NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[smicker16]

We may have underestimated the Knicks a bit. They do have a really good starting 5 and Brunson does not turn the ball over a ton for his usage rate. They have found some good production out of their bench which has been big and a bit unexpected for sure.

Personally I am really hoping OKC or the Spurs make quick work of them but do not think it is going to be that easy for them. I bet on the Knicks to win it all earlier in the playoffs to hedge my emotions at least.

We have underestimated the Knicks. They could still lose the series but there is no doubt we have underestimated them. I also do think the 3pt% is the great equalizer at this point. Basically whoever shoots the higher % from 3 seems to win in the eastern conference so maybe the Celtics are closer to competing because seemingly they just need to shoot higher than like 39% from three in the playoffs next year.

[jambr380]

I like how ESPN has the graphic, ?New York State of Clutch? when they blew a 14 point lead with 6 minutes left and the only reason they were in a position to win is because of an awful TO by Wemby (although Castle absolutely should have been looking for the ball).

Whatever - Knicks fans will be insufferable if they win it all and the Spurs should have more chances

[Who]

Anunoby = 5-10 FGA 5-5 FTA 17pts 2s2b
Towns = 8-12 FGA 2-2 FTA 21pts 13reb 4ast 1s1b
M Bridges = 8-13 FGA 20pts 6reb 6ast

Combined = 21-35 FGA 7-7 FTA for 58pts

That is what 38 possessions for 58 points. Plus 3 turnovers. 0 for OG, 2 for Towns, 1 for Bridges. 41poss for 58pts. 1.41pts per possession from those 3 guys.

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The rest of the team was 16-54 FGA (29.6%) 9-14 FTA 9 turnovers for 47 points. 0.67pts per possession.

Those 3 guys carried NYK.

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Brunson was only 7-25 FGA (28%) 4-5 FTA and NY still won. He had 4 turnovers too although he also had 5 steals so net +1 possession wise for him. 6ast 5reb 20pts.

That means outside of Brunson and the 3 guys above, NYK was 9-29 FGA 5-9 FTA (M Robinson 3-6 FTA) and 5 turnovers. 27pts on 43poss. 0.63pts per poss.

Shamet did most of the damage for the supporting cast. 5-12 FGA for 13pts. He played well. M Robinson 7pts 3reb in 14min. Alvarado 2pts in 10min on 0-4 FGA. McBride 5pts 2-7 FGA. Hart 0-4 FGA 0pts. So 14pts 4-17 FGA 5-9 FTA 5 turnovers from the other 4 guys. M Robinson had a solid game too. Kept NY in it while Towns was sitting in foul trouble (2 phantom calls to take him out of the game).

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You gotta look at that and wonder how San Antonio managed to blow this one. Brunson that bad. Hart only 18min due to foul trouble. Only 3 guys supporting players playing well for them.

Wemby came up big 2nd half. 7pts 1st half. 22pts 2nd half. Fox finally had a good game with 20pts. D Harper was strong with 15pts. S Castle wasn't great with an inefficient 14/4/4 but okay. Vassell 14pts 9reb 5ast.

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Spurs only 19-27 FTA. Make your FTs and you would have won the game. Wemby 5-8 FTA Castle 2-4 FTA. 7-12 FTA. Rest of the team was 12-15 FTA. Their main guy Wemby and arguably their 2nd best player in Castle the ones missing freebies.

NY 89 FGA to SAS 78 FGA. 11 extra shots.

Spurs had 6 more FTs so equivalent to 3 of those 11 shots. So really 8 extra scoring attempts. Half of that is from turnovers (16 SAS 12 NYK) with the other half on offensive rebounds (10 NYK 5 SAS).

Spurs actually did a good job protecting their defensive glass with 37 def rebounds to 10 off rebounds. Only around ~20% off reb rate. They just no offensive rebounds of their own on the other end. Only 5 against 34 def reb for NY. Roughly ~12% off reb rate.

Wemby is spending far too much time at the three point line. Can't get offensive rebounds out there. Kornet not playing much so he is not getting off rebounds. Keldon Johnson struggling. His playing time has decreased. He is a good off rebounder for them. Another loss. After that it is S Castle. D Harper. They are the next best off rebounders for them.

On the regular season, Kornet led them with 2.7 off reb per game (in 21mpg). Wemby 2.0, Keldon 1.7, Castle 1.4. Champagnie 0.9, D Harper 0.8 but in only 22mpg. Fox and Vassell only 0.6 per game each.