Don’t blink, or you might miss the two-month span that is postseason basketball. Just kidding, the NBA playoffs are the longest playoffs of all sports and there is plenty to talk about. Literally, over half the league makes the postseason so I would hope there would be. We’ll break down the bracket and of course, provide some predictions for who will be the final team standing. Here’s our 2025 NBA Western Conference playoffs preview.
Opening Round
1) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 8) Memphis Grizzlies
Let’s be real here…the Grizzlies don’t have a chance here. They fired their coach and blew up the team just weeks before the postseason began. They then proceeded to lose the first game of the series by 51 points. Yes, 51 points. The Thunder will have no issues winning the series in a very quick 5 games, or less. OKC has been the best team in basketball from start to finish.
2) Houston Rockets vs. 7) Golden State Warriors
As the Rockets found out in game one last night, this will be no cakewalk as they must face a Warriors team that really found their footing after trading for Jimmy Butler who just happens to be one of the best playoff performers of this decade. The Rockets have tremendous talent but also tremendous youth, and that might not bode well facing a vet Warriors team led by Steve Kerr. I have the Dubs in 7.
3) Los Angeles Lakers vs 6) Minnesota Timberwolves
Good luck guarding both Lebron and Luka in a potential seven-game series. Things in Minnesota have looked a little off this season and this is the kind of series where Minnesota will wish that they still had Karl Anthony Towns whom they traded right before the season started. Despite losing the first game of the series, I have the Lakers moving on in 6.
4) Denver Nuggets vs 5) Los Angeles Clippers
The Nuggets are a lot like the Grizzlies in the sense that the front office blew it all up weeks before the start of the postseason. But they have the best player on the planet in Nikola Jokić. He will have to get it done against Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, and I’m just not sure he can. Despite this Nuggets team being filled with distractions, they won game one of the series in overtime. However, I don’t see that trend continuing and I have the Clippers in 7.
Quarterfinals
1) Thunder vs 7) Warriors
The Dubs run ends here. OKC is too talented and too offensively fired up to be stopped.
3) Lakers vs 5) Clippers
Los Angeles is going to love this series and so will the Lakers because Lebron and Luka are too much for Kawhi and Harden who I have doubts about staying healthy the whole way through.
Semi-Finals
1) Thunder vs 3) Lakers
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the next great star in this league and advancing past the Lakers and Lebron is what sets him apart.
Finals
Thunder vs Celtics
Both these teams have played so well all season. But the Celtics have been there, they’ve proven they can win it, and they have all the pieces to be a repeat-winner.