May 8, 2026 • 10 mins
Following a chaotic and unpredictable first round of the NBA playoffs, early games in the second round suggest more one-sided matchups, but for how long?
With eight teams left, Adam Cooper heads to Vancouver to chat to correspondent Toby Kerr with his thoughts on the playoffs so far, and the predictions as the playoffs progress.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
News looks anybody on the old sport breakfast all the
NBA playoffs down to the final eight, four h on
the West and acet and goodness, may what a playoff
series it has been so far more in the first
round rather than the current second round. So let's bring
in our North American sports correspondent Toby Kirk, because I
know he will have loved those first round matches. Morning
(00:20):
to you, Toby, am my root. It was pretty chaotic,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, it was. It was awesome outam the first round.
You know, so often we are really you know, subjected
to some very one sided games in the first round
of the NBA playoffs. You have the true contenders at
the top and often the middle teams in basketball, especially
compared to other sports. In the NBA in particular, I
can't usually hang with the giants. And yet this year
(00:45):
we saw some great series, some great upsets, some great
near upsets. We nearly had an eight to one upset
where Orlando nearly took down Detroit. You might have heard
me last time I was on say I thought Detroit
was a very vulnerable one seed. They very nearly they
got upset. In fact, they should have Orlando blew a
twenty plus point lead in Game six where they could
have won it, and then Detroit needed a heroic effort
(01:07):
from Kate Tunningham in Game seven to win it. You know,
we had the two to seven upset the Boston Celtics
went down and round one. I'm glad I wasn't on
to predict that because I would have certainly got that
very wrong. And now, as you say here, we've got
some interesting series in round two, but looking a little
more one sided than one would think. It's been a
strange playoffs so far.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And Dave, well, let's go through the order of games
coming up this week, Kens and we'll starts with the
seventy six's nixt series. That's one of those when New
York's two nothing a hit, surprising, is it?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah? Well, I mean it's surprising the Philadelphia's here at all,
because they pulled off a massive upset of the Boston Celtics,
who was kind of everybody's pick out of the Eastern
Conference before the playoffs started. The Celtics had looked so good,
and then they got Jason Tatum back, who was looking
great himself off of an injury, and then Philly They're
just this team that at the beginning of the year
(02:00):
you could squint, you could see the world where everything
would come together for the seventy six ers. They have
a guy in Joel Embiid who just won the MVP
a couple of years ago, Tyree's Maxie and is sending Superstar,
super interesting young rookie, and VJ. Edgecomb and then a
multi time l NBA player and Paul George. You know,
those sound like a very complete basis for a team.
They have some depth as well, but all season Embiid
(02:22):
was hurt, Maxie was overused and hurt. There were some
up and downs, Paul George was suspended. All this weird
stuff happened, and then suddenly the version of Philly that
we thought we might see came together and showed up
in the playhoffs for the first time. And it was
remarkable that they took down a really strong Boston Celtics team.
And here they are against the New York Knicks. So
(02:43):
it's a brutal schedule for them. They knocked off one
giant already. You got to think though, the Knicks they
have the two nothing lead and New York Knicks, I
think they're clearly the most talented team from the Eastern
Conference remaining. You know, they have their superstars. They have
Jalen Brunson, who is a playoff leading score. Karl Anthony
Towns up and down, one of the most frustrating but
skilled players in the NBA, has been great in these
(03:06):
playoffs and he was a big difference in them getting
through a scrappy Atlanta team. So New York absolutely blew
them out game one. Game two was a lot closer.
Philly still has a lot of upside. I gotta say
they're a fun kind of dark horse. But the Knicks
with the two nothing lead, looking as good as they
are right now, I really got to think that the
series is theirs. They at least need a split in
Philly these next two games, and then I think they'll
(03:28):
be just fine moving on to the conference final.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
All right, Well, that Knicks game is only a few
hours away, game at three, and we'll stay at least actually,
because there's the game tomorrow. Obviously, these two series we'll
mate with the winners in a couple of wakes. Detroit
and Cleveland's again one sided, Detroit two nil up in
the Swan Toby, Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And I think that's no big surprise because, to be honest,
you know, my Toronto Raptors played the Cleveland Cavaliers in
the first round and it was one of the worst
NBA Playoffs series I've ever seen in my life, and
that is saying something considering it went seven games. There
is an incredibly dramatic buzzer beater game winner in Game
six for the Raptors, which was pretty exciting, but if
(04:10):
you actually watched the basketball, both teams were kind of terrible,
and Cleveland has looked just kind of terrible this entire
playoff run. They've got James Harden, famous for being, you know, MVP,
future Hall of Famer horrible in the playoffs. He's doing
himself no favors with that reputation this year. Donovan Mitchell's
quite good, but the whole team is just really rudderless
on offense unless it's just Mitchell or Harden taking the
(04:32):
ball themselves, and their defense is way more inconsistent than
you you would like, and they don't look like a
championship team on either side of the ball. Detroit certainly
has had their struggles as well. They almost lost to
an eight seed in Orlando, and we've had I believe
two eight to one upsets since two thousand. In the NBA,
it almost never happened. Miami got Boston a few years ago,
(04:52):
and then Dallas did it about fifteen years ago. But
Detroit very vulnerable one seed and Jalen Duran, their second
best play who's going to be an All NBA player,
has just been awful these playoffs too. He's really shrunk here.
So it's kind of both teams really underperforming, and yet
Detroit does clearly look better. So I think this is
kind of the ugliest and least fun series. But I
(05:13):
do think that just because Cleveland has looked so bad,
Detroit is kind of going to you know, maybe even
lazily roll their way to a win in this one.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Okay, well, full teams left in the wist as well,
and yet we know there's still a bit of a
carryover effect of Oklahoma City thunder fens here in New Zealand. Still,
and I guess Toban no surprises that they are a here.
It's given their form this season of the Lakers in
that series.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, well, I mean, wow, lucky people who cheer for
the Oklahoma City thunder. Still, I will say it of
any pro sports team of any of the more North
American leagues that I follow. They are the best set
up franchise I have ever seen, presently, incredible, future prospects, unbelievable.
They still have a million draft picks and so many
great young players. They're ridiculously deep. They're just great. So
(06:00):
the knock on Oklahoma City is that Jalen Williams, their
second best player, is hurt again. But he's basically been
hurt all year and they still had the best record
in the NBA without him, and they look absolutely fantastic
and can't find room to play some really good NBA players.
So you know, Oklahoma City can certainly weather this injury.
And against this Lakers team, they don't have Luca Doncic,
(06:21):
so that is a way bigger injury on the Lakers side.
Really unclear when Lucas is going to be back. Lebron's
played very well for a forty one year old, especially,
I mean unprecedented greatness at his age in Austin Reeves's back.
But you know, I was watching that game last night
and there was really a very little hope here for
the Lakers. Okase looked clearly better. I would predict this
(06:44):
as a sweep, and then we're going to see Oka
se rolling on into the probably the NBA Finals, but
the Western Conference final.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
First, all right, and in the one series where there's
a game of piece in terms of wins so far
Minnesota and San Antonio. Is there a sign that this
could be the closest of they the full conference semi
finals across the board?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh, you bet. We've saved the best for last year, Adam.
This is the fun series. This is a really fun
series in around that otherwise is a little disappointing. You
got Victor webin Yama, who to me is by far
the most entertaining player in basketball to watch right now.
He just continues to do things we've never seen a
basketball player do before at seven foot six, with his range,
with his handle, with his flexibility and versatility in such
(07:28):
an exciting young Spurs team. Stefon Castle, Dylan Harper, darn Fox.
They're loaded. They're certainly here a little earlier than we
have thought. They look like true NBA championship contenders, undoubtedly,
but they are so young and they're so untested in
the playoffs across the board. It's just going to be
a fascinating experiment to see how they do as things
go on. The Minnesota Timberwolves are quite the opposite. They've
(07:51):
made the Western Conference finals two consecutive years. They're led
by Anthony Edwards, proven superstar, would be All NBA player
if he'd played in US this year, and he has
been battling a significant knee injury. Through the first round,
they pulled off a massive upset of the Denver Nuggets.
They won without Edwards, they were missing Iods Soon Mutu,
(08:13):
They had three key injuries. Dante Devincenzo's out for the
year with the torn achilles. These te Wolves still upset
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Nuggets in the first round.
That was shocking and incredible. And so you got to
think with Edwards back, albeit hobbled, and the depth of
this team and the experience of this team, sure they're
going against a much better, i would say, much more
(08:35):
talented at the top, and the younger Spurs team with Wenbinyama,
who's probably a top three player in the league on paper.
The talent is with the Spurs, but the experience, the guile,
and the sort of intangible ability to win is all
with the Timberwolves. So I think that this sets up
to be a very interesting series, and with Minnesota getting
Game one in San Antonio, all the more intrigue as
(08:57):
we look forwards here does they swing to Minnesota? So
this is the one to watch for Wembinyama alone, but
also because if there's going to be an upset, I
think it's in this series. But if you ask me
to pick, I gotta say the talent of the Spurs
should probably win out the day, but I wouldn't be
surprised if it goes six or seven games.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
All right, Well the next one is not far away
today as well, one city outside this afternoon. Well some
great series. There's some one sided ones too, but still
worth watching, I think. So Toby, before you go, we've
got eight teams left and we're probably not going to
speak for a couple of weeks, as I know you're
on a well deserved holiday very soon. Any team I know,
okay sees being touted around, any team that you think
at the stage is showing all signs of going the
(09:34):
whole way.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You know what, I think that right now, I love
to do this if I can, I'm going to stay
with the prediction I gave you in the preseason for
the NBA Finals this year, it's still alive, and I
think that it's going to happen, and that'll be the
New York Knicks against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But honestly,
even with the injury, I don't see anybody beating Okase.
They are so ferocious on defense. It's so hard to
(10:00):
score on. It doesn't matter who's out there. They're so deep.
You know, if you'd given me the choice of Oklahoma
City or every other team in the NBA, both before
this year and going into the playoffs, I would take
Oklahoma City over the field. And that is some real
confidence in this team. It's the Spurs. It's probably the
Western Conference final. Whoever wins that will be the favorite.
But if there's any team that can give them a fight,
(10:22):
it is the New York Knicks. I think that would
be an incredibly fun final. But at the end of
the day, the Thunders defense is going to win the day,
and I think Okac is going to repeat his NBA champions.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio,
News looks anybody on the old sport breakfast all the
NBA playoffs down to the final eight, four h on
the West and acet and goodness, may what a playoff
series it has been so far more in the first
round rather than the current second round. So let's bring
in our North American sports correspondent Toby Kirk, because I
know he will have loved those first round matches. Morning
(00:20):
to you, Toby, am my root. It was pretty chaotic,
wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, it was. It was awesome outam the first round.
You know, so often we are really you know, subjected
to some very one sided games in the first round
of the NBA playoffs. You have the true contenders at
the top and often the middle teams in basketball, especially
compared to other sports. In the NBA in particular, I
can't usually hang with the giants. And yet this year
(00:45):
we saw some great series, some great upsets, some great
near upsets. We nearly had an eight to one upset
where Orlando nearly took down Detroit. You might have heard
me last time I was on say I thought Detroit
was a very vulnerable one seed. They very nearly they
got upset. In fact, they should have Orlando blew a
twenty plus point lead in Game six where they could
have won it, and then Detroit needed a heroic effort
(01:07):
from Kate Tunningham in Game seven to win it. You know,
we had the two to seven upset the Boston Celtics
went down and round one. I'm glad I wasn't on
to predict that because I would have certainly got that
very wrong. And now, as you say here, we've got
some interesting series in round two, but looking a little
more one sided than one would think. It's been a
strange playoffs so far.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And Dave, well, let's go through the order of games
coming up this week, Kens and we'll starts with the
seventy six's nixt series. That's one of those when New
York's two nothing a hit, surprising, is it?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah? Well, I mean it's surprising the Philadelphia's here at all,
because they pulled off a massive upset of the Boston Celtics,
who was kind of everybody's pick out of the Eastern
Conference before the playoffs started. The Celtics had looked so good,
and then they got Jason Tatum back, who was looking
great himself off of an injury, and then Philly They're
just this team that at the beginning of the year
(02:00):
you could squint, you could see the world where everything
would come together for the seventy six ers. They have
a guy in Joel Embiid who just won the MVP
a couple of years ago, Tyree's Maxie and is sending Superstar,
super interesting young rookie, and VJ. Edgecomb and then a
multi time l NBA player and Paul George. You know,
those sound like a very complete basis for a team.
They have some depth as well, but all season Embiid
(02:22):
was hurt, Maxie was overused and hurt. There were some
up and downs, Paul George was suspended. All this weird
stuff happened, and then suddenly the version of Philly that
we thought we might see came together and showed up
in the playhoffs for the first time. And it was
remarkable that they took down a really strong Boston Celtics team.
And here they are against the New York Knicks. So
(02:43):
it's a brutal schedule for them. They knocked off one
giant already. You got to think though, the Knicks they
have the two nothing lead and New York Knicks, I
think they're clearly the most talented team from the Eastern
Conference remaining. You know, they have their superstars. They have
Jalen Brunson, who is a playoff leading score. Karl Anthony
Towns up and down, one of the most frustrating but
skilled players in the NBA, has been great in these
(03:06):
playoffs and he was a big difference in them getting
through a scrappy Atlanta team. So New York absolutely blew
them out game one. Game two was a lot closer.
Philly still has a lot of upside. I gotta say
they're a fun kind of dark horse. But the Knicks
with the two nothing lead, looking as good as they
are right now, I really got to think that the
series is theirs. They at least need a split in
Philly these next two games, and then I think they'll
(03:28):
be just fine moving on to the conference final.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
All right, Well, that Knicks game is only a few
hours away, game at three, and we'll stay at least actually,
because there's the game tomorrow. Obviously, these two series we'll
mate with the winners in a couple of wakes. Detroit
and Cleveland's again one sided, Detroit two nil up in
the Swan Toby, Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And I think that's no big surprise because, to be honest,
you know, my Toronto Raptors played the Cleveland Cavaliers in
the first round and it was one of the worst
NBA Playoffs series I've ever seen in my life, and
that is saying something considering it went seven games. There
is an incredibly dramatic buzzer beater game winner in Game
six for the Raptors, which was pretty exciting, but if
(04:10):
you actually watched the basketball, both teams were kind of terrible,
and Cleveland has looked just kind of terrible this entire
playoff run. They've got James Harden, famous for being, you know, MVP,
future Hall of Famer horrible in the playoffs. He's doing
himself no favors with that reputation this year. Donovan Mitchell's
quite good, but the whole team is just really rudderless
on offense unless it's just Mitchell or Harden taking the
(04:32):
ball themselves, and their defense is way more inconsistent than
you you would like, and they don't look like a
championship team on either side of the ball. Detroit certainly
has had their struggles as well. They almost lost to
an eight seed in Orlando, and we've had I believe
two eight to one upsets since two thousand. In the NBA,
it almost never happened. Miami got Boston a few years ago,
(04:52):
and then Dallas did it about fifteen years ago. But
Detroit very vulnerable one seed and Jalen Duran, their second
best play who's going to be an All NBA player,
has just been awful these playoffs too. He's really shrunk here.
So it's kind of both teams really underperforming, and yet
Detroit does clearly look better. So I think this is
kind of the ugliest and least fun series. But I
(05:13):
do think that just because Cleveland has looked so bad,
Detroit is kind of going to you know, maybe even
lazily roll their way to a win in this one.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Okay, well, full teams left in the wist as well,
and yet we know there's still a bit of a
carryover effect of Oklahoma City thunder fens here in New Zealand. Still,
and I guess Toban no surprises that they are a here.
It's given their form this season of the Lakers in
that series.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, well, I mean, wow, lucky people who cheer for
the Oklahoma City thunder. Still, I will say it of
any pro sports team of any of the more North
American leagues that I follow. They are the best set
up franchise I have ever seen, presently, incredible, future prospects, unbelievable.
They still have a million draft picks and so many
great young players. They're ridiculously deep. They're just great. So
(06:00):
the knock on Oklahoma City is that Jalen Williams, their
second best player, is hurt again. But he's basically been
hurt all year and they still had the best record
in the NBA without him, and they look absolutely fantastic
and can't find room to play some really good NBA players.
So you know, Oklahoma City can certainly weather this injury.
And against this Lakers team, they don't have Luca Doncic,
(06:21):
so that is a way bigger injury on the Lakers side.
Really unclear when Lucas is going to be back. Lebron's
played very well for a forty one year old, especially,
I mean unprecedented greatness at his age in Austin Reeves's back.
But you know, I was watching that game last night
and there was really a very little hope here for
the Lakers. Okase looked clearly better. I would predict this
(06:44):
as a sweep, and then we're going to see Oka
se rolling on into the probably the NBA Finals, but
the Western Conference final.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
First, all right, and in the one series where there's
a game of piece in terms of wins so far
Minnesota and San Antonio. Is there a sign that this
could be the closest of they the full conference semi
finals across the board?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh, you bet. We've saved the best for last year, Adam.
This is the fun series. This is a really fun
series in around that otherwise is a little disappointing. You
got Victor webin Yama, who to me is by far
the most entertaining player in basketball to watch right now.
He just continues to do things we've never seen a
basketball player do before at seven foot six, with his range,
with his handle, with his flexibility and versatility in such
(07:28):
an exciting young Spurs team. Stefon Castle, Dylan Harper, darn Fox.
They're loaded. They're certainly here a little earlier than we
have thought. They look like true NBA championship contenders, undoubtedly,
but they are so young and they're so untested in
the playoffs across the board. It's just going to be
a fascinating experiment to see how they do as things
go on. The Minnesota Timberwolves are quite the opposite. They've
(07:51):
made the Western Conference finals two consecutive years. They're led
by Anthony Edwards, proven superstar, would be All NBA player
if he'd played in US this year, and he has
been battling a significant knee injury. Through the first round,
they pulled off a massive upset of the Denver Nuggets.
They won without Edwards, they were missing Iods Soon Mutu,
(08:13):
They had three key injuries. Dante Devincenzo's out for the
year with the torn achilles. These te Wolves still upset
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Nuggets in the first round.
That was shocking and incredible. And so you got to
think with Edwards back, albeit hobbled, and the depth of
this team and the experience of this team, sure they're
going against a much better, i would say, much more
(08:35):
talented at the top, and the younger Spurs team with Wenbinyama,
who's probably a top three player in the league on paper.
The talent is with the Spurs, but the experience, the guile,
and the sort of intangible ability to win is all
with the Timberwolves. So I think that this sets up
to be a very interesting series, and with Minnesota getting
Game one in San Antonio, all the more intrigue as
(08:57):
we look forwards here does they swing to Minnesota? So
this is the one to watch for Wembinyama alone, but
also because if there's going to be an upset, I
think it's in this series. But if you ask me
to pick, I gotta say the talent of the Spurs
should probably win out the day, but I wouldn't be
surprised if it goes six or seven games.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
All right, Well the next one is not far away
today as well, one city outside this afternoon. Well some
great series. There's some one sided ones too, but still
worth watching, I think. So Toby, before you go, we've
got eight teams left and we're probably not going to
speak for a couple of weeks, as I know you're
on a well deserved holiday very soon. Any team I know,
okay sees being touted around, any team that you think
at the stage is showing all signs of going the
(09:34):
whole way.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You know what, I think that right now, I love
to do this if I can, I'm going to stay
with the prediction I gave you in the preseason for
the NBA Finals this year, it's still alive, and I
think that it's going to happen, and that'll be the
New York Knicks against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But honestly,
even with the injury, I don't see anybody beating Okase.
They are so ferocious on defense. It's so hard to
(10:00):
score on. It doesn't matter who's out there. They're so deep.
You know, if you'd given me the choice of Oklahoma
City or every other team in the NBA, both before
this year and going into the playoffs, I would take
Oklahoma City over the field. And that is some real
confidence in this team. It's the Spurs. It's probably the
Western Conference final. Whoever wins that will be the favorite.
But if there's any team that can give them a fight,
(10:22):
it is the New York Knicks. I think that would
be an incredibly fun final. But at the end of
the day, the Thunders defense is going to win the day,
and I think Okac is going to repeat his NBA champions.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio,
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Bleep! with Ana Navarro
Fear thrives in silence and confusion. Ana Navarro rejects both. Her voice is an antidote to today’s chaos. Her new podcast, Bleep! with Ana Navarro, takes on today’s most pressing issues with the voices most connected to it: decision-makers, political leaders, cultural shapers, and people on the frontlines of the story. The conversations acknowledge the emotions we all feel—despair, sadness, fear— but emerge with knowledge, perspective, and hope. The belief is simple: fearless dialogue can transform fear into courage, and courage into change. When fear dominates the headlines, this show digs deeper. Because information, debate, and conversation don’t just ease fear, they give us power to shape the future.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.