2025 Conference Finals Thread

Who are we picking to go to the finals?

Knicks over the Pacers in 6

This one will be fun. Evenly matched teams that have their starting 5 intact. Fun basketball all around

Game 1 Pacers, Game 2 Knicks, Game 3 Pacers, Game 4 Knicks, Game 5 Knicks and Game 6 Knicks

Thunder over the Wolves in 5

I didn't trust the Wolves in the beginning of these playoffs but they've been a pleasant surprise, knocking off the two teams I despise the most. The flip side is the the Dubs were without Curry for all but one game so what they can do against a fully healthy Thunder squad needs to take that into account. I would love nothing more for them to delay the inevitable Thunder dynasty but we'll see

Game 1 Thunder, Game 2 Thunder, Game 3 Wolves, Game 4 Thunder, Game 5 Thunder

Did you mean Game 5 Thunder?

Also get in your conference finals MVPs.

Did you mean Game 5 Thunder?

Yep. My bad. Thanks for the catch

Also get in your conference finals MVPs.

SGA and Brunson. I know. Boring but I can see these guys rising to the occasion with everything on the line

New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers

I don't trust the Knicks mentality. I think they'll feel like beating Boston was the top prize, and they won't have the edge they need to beat Indiana.

Plus even though Haliburton has some stinkers, he is more dynamic and Indiana is pretty deep too.

Looking forward to see how McConnell and Nembhard play against Brunson.

Indiana in 5, New York wins game 3.

MVP: Haliburton, but I could see Turner actually as a dark horse.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota has talent but are too inconsistent. I don't trust them to play 48 minutes.

There will probably be three OKC blowouts. But in some of them, it will probably be close for 2.5 or 3 quarters.

Julius Randle has played well for the first time in the playoffs. OKC's defense is just relentless and they don't make mistakes.

Whereas Minnesota will have a few possessions where you wonder why they did that.

Oklahoma City in 4.

MVP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

I could very well see Indy winning in 5 as well. That's what I love about this series. Anything can happen and it's tough to pick

Hope you're wrong about the other one but you could very well be right. Minnesota was well rested while the Thunder just played a game 7 on Sunday. I know that there is always a rest vs. rust argument but I have to think Minnesota had a golden opportunity to steal one and got blown out instead

Unless you're an old team, I don't think playing a game 7 for your series while your opponent has a 4 or 5 game series, matters too much.

Golden State was an old team, so that would have impacted them.

OKC is a young team. So a long series doesn't matter too much.

From the radio stations I'm listening to, Rudy Gobert is getting a lot of the blame. I didn't think he was that bad, but looking at the box score, 3 rebounds is not going to get it done.

Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid are probably the keys to Minnesota winning some games. They need to out physical the Thunder.

I kind of wish I had picked Myles Turner as MVP. I want to see someone win conference finals MVP that is unexpected. Perhaps if he had had a strong 2nd round, I would have felt comfortable enough to pick him as MVP in this round.

Toppin just rewarded you making him the #1 mock draft pick by having an important game 1 of the conference finals in a Pacers win!

Double team Brunson after a certain point, please.

Toppin just rewarded you making him the #1 mock draft pick by having an important game 1 of the conference finals in a Pacers win!

As much as I like to make fun of myself for that pick, I do think he's been better than a lot of players from that draft picked ahead of him. Clearly better than Wiseman at #2, Patrick Williams at #4, Isaac Okoro at #5 and Killian Hayes at #7. You could even say he's been a bit better than Onyeka Okongwu at #6 although that's subjective. Okongwu has a better feel for the game and is more consistent but Toppin still has the higher ceiling

My blunder was thinking that Ant would possibly be Wiggins II but even there, you see character flaws come to the surface from time to time. Multiple kids with multiple women, using profanity during media sessions and making fun of the people at the Atlanta night club are just some things that come off the top of my head. The Wolves still need to tread lightly with him

I did not know any of that about Edwards, even now. Wow, he is young to have kids from multiple women.

At least Paul George (while in the NBA) kept having kids with the same woman.

A few days ago, I heard some radio hosts surmise that maybe Anthony Edwards should go to a Vegas NBA team. Then they decided that Vegas would be bad for Edwards, and that he needs to stay in Minnesota.

I was genuine when I bumped the comment about Toppin, because it's good to see a mid career player have a standout game on the big stage.

It's fun to root for players like that.

I would say Okongwu is better right now, he's had a great season. But other than that, agree that Toppin is better than those 4 guys you mentioned.

It's too bad Hayes was not able to improve, because I wanted to see Detroit's younger players finally help Detroit have some success again. They need to win at least a playoffs series for that to officially happen.

I really thought they would have / could have beaten New York in the first round.

In the 4 games Detroit lost, they had a lead at 7:51 left in game 1; lost by 2 points in game 3; lead with 1:06 left in game 4; and lead with 36 seconds left in game 6.

Game 1 also had an 8 point lead entering the 4th.

Yeah, Hayes was a bust but I think the rest of those picks have worked out. Cade, Ivey, Thompson and Holland were their own picks while the guys they traded for to get an extra first rounder meaning Duren and Stew, have been decent too. Trading Kennard and a bunch of 2nd rounders for a 1st rounder that became Saddiq Bey wasn't a good swap though

Wow that was an insane finish to the Knicks Pacers game. That could be the difference in the series. Reminds me of what happened to the Clippers vs Denver when they could easily won 2 of the games they lost.

Haliburton had the Kawhi like buzzer beater, then the choke sign, at the end of regulation.

Yeah, Hayes was a bust but I think the rest of those picks have worked out.

I read that he isn't super explosive and has a case of the TMann's.... where he is passive shooting the ball.

I'd bring him in to see if he can win the 3rd Point Guard spot and work his way up. He doesn't seem bad at all.

Probably lost his confidence completely after the way things have panned out while he was so young.

He's only 23... might be the next Nico Batum style reclamation project...

He'd be great as a 3rd stringer playing on the minimum. No doubt about it. The problem is that most foreign players don't want to come over to just sit the bench. He could probably start for someone in the German, Turkish, Greek or French league

He'd be great as a 3rd stringer playing on the minimum. No doubt about it. The problem is that most foreign players don't want to come over to just sit the bench. He could probably start for someone in the German, Turkish, Greek or French league

Isn't he already playing for a G League team here on a 2-way?

Isn't he already playing for a G League team here on a 2-way?

Come to think of it, you're right. It's Brooklyn. But he's the exception to the rule. He probably thinks he's better than he is and will be a starter someday which I don't think is gonna happen. But if he's willing to be a 3rd stringer then I'm all for it

I like what the Pacers have in their front court. Pascal Siakam is a beast... and he's a winner.

And once again, these teams are the opposite of us.

We just saw Jarace Walker and Tony Bradley play after providing very little during the season.

Our team doesn't do stuff like that. We just wear our players down, like Harden.

I want to see the Pacers win it all this year. Total shot in the dark. I expect OKC to roll them 4-1, but I like how the Pacers play.

So, I'm rooting for them vs the Knicks. Brunson is like SGA. They're foul grifters, can't stomach it. Go Pacers.

I just finished watching the trophy ceremony and final Inside The NBA.

• Wow, Siakam won MVP? And none of us had him. Lol.

• Shaq cussed? AND Kenny too? Kenny is normally so straight. I did not expect that from him. I thought then Barkley would follow suit, but he didn't.

• I'm confused about next year. If Inside The NBA will be on ESPN next year, why is the production crew going to be different? The show mentioned that some of the crew are leaving for Amazon and NBC.

• What happened to the Black Masters this year?

Agree about the production crew.

Their timing is impeccable. For example, Barkley spontaneously says "Fresh As A Daisy". Then the production crew is ready with a lot of jokes for that for the rest of the show.

That's what I love about the show. Every day there will be some spontaneous joke, and it will live for at least the duration of the show. We just don't know what it will be, until it happens.

@Trueblood, how do you feel about the final sign off?

Was it done right?

Should Ernie have gotten the final say? Some are saying that Shaq kind of overshadowed it with the mic drop.

I actually only saw half of it but the good thing is that I have it recorded. I'm glad you brought it up though as I'll make sure to see it and let you know

Yeah I will probably rewatch it one more time, because I want to see again what they said about the production crew. Both in their gratitude, and what they said about the future.

I had the first 4 games of the series exactly right. So disappointed that Indiana couldn't win game 5.

As that would have meant I would have correctly called every game of the series.

I'm sure I've done a 5 game series before, but it's probably been a while.

I know I've never done a full 7 game series. Only 3 people ever have, in my predictions game.

I might have done a 6 game series before, but it's probably rare, and I don't remember when I might have done it.

Good job. I was laughably bad on a couple of those but that's a good thing. The less predictable the NBA is, the better IMO. The NBA has been tagged as too predictable over the years but the last 7 has shown us that tweaks in the cba, players embracing small markets and small markets zeroing on good GM's is making for a more balanced league