NBA playoffs 2025: Lakers are cooked, OKC is unbeatable and the rest of the overreactions from opening weekend

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The first two days of the NBA playoffs are in the books.

So naturally, human nature dictates we’re all ready to make sweeping conclusions to the point where we don’t even have to finish the rest of the postseason, right?

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As you can probably guess, it’s time to look at some initial overreactions based on the postseason’s opening weekend.

Lakers have Charlotte Bobcats-level depth

Oh, boy. That was unexpected. At home, with Luka Dončić in his playoff debut for the Lakers, and the Showtime crew dropped the ball.

Jaxson Hayes proved to be unplayable, and the bench production checked in with just 13 total points, five of which came in garbage time off Dalton Knecht.

Gabe Vincent’s three points in 25 minutes signal a major issue in the lack of consistent bench scoring, which isn’t exactly aided by the presence of Jarred Vanderbilt, who — despite stellar defense and elite rebounding — is far from an offensive producer.

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The Lakers really only have three and a half offensive options in Dončić, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and occasional sniper Rui Hachimura.

(Knecht might make that list if he receives a larger role.)

That makes them predictable, even if they actually match up fairly well against the Wolves, who themselves have plenty of warts.

Game 2 might see Dorian Finney-Smith start at center, and that should be a major asset in the sense that the Lakers would be playing their five best players and switching everything.

But that won’t solve their depth issues, and that’s one of those “big yikes” realizations that could end their season prematurely.

Steph makes Warriors the favorites vs. Houston

It may sound simplistic, especially in the context of the playoffs, where depth, defensive capabilities, ball movement and cohesion make up the bedrock of a potential championship winner, but the mere presence of Curry could genuinely be enough to give the young pups in Houston a spanking.

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Coming into this series, all the talk was about how Houston had the perfect roster to contain the future Hall of Famer, with arguments such as “Curry can’t compete against Amen Thompson’s size” or “Fred VanVleet has played Steph better than anyone” making the rounds.

Turns out, it just doesn’t matter. Curry, like life, finds a way.

It makes sense too. The 37-year-old is a thinker and a problem solver. He has been all throughout his career. It’s frankly odd that we don’t discuss Curry’s basketball IQ more, because he’s proven time and time again he’ll overcome everything thrown at him, including a pest of a defensive unit like Houston’s.

Curry’s 31 points, on 12-of-19 shooting no less, underlined a hyper efficient scoring night in which the Rockets only had brief, momentary success against him.

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It’s not as though Curry single-handedly can beat the Rockets, but his shot creation would probably allow him to get at least a couple of good shots off even if was playing 1-on-5.

Oklahoma City is unbeatable

The Thunder took the Memphis Grizzlies behind the woodshed and unleashed a 51-point thrashing the entire state of Tennessee won’t soon forget.

They did that without much from their superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored just 15 points on 13 shot attempts, instead utilizing their ridiculous depth.

But before we prematurely crown the Thunder — who very much could win the whole thing — let’s take a deep breath, because there was enough “Perfect Storm” vibes in that game it was a surprise George Clooney wasn’t there.

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The Thunder are good. They’re deep. They’re talented. They have stars. They have reliable role players. They have a defense that’s frankly so absurdly good, every team should get a seven-point handicap before tip.

But the Grizzlies aren’t going to connect on just 34.4% from the field again. They’ll hit more than 17.6% of their 3s. They probably won’t have another 22 turnovers.

More importantly, they won’t no-show like this again, because professional pride is a thing, just like the element of embarrassment.

Jaren Jackson Jr. won’t look like a G League call-up for the rest of the series. Ja Morant won’t perform like a backup point guard. Desmond Bane won’t be minus-51 in a game again, probably ever.

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Sometimes, we need to step back and appreciate momentary dominance for what it is, instead of expecting more to come. This is the NBA, not an Avengers sequel.

That being said … is there a world where the Grizzlies don’t lead a game late until the start of next season? Absolutely. A sweep is firmly in place as a realistic possibility, especially if the Grizzlies can’t find the emotional motivation to respond in kind.

Clippers-Nuggets will be a first-round all-timer

Wait, is this even an overreaction? Can we buy stock in that take? Asking for a friend.

While logic dictates a series with just one game down can’t be billed as one of the best ever, the counter-argument is easy and straightforward: Did you watch that game?

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Not only did we get the full, trademarked Russell Westbrook Experience, we also got healthy Kawhi Leonard, MVP play from Nikola Jokić, overtime and on-the-fly adjustments that would make a chess master blush.

This series absolutely has the foundation to be one of the best ever.

It’ll take at least another four games of similar entertainment value, and of course it has to go the full seven for optimal ROI, but if everyone stays healthy and the level of intensity remains, we could be looking at an instant classic.

No overreaction found here. All in, folks!

Kyle Kuzma is a major trade bust for the Bucks

After laying a historic egg — like, a real one across the board — the Bucks are surely better off just signing a random fan from the crowd than keep Kuzma in the rotation, right?

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OK, so this might not be the worst overreaction.

Kuzma was indeed a complete negative on the floor, producing literally nothing, missing all of his shots, playing inconsistent defense and generally looking completely useless out there.

Since coming over from Washington before the trade deadline, the forward has been playing a pedestrian brand of ball in Milwaukee, to the point where you wonder if the Bucks wouldn’t have been better off just keeping Khris Middleton and living with the injuries.

But Kuzma will be better against Indiana. He’s been thoroughly disappointing in Milwaukee, but he can score. He can board. He can pass on the run.

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Having that package of talent makes it a near impossibility to see a similar effort from Kuzma in Game 2.

Furthermore, if you think it isn’t a priority for Milwaukee to get Kuzma going, especially early, well you’re wrong. It’s in coach Doc Rivers’ best interest to have his secondary scorer (when Damian Lillard isn’t available) be aggressive, involved and productive to help remove the defensive focus from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

As for the trade bust thing? Sorry, Milwaukee, but that’s very much alive.

This news was originally published on this post .

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