Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 5

Jalen Brunson is doing his best to carry the New York Knicks on his back in their 2025 Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Indiana Pacers. After scoring 43 points in a heartbreaking come-from-ahead Game 1 defeat, he followed it up with a 36-point performance in a 114-109 loss in Game 2 — which was […]

The New York Knicks are being humbled really quickly through the first two games of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. After being well on their way to securing a Game 1 victory then snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, they had to put up a herculean effort to avoid going down 2-0 to the […]

When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was drafted with the 11th overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, little did everyone know that he would blossom into the player he is today. Even the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that sought him as one of the main returns in the iconic Paul George trade that keeps on giving, […]

It’s natural for the team down 2-0 in an NBA Playoffs series to be frustrated, struggling to come up with answers, but the frustration the Minnesota Timberwolves are feeling at the moment is boiling over to their play on the court. During their 118-103 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the […]

Whenever someone in the NBA ascends to greatness, they tend to attract more and more vitriol. For Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 NBA MVP and the best player on the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder that’s now up 2-0 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals courtesy of a 118-103 win on Thursday night, he […]

Julius Randle appears to have gotten a new lease in his playoff life with the Minnesota Timberwolves. During the 2021 and 2023 NBA playoffs, back when he was with the New York Knicks, he was very prone to poor shooting nights and didn’t rise to the level that was needed as one of his team’s […]

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is officially the 2025 NBA MVP award winner, and he certainly played like it in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 118-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of their Western Conference Finals clash. He put up 38 points on 12-21 shooting from the field and, as per usual, was a force to […]

As disappointing as the end to the Los Angeles Lakers’ season was, no one can question just how excellent of a player LeBron James remains even though he’s geriatric by NBA standards. He turned 40 this past December and didn’t look like he lost too many steps. And with Luka Doncic now at the controls […]

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did not have his shot going in the first half of Game 1 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Western Conference Finals clash against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He went just 2-13 from the field and couldn’t get into a rhythm, as he had to force his way to the foul line over and over […]

The upcoming Eastern Conference Finals clash between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks is too close to call. The Pacers have ridden a blistering end to the regular season all the way to the ECF, and their series victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games shows that they have a much more well-oiled […]

Chet Holmgren did not have the best time during the Oklahoma City Thunder’s second-round series against the Denver Nuggets. He couldn’t buy a bucket from beyond the arc, and he had some lapses of concentration that led to two Thunder losses that could have cost them dearly. But now that they’ve put the Nuggets problem […]

Guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the likely winner of the 2025 NBA MVP award, is a thankless task. Even if the defender can stay in front of the Oklahoma City Thunder star, Gilgeous-Alexander has mastered the craft of drawing fouls, frustrating everyone all the more. And in the Thunder’s 114-88 Game 1 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves had gotten off to such a strong start in the early goings of Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Julius Randle, in particular, was a man on a mission, as he went bonkers from beyond the arc to give Minnesota a four-point lead at the […]

Another year has passed and the Donovan Mitchell-led Cleveland Cavaliers core couldn’t get past the second round of the playoffs yet again. The 2024-25 campaign was supposed to be different for these Cavs; they won 64 games in the regular season and were poised for a deep run in the playoffs considering how excellent they’ve […]

Julius Randle is turning the narrative of his career around in a huge way. To start off Game 1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Western Conference Finals clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Randle had the hot hand, continuing his excellent play thus far throughout the 2025 NBA playoffs with another brilliant offensive explosion. Randle had […]

It’s only fitting that it’s the New York Knicks that the Indiana Pacers will be facing in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. These two teams are sworn rivals due to their history; in fact, the Pacers have sent the Knicks home from the playoffs in four of their previous matchups, which should only make the […]

Difficult decisions loom for the Boston Celtics in the aftermath of seeing their season come to an end at the hands of the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. With Jayson Tatum out for a long period of time due to an Achilles tear, there is plenty of uncertainty regarding the Celtics and […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves, yet again, have a significant rest advantage heading into their next playoff matchup — this time against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that is coming off a bloodbath of a seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets. If anything, the Timberwolves would know just how exhausting it can be to fend off the […]

Another season has passed, and Stephen Curry is inching closer and closer to the age of retirement without winning his fifth ring and cementing his claim as arguably the greatest point guard in the history of the NBA. The Golden State Warriors did try their best to put together a contending roster around Curry as […]

The end of the 2024-25 season came ever so swiftly for the Denver Nuggets; in Game 7 of their second-round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were undone by a deluge of turnovers en route to a 125-93 defeat that sends them spiraling deep into an offseason filled with questions regarding their current core’s […]

When the Denver Nuggets went down by a ton in their eventual 125-93 Game 7 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder, they couldn’t call upon any weapons from the bench to stem the tide. Russell Westbrook was out of sorts all night long, Peyton Watson couldn’t buy a bucket, and Julian Strawther, the Game 6 […]

Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets put up a valiant effort, pushing the 68-win and heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in their second-round matchup, but in the end, they did not have enough to get across the finish line. In Game 7, the Nuggets struggled after a great start to the ballgame […]

The Denver Nuggets’ Game 6 win to keep their season alive came at the huge cost of Aaron Gordon’s hamstring; Gordon, whose status for Game 7 was in doubt, suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain which would typically keep someone out for multiple weeks. Nonetheless, Gordon decided to gut it out and was one of […]

The 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder were pushed to their absolute limit by a veteran Denver Nuggets squad that still had the core quartet that won the NBA championship in 2023. But in the end, the Thunder prevailed, and in convincing fashion as well, as they took a resounding 125-93 victory in Game 7 to punch […]

It was admirable that the Denver Nuggets, a team with such a shallow roster, were able to push the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder to a seventh game in their Western Conference semifinal clash. But with Aaron Gordon dealing with a hamstring strain that would keep him out for an extended period under regular circumstances, the […]

Kelsey Plum decided to head into a new chapter for the ninth season of her WNBA career, joining forces with former Las Vegas Aces teammate Dearica Hamby and rising stars Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink on the Los Angeles Sparks, a team looking to bounce back from a horrid 2024 campaign in which they won […]

The Boston Celtics have failed in their quest to repeat as NBA champion with Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury proving to be the mountain they couldn’t scale as they fell in six games to the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. Game 6 was over in the third quarter with […]

There will not be a repeat champion in the NBA in 2025 after the Boston Celtics fell to the New York Knicks on Friday night’s Game 6, 119-81, to seal their series defeat. It became highly unlikely for the Celtics to advance to the next round after Jayson Tatum went down with an injury, and […]

The New York Knicks shut down any notion of a 3-1 comeback from the Boston Celtics by taking care of business at home on Friday night in Game 6 of their second-round matchup. In fact, the Knicks gave the Celtics no chance; they demolished the Celtics and had the game wrapped up by the halftime […]

The 2024-25 season was a nightmare on nearly all fronts for the Philadelphia 76ers. Touted by many as a legitimate threat to the Boston Celtics’ reign after pulling off the blockbuster signing of nine-time All-Star Paul George, the 76ers could never quite get into a rhythm as a team after they were hampered by injuries […]

Jayson Tatum’s injury has put the Boston Celtics in a bind; as stacked as their roster remains even with Tatum out, it still is unlikely for them to be much of a threat in the championship picture when their best player is on the mend. And with the financial pressure of being in the second […]

The Golden State Warriors’ 2024-25 season has come to an end on Wednesday night after they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their second-round matchup, 121-110. It was quite the dispiriting end to what was such a promising season for the Warriors, as they simply did not have enough on their roster […]

After being the butt of many jokes after struggling to begin the season in the aftermath of their controversial decision to trade Karl-Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, the Minnesota Timberwolves have righted the ship completely and have made it all the way back to the Western Conference Finals after defeating the Golden […]

Coming off a seven-game war against the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors had plenty of confidence heading into their second-round matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But just a little over a week later, the Warriors have seen their season come to an end, and with quite a loud thud as well, as they couldn’t […]

The Minnesota Timberwolves have done it. Despite being blasted by plenty of critics for their decision to trade Karl-Anthony Towns away to the New York Knicks in a cost-cutting move that brought back Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, the Timberwolves have matched last season’s playoff performance by making it all the way to the Western […]

The Indiana Pacers have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year, hearkening back to the Pacers teams in the mid-2010s that made it to two straight ECFs as well. Alas, those Pacers teams, led by current Philadelphia 76ers wing Paul George, ran into the buzzsaw that was the LeBron James, […]

What started out as a playoff run filled with so much hope has ended with quite a thud for the Golden State Warriors as they saw their season come to its unfortunate conclusion after the Minnesota Timberwolves took care of business, 121-110, in Game 5 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In the end, […]

On Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics found themselves on the brink of elimination heading into Game 5 of their second-round matchup against the New York Knicks. Finding themselves down 3-1 and without Jayson Tatum for the foreseeable future after he sustained a torn Achilles, the Celtics looked like they were dead in the water even […]

Tyrese Haliburton has done nothing but transform the Indiana Pacers ever since he arrived in a blockbuster trade back in 2022. His unselfishness has given the Pacers an identity to work with, and now, they have been achieving so much success on the court that it’s not far-fetched to see them win it all now […]