2026 NBA playoffs: Conference finals takeawaysNBA InsidersMultiple AuthorsMay 30, 2026, 10:58 PM ET
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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 San Antonio Spurs ousted the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games 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
(2) San Antonio Spurs eliminate (1) Oklahoma City Thunder 4-3
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Game 1: Spurs 122, Thunder 115
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Game 2: Thunder 122, Spurs 113
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Game 3: Thunder 123, Spurs 108
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Game 4: Spurs 103, Thunder 82
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Game 5: Thunder 127, Spurs 114
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Game 6: Spurs 118, Thunder 91
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Game 7: Spurs 111, Thunder 103
Biggest takeaway from the Spurs’ win: Victor Wembanyama has sped up the clock.
In only his third NBA season, he just led a come-from-behind conference finals elimination of the 64-win defending champs, advancing to the NBA Finals five months after his 22nd birthday.
The Spurs won this series because of his Game 1 heroics — a 41-point, 24-rebound masterpiece complete with a 28-foot signature 3 to force overtime — and a collective Game 6 and 7 closing statement. Wembanyama is the face of a stunningly advanced young core that just disrupted what many believed was an Oklahoma City Thunder dynasty in the making, which is sure to spark conversation about whether San Antonio is about to begin one of its own.
Dylan Harper, the 20-year-old rookie guard, was excellent in Games 1 and 6 and made some massive plays late in Game 7. Stephon Castle, the third-year guard, has taken a star turn in these playoffs. Then there’s Wembanyama, who finished third in MVP voting in his third season, let the world know of his displeasure that he didn’t win the award and then just outdueled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the back-to-back MVP, in what might have been the NBA’s best playoff series this decade. — Anthony Slater
Biggest takeaway from the Thunder’s loss: The Thunder signed their three stars to maximum contract extensions days before their championship parade last summer, securing the foundation of a potential dynasty. Now, the Thunder enter a summer of uncertainty after being eliminated by the Spurs, a rival with a younger and, in this series at least, better star trio.
Back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander broke out of his worst shooting funk since emerging as a superstar in Game 7, giving the injury-depleted Thunder a chance with his 35 points and nine assists. He got no help from Oklahoma City’s other stars.
As was the case far too often during his injury-marred season, Jalen Williams watched from the bench in street clothes. He played only 10 ineffective minutes in the final five games of the series after aggravating a left hamstring strain early in Game 2.
Chet Holmgren played 33 minutes, but he was invisible for most of them. He attempted only two shots from the floor, finishing with four points and four rebounds. He wasn’t a factor for most of the series after excelling in the first two rounds.
The question now: How much is Oklahoma City governor Clay Bennett willing to pay to keep together this team? Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams all have team options for next season, when a massive luxury tax bill looms. — Tim MacMahon
Eastern Conference
(3) New York Knicks eliminate (4) Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0
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Game 1: Knicks 115, Cavaliers 104 (OT)
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Game 2: Knicks 109, Cavaliers 93
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Game 3: Knicks 121, Cavaliers 108
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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
