The first round of the 2026 NBA postseason wasn’t very kind to two recent champions and a future Hall of Famer.

The Denver Nuggets entered the Western Conference playoffs as the No. 3 seed and armed with arguably the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic. Denver lasted just six games and were eliminated by undermanned Minnesota for the second time in three years.

Since winning the NBA title in 2023, Jokic and the Nuggets are just 15-15 over the last three postseasons.

The Boston Celtics, boosted by the return of All-Star Jayson Tatum, entered the Eastern Conference playoffs with the fourth-best odds to win a championship. Boston took a 3-1 series lead against division rival Philadelphia, only to watch it evaporate and ended up being on the wrong side of history. The 76ers completed the dramatic playoff comeback, winning Game 7 in Boston.

When asked during his post-game press conference what was the turning point in the series, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla pointed to the return of Joel Embiid.

“What changed in the series was Joel Embiid came back, and they’re a completely different team,” Mazzulla said of the Sixers center, who came back in Game 4 after missing almost a month after undergoing emergency appendectomy.

Philly was the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in the playoffs. Less than 24 hours after the Sixers’ win, the Detroit Pistons became the 15th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Thanks to the heroics of Cade Cunningham, top-seeded Detroit avoided losing to eighth-seeded Orlando with a convincing win at home in Game 7.

Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets weren’t considered championship contenders heading into the postseason, but they had a favorable matchup in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers, who was missing Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (rib).

But the Rockets found a way to turn an advantage into a disadvantage as the 2014 NBA MVP missed Game 1 with a knee injury he suffered in practice. Durant returned in Game 2 but suffered a sprained right ankle in the second half that ultimately forced him to miss the remainder of the series.

The Lakers jumped out to a 3-0 series lead. After a couple of hiccups in Game 4 and Game 5, L.A. closed out the series with a blowout win in Game 6.

Detroit rides MotorCade to reach conference semifinals

After Orlando took a 3-1 series lead, Cade Cunningham put his hard on and went to work.

The Pistons’ All-Star guard dropped 45 points (5-for-8 on 3-pointers) in Game 5 and followed it up with 32 points and 10 rebounds in the next game, forcing a Game 7.

In Game 7 in front of a fired up Detroit crowd that included Pistons legends like Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace, Cunningham calmly led the Pistons to a 116-94 win. His 32 points and 12 assists helped secure Detroit’s first playoff series victory in 18 years.

Cunningham became the second Piston to score 20-plus points and dish out 10-plus assists in a Game 7. The other Piston to pull it off was Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who was in the building to witness Cade’s brilliant performance under pressure.

“It’s an honor to be in the same sentence as a legend like IT,” Cunningham said. “I’m glad he was here. I’m glad he was able to watch … just being able to talk to him, pick his brain, and have his support. It’s amazing. I feel extremely lucky to have that.”

No joke: Jokic gets ‘punked’ in playoff loss to Timberwolves

When you’re a three-time NBA MVP, expectations are high and losing in the first round is not an acceptable result.

Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, were eliminated in six games by the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team missing their best player (Anthony Edwards), starting guard (Donte DiVincenzo), and one of its top reserves (Ayo Dosunmu).

The Timberwolves had just eight players available for Game 6, but still managed to pull out a victory.

Denver’s early exit prompted some pundits like ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, to call out Jokic for his poor postseason performance following another triple-double regular season in which he became the first player to lead the league in rebounds (12.9) and assists (10.7).

Perkins on ESPN’s “First Take” said the Joker got “punked” in the Minnesota series as Rudy Gobert made him look human. Jokic shot 44.6% from the field and 19.4% from 3-point range, both well below his season averages. Perkins added that Jokic’s recent play suggests he may be stuck with just one championship for his career.

“We were so ready to put this man above all-time greats because of certain numbers he was putting up in the regular season. He has one NBA championship. Matter of fact, I don’t think Jokic is going to win another NBA championship. He got exposed,” Perkins added. “So when we talk about top-five this and top-five that. We need to sit back and keep cool.”

Denver heads into the offseason with a lot of question marks, including the future of their all-world center. But according to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Nuggets plan to secure a long-term contract extension for Jokic, who is eligible for a $290 million max deal.

“The expectation on both sides is Nikola Jokic will be signing that when he’s eligible in July, and they’re gonna move forward,” Charania said on “Inside the NBA.”

He added: “But beyond that, there’s going to be real roster changes coming to Denver to identify how they can surround Nikola Jokic with the right pieces to get this team over the top.”

Houston, we have a KD problem

A fluke knee injury kept Kevin Durant out of Game 1 against the Lakers. He reportedly bumped knees with one of the team’s two-way players in practice as they both went for a loose ball. Durant returned in Game 2 but suffered a sprained right ankle in the second half that ultimately forced him to miss the remainder of the series.

The Rockets’ implosion started back in February. The infamous “KD files” — Durant’s alleged social media burner account slamming Rockets teammates — created a major, unresolved distraction.

During a stretch in which the Rockets lost seven of nine games entering the All-Star break, allegations surfaced that Durant criticized teammates — including sharp jabs at Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. — while using a burner account on X.

Durant is one of the best to ever pick up a basketball. Once he’s done with his career, he’ll be enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame. But his off-the-court drama isn’t helping clean up his image.

Durant never discussed the matter in any detail publicly, calling it “Twitter nonsense.” But it’s hard to imagine his most recent social media tiff didn’t impact the Rockets. Houston appeared disjointed, and the team actually played better when KD was in street clothes sitting on the bench.

Since his split with the Golden State Warriors, Durant has had some conspicuous stops in Brooklyn and Phoenix. Houston gave up a ton of assets to bring him in, but now they may be regretting the move.

Joel Huerto is editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. He hosts a sports podcast on YouTube @onemanfastbreak1.

Eventually, some team is going to break the streak.

In the history of the NBA, when teams take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series, the likelihood of having a shot at winning the series is about as improbable as correctly choosing all six numbers in the lottery. It’s a 1 in 13,983,816 chance of winning.

The 2023 Boston Celtics looked at those odds and said, “So, you’re saying there’s a chance.”

Boston won the equivalent of nailing five of the six numbers in the Mega Millions jackpot and came within 48 minutes of pulling off a playoff comeback for the ages. The Celtics became the first NBA team since 2003 to dig out of an 0-3 hole and force a Game 7. It wasn’t just any series. It was the Eastern Conference finals.

However, like the previous 150 teams that tried to break the cycle, Boston came up short as it got destroyed by the Miami Heat 103-84 in Game 7 at TD Garden Arena.

It was a roller-coaster ride for the Celtics. In a matter of seven days, they went from being massive underachievers to a team on the brink of returning to the NBA Finals only to have it snatched away in one swoop after a shockingly poor performance in front of their loyal fans.

“We failed. I failed. We let the whole city down,” Celtics All-NBA forward Jaylen Brown said during his postgame media availability.

When the Heat took a 3-0 series lead in the conference finals, basketball fans and media pundits were tossing all sorts of narratives around the Celtics and none of them were good.
Talking heads were destroying first-year Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla for being too green and not meeting the moment. Brown’s name was being tossed around in trade scenarios, and the old ghosts that haunted superstar forward Jayson Tatum during last year’s NBA Finals seem to have popped up again.

Seven days later, Mazzulla’s job was no longer in danger. Brown could be in line for a lucrative contract extension and Tatum rediscovered his MVP form.

Once the Celtics decided to step on the gas, it became a series. It shouldn’t come as a surprise the Celtics beat the Heat in seven games. The Celtics finished with the second-best record in the regular season and were one of the betting favorites to reach the NBA Finals. The big surprise was how Boston found itself down 3-0 to an eighth-seeded Miami squad that barely made it out of the play-in tournament.

It’s unfortunate that the Miami Heat, a proud franchise with championship pedigree, found itself on the edge of a historic collapse. A loss to the Celtics are being up 3-0 in the series would have been a permanent stain on the franchise. It would have been a stain on Erik Spoelstra’s impressive coaching résumé, and it would have been a huge stain on the résumés of Miami two superstars — Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.

The Heat wouldn’t even be in the conference finals without Butler and Adebayo. They are the heart and soul of a Miami squad that entered the postseason as massive underdogs. The Heat earned the eighth and final spot in the East playoffs by beating the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament. The Heat then pulled off an improbable upset in the first round after knocking off the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games. That upset now feels like an eternity.

Butler and Adebayo faded on the back end of the Boston series, as both looked fatigued.

Butler was in prime Playoff Jimmy form in the first two games of the series, scoring 35 and 27 points and playing lockdown defense on Tatum and Brown. But since then, Butler has struggled to find his shooting stroke. He scored 16 points in Miami’s Game 3 win at home, and things got progressively worse as the series extended. He was 9-for-21 from the field in a Game 4 loss. He took only 10 shots and finished with 14 points in a Game 5 loss. He was 5-for-21 in a Game 6 loss.

Adebayo also got off to great start in the first two games in Boston, taking full advantage of single coverage and doing plenty of damage in the paint (42 points and 25 rebounds). But since then, he has gone ice cold from field (13, 10, 16, 11 points) and hasn’t been as dominant on the glass. In Game 6, Bam was 4-for-16 from the field and couldn’t secure the pivotal rebound that led to Derrick White’s game-winning tip-in as time expired for a stunning 104-103 win.

The shooting struggles for Bam and Butler spilled over into Game 7, but both summoned enough strength and energy to impact the game on both ends and lead the Heat to a win. Miami became just the sixth team in 28 tries to win at the Garden in a Game 7. It was pure heart and determination, which embodies the Heat culture.

There were three key reasons why Miami knocked off Boston and advanced to the franchise’s seventh NBA Finals: Spoeltra’s coaching maneuvers, Heat role players stepping up, and Tatum injuring his left ankle in Game 7.

Spoelstra made all the proper adjustments throughout the series and thoroughly outcoached the rookie Mazzulla. Each time Mazzulla made a move, Spo had a counter. Mazzulla — who at 34 is the NBA’s youngest coach — and his staff couldn’t solve the Heat’s puzzling zone defense. Instead of attack the seams of the zone, Boston settled for contested 3-point shots. Over their final two games of the series, the Celtics shot a combined 16-for-77 from 3, including an abysmal 9-for-42 in Game 7.

Mazzulla’s big adjustment in the series was inserting White into the starting lineup to give the Celtics another shooter and ball handler. Spo countered that move by dropping 34-year-old Kevin Love out of the rotation and sliding super-sub Caleb Martin into the starting lineup. Spo wasn’t only beating Mazzulla with X’s and O’s, but he also was winning the motivational game. Moments after the Heat’s crushing defeat in Game 6, Spoelstra went on the podium and declared: “We wish we could tip this thing off right now. Right now! We want to tip this thing off and let’s play another 48 minutes. But we’ll wait another 48 hours and do this thing in Boston.”

Miami certainly did its thing in Boston in Game 7, and it was the Heat role players who got it started. Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, and Duncan Robinson played outstanding basketball in Game 7, but Martin absolutely played out of his mind. Martin, who came within one vote of winning the conference finals MVP trophy, was sensational in Game 7, scoring 26 points in 45 minutes and making 11 of his 16 shots from the field, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.

“If you’re a real competitor, it’s in your soul, and that’s what Caleb is. He’s a competitor,” Spoelstra said about Martin, who averaged 19.3 points while shooting 60% from the field and 49% from 3-point range in the conference finals. Martin has never topped 9.6 points per game prior to this postseason and is a career 36% 3-point shooter.

The final big nail on the Boston coffin was Tatum’s ankle injury. He twisted his left ankle 26 seconds into Game 7 and was never the same. He injured it on the first play of the game when he collided with Vincent near the basket and landed awkwardly on Vincent’s foot. Tatum tried to play through the sprain, but his mobility was compromised and the limp got progressively worse as the game wore on. Tatum finished with 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field, easily his worst game of the series and possibly the worst game of his young playoff career.

“It swelled up and it was just frustrating that I was kind of like a shell of myself,” said Tatum, who had a noticeable limp as he addressed the media. “It was tough to move. Just frustrating. Especially it happening on the first play.”

Tatum had averaged a series-high 27.2 points through the first six games.

Overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the postseason is extremely rare in major professional team sports. It has been done four times in the NHL (1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and 2014 Los Angeles Kings), and it’s only been done once in MLB (2004 Boston Red Sox).

The NBA remains the only major sports league not to experience it, but it’s getting close.