible. The Lakers really are lucky to have him because they traded Gabe Vincent for him, and as of now, it's obvious that the Lakers won on that trade.

Also, give credits to Bronny as well for scoring 10 points. In the playoffs, every point is needed. Anyway, looking at the standings, the Lakers are still 4th but tied with Rockets. Both of their final 2 games will be crucial because the team that will have a better record will have the homecourt advantage.

After the game LeBron said that he is still that guy and claimed if he weren’t playing with Luka he would still be putting up MVP numbers. First time I’ve heard him say that, but it is probably true. Although while being true, the Lakers would probably have a significantly worse record as well.

[Wapfika]

After the game LeBron said that he is still that guy and claimed if he weren’t playing with Luka he would still be putting up MVP numbers. First time I’ve heard him say that, but it is probably true. Although while being true, the Lakers would probably have a significantly worse record as well.

We all know this is just merely a boast since even Luka is having a hard time just to compete the current MVP contender such as Jokic, SGA and Wemby.

I doubt Lebron can record the same stats consistently on most of their game even without Luka considering how slow he is now with limited move on attacking the paint compared when he is on his prime.

He is indeed still above average player on the league but not an MVP contender since the current MVP contender are all monster in terms of stats and impact to the game.

[dwyane36]

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I still think a first round exit for the Lakers is very possible.

It all depends on how LeBron performs in the first round, as well as how the Lakers' role players step up their game. I think that if the Lakers give it their all, they can hold their own against the Rockets even without Luka and Reaves, but the problem is that their role players and bench are inconsistent and can’t be relied upon. In one game, they can play great, but in the next one, they can play poorly, making a lot of mistakes.

[tech30338]

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I still think a first round exit for the Lakers is very possible.

It all depends on how LeBron performs in the first round, as well as how the Lakers' role players step up their game. I think that if the Lakers give it their all, they can hold their own against the Rockets even without Luka and Reaves, but the problem is that their role players and bench are inconsistent and can’t be relied upon. In one game, they can play great, but in the next one, they can play poorly, making a lot of mistakes.

If the lakers and Lebron will be able to come out of round 1, this is going to be exciting when they go in the second round because they will be complete, because luka and austin will be playing, but can lebron carry the team on his back right now, great win for LA vs GSW, steph did not play, that would make a difference if steph plays.
I think Ayton showing up in the first round playoffs and dominate will be a big thing for them, actually they really need a big man, if ayton will be able to produce this coming playoffs that would light the load of other players.

[xzone]

You just got to feel bad for Joel Embiid, he can't seem to catch a break with one health related issue or the other, just when his knee after some years looks like it's so much better, he went down with an oblique injury, barely got back and now as per Shams Charania he's been diagnosed with appendicitis and would undergo surgery today, I wish him speed recovery, only after the surgery I guess would there be an update about how long he'd be out for. The 76ers were looking real good with him, Paul George, Maxey and Edgecombe, they would have had an interesting post-season, If all of they can stay healthy...

Joel Embiid is one of the players I respect most in the NBA, and although he's been having some health problems lately, his performance is still quite good. He gets injured more easily now than he was a few years ago, which is certainly partly due to his age. Appendicitis is a problem anyone can experience, it was an unfortunate situation.
I hope he gets back on the court soon and can support his team. He will probably be out for a few weeks

[Velvet78]

Joel Embiid is one of the players I respect most in the NBA, and although he's been having some health problems lately, his performance is still quite good. He gets injured more easily now than he was a few years ago, which is certainly partly due to his age. Appendicitis is a problem anyone can experience, it was an unfortunate situation.
I hope he gets back on the court soon and can support his team. He will probably be out for a few weeks

His knee has still been a problem for Embiid even after his recovery from a long injury. Even in that condition he continued to score so many points like 30+ per game...

I really hope he can fully recover in the end. I miss that old Embiid a lot honestly. When he is at his full health he is absolutely one of the best players in NBA. 76ers also need his best shape a lot to climb easier.

[OgNasty]

The Los Angeles Lakers just waived Kobe Bufkin to open up a roster spot. Could be something to watch. Maybe they have a surprise in store before the playoffs. I’d love to see Chris Paul come out of retirement and try to win a ring with LeBron, but he looked pretty bad right before he retired. He might have lost it.

[Stavri]

if Lakers plan on bringing back Doncic and Austin during the playoffs, it might actually be a blessing in disguise to lose home court advantage against Houston.
since it’s a given that both will miss at least the first two games, there’s a real risk of falling behind 0-2 right at home. If that happens, they might never be able to turn the series around and you'd end up putting the players at a massive, unnecessary risk for nothing.

It’s proven wrong since there’s some playoffs game last year that the winner of the series lose both 2 games at home court then manage to do the same against the enemy home court.

Home court advantage on playoffs is not that big impact although there’s some advantage on it because playoff match is a series game which means both teams can analyze thoroughly their opponent weaknesses.

It’s up to the team if they can resolve their weaknesses or not on the series. It’s still a blessings for Lakers if the 2 can comeback while there’s still on the playoffs run.

you're right but if Doncic and Austin are going to miss the first few games of the playoffs and return later, it would be more advantageous for those games to be away games, since the Lakers will likely lose the games they play without them anyway.

[Webetcoins]

Lakers definitely look like they could drop to fifth and lose the home court advantage to Rockets. Rockets are also on a very good momentum which means that if the season ends like this, Lakers will not even see second round when they looked like a very good contender.

It's always sad to see these type of things happen, but if your best player and third best player ends up injured, what else are you going to do. Rockets on the other hand look like whatever was wrong with the team after the all star break, they may have fixed it.

[OgNasty]

Lakers definitely look like they could drop to fifth and lose the home court advantage to Rockets. Rockets are also on a very good momentum which means that if the season ends like this, Lakers will not even see second round when they looked like a very good contender.

It's always sad to see these type of things happen, but if your best player and third best player ends up injured, what else are you going to do. Rockets on the other hand look like whatever was wrong with the team after the all star break, they may have fixed it.

The Rockets are facing off against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight so I think they’re going to catch an L, but we’ll see. The game is being televised on Amazon Prime so that should make it easy for folks here to tune in.

[EFS]

We couldn't watch Steph vs. Bron but we saw another legendary performance from LeBron. His performance was definitely worth staying up late. LeBron cleared the dark clouds hanging over the Lakers after 3 losses in a row. At least they're winning the games they can win. They can head into the play-off with a little more confidence.

Tonight there'll be 15 games. All teams are playing. Last 2 match days for regular season.
Cavs vs. Hawks first and then Timberwolves vs. Rockets on Prime. Not too hyped about these games but both games could be decisive for their conference standings.

[Fredomago]

By the way it looks like Rockets can finish the season ahead of Lakers but still they face themselves in the first playoff series.

Either way they’ll probably face each other in the first round of the playoffs, and even if the Lakers get home court advantage, I still doubt they can get past the Rockets. I’m even thinking this could be a sweep to be honest. I like LeBron, but at his age I don’t think he can carry this team against a hungry and healthy Rockets squad.

That win by the Lakers didn’t really mean much for me. It was against a Warriors team without Curry, so it’s not really a big deal in my opinion.

Though chances of winning will depend still if how the whole team will play the game, upset always happen during the playoffs though similar to what you said, LeBron is no longer the same when he's still at his prime, plus the fact that Houston also have a good capabilities to counter and take them not sure if how Lakers will play their remaining players to Stop KD's squad when they meet in the next round.

[el kaka22]

While there are a lot of talks about how to prevent tanking, and what Wizards are doing etc. We have to remember that it actually does work. Sixers for a while tanked, we remember that, and then they built a great team and had Embiid and Simmons and looked great, they even went to conference finals and lost on that very last second incredible shot by Kawhi. So, we are seeing that tanking working.

Same is happening right now, Pistons was mocked, they had that whole 20+ losing streak or whatever, they were the worst team in NBA history for a while as well, and now look at them. It's clear that tanking works if you can draft well enough, I mean if you draft terribly then it does not work, but if you draft well, then tanking for a few years means you can have a great team later on. You can't stop teams do something that benefits them this much.

[mandown]

Amen, Kevin, and Alperen all played very well. They also contributed to the scoring, but it wasn't enough for the win. Houston's 8-game winning streak came to an end with this game.
Minnesota defeated Houston 132-136.
Minnesota stood out as a team. Seven players reached double-digit scores.
That was enough for the win.
For me, this loss for Houston was a surprise.