EAST:
(3) New York 3 - 0 (4) Cleveland
The Knicks are going to win the East for the first time since 1999.
WEST:
(1) Oklahoma City 2 - 1 (2) San Antonio
After losing the first game at home in double overtime, the Thunder have played two great games, winning 122-113 in OKC, and then going to San Antonio and picking up a surprisingly easy 123-108 win. OKC's ability to put up over 120 points in back-to-back games against a team with Wembanyama on defense is extremely impressive. My guess is that San Antonio will tie the series tonight, however, so OKC is not out of the woods yet.
This is still the best NBA playoff since 2019, and I think that will be true no matter what happens.
Congratulations to Cade Cunningham of Detroit, who was the only American to make the first-team All-NBA squad. Here is the full first team:
ReplyDeleteShai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City
Nikola Jokic, Denver
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio
Luka Doncic, L.A. Lakers
Cade Cunningham, Detroit
I finally decided to learn about these coaches. The coach of OKC is Mark Dagneault, 41 years old, who was a student manager under Jim Calhoun at UConn. He took over the head coaching job at OKC after the 2019-20 season when Billy Donovan left. In six years, he has a record of 275-207, and he won the NBA Title last year.
ReplyDeleteBefore becoming Donovan's assistant with the Thunder, Dagneault coached OKC's G-League team for five seasons, amassing a record of 143-107.
DeleteThe head coach at San Antonio is Mitch Johnson, 39 years old. He is the son of John Johnson, who played for the 1979 SuperSonics. Mitch Johnson played basketball at Stanford, but never played in the NBA. He was an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs when they won the G-League Championship in 2018, and then got hired as an assistant to Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs. After Popovich had a stroke in November 2024, Johnson became the interim head coach. He's had the job ever since. His record is 94-65, and this is the first time he's been to the playoffs.
ReplyDelete