NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Redz]

Anyone else think Fox was paid off last night? I'm being serious, the turnovers he made and decisions in the 2nd half, had me scratching my head. Something felt very off on some of those plays. He looked like Terry Rozier.  I think it should be looked into....

I joked about that last night, but would it shock anyone given how big gambling is these days and how corrupt the league is overall.
I don't even think my kids JV2 team would be as dumb as the spurs were in spots at the end. I just can't wrap my head around them doing what they did. Those mistakes should be avoided due to muscle memory alone given how much ball they've played before becoming a professional.

Quick gambling brag:  I had a $20 best on the Spurs on the money line.  When the lead got down to 15 I was offered a buyout for $2 less than a Spurs win would pay.  I took it, figuring I'd be far less miserable if they blew the lead than the $2 extra were worth! 

I have to say, I really don't want the Knicks to win, but they're really hard to not respect as a gritty, talented team.  OG is a legend.

I've watched every second of a non-Celtics series for the first time in a long time.  It's just a really compelling series for so many reasons.  I'm hopin the Spurs take Game 5 so we can see more of it.

[Celtics2021]

Disappointing as some of Celtics' playoff failures have been over the years, Spurs in 2013 and 2026 are the biggest NBA Finals chokes I've seen in my lifetime.

If you're talking about all-time NBA Finals chokes then you can never leave out the 2016 Warriors. Went 73-9 in the regular season and blew a 3-1 series lead in the Finals.

The Cavs had the best player in the series though. The Spurs have the best player in the seties this year.

No the Warriors had the best player...Steph Curry. MVP year. Even the best lineup that got them to 73-9.

Yeah, that was an all-time great season by Steph.  Your scoring leader and true shooting percentage leader, so he was incredibly efficient on high-volume.  At the same time, he was top 10 in assists, with a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  And he led the league in steals.  Top 15 all-time season in PER, top 10 in Box Plus-Minus.  Steph was bar none the best player that year.

[jambr380]

Julian Champagnie was really bad all game. The coach played Barnes zero minutes. A guy that has won a championship and averaged 26mpg during the regular season.

This coach is a moron.

Not as bad as Keldon Johnson who should never see a basketball court again. Yikes. Spurs Nation itching to get rid of KJ and Fox before their dynasty begins

There was a thread here a few weeks back where we were talking about Jaylen trades and a couple of people actually thought that a Fox/Keldon trade made sense for the Cs lol. No, I am not making this up.

I guess they were right, though. Fox and Keldon would fit in perfectly with how we've played and blown leads recently.

I don't really want to see a Spurs dynasty - and this puts that possibility off for another year - but we are never going to hear the end of this Knicks championship. Who else is still talking about winning a single Title over 50 years ago?

Fox had a boneheaded play at the end where he tried to force a layup and should have dribbled out, but other than that he played pretty well. 18pts/7ast/5rebs/2st/1blk. Fox and Wemby were the only starters with positive +/-. He also won game 3 for the spurs, so if it wasn?t for him they?d already be eliminated. Sounds like you did not watch the games.

Keldon Johnson has been bad this series. I do agree with that.

You're joking, right? Yeah, let's do it then. Fox and Keldon for Jaylen. That Fox contract is going to age like milk. What a great move by him to insist on playing for the Spurs. San Antonio should have taken their time to find a better option moving forward. They rushed it with Fox because he expressed the desire to play for them. He's a decent player, but not a 4yr/$229M dollar player. Sorry, I'm not going to back off from that

[Goldstar88]

Julian Champagnie was really bad all game. The coach played Barnes zero minutes. A guy that has won a championship and averaged 26mpg during the regular season.

This coach is a moron.

Not as bad as Keldon Johnson who should never see a basketball court again. Yikes. Spurs Nation itching to get rid of KJ and Fox before their dynasty begins

There was a thread here a few weeks back where we were talking about Jaylen trades and a couple of people actually thought that a Fox/Keldon trade made sense for the Cs lol. No, I am not making this up.

I guess they were right, though. Fox and Keldon would fit in perfectly with how we've played and blown leads recently.

I don't really want to see a Spurs dynasty - and this puts that possibility off for another year - but we are never going to hear the end of this Knicks championship. Who else is still talking about winning a single Title over 50 years ago?

Fox had a boneheaded play at the end where he tried to force a layup and should have dribbled out, but other than that he played pretty well. 18pts/7ast/5rebs/2st/1blk. Fox and Wemby were the only starters with positive +/-. He also won game 3 for the spurs, so if it wasn?t for him they?d already be eliminated. Sounds like you did not watch the games.

Keldon Johnson has been bad this series. I do agree with that.

You're joking, right? Yeah, let's do it then. Fox and Keldon for Jaylen. That Fox contract is going to age like milk. What a great move by him to insist on playing for the Spurs. San Antonio should have taken their time to find a better option moving forward. They rushed it with Fox because he expressed the desire to play for them. He's a decent player, but not a 4yr/$229M dollar player. Sorry, I'm not going to back off from that

Except that wasn?t the proposed trade. If you go back and actually look at that thread it was:

In: De?Aaron Fox, Keldon Johnson, Julian Champagnie, 1st round pick
Out: Jaylen Brown

It seems a bit silly to say that they made the wrong move trading for Fox considering the Spurs are currently in the Finals and he is overall playing well. He won game 3 for San Antonio.

[Who]

Jorge Sierra: The Knicks are only the second team with two one-point wins in the NBA Finals.

First one since the 1975 Warriors.

[Goldstar88]

NEW YORK -- A brutal night for Victor Wembanyama continued even after he returned to his hotel on Wednesday, as he was pelted with boos from jeering Knicks fans and nearly struck by a flying egg.

It was not clear who threw the egg. The video showed taunting fans swarming the hotel a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden.

[Who]

Josh Dubow: Teams down 20+ points in postseason last 2 years:

Knicks 5-3
Rest of NBA: 4-71

Lev Akabas: The Knicks in this series:

+31 in 49 minutes with Alvarado on the court
-23 in 131 minutes with Alvarado on the bench

[Redz]

Josh Dubow: Teams down 20+ points in postseason last 2 years:

Knicks 5-3
Rest of NBA: 4-71

Lev Akabas: The Knicks in this series:

+31 in 49 minutes with Alvarado on the court
-23 in 131 minutes with Alvarado on the bench

He fit right in with this team beautifully.   I'm happy for him.  Always enjoyed watching him play.

[SparzWizard]

NEW YORK -- A brutal night for Victor Wembanyama continued even after he returned to his hotel on Wednesday, as he was pelted with boos from jeering Knicks fans and nearly struck by a flying egg.

It was not clear who threw the egg. The video showed taunting fans swarming the hotel a few blocks south of Madison Square Garden.

It's too bad the Spurs can't put these New Yorkers in their place. Would've shut them up real good had SAS defended home court and closed this out in 4.

After blowing the 29-point lead, I think it's well-deserved that they lose this series.

[Who]

I am looking at some of these 2nd half stats from game 4 for San Antonio.

Wemby = 8pts 7reb 3-14 FGA 1-4 FTA

Wemby was the only player on either team to miss a FT in the 2nd half. Terrible shooting from him. 8pts on 16 possessions.

Castle = 8pts 0-1 FGA 8-8 FTA 2ast 2reb 2tov
D Harper = 6pts 2reb 2-5 FGA 2-2 FTA 3tov
D Fox =  5pts 2-8 FGA 4tov 4reb 1ast 1s1b

9 turnovers in the 2nd half alone for these 3 guards. Terrible. 4 for Fox, 3 for D Harper, 2 for Castle. I was curious what D Harper did in the 2nd half because he was 8-12 FGA for the game for 21pts. You would think he would step up and take some shots in the 2nd half with the team struggling so badly. Not so. Between the turnovers, FTs, FGAs ... D Harper got 6pts on 9 possessions. Fox had 5pts on 12 possessions. Castle 8pts on 7 possessions. Castle did not make a FG though. Only scored at the FT line. Fox had 19min in the 2nd half. Harper and Castle had 15min apiece.

D Vassell = 3pts 1-4 FGA 3reb 2ast
Champagnie = 0pts 0-3 FGA 3stl 3reb
K Johnson = 0pts 0-4 FGA

No turnovers for those 3 wing players. Only one made basket out of 11 attempts though. D Vassell was red hot with 15pts in the first half on 5-5 FGA.

Kornet played 1 minute and picked up a foul.

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A lot of that bad 2nd half has is on Wemby. He was the worst of all of them. He is your main star. He needed to answer the call. He didn't. None of the 3 star guards answered either. Or the 3 role player wings. A collective collapse.

[Vermont Green]

D Vassell = 3pts 1-4 FGA 3reb 2ast
Champagnie = 0pts 0-3 FGA 3stl 3reb
K Johnson = 0pts 0-4 FGA

No turnovers for those 3 wing players. Only one made basket out of 11 attempts though. D Vassell was red hot with 15pts in the first half on 5-5 FGA.

They just stand in the corner and wait for a pass.  Unless they set an illegal screen or something, you don't expect them to have turnovers.  You do expect them to shoot better than 1-11.  It happens.  It may happen to the Knicks' role players in the next game.

[Redz]

I am looking at some of these 2nd half stats from game 4 for San Antonio.

Wemby = 8pts 7reb 3-14 FGA 1-4 FTA

Wemby was the only player on either team to miss a FT in the 2nd half. Terrible shooting from him. 8pts on 16 possessions.

Castle = 8pts 0-1 FGA 8-8 FTA 2ast 2reb 2tov
D Harper = 6pts 2reb 2-5 FGA 2-2 FTA 3tov
D Fox =  5pts 2-8 FGA 4tov 4reb 1ast 1s1b

9 turnovers in the 2nd half alone for these 3 guards. Terrible. 4 for Fox, 3 for D Harper, 2 for Castle. I was curious what D Harper did in the 2nd half because he was 8-12 FGA for the game for 21pts. You would think he would step up and take some shots in the 2nd half with the team struggling so badly. Not so. Between the turnovers, FTs, FGAs ... D Harper got 6pts on 9 possessions. Fox had 5pts on 12 possessions. Castle 8pts on 7 possessions. Castle did not make a FG though. Only scored at the FT line. Fox had 19min in the 2nd half. Harper and Castle had 15min apiece.

D Vassell = 3pts 1-4 FGA 3reb 2ast
Champagnie = 0pts 0-3 FGA 3stl 3reb
K Johnson = 0pts 0-4 FGA

No turnovers for those 3 wing players. Only one made basket out of 11 attempts though. D Vassell was red hot with 15pts in the first half on 5-5 FGA.

Kornet played 1 minute and picked up a foul.

-----------

A lot of that bad 2nd half has is on Wemby. He was the worst of all of them. He is your main star. He needed to answer the call. He didn't. None of the 3 star guards answered either. Or the 3 role player wings. A collective collapse.

One side of a blueprint for blowing a 29-point lead.  Throw in a team on the other side who knows from experience that they can come back from huge deficits in giant games and a rabid MSG crowd, and there you have it.  And still it took some fluky stuff for the Knicks to walk away with the win.  Really just an incredible game.

[Who]

This is from the RealGM forums - a crazy stat.

KAT has had a positive plus/minus in every single playoff game for the Knicks this post-season.

18 straight playoff games which the poster believes to be a new record for most consecutive playoff games with a positive plus minus.

Another comment

So he's +262 in 18 games.

He's +48 in the Finals while the Knicks are -40 while he's on the bench.

Best +/- Since 1997

1 - Towns +262
2 - Steph +245 (2017)
3 - Draymond +227 (2017)
4 - Brunson +224
5 - Kobe +213 (2001)
6 - LeBron +209 (2016)
7 - Durant +207 (2018)
8 - Ben Wallace +202 (2004)

9 - Wemby +199
10 - LeBron +199 (2012)
11 - LeBron +195 (2017)
12 - D-Robinson +194 (1999)