Jedd Pagaduan Articles - Page 9

The Los Angeles Lakers were humbled in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite getting a strong outing from Luka Doncic, the Lakers’ defense couldn’t hold down the Timberwolves as Minnesota exploded for 21 made three-pointers on 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc to take a 117-95 win on the […]

There has been much excitement for how the Los Angeles Lakers would perform in the playoffs with Luka Doncic and LeBron James leading the team. Alas, Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves could not have gone any further from plan for the Purple and Gold. Courtesy of some poor defensive decision-making […]

Kawhi Leonard has long been one of the greatest playoff risers in the history of the NBA. Leonard seems to always flip a switch when the postseason begins, although over the past half-decade or so, injuries have limited his postseason impact significantly, dashing the Los Angeles Clippers’ championship hopes over and over again. But on […]

Nikola Jokic does everything in his power to win, especially in the playoffs. This is what makes him the best player in the world and the main reason why the Denver Nuggets, despite their topsy-turvy 2024-25 campaign, must be taken seriously as a threat to make a deep playoff run. But on Monday night, the […]

In what is shaping up to be a slugfest of a first-round series, the Detroit Pistons managed to hold off a hard-charging New York Knicks team to hang on for a 100-94 victory to even up the series at one game apiece. It looked as though the Pistons were going to relinquish another healthy lead […]

The Los Angeles Clippers entered the 2025 NBA playoffs as one of the biggest dark horses in the championship hunt, and for good reason. After all, it looks like Kawhi Leonard is primed for a healthy playoff run for the first time in years. And while the Clippers may have lost Game 1 of their […]

For a team that won 68 games in the regular season, the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder sure have more doubters than one would expect. Many think that the Thunder may trip up in the earlier rounds the way they did last year, but they seemed to have shut that kind of talk down really quickly […]

John Cena made history on Sunday night, as he became a 17-time world champion in the WWE after beating Cody Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania 41 Night 2 to claim the Undisputed WWE Title, continuing his farewell tour in style. And while Cena felt that he needed to turn to the dark side […]

It’s safe to say that the 2024-25 season has not gone according to plan for the Orlando Magic. And yet here they are, still alive and kicking and looking to make the reigning champion Boston Celtics sweat in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. For the first half of Game 1, the Magic […]

Winning the first game of a seven-game series might be important, but it does not necessarily mean that the odds of advancing to the next round are heavily in favor of the team that comes out on top in Game 1. But these Golden State Warriors under head coach Steve Kerr’s tutelage are a different […]

The Houston Rockets’ biggest question mark heading into their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors was their halfcourt offense. And in Game 1, this weakness of theirs came back to haunt them, as they shot just 39.1 percent from the field as a team in a 95-85 loss to the Warriors. Even their 16-rebound […]

The Golden State Warriors’ championship hopes looked dead in the water prior to pulling off the Jimmy Butler trade. Without Butler, the Warriors relied so much on Stephen Curry to do everything, and at 37 years of age, that doesn’t seem to be a fair ask of him anymore. But with Butler embracing the “Robin” […]

At this point of his career, Stephen Curry has nothing more to prove. But all-time greats like him never rest on their laurels, and Curry will be giving his all in pursuit of the fifth championship of his career until he finally decides to call it quits. On Sunday night, it was ever so evident […]

If you can’t handle him at his worst, then you don’t deserve him at his best; this is the battle cry Russell Westbrook’s fans have had for the future Hall of Famer over the years. And there’s nothing that encapsulates the chaos factor that Westbrook brings to the table more than Game 1 of the […]

Jonathan Kuminga’s future with the Golden State Warriors is in serious doubt amid head coach Steve Kerr’s decision to completely phase him out of the rotation. The Warriors over the years have given Kuminga some very tough love, and it’s quite telling that the 22-year-old forward is currently in the doghouse as they enter the […]

It may have required them to take a scenic route, but the Memphis Grizzlies have finally punched their ticket into the playoffs by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, 120-106, in the play-in tournament. For a second, it looked as though the Grizzlies were going to completely relinquish a commanding lead with the Mavericks coming to within […]

The downfall of the Dallas Mavericks’ 2024-25 season is complete; they witnessed their season come to an end at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, who put a merciful end to their campaign by defeating them in the play-in tournament, 120-106. The past two-plus months have gone as bad as it can go for the […]

The Dallas Mavericks’ 2024-25 season came to an end on Friday night as the Memphis Grizzlies took care of business in the play-in tournament and grabbed a 120-106 victory. It was a valiant effort from the Mavericks; in particular, Anthony Davis was not about to go gently into that good night, as he put up […]

The Golden State Warriors may be entering the playoffs as the seventh-seed heading into their first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets, but there is no way anyone is going to be underestimating what they’re capable of. After all, they still have Stephen Curry leading the way and he now has Jimmy Butler as his self-declared […]

The Houston Rockets smashed all expectations during the 2024-25 season; after being touted as a potential playoff team after emerging from the cellar of the NBA en route to becoming a .500 team last season, the Rockets continued their upward trajectory and managed to separate themselves (somewhat) from the pack in the Western Conference, sealing […]

Dillon Brooks always finds a way to get underneath the skin of his opponents, and in 2022, that’s exactly what he did back when his Memphis Grizzlies faced off against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. Brooks, however, crossed a line when he gave Gary Payton II a hard hit […]

It’s safe to say that Jonathan Kuminga isn’t in the best of terms with the Golden State Warriors coaching staff; the Warriors, in two must-win games, decided to bench the 22-year-old forward completely. This is a stunning turn of events, as Kuminga has long been touted as an important part of the team’s core and […]

The Miami Heat have been a perennial playoff team under the watchful eye of head coach Erik Spoelstra; they’ve only missed the playoffs thrice and finished with a losing record twice prior to the 2024-25 season. But this campaign has presented a plethora of challenges for the Heat. They had to navigate the complicated Jimmy […]

The Los Angeles Clippers ended the 2024-25 season on a scorching note, and on the final day of the regular season, they punched their ticket into the playoffs with a rousing 124-119 win over the Golden State Warriors in overtime. But beyond entering the playoffs as the fifth-seed in what will be a very winnable […]

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who’s been at the forefront of some of the heaviest criticism any front-office executive in professional sports has ever seen after deciding to trade away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, raised even more eyebrows when he invited select media members to a roundtable discussion to talk about […]

The Dallas Mavericks went through a rough stretch in the aftermath of pulling off the controversial Luka Doncic trade, and their playoff hopes took a major hit when Kyrie Irving tore his ACL — with the serious knee injury set to keep the Mavericks star out for a considerable period of time. It’s not quite […]

They may have gone through a very scenic route, but the Golden State Warriors finally punched their ticket into the 2025 NBA playoffs with a 121-116 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament on Tuesday night. What awaits Stephen Curry and the Warriors, however, is a tough matchup against the two-seeded Houston Rockets […]

Not much was expected from the Memphis Grizzlies during their play-in tournament matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The Grizzlies have not been able to beat a quality team for months now, and they lost what was once a strong hold on a top-four spot in the West and free fell all the way to […]

The Sacramento Kings’ postseason status was in doubt for much of March, but with the Phoenix Suns losing the plot, they were able to secure their place in the NBA play-in tournament, booking themselves a matchup against the injury-ravaged Dallas Mavericks in the 9/10 matchup. While many believe that the winner of this matchup will […]

When the Chicago Bulls traded Zach LaVine away back in February and received their 2025 first-round pick in return, many thought that the Bulls were going to play for lottery balls instead of pushing for the playoffs in the final two months of the season. However, they’ve played above .500 basketball since the LaVine trade, […]

Things got out of hand for the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night in their 120-95 loss to the Orlando Magic in their 7/8 play-in tournament matchup. They were climbing back from a deficit that grew as large as 22 points in the first half, and yet the Magic turned on the defense and pulled away […]

On Sunday, Steve Kerr made waves when he decided to give Jonathan Kuminga, a highly touted part of the Golden State Warriors’ young core, a grand total of zero minutes in their must-win game against the Los Angeles Clippers to avoid falling in the play-in tournament. In the end, the Warriors lost, 124-119, which then […]

On the day before the Dallas Mavericks fight for their playoff lives in the 9/10 play-in tournament matchup against the Sacramento Kings, general manager Nico Harrison and CEO Rick Welts held a roundtable discussion with reporters with no cameras or any sort of recording equipment around as they looked to address the media comprehensively for […]

The Orlando Magic have been dominant through the first 24 minutes of their NBA play-in tournament clash against the Atlanta Hawks; home-court advantage is doing wonders for the Magic, and it’s been a balanced effort that has propelled the home team to a huge first-half lead. But there are some Hawks fans in attendance who […]

Life in the AL East is rather unforgiving, and the Boston Red Sox were on the receiving end of a 16-1 beatdown from the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. The Rays tagged the Red Sox for nine runs in the third inning alone, and by the time that fateful half-inning ended, the Red Sox found […]

It has been a strong start to the 2025 season for the New York Mets. They moved to 11-5 on the year after taking a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday, and their pitching, in particular, has been a major bright spot through the first 16 games of the new campaign. However, an […]

This past offseason, the San Antonio Spurs picked up Chris Paul, the 39-year-old point guard, in free agency, giving Victor Wembanyama the veteran floor general he needed to take his game to the next level. Paul was coming off a topsy-turvy stint with the Golden State Warriors in which he averaged career-lows across the board, […]

It’s almost playoff time for the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that’s been rejuvenated by the addition of Luka Doncic in a trade that remains the most confounding deal of all time in all of professional sports. What makes the Lakers so scary of a matchup in the NBA playoffs is that there may not […]

The Portland Trail Blazers may not quite be at the level required yet to be a playoff team in the Western Conference, but they have been making steady progress over the past few seasons. In fact, they won 36 games in the 2024-25 season, their best mark over the past four seasons. And there’s plenty […]