Team lessons from NBA playoff eliminations in the second round

The second round of this year's NBA playoffs was unfortunately defined by injuries.

In each of the four conference semi -final series, one of the two participating teams suffered a violation of a large participant. Stephen Curry went out in game 1 of the Golden State Warriors – Minnesota Timberwolves series with a thigh strain. Evan Mobley and De'andre Hunter joined the injured Darius Garland on the injury list in game 2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers fight. Jayson Tatum naturally tore his Achilles tendon in game 3 of the Boston Celtics – New York Knicks Matchups. And then, to put a depressing hat on everything, Aaron Gordon adjusted his armpit heminer late in game 6 and was clearly not healthy for game 7 of the Denver Nuggets -Oklahoma City Thunder Clash. All four teams whose stars had suffered injuries while their healthy opponents continued.

Such injuries can sludge the water if they try to determine what went wrong for the eliminated teams and how they can use the disappointing result to continue building. On the other hand, you can have the already weak connections in a roster and force teams to force themselves to the reality that they would have preferred to hide from others.

Regardless of how Felsig the street was, the end result was the same: four teams left out of the argument after the season. As with the eight teams that were eliminated in the first round, these organizations have a lot to reflect when their offs are started.

Here is a lesson that every team learned on the way out of the second round.

Lesson learned: The consequences of wear can strike at any time

The Celtics were extremely competitive for pretty much the respective career of Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Since his collaboration was made in 2017, when Tatum was made with the third election in the draft, Boston was in the five conference final and two NBA finals. It is great for everyone involved, from fans to the C-suite, consistently to fight such a championship.

However, there are consequences. Consequences that can occur in the absolutely worst time how the Celtics learned on the hard tour. Tatum tore his Achilles in game 3 of the Knicks series (effectively ended the Celtics season) and it was revealed that Brown fought against a partial meniscus tear in the second half of the season.

In the past five years, the two stars have played together with 684 regular season games. In this post -season, they had played in 85 off -season games since 2020. Tatum played in several Olympic games and Brown joined him for a Fiba run in 19th. These are signs of remarkable consistency, durability and success. But it is difficult to overdo how much wear on a body, even professional athletes brings in their physical primary numbers. For a player who is not called LeBron James, finally something happened; A muscle tear or a ligaments grabs, a broken bone.

This was the year in which something Has happened to Boston's stars. Tatum's call as Iron Man of the NBA finally caught up with him. Brown's tirelessly physical style of playing over the edge of the edge finally caught up with him. For those who preach that availability is the best ability, it is associated with costs. The number of minutes, physicality, the constant jump and landing, it is blown away on the body until something gives.

Every team knows that. The Celtics learned how much it could hurt for this calculation.

Lesson learned: Evan Mabley has a long way to

The Cavs lose in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs after winning 64 games in the regular season gigantic Disappointment. There are many reasons for the massive disappointment. The injuries mentioned above played a strong role, as did the excellent game of the Pacers. But as far as the characteristics from the series are concerned, which the organization must consider in the future, it is difficult to look anywhere, except for Mobley.

Mobley had his best season so far in 2024-25 and won the prize for the defensive player of the year, made average career height in points, scored Felddtor and made three pointers per game. Coach Kenny Atkinson successfully found out how to include Mobley on the offensive to complement his already excellent defense. But every hopes that Mobley was really willing to make the jump from a good player into a great, let up and watch these playoffs.

Mobley wasn't badIn itself, for a large part of Cleveland's post -season. He just didn't raise his game as it should be true stars. For the season, the big man achieved an average of 18.5 ppg per game at 12.8 Field Goal attempts per game. In the playoffs, he had an average… 17.1 ppg at 10.9 shots per game. Domishing a failure is one thing, but the wheels fully came out against the Pacers in round 2. In the minutes of the All-Star Big man, the cavs were exceeded on the ground in game 1 with 20 points, where he suffered a bricked up ankle late in competition. In game 4, the team was exceeded with 27 points in 26 minutes. With elimination in game in game 5, they were exceeded by 14.

Mobley had a great year and will be 24 years old in June. His blanket is still pretty high. But the post -season is when the stars take control of increasing their numbers with increasing minutes and really influencing the flow of the game. Instead, Mobley shrank. It should serve as a sign that he has not yet completely done the star jump.

Lesson learned: depth must improve

Nikola Jokic said it himself after the Nuggets were blown out against thunder in game 7 to send home: Denver needs a better depth to compete with the best of the best in today's NBA. It was a clear weak point since the team brought home its first title in 2023 must be addressed.

Part of the urgency is that the Big 3 of the Nuggets is still excellent for all valid concerns during the regular season, the playoff time. Three-man lists with Jokic, Jamal Murray and Gordon recorded a net rating of 8.9 in these playoffs. The trio achieved an average of 6.4 points together on the floor in their 30.1 minutes per game. In particular, Murray asked many questions by increasing his game again when it was most important for his standards. The main ingredients of the championship formula remain fresh: Jokics all-round size, Murrays consistent production and Gordons Clutch-Zwe-way game for the winning of basketball.

The problem is that two other players have to be on the floor with them, and it is terribly difficult to find the right parts. Christian Braun and Michael Porter Jr. can prove to be helpful on the right nights (the former had a much better playoff run than the latter), but afterwards? It is really everyone's guess. Russell Westbrook had great games and catastrophic games alike. Julian Strawther appeared in game 6 against the thunder and did not score the double-digit dot brand in any of the other playoff games in which he appeared. Peyton Watson's inability to threaten the defense, with his shooting mostly compensating for chaos that he had caused defensively. All of these bank pieces in tandem have worked on perfect nights, but perfect nights are rare in the NBA. Otherwise the nuggets had almost zero for mistakes.

Every championship candidate wants to shoot more, defend and play from the bank. The nuggets are not unique in this regard. But since they have zero players outside the fifth five who can consistently do two of these three things, they are a problem and served as a bang of death for this year's title hopes.

Lesson learned: Further steps have to be taken to maximize Jimmy Butler

The large lesson from the gentlemen of the warriors through the Timberwolves was simple: they won't win without a curry. But we already knew that. The next Learning lesson? More changes have to be made on the squad to get the best out of Butler.

As funny as it was, the 23: 8 record of Golden State after he had landed Butler at the closing time was always a bit of a mirage. The sheer talent difference between the duo of Curry/Butler and the two best players of the other team meant that the dubs always had a good chance of winning every evening, but they played with an unfinished squad and decided to chase the rotation for the Miami Heat star in the air. It is not a step that someone in the Bay Area regrets, but the team that entered the playoffs was not built to maximize a person's strengths. It was a Hodge podge of unproven young players and veterans who could only influence one side of the soil. This combination plus curry size was good enough to beat an inexperienced Houston Rockets team in the first round. But when curry went down, the holes in the team got sick.

Butler did what he could to increase his game without his superstar teammate, and increased his post -season points per game average from 18.6 to 20.3 after Curry was injured. But the chunky fit on the square was obvious. The Warriors had an offensive evaluation of 101.1, with Butler and Draymond Green shared the court together, which is far below the offensive rating of the league world wizards of 105.8 over a full season. Both stars obviously have their shortcomings, but their collective IQ and their experience should never lead to a bad crime than the production of a lottery team. Instead, the problem lies with the players around them.

The warriors do not have to go out the entire squad, but a strong revision is required. For Butler and Green, there must be more shooting on the ground to survive the cramped distance of their game. There can be no players like Jonathan Kuminga, whose skills almost completely overlap with Butler. It is impossible to replace curry, but a steady, experienced guard to keep Steve Kerrs off would do wonders to lose weight from the star.

Golden State took the big step to land butler and his size for the next seasons. Now it is time to configure the squad to configuring the two-member monster by him and curry, a task that, according to the Wolves series, seems far more important that their talent alone is not sufficient.