The second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs ended on Sunday, and it was absolutely wild. With Boston and Cleveland being eliminated, only one 60-win team remains.
It seems like we are entering a new era of basketball, and a torch is being passed.
With all this being said, here are my predictions for the 2025 NBA Conference Finals.
Western Conference Finals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #6 Minnesota Timberwolves
This is going to be a fun series. Oklahoma City and Minnesota are very similar but very different at the same time. They each have a superstar who is looking to disprove a lot of negative narratives.
Let’s keep it a buck: Oklahoma City is an all-time great team, no matter how you put it. They have a great coach, a star who had one of the best scoring seasons of all time, and an all-time great defense. No matter what teams throw at them, they almost always have an answer back. With this being said, they showed some vulnerability last series against Denver. I think this was mostly because the past couple of weeks were debatably the best Denver has looked since winning the title in 2023. With this being said, I am interested to see what lineups Mark Daigneault will implement to best match up with Anthony Edwards and the Wolves’ role players.
This time tomorrow… ⏳ pic.twitter.com/EZhdJO8LtA
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 20, 2025
The Wolves have played great, especially for a sixth seed. People counted them out early, but they are a completely different team from what they were at the beginning of the season. From the All-Star Break to the end of the regular season, they were fifth in net rating. Has luck gone their way? Sure, but you have to give them credit for capitalizing on the hand they have been dealt. Unfortunately for their sake, as long as everyone on the Thunder stays healthy, it will be a much harder series than it was for them against the Lakers and Warriors. They will likely have to let Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cook and shut down everyone else. This would be super risky, but might be worth it since Gilgeous-Alexander can’t do everything on his own.
At the end of the day, the Thunder are a far superior team to the Timberwolves. Though the Timberwolves are a much better team than they were at the beginning of the year, it usually takes a bit more consistency for a team to make the NBA Finals. This is especially since they are matched up with one of the most well-put-together teams of all time.
Prediction: Thunder in 5
Eastern Conference Finals: #3 New York Knicks vs. #4 Indiana Pacers
If you were to tell anyone at the beginning of the playoffs that this would be the Eastern Conference Finals, they would probably say that you were nuts. However, when the lights were brightest, both teams delivered. These are two of the most exciting teams in the league to watch, and it will certainly be a fun series.
This is the second season in a row that the Pacers are in the ECF. It feels like they are one of the more underrated teams in the league because their star player is not a high-volume scorer. However, Tyrese Haliburton is debatably one of the five best playmakers in the league while still being extremely efficient. They have also had a top-eight defense since the All-Star Break. To win this series, they will need multiple guys to step up in different games. As mentioned, they do not have a central player who will just go off for 40 points whenever he wants.
The Knicks just pulled off an upset pretty much no one was expecting. Similar to the Timberwolves, a couple of things did go their way. However, this should detract from how great they played. Coming back down from two 20-point leads, in addition to a 14-point lead, all in the same series, is impressive no matter how you spin it. What makes it even more impressive is that, for the most part, it was the same guys doing it. The Knicks’ identity for the past couple of years has been running a tight rotation and playing super hard. It has worked out for them big time this year.
You may not have loved the journey, but you cannot deny that Mikal Bridges was INTEGRAL to the Knicks’ defeat of the Celtics.
When NYK traded for him, fans agreed that he didn’t need crazy stats to make a big impact. Sometimes it’s right in front of you
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) May 17, 2025
This is going to be a hard-fought series on both sides. Both teams are well-coached, and they have well-constructed rosters with a superstar and a great co-star. Ultimately, the series will feature a lot of close games. While I am a bigger fan of Haliburton than most, I trust Jalen Brunson as much as anyone down the stretch.
Prediction: Knicks in 7
Main Image Credit: New York Knicks/NBA.com
