NBA Playoff Takeaways: Round 2

Photo from USA Today

This has been some excellent playoff basketball so far, and now four franchises remain.

Three of them have never won a title, and one hasn’t since 1973.

A drought is ending in 2025.

Here is what we learned in round 2.

Pacers defeat Cavaliers 4-1

The injuries the Cavs suffered in game 1 and 2 hurt them massively, but there’s still no excuse for the blown loss in game 2 and the trouncing at home in game 5.

The Cavs had a clear cut chance to get to the conference finals, and instead it was Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers who breezed through the series and back into the final four.

Haliburton and the Pacers are creating quite a culture in Indiana, and considering how weak the East may be next year, they are in great position to be a powerhouse.

Knicks defeat Celtics 4-2

I’ll be brave enough to still say it.

The Celtics are a better team than the Knicks.

That’s why the disaster collapses in games 1 and 2 were so brutal for the Celtics.

Because when the Knicks had a great game in game 4, it wasn’t to keep their season alive and make it a 3-1 Celtics series lead.

It was to put a stranglehold on the series and take a 3-1 series lead themselves.

The Celtics are getting older, expensive, and now their best player is out likely all of next season due to an injury.

The new owners have a lot of things to deal with this offseason.

Thunder defeat Nuggets 4-3

I don’t know the in’s and outs of the Nuggets with Michael Malone.

Maybe he had lost the locker room and needed to be replaced. That’s all possible.

What I do know, however, is that this was an extremely winnable series for the Nuggets, and they let games 4 and 5 slip away to knock out the one seed Thunder.

Maybe not having an interim coach and having the guy who won the Nuggets a championship two years ago may have helped prevent that.

It’s hard to think it would’ve hurt their odds.

Timberwolves defeat Warriors 4-1

Anthony Edwards is a great young player. Julius Randle is playing the best basketball of his life. They have good coaching and good defense.

The Timberwolves are legitimate championship threats.

And that’s crazy to say, because I don’t think they were particularly impressive in this series.

They have the pieces to succeed and win it all, but if they want to beat OKC, they’re going to have to be better.