NBA Thread 2026

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#201      
Fly Illini Fly!
SA was the better team. They just didn't execute in the final moments.

Look at the pace and confidence they played with in the 1st QTR of this game. Compared to the timid, slow version of the 4th QTR.
 
#211      
SuperintendentChalmers
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Last five Spurs possessions:

— Harper missed layup
— Wemby 1 of 2 FT
— Harper 2pts
— Fox missed wide open 3
— Harper missed layup
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NBA championships are almost always won by climbing a ladder rather than riding a rocket. In the three previous years, the Knicks played 42 playoff games. Zero for the Spurs. The difference in experience kept showing up down the stretch. I became a believer that the Knicks had what it took when I turned on their Game 6 close-out opportunity at Atlanta in the second quarter and the Knicks were in the 70s and the Hawks were in the 20s. That doesn't happen and it was a clear message that the team had hit another level.

Lowest in-game win probability in their four Finals wins: 8.4%; 27.2%; 0.4%; 4.6%.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2066048161442111702
 
#212      
pruman91
Harper's missed layup was brutal....wide open and short armed a big basket......
 
#213      
DeeIL89
OKC Thunder fans looking at Chet after watching the Spurs' performance in the Finals:

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#215      
Emerson Bigguns
New Creation said:
Harper is not a winner.
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Kid is 20 years old. He only had one game all series where we didn’t shoot over .500 from the field.
Josh Hart blew a layup in game 4 that nearly cost them the game. Stuff happens in the playoffs.
Awfully early to hang that on the kid. He’s going to be an excellent player for a long time.
 
#216      
phats22
Emerson Bigguns said:
Kid is 20 years old. He only had one game all series where we didn’t shoot over .500 from the field.
Josh Hart blew a layup in game 4 that nearly cost them the game. Stuff happens in the playoffs.
Awfully early to hang that on the kid. He’s going to be an excellent player for a long time.
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yeah, hard not to be impressed with him in this series. San Antonio is set up to make noise in the West for a while
 
#218      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
Harper could turn into a James Harden on the Thunder type situation.

Castle/Harper/Wemby. That's an amazing core to build around. They better not mess it up.
 
#221      
Emerson Bigguns
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Fox’s contract makes him untradable.
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He was bad in the Finals, but they probably don't get past the Thunder without him. He came up big in game 7.

He signed under Bird Rights, so the acquiring team could exceed the cap and bring him in... He was an All-Star this year and is only 28, but he's not much of a 3 point threat. When a guy is as reliant his next level athleticism as Fox, you'd definitely worry about the last couple years of the contract, especially when he's making 50+ million.

It seems like he's an older, and not quite as good version of Stephon Castle. Clearly, the Spurs would benefit from adding someone who can really shoot it. They have plenty of guys who are capable of hitting a 3, but no one who is great.

One interesting proposal I saw, was Fox and two1sts to the Nets for Porter Jr., who is also up for a significant extension and is also eligible for Bird rights. He would give the Spurs some needed length and scoring punch. MPJ isn't the guy for the Nets to build around, he's better suited as a 2nd fiddle, IMO.
 
#223      
ChiefGritty
Miles Leonard said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2066548616936775982
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Much has been made of the proliferation of non-American MVP level players in the NBA. The rise of non-American coaches has been less remarked upon.

Splitter's a longtime NBA player with no foreign coaching experience of course, he's a bit more "of the league", but Jordi Fernandez of the Nets, Darko Rajakovic of the Raptors and Tuomas Iisalo of the Grizzlies all coached their way over the pond to eventual NBA head jobs, something that would have been considered almost impossible 20 years ago.
 
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