The 2025 NBA playoffs have delivered the most exciting first round in recent memory, and leave it to the West — which has brought high drama all season — to bring it home with two Game 7s.
The Nuggets outlasted the Clippers on Saturday to advance to the second round, and the Rockets and Warriors will face off on Sunday for the final spot in the West semis. Our NBA writers make their Game 7 picks, plus look ahead to the East’s semifinal matchups.
Tom Haberstroh: Warriors. I have belief in Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green figuring out the two-big lineup, which has given the team fits this series. Curry has ripped the heart out of the Rockets in a Game 7 on the road before, and I think he can do it again. The Warriors need him and Buddy Hield to rain from downtown and make the Rockets pay for going big.
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Morten Stig Jensen: Warriors. Game 7s are nuts. So there are a lot of elements to consider. I’m hanging my hat on Golden State’s experience, but I don’t feel great about it. Houston’s defense is legit, and it’s putting Stephen Curry through it every time he has to initiate simple actions. This will be a nail-biter.
Dan Devine: Warriors. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I’m sticking with Golden State. I’ve been incredibly impressed with how the Rockets have played throughout this series … but I can’t shake the feeling that Stephen Curry’s got one more dagger to plunge into Houstonians’ hearts before he’s all said and done.
Ben Rohrbach: Warriors. I cannot envision a scenario in which Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green lose three elimination games in a row to a team that does not have a closer. The Warriors are far more experienced, and that matters in a Game 7. Does it scare me that the momentum seems to have swung in Houston’s direction? Sure. But give me the Warriors by a whisker.
Cavaliers-Pacers, Round 2: Who wins?
Jensen: Cavs in 5. Perhaps six. Cleveland is the better team, and that’s with all due respect to Indiana, a team that functions as a well-oiled machine in its own right. But the talent level in Cleveland, and the offensive heights it can reach, I believe, is too much to overcome for the Pacers.
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Devine: Cavs in 6. The uncertainty around Darius Garland’s toe injury gives me some pause, especially as a Known Pacers Respecter who was trying to tell y’all that Indiana was the goods all the way back in January. But I’ve also been trying to tell y’all that Cleveland is historically excellent for at least that long.
Indiana’s going to stress out Cleveland’s coverages and game plans to a much, much greater degree than Miami was able to in Round 1. But I think the collective shooting, playmaking, versatility and high-end talent that this iteration of the Cavs brings to bear is just a cut above; I think Tyrese Haliburton’s going to get hunted mercilessly; and I think Cleveland’s moving on to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2018.
Haberstroh: Cavs in 5. Tyrese Haliburton’s inconsistency didn’t cost the Pacers much against the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks, but I think his Jekyll & Hyde act will doom them in this East battle. I can’t wait to see the Evan Mobley and Pascal Siakam matchup, two of the most versatile bigs in the game going at it.
Rohrbach: Cavaliers in 6. The Pacers are better than people think. They are certainly better than I thought, as I picked the Bucks against them in seven games. It took them only five games to prove themselves as the deeper, more talented team. That is not the case against the Cavs, who are even deeper and even more talented. They can do anything the Pacers can but better.
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Celtics-Knicks, Round 2: Who wins?
Devine: Celtics in 5. This is the nightmare matchup for these Knicks — the bar they saw set last season and that they were very clearly attempting to reach with their offseason moves, but that they have proven all season long to remain incapable of reaching. (For the millionth time: New York went 0-10 against the Celtics, Cavs and Thunder during the regular season, and 51-21 against everybody else.) Respect for Jalen Brunson’s record of stellar postseason performances requires me to project one out-of-body-experience type of win. Beyond that, though? I expect the C’s to be gentlemen about moving on to yet another Eastern Conference finals.
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Rohrbach: Celtics in 6. It makes me nervous that consensus considers this an easy series for the Celtics. Jalen Brunson is incredible, and New York’s Villanova boys never quit. Boston is banged up, too. But I just cannot imagine a scenario in which the defensive combination of Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns does not get pick-and-rolled to death. This is what the Celtics have done to them in the past, and it has yielded 130.2 points per 100 possessions this season.
Jensen: Celtics in 5. Tom Thibodeau is going to lose the math battle, and New York’s lack of depth is going to make the Knicks tired, which isn’t exactly an asset when their opponent can run and gun all day long.
Haberstroh: Celtics in 5. As good as Jalen Brunson was in the clutch, the Knicks’ porous defense won’t be able to contain the Boston Celtics’ five-out offense. It will look alien compared to the Detroit Pistons’ offense that often had multiple non-shooters on the floor. Kristaps Porziņģis in Celtics green at MSG? Sign me up.
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