These NBA Playoffs Have Been Fantastic

Now that we are one game away from the halfway point (by one metric) of the NBA playoffs, it is time to review them as a whole, on both aesthetic and competitive grounds. I think this is a useful exercise at this point, as the process of considering the eventual champion's worthiness or luck is a matter of confirmation bias that both overemphasizes the Finals and elides what is actually great about this postseason: the process. For example, last year's Finals were great, masking a middling-to-bad playoffs. We have not had what this reviewer would term a great playoffs since before the pandemic, with some notable stinkers (2021, when everyone got hurt, and 2024, which had precisely one good series) in the intervening years.

Not anymore. This year's playoffs have been fantastic. We've had close games, wild series, and game-winners. Both legends and frauds have been forged. Here is the evidence, in three parts.

Case Study 1: Cavaliers-Pistons, And What Follows