2025 NBA Playoff Preview - Western Conference

X's & O's preview for the 2025 NBA Western Conference Playoffs.

Apr 19, 2025

X’s & O’s Teams To Watch

Thunder Offense

The Thunder offense is one of the best Switch hunting schemes I have ever seen, with the ability to find mismatches at any time. Look how they get into finding the mismatch in Drag ballscreens in transition - another layer to putting weak defenders into actions organically.

When the Thunder want to attack a weak defender, they will almost always get them in “Flat” ballscreen defense since there really is no good way to defend this beside switch and then let SGA go to work.

Rockets Defense

The Rockets defense is tough, physical, and NASTY with athletes at almost every position and they switch 1-4 while using the strategy Udoka pioneered in Boston by putting Sengun or their big on the other teams worst perimeter player and limiting any ballscreens to create 2 on the ball.

Lakers Offense

The Lakers run good 5 Out offense and actions, especially ATO, combining the IQ and scheme to have Luka & Lebron hunt the other teams matchup they want.

Playing “smaller” allows them to create space for them to consistently attack other teams in space to keep advantages created by LeBron & Luka.

Nuggets Offense

Watching Jokic problem-solve in real time is the number one thing to watch in the playoffs for me. Firing the coach/GM doesn’t even matter because Jokic is that good and how he can always find solutions to what the other team tries to throw at him. Jokic alone is a reason to watch the Nuggets’ offense.

Thunder vs Grizzlies

Thunder are one of the best hunting teams in the NBA, smart attacking the other teams in transition, half court and getting SGA and Jalen Williams the advantage - looking at you, Ja Morant.

Thunder have the #1 defense and #2 offense with a +13.6 Net Rating. Historically great team that has the flexibility to play big, small and has had the Grizzlies number this season.

Those issues for the Thunder in this series are their biggest issue over the past few seasons - defensive rebounding. Memphis is the 3rd best offensive rebounding team in the league, and the Thunder finished 21st in defensive rebounding %. Edey can have a field day against the smaller Thunder, but making him defend in space can also be problematic for the Grizzlies.

Rockets vs Warriors

The key to the series is the Rockets Offensive Boards (#1 in the NBA) vs Warriors defensive rebounding issues and willingness and want-to play small ball with Draymond at the 5, plus the Rockets are the more athletic and physical team, and I will be watching to see how that plays out.

Steph vs the Rockets athletes is another interesting thing to watch - Amen Thompson is unreal & how many bodies they throw at Steph - VanVleet/Brooks/Thompson all can rotate on and off him. Udoka and his staff has always been incredible at putting together defensive gameplans, and Steph had a brutal recent game against them so I am interested to see the tweaks and response from both him and the Warriors staff.

My biggest problem with the Warriors is that they seem have a lot of one way players, and that usually is a problem in the playoffs. They have Steph/Butler/Draymond with playoff experience and greatness, but is that going to be enough overall vs this nasty Rockets defense?

Lakers vs Timberwolves

Can Gobert stay on the floor? That seems to be the biggest question mark for this series early on, will the Lakers smaller lineups be able to force the hand of Minnesota and have them play Reid/Randle at the 5. The Timberwolves best lineups this season all feature Gobert at the Center position, 3 of their best 5 lineups feature him at Center.

With Reid/Randle on the court in smaller lineups the Timberwolves are still overall very good but their defense gets WAY worse. They go from a 108 defensive rating to a 118 defensive rating with Gobert off and that pair on, but their offense becomes almost unguardable as well. I think it will be a fine balance to strike to figure out when and how to keep Gobert on the court - he is too important to this team.

The X-Factor for the Lakers this postseason and in this series seems to be Reaves. I know what Luka & LeBron can and will do, but Reaves has a chance to flip most series for the Lakers drawing the other teams 3rd best overall defender and can be an elite outlet playmaker when teams try to take the other 2 out of the game.

How do the Lakers handle Luka getting hunted? Luka will be hunted, probably from the moment the ball is tipped. They have been willingly switching him and I am curious to see how the Lakers handle that with backside rotations. Involving Luka/Reaves in double ballscreens seems like a smart way for any team to attack the Lakers to start, but just keeping an eye on how they handle Luka getting hunted and what adjustments the Lakers make going forward.

An interesting watch - the Lakers are first in FT rate and get to the free throw line the most in the NBA, but Minnesota is one of the better teams (8th) in the NBA in not fouling.

Nuggets vs Clippers

Jokic vs the Clippers defensive gameplanning feels like a high level game of chess we are going to be able to enjoy for hopefully 7 games.

Who guards Jokic, and how often do they send help/sell out to stop him vs letting him go 1 on 1 vs his matchup. The Nuggets are one of the least 3 point shooting focused teams in the NBA - attempting the least, although they hit them when they do take them, but the Clippers do not care if you shoot a lot of 3s so their defensive system doesn’t feel like it would be tested from their normal philosophy.

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