The NBA playoffs are rolling into the second round after what was an entertaining first series of games. Who would’ve expected that the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors would push the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively, to seven games? Or that the Los Angeles Lakers would handle the Houston Rockets with relative ease despite not having Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The Philadelphia 76ers overcame a 3-1 deficit, like the Pistons, to eliminate the No. 2-seeded Boston Celtics, while the top two seeds in the West, the Thunder and Spurs, had zero issue skating through to the next round.
Now we turn our heads to the second round. The matchups have been set and the schedules are ironed out. In the East, the Sixers and Knicks meet again, while the Pistons and Cavaliers will face off. Out west, the Lakers will have the arduous task of facing the defending champion Thunder, while the Spurs will match up against the Timberwolves.
As we prepare for what will hopefully be another exciting round of basketball, let’s take a quick look at each series and what the biggest question for each pairing will be.
2026 NBA playoff bracket: Second-round schedule, matchups as Cavs punch ticket with Game 7 win
Brad Botkin
Thunder vs. Lakers: Can the Lakers actually make this competitive?
The Lakers got by a Rockets team that severely lacked an offensive identity with Kevin Durant injured. Even without Dončić for the entire series and Austin Reaves for most of it, the Lakers managed to outperform a Houston team that entered the season with high expectations. Give credit to JJ Redick, who had the Lakers prepared from the onset of that series. The Rockets were simply overwhelmed by the energy and effort from the cast of characters surrounding LeBron James.
But the Thunder are most certainly not the Rockets. We know Dončić is going to miss at least the start of this series, so already the Lakers are going to be in a massive hole. But can the likes of Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura challenge this OKC team? How is Redick going to force this vaunted Thunder defense to bend? Without the gravity that Dončić pulls, the spacing is not going to be favorable for the Lakers, and you have to imagine the game plan is going to either be to slow James down and force everyone else to beat them, or let James go off and stifle the supporting cast.
A big series from Reaves is going to be paramount for the Lakers to stand a chance here. There was a considerable amount of rust in his two first-round appearances, which is to be expected. But they’re going to need his scoring and playmaking if they want to keep up with an offense that generally has no weak points.
Facing the Thunder is like trying to take a test you didn’t study for. You’re going to trudge through it, giving your best educated guess, and hope enough sticks to get a passing grade. In this instance, the Lakers can only hope to make this a weird enough series for long enough to wait out a potential Dončić return.
Timberwolves vs. Spurs: Without Ant, how is the offense scoring?
Jaden McDaniels can’t make the same “bad defenders” statement that he made about the Nuggets in regards to this Spurs team. There are no “bad defenders.” And when you have Victor Wembanyama occupying the paint — and pretty much everywhere else with his length — it creates an immediate problem for your offense. With Anthony Edwards expected to be sidelined for at least the start of this series, the Wolves will have to figure out how they’re going to generate offense.
Ayo Dosunmu credibly filled that void in the first round and only improved as the series wore on. But how will he do against a backcourt that deploys far more capable defenders? Dosunmu likes to get to the rim, but the Spurs allowed the seventh-fewest points in the paint in the regular season (46.3). Against the Trail Blazers in the first round, they only improved that number (40.8).
San Antonio is going to take away the paint when Wemby’s on the floor, so that means the Wolves will have to hope that sixth-best 3-point shooting percentage kicks in this series. It didn’t show up in round one, as Minnesota shot just 33.7% from deep, and with Donte DiVincenzo out with a torn Achilles, that only makes their 3-point arsenal weaker. But if Minnesota gets hot from beyond the arc in this series, it could be a great equalizer. It’ll force the Spurs to adjust defensively and could open up other avenues for the Timberwolves to generate offense.
Knicks vs. Sixers: Can New York’s bigs actually slow Embiid?
There are a million questions you could pull out of this series. Will the Sixers stay healthy? How will someone like Jalen Brunson do defensively when there are fewer spots to hide him against a dynamic offensive unit? Does Mikal Bridges‘ late series resurgence mean that he’ll actually be a factor going forward? All of those are worthwhile callouts, but the biggest question in this series to me is how New York’s bigs will handle themselves against Joel Embiid.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a great showing in the first round. With Atlanta lacking any real size to contend with him, KAT’s offensive capabilities were on full display. He became an offensive hub, dishing out dimes, rebounding and scoring. He also did well enough defensively for it not to be a constant issue. However, now he, as well as Mitchell Robinson, will be tasked with guarding Embiid, who suddenly looks rather healthy and dominant not even a month removed from an appendectomy. Obviously everything hinges on Embiid being healthy, but let’s just pretend his health won’t be an issue this series (one can hope, right?).
You can bet Embiid and the Sixers plan on exploiting Towns’ defensive limitations, and if the Philly big man gets hot, it opens up so much for the Sixers defense. If the Knicks have to resort to sending an extra defender at Embiid, it’ll leave one of the many potent shooters and playmakers the Sixers have at their disposal open on the perimeter, stretching New York’s defense thin. If KAT gets in foul trouble, it hinders the Knicks offense.
Towns and Embiid have never faced each other in the playoffs, but when the two last played each other in January, KAT fouled out. Embiid used his strength and underrated finesse to catch Towns in bad spots, resulting in fouls. And when the Sixers’ big man had Robinson on him, he’d force him to guard in space, something both he and Towns have limitations doing.
Embiid will try to exploit everything out of that matchup, and seeing how Mike Brown and the Knicks respond will be one of the most important aspects of this series.
Pistons vs. Cavaliers: Will Jalen Duren be a factor?
Okay, the Pistons gritted through that first-round series against the Magic. But if they hope to make it any further, Duren’s performance against Orlando will need to be an anomaly and not the norm for the All-Star big man. After averaging nearly 20 points a game for the Pistons in the regular season, Duren struggled to reach double digits in most games against the Magic. He was outplayed by big man Wendell Carter Jr. for the entirety of the series and looked surprised at times by Orlando’s level of physicality.
Orlando’s size, mixed with Detroit’s lack of perimeter shooting threats, certainly posed a problem for Duren and the Pistons. The big man couldn’t live off pick-and-rolls and lobs from Cunningham like he did in the regular season with the Magic packing the paint. As a result, Duren became ineffective offensively. He dropped from a 65% field goal percentage in the regular season to 52.3% in the playoffs. He racked up more turnovers (19) than he did assists (15). And on defense, he was worse. The Pistons allowed 21.5 fewer points in the minutes that Duren sat against the Magic, which makes sense when you consider the fact that in four of the seven games, he remained in foul trouble. The Detroit big man registered five fouls in three games and fouled out in Game 3.
It wasn’t until Game 7 that Duren looked like his usual self, finishing with 15 points and 15 rebounds, marking the first time all series he collected double-digit rebounds. That’s the version the Pistons will need against a Cleveland frontcourt that might not have the strength that Carter possessed, but certainly doesn’t lack in size with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Duren doesn’t even need to dominate, but he has to be better than the pitiful performances he produced against Orlando. Tobias Harris cannot continue to be relied upon as the second option on this team every night. Harris is a streaky scorer, and while that hasn’t reared its ugly head yet for Detroit, the Pistons need contingency plans in case it does. Duren needs to be that contingency plan.
