If a single, overarching lesson can be taken from this year’s NBA postseason, it’s this one: no game is over until the clock hits 00:00. Whether it was the New York Knicksstealing victoryfrom the jaws of defeat against the Celtics in Boston in round two,Aaron Gordon’s buzzer-beating dunksealing a crucial win for the Nuggets against the Clippers in Los Angeles in round one, or the Indiana Pacers defeating the odds over and over again with their clutch time brilliance throughout the playoffs, a lead has never felt less safe in the NBA.
Once upon a time in the NBA, it was pretty much agreed upon that a team needed at least a big two, if not a big three, to reach the promised land. But ina post “apron” era, where it’s increasingly difficult to afford to keep more than one top-tier player on your roster, it’s become more important than ever to have a bench that’s not just playable, but excellent. The playoffs are as fast, physical, and exhausting as they’ve ever been. Having the luxury of fresh legs is a superpower.
We are indisputably living in the three-point era, much to the chagrin of the internet. But one thing hasn’t changed: you still have to have other options. The Celtics found this out the hard way, as their blind allegiance to chucking ‘em up from beyond the arc, which proved a winning formula last season, came back to bite them against the Knicks in round two.
This trend technically kicked off before the playoffs, when the Memphis Grizzlies and the Denver Nuggets fired their coaches with a handful of games left to play in the regular season. But it was truly crystallized with the abrupt firing of Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeaujust days after he helped lead the team to their first Eastern Conference Finals in decades, plural. Sure, Thibs had faced (warranted) criticism before. But if upsetting the defending champs and breaking generational playoff curses can’t ensure coaching job security, it’s fair to assume that nothing can.
Burke was only added to the “A-team” at ESPN in recent years, a job that includes being a part of the voice of theNBA finals. But Burke put intimeon her way to the top of the basketball broadcasting pyramid. In her 12 years at ESPN alone, she worked her way up the ladder from sideline reporter, to color commentary in less high-profile games, to, eventually, her current seat. The way the internet has been discussing her aptitude during these finals was nothing short of disrespectful – if anyone knows ball, it’s Doris Burke.
Every team has in-arena chants. Every team, at this point, gives away matching T-shirts to their fans to wear during playoff games in a show of solidarity. But the Oklahoma City Thunder’s fanbase has demonstrated an allegiance to their team in a tier all its own. Everyone in the building knows the chants, no prompts on the jumbotron necessary. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a single soul in Paycom Center not wearing that evening’s T-shirt giveaway: no one is too cool to show their support and fall in line. I’ve been to alotofNBAarenas; I’ve never heard screaming at that decibel, so consistently. Thunder fans are, as the kids say, built different.
It is, admittedly, a little on the nose that the defining characteristic of the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers is that they play really, really fast – but their speed has proven to be their superpower. The Pacers left a graveyard of drained, hands-on-knees stars in their wake: even MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked worn down by the end of the first few games when his Thunder, a fast-paced team in their own right, met Indiana in the NBA finals. It’s hard to make shots in the clutch when you’re dead tired, and the Pacers and their unique stamina capitalized on that beautifully.
LeBron James suffered a first-round exit, Stephen Curry was sidelined with a hamstring injury before round two even really started, and Kevin Durant’s team didn’t even make the play-in-tournament. While I’m not ready to write off the NBA’s elder statesmen just yet, it was glaringly obvious in this postseason that the young guns, including the eventual champion Thunder (the youngest NBA champions ever) are coming for the crown, not tomorrow, but right now.
Carlisle has long been held in high esteem by basketball fans, especially in light of his stewardship of the Dallas Mavericks squad that upset the three-headed juggernaut Miami Heat to win the title in 2011. But what he’s done with this year’s Pacers, who are without a top five (or, arguably, even a top 10) superstar, is nothing short of remarkable. His group is incredibly poised, confident, and well prepared, and most importantly, they never say die. Carlisle deserves a lot of credit for that identity, and he will be etched into the annals of the highest echelon of coaching because of it.
It is strange to say that the East is wide open and, at the same time, that the Heat need to blow it up in the same breath, but it feels right. Seeing Miami’s “performance” in round one, if you can even call it that, distilled just how far they are from contention with their bizarre, post-Jimmy-Butler but pre-another-superstar roster. As nice of a contributing piece as Andrew Wiggins can be on a contending team, Butler he is not, and the Heat are sorely lacking in talent and identity. Assuming a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade isn’t on the horizon (and, really, how could it be? What would Miami offer?) blowing it up seems like the shrewd move.
The East has been the weaker of the two NBA conferences for ages. But it feels more wide open than ever heading into the 2025-2026 season: The Celtics are all but eliminated for next year with the loss of Jayson Tatum to injury, the Knicks are in the middle of a potentially disastrous coaching search, and while the conference champion Pacers are excellent, they certainly don’t feel unbeatable, especially afterTyrese Haliburton’s injury. Milwaukee don’t have a clear path to put a contending team around Antetokounmpo, so it would probably be wise of him to move elsewhere, but he’d be well served to stay in the same timezone or eastward.
If you buy a plot of land that’s an ancient burial ground, it doesn’t really matter, ultimately, how nice the house is that you build on it. Steve Ballmer is anexemplaryNBA owner: deep pockets, smart hires, boundless enthusiasm. The word “ball” is in his name: that’s how much he’s about this life. But he bought a franchise that, for whatever reason, seems to be destined to fail in the most spectacular fashion. This year, it was getting annihilated, with little to no resistance, by the Nuggets in Game 7 of their first-round meeting. This came after the Clippers showed flashes of being a true contender, with one of the best defenses in basketball. Kawhi Leonard was healthy, and the excuses were slim: the Clippers just clipped.
There’s already talk of a budding “dynasty” in Oklahoma City, due to the youth of the team’s core. But if anything came to light in this year’s playoffs, it’s that championship windows are fleeting – and fragile. After their victory last year, many predicted the Celtics were about to start a dynasty, but they were staring down the barrel of a 1-3 deficit against the Knicks in round two evenbeforetheir best player, perennial MVP candidate Tatum,went down with an achilles tearthat will sideline him for most, or even all, of next season. And the Pacers went from being on the doorstep of a championship to facing a year without their star player, Haliburton. Time is of the essence for teams seeking out the Larry O’B: you never know when even the most wide-open windows will slam shut.
It’s not hyperbolic to say that no individual player has ever had a clutch run through the playoffslike Haliburton had this year. It was truly heartbreaking to see the guard go down with an achilles rupture in Game 7 of the finals, especially considering that he was having a brilliant first quarter, coming out with all the aggression his detractors have been clamoring for. But the lore from the 2025 playoffs will be one that leads with Haliburton for ever – he (and his underdog Pacers squad) have etched themselves into NBA history, and he’s earned a ton of due respect along the way.
We spent much of this season deliberating who “won” the Karl Anthony Towns for Julius Randle trade between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Knicks. The battle took some wild swings, with Towns having a hellacious start to the season (warranting him both an All-NBA and All-Star roster spot), and Randle shaping into form towards the end of the season and into a damned impressive start to the postseason. But both players, too, showed their significant flaws in the postseason, and ultimately, the answer to the question of who “won” the trade is muddy. They are two flawed players with tremendous highs and forehead-slapping lows, and for now, at least, it appears to be a draw.
To be fair, I knew this before the playoffs. But watching Jokić drag a ramshackle Nuggets team to Game 7 against the eventual champion Thunder, while serving, in many ways, as their honorary interim head coach, was impressive even by the Serb’s impossibly high standards. He’s the kind of spectacular, once in a generation talent who can render context irrelevant, who can make the craziest pass you’ve ever seen appear routine, who is such a ridiculous offensive force that he’s almost an offense unto himself. He may not be the most valuable player this year, but he is the best.
If there has been one constant this postseason, it’s Gilgeous-Alexander and his dependable, humming offensive output. You could set a clock to it. That’s been the case since day one of the regular season, and it really didn’t wane in the postseason, either. The Canadian had one of the greatest single statistical seasonseverby a guard, and yes, that includes all those on the NBA’s Mount Rushmore. In this season alone, he won the scoring title, league MVP, Western Conference finals MVP, and NBA finals MVP. That’s a historical run, and makes him a truly generational player by any measure.
As impressive of a season as the upstart Houston Rockets had this year, it came as no surprise to anyone who’d been paying attention that the Western Conference No 2 were sent packing in round one. The team were on a string defensively, and playhard(kudos to Coach of the Year candidate Ime Udoka), but there was a glaringly apparent hole on the offensive end, especially late in game, when it mattered. Hopes were high for young guard Jalen Green, but he flamed out in a real way in his first postseason.Enter stage right: Kevin Durant, one of the greatest scorers the league has ever seen. It should be exciting for all basketball fans to see how this age-gap marriage turns out come October.
The evidence is, at this point, beyond anecdotal.According to Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes, the eight (eight!) achilles tendon ruptures this season are an NBA record, clearing the previous mark of five easily. What was shaping up to be a fascinating NBA finals Game 7 ended with a depressing whimper as Haliburton went down in a heap in the first quarter, sobbing and yelling “No! No! No!” as he banged his fist on the hardwood in anguish. The rest of us could only watch helplessly, having all become injury experts after watching Damian Lillard and Tatum meet the same fatein this postseason alone.The NBA can no longer afford to ignore the pressing issue: the game is faster and more difficult, the season is far too long, and the injuries are mounting.
It’s a rare occasion when the team who ultimately hoists the trophy is not what we, as a collective, will remember about a given season. But this version of the Pacers, who came just two quarters shy of a championship, will live on in the hearts and minds of basketball fans for years to come. In true Hoosiers fashion, this team was all heart, no fear. They taught us perhaps the most valuable lesson of all: unwavering belief may very well be the most powerful skill. Chips down, odds long, down double digits with a minute to go. There was no challenge too big, no order too tall, for the never say die Pacers. Even though their season ended in horrible fashion, with a devastating injury to Haliburton and an everlasting “what if” along with it, their identity as one of the most resilient and joyful teams in recent memory will for ever be the stuff of legend.