Winners of Game 4 will absolutely win every series

[Wardell Curry]

GS/MIN if GS wins the series and tied and Steph likely ends up with enough time to come back and the Wolves will get stomped. If MIN wins it's not going to matter because the Warriors won't beat them 3 straight.

Cavs, Boston, OKC won't recover from 3 to 1 down. New York/Indiana/Denver won't recover from blowing 2 games at home.

Mark my words. Game 4 winner is the winner of every series. I'm not super confident about GS/Min but the other 3 are obvious no?

[ArbitraryWater]

Id still definitely take Cavs down 1-3. Theyre just clearly better. Min/GS would be up for grabs.

The one Id feel safest about would be Denver, and youre right these are huge games, but I wouldnt say the series is done after.

All 1-3 HC teams have a technical talent edge, they can get 1 road game.

[tpols]

I agree with this.

My picks would be:

Thunder
Wolves
Celtics
Cavs

[White Hammer]

The 3 regular season leaders all down 2-1 is such a fascinating scenario.

OKC is perhaps best in the league, but among the 3 underdogs (DEN, NYK, IND) Denver is the most battle-hardened. If it goes 2-2 I trust Denver the most to show resiliency and championship-mettle to win the following 3-game series on the road.
On the other hand OKC is talented enough to simply overwhelm Denver even down 3-1. Denver might run out of juice, and we saw last year they aren’t afraid to choke away a series lead haha. No, I don’t share your confidence here; I think it could go either way after game 4.

Boston could possibly come from down 3-1, too. I mean they almost came back from 3-0 against the Heat in 2023. If their 3’s are hitting they can rattle off 3 wins in a row.
The Knicks I don’t trust as much as Denver to win after going 2-2. They might win game 6 at home, but game 7 in Boston is a tough ask.

Cleveland I have the least trust in among the top 3. If it goes 3-1 I think they crumble. This Indy group can make magic happen when they are down and presumed out. If they lose at home again I think there is still a chance they can steal the series (a small chance), but mostly I agree the game 4 winner here is the overwhelming favorite.

Minnesota I think will beat GS no matter what happens with Curry. Even a surprise game 4 win won’t save them. Legend Killer Ant isn't losing.

[White Hammer]

BTW it was only BOS & CLE that went 0-2 at home. OKC won gm 2 in a blowout then lost gm 3 in OT at Denver. Does that difference affect how you feel about the series?

[ImKobe]

Not sure this applies to any series outside of Minnesota winning Game 4.

If OKC or Cavs or Celtics tie the series it could go either way, and they're good enough to win 3 straight with HCA if they do go down 1 - 3. Same with Minnesota. Seems like it's do or die for only the Warriors right now.

[Wardell Curry]

BTW it was only BOS & CLE that went 0-2 at home. OKC won gm 2 in a blowout then lost gm 3 in OT at Denver. Does that difference affect how you feel about the series?

Yeah I thought about that after I couldn't edit the thread. No, because ultimately Denver would have still blown stealing home court.

[White Hammer]

Yeah I thought about that after I couldn't edit the thread. No, because ultimately Denver would have still blown stealing home court.

Yeah that’s true. I just wasn’t sure how much importance you were placing on the whole “lost 2 straight at home” aspect.

[Wardell Curry]

Well well well