NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[SparzWizard]

Now LeBron cheats on the jump ball. Why are they letting LA cheat on all these jump balls!!

Wonder who'll be getting away with cheating more in the next round 

[jambr380]

Smart hustling for these down the stretch plays. Where was this Smart when we had him. Seems like he only showed up more for the Lakers

Smart was awesome for the Celtics for years, topping out as our 3rd best scorer and literally DPOY. Very young Tatum and Brown teams were going to the ECF at a minimum with Smart as the heart of the team.

It absolutely destroys me watching him do this stuff for the Lakers, but we?re the ones who traded him away. I just hope and pray they don?t win a championship any time soon

[Who]

Houston should let Tari Eason leave in the off-season. They need more shooters. He isn't the answer.

[jambr380]

How did Houston mess that up?

Up 6pts with 25secs to go with possession of the ball. Terrible outlet pass by Jabari Smith Jr. Stolen by Smart. Terrible foul by Tate. Smart 3 FTs. Another inbounds. Sheppard goes by LeBron in the backcourt, refuses to pass ahead, gets the ball poked from behind, loses it, pass ahead, LeBron 3. Tie game.

Awful series of screw ups from the Rockets.

Total disaster for Houston. They were back in the series, but are now basically done for the season. If that happened to us, we would be distraught. One of the biggest chokes ever and Smart was expectedly right in the middle of it all

[SparzWizard]

How did Houston mess that up?

Up 6pts with 25secs to go with possession of the ball. Terrible outlet pass by Jabari Smith Jr. Stolen by Smart. Terrible foul by Tate. Smart 3 FTs. Another inbounds. Sheppard goes by LeBron in the backcourt, refuses to pass ahead, gets the ball poked from behind, loses it, pass ahead, LeBron 3. Tie game.

Awful series of screw ups from the Rockets.

Total disaster for Houston. They were back in the series, but are now basically done for the season. If that happened to us, we would be distraught. One of the biggest chokes ever and Smart was expectedly right in the middle of it all

Houston ain't coming back up from 0-3. They're patheticcc

[Phantom255x]

I'm not even sure it's worth it for Durant to come back down 3-0

But also, that's just terrible timing for him to get hurt and miss 2 out of the first 3 games this series. That said, LAL is also without Reaves and Doncic so it's still pathetic.

[Atzar]

This might be the kind of series loss that makes Houston rethink their path.  On the verge of getting swept by a geriatric Lebron and a pile of middling roleplayers.  Bronny James is getting actual NBA minutes against them. 

EDIT:  Bronny outscored they whole bench, LOL.

[Phantom255x]

This might be the kind of series loss that makes Houston rethink their path.  On the verge of getting swept by a geriatric Lebron and a pile of middling roleplayers.  Bronny James is getting actual NBA minutes against them. 

EDIT:  Bronny outscored they whole bench, LOL.

Yeah I won't lie I still think LAL is flawed and not this good, it's just Houston is far worse that even Bronny looks legit against them. Houston's offense is really bad and obviously worse without Durant too. OKC is probably still beating either of these teams in 5 even without JDub.

[Redz]

How did Houston mess that up?

Up 6pts with 25secs to go with possession of the ball. Terrible outlet pass by Jabari Smith Jr. Stolen by Smart. Terrible foul by Tate. Smart 3 FTs. Another inbounds. Sheppard goes by LeBron in the backcourt, refuses to pass ahead, gets the ball poked from behind, loses it, pass ahead, LeBron 3. Tie game.

Awful series of screw ups from the Rockets.

Missing a point guard. And, questionable coaching

It?s funny, the Celts were also up 6 (or was it 7?) with 25 seconds left and I texted a friend to say ?this where the stupid stuff starts happening in NBA games. Just play solid and finish this thing out.?

[keevsnick]

Marcus Smart being a game changer the Lakers, Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams both making an impact for the Blazers, Luke Kornet starting and playing well for the Spurs.

Former Celtics making impacts around the league.

[Who]

I was curious why Houston look so much worse this year without Durant than they were last season.

No Fred VanVleet.
No Jalen Green.
No Dillon Brooks.
No Steven Adams.

3 starters on the perimeter and their main backup big. Fred VanVleet was a huge miss for them last season when he was absent. No just because he is a good player but mainly because they had no adequate replacement when he wasn't around. He was their only true PG. Jalen Green their 2nd best ball-handler. Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and FVV combined to take 22.1 three pointers per game for the Rockets last year. 22 threes out of 35 threes (~60%) for their team. They were their outside shooting. They were their ball-handling. FVV was their passer and organizer on offense.

That is a lot to miss. No wonder they look so much worse this series without Durant than they were last season before they acquired Durant.

[Goldstar88]

Good game between Spurs and Blazers. No Wemby, though.

[Who]

Just watching that Q1 run between NY and ATL the other night. Strange lineup by Mike Brown midway through Q1. He went to 3 guards and Mikal Bridges at PF.

G: Jalen Brunson
G: McBride
G: Josh Hart
F: Mikal Bridges
C: M Robinson

So a small backcourt with Brunson & McBride. Then an undersized SF in Josh Hart. Another undersized player with Bridges at PF. They are undersized at 4 out of 5 positions.

Meanwhile, Atlanta still had Jalen Johnson in the game at PF. Plus they had brought Kuminga into the game at SF. Huge size advantages for both players at forward. Josh Hart was the one trying to defend Jalen Johnson. Plus Atlanta had Dyson Daniels at SG. Dyson Daniels is the same size as Mikal Bridges (heck slightly bigger even).

Strange lineup + even stranger choice to do it against Atlanta with those matchups. I do not like this lineup at all. Too small. Too vulnerable defensively. M Robinson and J Hart are the only guys there who can rebound. You are going to get out-rebounded badly.

BBall-ref.com says M Bridges has played a quarter of his minutes at PF this season. Not sure how accurate that is but that is crazy if accurate. M Bridges is a skinny finesse based SF. He is a 3/2. Not a 3/4. He doesn't have the muscle for it. He doesn't rebound well enough. He should never be playing PF minutes.

[Vermont Green]

Marcus Smart being a game changer the Lakers, Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams both making an impact for the Blazers, Luke Kornet starting and playing well for the Spurs.

Former Celtics making impacts around the league.

Glad to see them all doing well but I have an especially big soft spot for Marcus Smart.  Love seeing him healthy and playing well.  Wish it wasn't on the Lakers of course, but happy for Marcus.

HOU is so shorthanded, so you can't tell much from this series, but the Lakers could be formidable if/when they get Reeves and Doncic back.

[Goldstar88]

Leading by six with under 30 seconds to go, the Rockets were on the verge of their first victory in their first-round series against the Lakers.

Instead, they fell apart and eventually lost 112-108 in overtime Friday night and are on the brink of elimination.

"Horrendous mistakes," Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. "I don't know if you want to say youth or scared of the moment or whatever the case."

Houston struggled at times to close out games in the fourth quarter during the season, and the problem continued Friday night.

"It's obviously a weakness of ours to close out and finish," Udoka said. "The amount of mistakes or the type of mistakes are egregious, and you can't have those."

This is the second straight playoff trip for the Rockets after they returned last season for the first time since 2020. They were eliminated in the first round in seven games by the Golden State Warriors.

Having that playoff experience, Udoka doesn't see any excuse for their collapse Friday night and had a message for his team.

"Grow up," he said he told them. "You're not that young anymore."