[West] 2026 Playoffs, First Round

How many first round upsets? (5 over 4 counts as an upset)

  • Four

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Three

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Two

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • One

    Votes: 8 100.0%

  • None

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
Mr. S£im Citrus

Mr. S£im Citrus

KingsFans.com's resident Hardcore Casual
Staff member
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Oklahoma City Thunder (1) vs. Phoenix Suns (8)
Game 1, April 19: Phoenix at Oklahoma City (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Game 2, April 22: Phoenix at Oklahoma City (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Game 3, April 25: Oklahoma City at Phoenix (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 4, April 27: Oklahoma City at Phoenix (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 5, April 29 (if necessary): Phoenix at Oklahoma City (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 6, May 1 (if necessary): Oklahoma City at Phoenix (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 7, May 3 (if necessary): Phoenix at Oklahoma City (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)




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San Antonio Spurs (2) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (7)
Game 1, April 19: Portland at San Antonio (9 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 2, April 21: Portland at San Antonio (8 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 3, April 24: San Antonio at Portland (10:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
Game 4, April 26: San Antonio at Portland (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Game 5, April 28 (if necessary): Portland at San Antonio (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 6, April 30 (if necessary): San Antonio at Portland (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 7, May 2 (if necessary): Portland at San Antonio (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)




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Denver Nuggets (3) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (6)
Game 1, April 18: Minnesota at Denver (3:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
Game 2, April 20: Minnesota at Denver (10:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 3, April 23: Denver at Minnesota (9:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
Game 4, April 25: Denver at Minnesota (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Game 5, April 27 (if necessary): Minnesota at Denver (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 6, April 30 (if necessary): Denver at Minnesota (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 7, May 2 (if necessary): Minnesota at Denver (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)




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Los Angeles lakers (4) vs. Houston Rockets (5)
Game 1, April 18: Houston at Los Angeles (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Game 2, April 21: Houston at Los Angeles (10:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 3, April 24: Los Angeles at Houston (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
Game 4, April 26: Los Angeles at Houston (9:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
Game 5, April 29 (if necessary): Houston at Los Angeles (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 6, May 1 (if necessary): Los Angeles at Houston (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
Game 7, May 3 (if necessary): Houston at Los Angeles (TBD p.m. ET, TBD)
 
Last edited:
I guess I'm rooting for the Suns by default.... for approximately 5 games, starting with eliminating the Warriors tonight.
 
hrdboild said:
I guess I'm rooting for the Suns by default.... for approximately 5 games, starting with eliminating the Warriors tonight.
Click to expand...
**** that, I'm rooting for the Warriors for the history of it: no team that finished the regular season in 7th place has ever missed the playoffs.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
**** that, I'm rooting for the Warriors for the history of it: no team that finished the regular season in 7th place has ever missed the playoffs.
Click to expand...

You don't seem to be On Brand with hating the Warriors and rooting for their humiliation and defeat in any and all circumstances. This is a perfectly reasonable position to take and yet I find it baffling.
 
hrdboild said:
You don't seem to be On Brand with hating the Warriors and rooting for their humiliation and defeat in any and all circumstances. This is a perfectly reasonable position to take and yet I find it baffling.
Click to expand...
You have to remember, though, I'm not from Northern California. The whole Sac/Bay "rivalry" thing is completely lost on me. I am ambivalent about the Warriors, like, 97 percent of the time.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
You have to remember, though, I'm not from Northern California. The whole Sac/Bay "rivalry" thing is completely lost on me. I am ambivalent about the Warriors, like, 97 percent of the time.
Click to expand...
To each their own. I’m not from the U.S., I grew up playing point in high school, modeling my game after Tim Hardaway because I loved Run TMC. Half my wardrobe back then had some kind of Warriors logo on it.

I don’t really respect this "dynasty" Warriors' success as much as others might, and I can’t stand this team, their overall antics and behavior just turn me off.

Good for you, though.
 
Oh, I don't respect the Warriors at all; I just don't care. I'm also possibly the only person on this message board that doesn't hate Draymond.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
You have to remember, though, I'm not from Northern California. The whole Sac/Bay "rivalry" thing is completely lost on me. I am ambivalent about the Warriors, like, 97 percent of the time.
Click to expand...

I don't feel any kind of way about the inter-city California rivalries. I'm a nomad who was lived in the Bay Area, Sacramento, and L.A. long enough that all of them feel like home in their own ways. I generally liked the Warriors and rooted for them indirectly until the current Steph era unleashed an epidemic of illegal screens, an obsession with three point shooting, and a general degradation of the entire concept that "dribbling" is not supposed to be optional. Collectively these trends have all but ruined the NBA as a sport that I enjoy watching. I would even say that I was something of a Draymond Green apologist myself up until "the stomp" and the attendant multi-day propaganda campaign of broadcasters trying to portray Domantas Sabonis as the villain in that encounter. So you see it's not the city or the franchise I have a problem with -- it's this particular group of players and their coach.
 
  1. I've hated the three-point shot since the three-point shot happened, so I don't necessarily put that on Curry, or his "era." If anything, I put that more on Nelson/D'Antoni and Nash.
  2. That dribbling thing I tend to put more on Harden than Curry, too.
  3. Fair enough, I guess. For me personally, though, I had already quit the Kings by the time The Stomp™ happened, so I don't have the trauma associated with being on the other side of that incident to influence my feelings about them.
  4. I also kinda lowkey still like Kerr.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
  1. I've hated the three-point shot since the three-point shot happened, so I don't necessarily put that on Curry, or his "era." If anything, I put that more on Nelson/D'Antoni and Nash.
  2. That dribbling thing I tend to put more on Harden than Curry, too.
  3. Fair enough, I guess. For me personally, though, I had already quit the Kings by the time The Stomp™ happened, so I don't have the trauma associated with being on the other side of that incident to influence my feelings about them.
  4. I also kinda lowkey still like Kerr.
Click to expand...

Guys were getting away with traveling before in subtle ways but what I blame the Warriors for is a particular brand of breaking the rules by focusing the offense on quick passes, moving without the ball, and tacking on freebie steps before and after my dribble. Now the way the game is being called I can catch the ball on the run and take a free step as I receive the ball, dribble once and maybe cram in two steps or even three if I'm moving fast enough when I catch the ball, and then I get my gather step and two additional steps after that. The NBA wants me to believe that I can take up to 7 steps for every one dribble and also the offense can set moving screens to free me up before I catch the ball. That's just not even basketball anymore at that point, it's pseudo-rugby.
 
Joshyjosh31 said:
Nuggets/timberwolves right there and that fool has this nonsense as the late game
Click to expand...
Like the lakers aren't on ABC because that's what ABC asked for.

Besides which, this thread has already demonstrated that a non-zero number of you wouldn't have wanted to watch Minnesota/Denver, either.
 
Tetsujin said:
The Suns roster is built like Devin Booker is prime LeBron but the unfortunate issue is that he’s only Devin Booker.
Click to expand...

Considering where they were at last year, I still think they're ahead of schedule. This was a one season near complete teardown and re-build. It is a credit to the roster moves that they made that they're even in the playoffs. Ideally Jalen Green is 1A and Devin Booker is 1B in the offense. Most of the rest of that roster is devoted to guys who will play defense and keep the score close enough for their two big scorers to have a chance. They're still too dependent on 3pt shooting (as is pretty much everyone now) and they really do need a strong #2 with a reliable way to generate points when left open -- a decent post-game, some mid-range creation ability, etc.

But anyway, I really like what they did with drafting Maluach, Fleming, and Dunn instead of stockpiling redundant scorers like our front offices always seem to do. For much of the season Mark Williams was their most reliable scorer who does not play primarily outside the 3pt arc and he's injured right now so they look worse then they are. Granted, Mark Williams always being injured is why they were able to pick him up for nothing. And also OKC are the favorites to win it all so this series wasn't going to go past Game 5 even if the Suns were fully healthy.
 
After watching about ~2 or so weeks of this season in the beginning, these playoffs, look like the Thunder won't be challenged until the Conference Finals vs the Spurs or Nuggets.....doesn't look like there's a playoff level performing team the East either like last years Pacers. Only team I'm kinda pulling for is the Spurs - mildly for Fox. I might say the T-Pups too, but they've platea'd and trotting the same group of mediocrity - they have the ability to the beat the Nuggets, but you don't know what team will show up night-to-night.
 
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