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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Vivek Jacob |Antonio Kozlow |Oliver Taliku |Zach Wolpin
The No. 2 Boston Celtics will start their title defense with a first-round series against the No. 7 Orlando Magic. Orlando earned its seventh seed after defeating the Atlanta Hawks in the Play-In Tournament Tuesday night. Despite winning 61 games, Boston finished with the second seed behind the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers. The Magic have been a tad underwhelming at 41-41, struggling to create offense even after both Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner returned from oblique injuries.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Vivek Jacob |Antonio Kozlow |Oliver Taliku |Zach Wolpin
The third-seeded New York Knicks will take on the sixth-seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. Detroit has been the best story of the East, rebounding from a 14-win season last year to a 44-38 record this season. Cade Cunningham looks like a surefire bet for an All-NBA Team while Malik Beasley is among the favorites to win Sixth Man of the Year.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Zach Wolpin |Antonio Kozlow |James Foglio |Vivek Jacob
Derik Queen began his college career with a 22-point, 20-rebound game and capped it off with an NCAA Tournament buzzer beater. Scouts are split on Queen, with some fearing investing in a big man who isn’t a prolific shooter or interior defender. But Queen was a bona fide star scorer at the college level. Can he translate that to the pros?
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | D.J. Siddiqi |Zach Wolpin |James Foglio |Vivek Jacob
Dwight Howard is going with a bold prediction for the NBA Finals and it’s one that you won’t see many people pick. The former Los Angeles Lakers big man — he won a championship with them in 2020 — predicts his former team, the Lakers, to face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Lakers enter the playoffs as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed while the Cavaliers ended the year with the best record in the East, holding that honor throughout the entire season.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Zach Wolpin |James Foglio |Vivek Jacob |Oliver Taliku
The last three seasons have been a rollercoaster for the Phoenix Suns. New ownership took over in February 2023. Since then, they’ve fired three head coaches in as many seasons. That included Mike Budenholzer, the Suns’ head coach in 2024-25. He was given a five-year, $50 million contract. Budenholzer lasted just one season in Phoenix. What will it take for the Suns to find a head coach who can last longer than one season?
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Antonio Kozlow |Zach Wolpin |James Foglio |Vivek Jacob
The Pelicans just produced their worst season in two decades, which came to an end with a seven-straight defeat on Sunday at the Smoothie King Center. That game was watched from the bench by most of the team’s stars, including Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Yves Missi. None knew that this would be their basketball operations chief’s last game in charge, as the New Orleans club decided to let go of David Griffin.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Antonio Kozlow |James Foglio |Zach Wolpin |Vivek Jacob
For the first time since February, Victor Wembanyama addressed the media this past Sunday during his final interview of the campaign. The Spurs center had been ruled out of action a month and a half ago, after the All-Star break, due to a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Antonio Kozlow |Zach Wolpin |Vivek Jacob |James Foglio
Indiana’s 82nd game of the 2024-25 regular season will go down as one of the most exciting in franchise history, as the squad rallied back from a 27-point deficit this weekend to overcome the powerful Cleveland squad and earn their 50th victory of the campaign. Believe it or not, with this performance the Pacers just staged their biggest comeback in club history. The yellow squad had to go into double overtime to win this contest against the Eastern Conference’s best team, 126-118.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Antonio Kozlow |Zach Wolpin |Vivek Jacob |James Foglio
Chris Paul not only played in every single game of the 2024-25 regular season, but even started each match. The Spurs veteran, who just played his 20th campaign in his NBA career, has made history in the process, becoming the oldest athlete to ever achieve this outstanding feat. The 39-year-old, who is set to turn 40 next month, is the first player to make 82 starts this deep into a professional basketball career.
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1 week ago | 
basketballinsiders.org | Zach Wolpin |Vivek Jacob |James Foglio
Just one week ago, the Nuggets made drastic changes before the postseason. Denver fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. After firing Malone, Denver won three straight games to finish the 2024-25 regular season. With a 50-32 record, the team is fourth in the Western Conference. The Nuggets have a first-round playoff series vs. the Clippers. FanDuel’s Chandler Parsons said Denver should start Russell Westbrook in the playoffs.
