NBA playoff takeaways: Thunder take 3-2 lead with …

May 27, 2026 No Comments

2026 NBA playoffs: Conference finals takeawaysNBA InsidersMultiple AuthorsMay 26, 2026, 11:20 PM ET

The conference finals of the 2026 NBA playoffs are here, and our NBA insiders have you covered for every game of the Eastern and Western matchups.

The No. 3-seeded New York Knicks defeated the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a four-game sweep to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

In the West, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder clash with the San Antonio Spurs in a matchup of the top two seeds.

Here’s what matters most in both conferences and what to watch in the series.

Jump to a series:
Knicks-Cavaliers
Thunder-Spurs

More coverage:
Schedules and results | Offseason guides

Western Conference

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder lead (2) San Antonio Spurs 3-2

Game 1: Spurs 122, Thunder 115
Game 2: Thunder 122, Spurs 113
Game 3: Thunder 123, Spurs 108
Game 4: Spurs 103, Thunder 82
Game 5: Thunder 127, Spurs 114

Biggest takeaway from Game 5: Once again, Oklahoma City’s role players rose to the occasion. Neither two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nor Victor Wembanyama, who is trying to stake his claim as the world’s best player, performed up to their standards. This game was swung by a few complementary players that Thunder general manager Sam Presti acquired over the past two years.

Alex Caruso, who has been awesome all series with the exception of a Game 4 dud, delivered a 20-point, six-assist effort in Game 5 while playing his usual disruptive defense. Isaiah Hartenstein had a 12-point, 15-rebound performance while helping hold Wembanyama to 4-of-15 shooting from the field. And Jared McCain, making the first start of his playoff career, shook off a slow start to score 18 of his 20 points in the second half as the Thunder pulled away to put the Spurs on the brink of elimination. — Tim MacMahon

Game 6: Thunder at Spurs (Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock)

What to watch in Game 6: San Antonio dropped back-to-back road games for the first time since a three-game skid in January, leaving the Spurs trailing a series for the third time this postseason. The Spurs won the next game the previous two times they trailed.

Wembanyama stated going into Game 4 that the Spurs would get a chance to “see what we’re made of.” That especially holds true now with San Antonio facing elimination for the first time Thursday when it hosts Oklahoma City in Game 6.

Wembanyama lacked energy in Game 5 on both ends. And judging by how the series has unfolded — Games 1 and 4, especially — it’s clear the Spurs need big performances from him to have a realistic shot of winning this series against the defending champs. Expect Wembanyama to go all out for Game 6 after finishing the first half Tuesday with only one rebound, which tied for his fewest in a half in the playoffs, according to ESPN Research.

San Antonio will also look to clamp down on the defensive end after letting Gilgeous-Alexander run roughshod for 32 points and nine assists. Stephon Castle attempted to establish a tone of physicality early the way he did in Game 4, but this time Gilgeous-Alexander was able to successfully play through that. Spurs wing Devin Vassell also struggled defensively, giving up 18 points on 6-of-9 from the field through three quarters as the primary defender. That registered as the most points and field goals for the Thunder so far this series with Vassell as the primary defender.

Outside of minor adjustments in how they defend Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio won’t stray too far from its core principles in Game 6. But now, the Spurs must deal with a new threat in Chet Holmgren, who put together his best performance of the series, alongside Hartenstein, as Oklahoma City’s bigs dominated on the glass with double-digit rebounding efforts. San Antonio will look for ways to improve on the boards to minimize OKC’s second-chance scoring opportunities.

It’s unclear whether Jalen Williams (hamstring) will play again in this series. To make up for the loss of the team’s second-best creator on offense, the Thunder inserted McCain into the starting lineup and it paid dividends. If Williams can’t go in Game 6, look for Oklahoma City to turn to McCain again. — Michael C. Wright

Eastern Conference

(3) New York Knicks eliminate (4) Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0

Game 1: Knicks 115, Cavaliers 104 (OT)
Game 2: Knicks 109, Cavaliers 93
Game 3: Knicks 121, Cavaliers 108
Game 4: Knicks 130, Cavaliers 93

Biggest takeaways from Game 4: Donovan Mitchell lamented after Game 3 that the Cavaliers blew a 22-point lead in the first game of the series and it had changed the tenor of the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavs never recovered from that collapse, and their season ended with four straight double-digit defeats, including a thumping in Game 4.

Cleveland actually began Monday’s game by scoring the first five points and jumping out to an 8-2 lead. Mitchell tried to do all he could to extend the Cavs’ season, scoring 12 of his 31 points in the first quarter, and Evan Mobley showed up as his running mate. But the Knicks’ offense was relentless, and the Cavs couldn’t do anything to slow down New York. By the middle of the second quarter, the game started to get out of hand.

Perhaps the Cavs were fatigued from a grueling gauntlet across the first two rounds — each a seven-game series — and without consecutive rest days for the final 3½ weeks. But the Cavs also were overmatched by a more talented team. This summer will be full of questions for an organization searching for a way to get over the hump of playoff disappointments. — Jamal Collier

The Knicks chase history with NBA Finals berth

Three times in these playoffs the Knicks have had a chance to close out their opponent on the road, and three times they have completely eviscerated the opposition so that the game was over long before the fourth quarter even started.

So much has changed since the night of April 23, when the Knicks fell behind 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. The Knicks lost back-to-back games by a single point, including a collapse in Game 2 that had New York City on edge, wondering if the Knicks were going to find a way to disappoint their die-hard fans again.

Absolutely no one, not even the most ardent Knicks supporter, could have anticipated the fever dream that followed.

Thirty consecutive days without a loss. Eleven straight victories after Monday night’s Memorial Day win in Cleveland, with a point differential of plus-262 — the biggest differential over an 11-game span across any portion of the NBA’s 80 seasons, regular season or playoffs.

As a result, the Knicks find themselves back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 — and the partisans in the Big Apple will spend the next eight days dreaming that this could finally be the year the franchise’s 53-year championship drought comes to an end.

The challenge of slowing down either Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Victor Wembanyama and their talented depth will easily be New York’s toughest test. But the Knicks can argue they are playing as well as any team in the history of the league over the past month.

The Knicks have a collection of two-way wings in OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. They have legitimate 7-footers who give them different ways to attack the opposition in Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson. They have quality 3-and-D options off the bench in Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride.

And, of course, they have Jalen Brunson, whose arrival as a free agent four years ago changed the course of the franchise.

This team shares the ball, has a depth of talent and is being led by an underdog superstar who defends and scraps — paralleling the Knicks teams of the 1990s led by Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Allan Houston and Larry Johnson, and the championship teams of 1970 and 1973 that were among the most celebrated groups in NBA history.

The hardest part of the climb is still ahead. Getting past either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs is far from a certainty, as New York will be the underdog against either team when the Finals start.

But don’t tell that to the Knicks, or their fans. For the next eight days, they’ll be able to sit back, rest and revel in a historic run.

And with how things are going, why should they stop dreaming now? — Tim Bontemps

NBA Finals Game 1: June 3, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC