Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 5

The Golden State Warriors basically accepted their Friday night clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder as a scheduled loss as they rested Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green as the reigning champion. Even then, the players the Warriors had out on the court, which were admittedly hung out to dry, gave it their all […]

For how good the 2024-25 season was to the Indiana Pacers, their 2025-26 season has been just as brutal, perhaps even more so. Their putridity this season couldn’t even be chalked up anymore solely to Tyrese Haliburton’s absence, as one would think that a team with Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard leading the way wouldn’t […]

The Detroit Pistons are yet to reach the double-digit mark in losses with 34 games having passed, which is quite the feat considering how bad this team was two seasons ago. And the temptation for fast-rising teams is to further expedite the rebuild and continue their march towards contention. Now, it is easy to take […]

The Toronto Raptors’ play may have fallen a bit as of late, but they remain in fourth place in the congested Eastern Conference with a 20-15 record. That is still better than most expected out of them heading into the 2025-26 campaign, although that seems to be the bare minimum considering how much the team […]

The Sacramento Kings may have the bleakest outlook of any team in the NBA; even their peers at the bottom of the standings have slivers of hope to hold on to. Meanwhile, the Kings have a roster that doesn’t make sense all while having logjams at nearly every position and having injury problems afflicting a […]

The Brooklyn Nets were down a few key guys on New Year’s Day, so it wasn’t a surprise to see them suffer a blowout defeat to the Houston Rockets, a 120-96 loss to begin the new calendar year. Their starting lineup sans Michael Porter Jr. just couldn’t get anything going on offense, which should not […]

Kawhi Leonard keeps on humming, and the Los Angeles Clippers have been following his lead. Leonard could not have asked for a better start to the new calendar year, as he put up 45 points on 16-29 shooting from the field to lead the Clippers to their sixth consecutive victory in a 118-101 win over […]

The Dallas Mavericks are pinning all their hopes and dreams of returning to contention on the shoulders of Cooper Flagg, the first overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. There are certainly far worse things to hold on to for the Mavericks, especially when Flagg has been showing just how incredible of a player he […]

Cam Thomas has been enduring a brutal 2025-26 season to this point, but he’s been remaining patient in what looks to be his final season with the Brooklyn Nets. The writing of his Nets stint appears to be on the wall, as head coach Jordi Fernandez refused to put him into the starting lineup despite […]

Even with key starting lineup cogs such as Michael Porter Jr., Egor Demin, and Terance Mann out due to injury or illness in their New Year’s Day clash against the Houston Rockets, the Brooklyn Nets decided to bring Cam Thomas, the team’s best pure scorer, off the bench. Instead, head coach Jordi Fernandez opted to […]

On New Year’s Day, the Houston Rockets started 2026 off on the right foot, thoroughly dismantling the Brooklyn Nets, 120-96, on the road. The Nets were without their best player in Michael Porter Jr., as well as key starting lineup cogs in Egor Demin and Terance Mann, which then thrust rookies Danny Wolf and Drake […]

Just when it’s looking like the Minnesota Timberwolves have begun to figure it out, they fall back into old habits. Carrying a four-game winning streak into Christmas made it seem as though the Timberwolves were going to establish themselves as a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference, especially when that streak included a huge win […]

Bryce Harper does not forget. Nor does he even want to. On Friday, the Philadelphia Phillies slugger made waves when he wore a shirt that appears to be a clapback towards an earlier comment made about him by Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski, when asked about Harper and his contributions for the […]

Heading into the 2025-26 season, Jaylen Brown must have been licking his chops at the prospect of getting his first opportunity at first option hoops. The Boston Celtics were going to take a step back considering how they lost Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford in one offseason, not to mention having to fill […]

The Los Angeles Clippers looked toast when Ivica Zubac suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain, an injury that would keep him out of action for multiple weeks. But the Clippers have kept on winning despite Zubac’s absence; they have gone 3-0 (including the game that Zubac injured his ankle in) since, what with 37-year-old […]

The entire Los Angeles Clippers seemed to take a plunge into the Fountain of Youth with the way they handled business against the Portland Trail Blazers. Brook Lopez will be grabbing the headlines after the 37-year-old big man nailed a career-high nine triples in a 119-103 win over the Blazers, but Kawhi Leonard’s contributions on […]

Friday night brought bad news for the Charlotte Hornets in the form of an ankle injury to Kon Knueppel, who’s been the most consistently good rookie in the league this season. Nonetheless, the Hornets, despite Knueppel’s absence in the second half, surged towards a 120-105 win over the Orlando Magic — with second-year forward Tidjane […]

The Philadelphia 76ers have been in many clutch games this season; in fact, entering their Friday night clash against the Chicago Bulls, they were tied for second-most such games in the NBA with 20. The Bulls were also part of many close games themselves at 19 heading into their contest against the 76ers, so it […]

It may not be panic time quite yet for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but every loss must be sending the Cavs closer and closer to manning their panic stations. They are now 17-15 on the season after suffering a fourth-quarter meltdown on Christmas Day en route to a 126-124 loss to the New York Knicks, and […]

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not nearly been as good this season as they were the previous campaign. In fact, the decline has been steep. Following the Cavs’ disappointing 126-124 Christmas Day defeat to the New York Knicks, Cleveland is now the owner of a disappointing 17-15 record. For reference, the Cavs lost all of 18 […]

The hits never seem to stop coming for the Charlotte Hornets. The last thing they would want is some coal in their stockings, and that’s exactly what they got on the night after Christmas. On Friday night, Charlotte lost budding star and electric rookie Kon Knueppel to an ankle injury during their clash against the […]

The Orlando Magic made it clear this past offseason that they were looking forward to taking the next step in their road to contention. They traded away a king’s ransom of future draft picks to bring in Desmond Bane, hoping that he’ll be the shooter the team has sorely needed amid their struggles on the […]

The Atlanta Hawks are nowhere near where they envisioned they would be heading into the 2025-26 campaign. This past offseason, they were very aggressive, bringing in Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker via trade and free agency, respectively, to try and make the leap in the wide-open Eastern Conference. But instead of taking the leap, they’ve […]

There was nowhere to go but up for the Chicago White Sox in 2025 after they set records for putridity during the 2024 season. And 2025 was indeed an improvement for them as they went 60-102 — winning 19 more games than they did the previous season. But 2026 could very well see the White […]

On Monday night, the Golden State Warriors took a convincing 120-97 win over the Orlando Magic at home to move to 15-15 on the season. While the Warriors were clicking on the court, especially in the second half, the victory they earned did not come without its fair share of extracurricular troubles, with Draymond Green […]

The Oklahoma City Thunder returned to winning ways on Monday night after taking a 119-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, once again, put up a dominant effort, scoring 31 points to lead OKC to victory, but with a lot of their key guys out, Gilgeous-Alexander could not have done it on his own. […]

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been remarkably consistent this season, recent losses notwithstanding. The old adage in the NBA says that teams absorb the identity of their best players, and it makes sense that OKC is like a machine that never malfunctions considering that this is how Shai Gilgeous-Alexander operates. Night-in, night-out, the Thunder know […]

Zion Williamson, on the 14th of December, returned to the New Orleans Pelicans lineup early after initially being projected to miss more time due to an adductor injury. Williamson, however, returned to an unfamiliar role coming off the Pelicans bench — with interim head coach James Borrego opting to keep Saddiq Bey, who’s been good […]

No Jayson Tatum, no problem: this has been the mantra for the Boston Celtics’ all season. Expected to drop off without the services of their best player, the Celtics have not just survived, but thrived as well. They are now 18-11 on the season after dispatching of another injury-ravaged team in the Indiana Pacers on […]

After a nightmare start to the 2025-26 season, hope is growing by the day for the young New Orleans Pelicans. Their young core is taking flight under the tutelage of interim head coach James Borrego, and they are filling up the win column in a hurry. On Monday night, the Pelicans won yet another game, […]

The New York Knicks have weathered a slow start to the 2025-26 season and are now 20-8 on the season after taking a 132-125 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night. They have already accomplished something season, bagging home the NBA Cup trophy, but their ambitions go far beyond that piece of regular season […]

The Boston Red Sox were expected to go big-name hunting this offseason, and on Sunday, they pulled off a trade for veteran slugger Willson Contreras. Contreras did have 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in on an OPS of .791, and he’s bringing in more leadership and power production for a Red Sox team […]

The Golden State Warriors are looking to blaze a trail up the Western Conference standings, and they are coming off a hard-fought 119-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. It’s clear that Stephen Curry still has a lot of gas left in the tank, and Jimmy Butler is dispelling allegations that he is […]

It’s only a matter of time before the Sacramento Kings blow everything up and start from scratch. They’ve now lost five straight games, including two consecutive to the Portland Trail Blazers, and their 6-22 record on the season (at present) is not even fully indicative of how poorly the team is constructed. Amid the team’s […]

The Cleveland Cavaliers are flatlining. While the expectations for them weren’t very high in the aftermath of their second-round playoff flameout against the Indiana Pacers, them being a .500 team around the one-third mark of the season felt very much impossible. But the Cavs, following a 136-125 loss to the Chicago Bulls that marks their […]

The Golden State Warriors are not where they envisioned would be with over a third of the season having already gone. They are currently sitting in 9th place in the Western Conference standings with a substandard 13-15 record, and their team is looking like a shell of the one that defeated the Houston Rockets in […]

The New York Knicks made adding depth a priority this past offseason after their Karl-Anthony Towns trade back in September 2024 put them way too close to the tax apron and prevented them from adding more supporting pieces. One of the players the Knicks added was Guerschon Yabusele, a man whose NBA career underwent a […]

The Toronto Raptors have managed to clog their cap sheet in recent years, thanks to the big contracts they gave to Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and Brandon Ingram. In fact, the Raptors are above the luxury tax at the moment, although they would for certain say that it’s been worth it thus far […]

The Detroit Pistons find themselves trailing at the half against the Dallas Mavericks, 66-57, with the Mavericks getting to the foul line at will and the Pistons struggling to shoot from beyond the arc. And their quest to get a win on Thursday night just became even more difficult, as they will be without defensive […]