2026 NBA Finals: New York Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs

Knicks-Spurs kick it off tonight in the 2025-2026 NBA Finals.  It's hard not to be as excited as everyone else about San Antonio and Wemby but the Knicks are good.  Really good.  Led by Jalen Brunson, they are a deep team with multiple players who can shoot and score.  This includes one of the best shooting big men ever, if not the best, in Karl-Anthony Towns.  His play around the 3-point line could make for an interesting matchup for Wemby who likes to sag a lot and can do so against traditional bigs.  But Wemby and the Spurs seem to have an energy right now that might be hard to stop.  And New York doesn't have the defense OKC did. San Antonio needs the ball in De'Aaron Fox' hand to keep down turnovers and to be that calming presence.  Wemby will be flying everywhere on defense which makes it tough for shooters and anyone close to the lane alike.  I like San Antonio in this series.  The Spurs can be streaky though and the Knicks have plenty of scorers so I think it will be close and I expect 6 games.

I did enjoy looking back on the 1999 NBA Finals where Tim Duncan and David Robinson led the Spurs over the New York team with Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, Marcus Camby and Larry Johnson in 5 games.  While we knew that Spurs team was good and that Duncan was special, did we really know it would lead to 5 San Antonio Spurs Championships?  I've always been a closet Spurs fan dating back to George Gervin, Artis Gilmore, and Johnny Moore in the early 80s, so I definitely have a rooting interest in this series.
 

2025 NBA Fandom

 

My brother-in-law got me into the NBA in the late 70s, early 80s.  It started with the Statis Pro Basketball board game and playing basketball.  This was a time when the NBA Finals were played on tape delay until 1982 so seeing the players names really cemented them for me.  We played that game a lot.

Starting in 1979 games were on cable and I was able to start seeing the games consistently.  I was hooked. This weekend I purchased the NBA League Pass.  A first for me.  The grandsons are showing interest in the NBA.  I've already toyed with getting a subscription so maybe this helps grow their fandom.  I subscribed to Hoops and Basketball Digest magazines for the longest time.  Loved both of those.

I also played basketball for a hot second in junior high but I did play a ton of intramural basketball in junior college and in the Air Force.  My knees will attest to that.  ;)

My favorite teams are the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers.  I grew up on TBS, so I became a fan of everything Atlanta.  Somehow, and I still don't remember how, I became a fan of Portland even before that.  Doesn't matter I'm a true fan of both.  Portland won a championship but I can't claim being a fan at the time.  I think I remember it but.  Still I love that team.  My favorite players from each team are Dominique Wilkins and Damian Lillard.

My go to sports site for basketball stats is Basketball Reference .com.  I'm a stat geek at I love how easy it is to navigate and all the great information it provides.  Hoops Rumors is my go-to for NBA news.  Online I'm in simulation leagues on the free site Pennant Chase .com.  I'm also a big NBA 2K fan and I'm already playing NBA 2K26.  I don't do all the cool things the game offers but I still really enjoy it.  I play as an all-time team vs another all-time team.  I love playing with all the legends.  I'm working to play Statis Pro Basketball again.  I really enjoy being able to play players from any era as well as keeping the stats from the games.

I have two Dominique jerseys.  The classic Hawks red jersey ('82-'92) and his Team USA jersey.  The only other basketball jersey I have is a Buck Williams Nets white jersey ('83-'90).  My favorite basketball card sets are 76-77 Topps Tall Boys, 90-91 SkyBox, 91-92 SkyBox and 91-92 Upper Deck.

My best all-time starting 5 is below...  Plenty of room to argue.  I argue with myself over this all the time.  I have Hakeem right there with Kareem.  MJ is the GOAT in my book.  I've watched him and LeBron play a lot.  And it's no knock on LeBron.  MJ is just the best player of all-time in my opinion.

My favorite players in the NBA today.  The first three are in order.  After that it's more fluid.  I think Nikola Jokic is the best player in the sport today.  He's so fun to watch.  Very smart and just seems to be good at everything he does.

My favorite players all-time.

I've been wanting to do "fandom" posts for each sport for some time now.  This is my first.  Thanks for letting me just spit ball on what is probably my favorite sport right now.  Enjoy the start of the season!

Atlanta Hawks 2025-2026 Season Preview

The 24-25 Atlanta Hawks surprised me some by winning 40 games.  They managed to get the #8 seed but then lost two play-in games to miss the playoffs.  Trae Young led the league in assists per game, but his scoring and shooting were down.  Jalen Johnson was having a really good season but lost most of it to injury. De-Andre Hunter was traded to Cleveland for Chris LeVert.  Bogdan Bogdanovic was also traded.  Onyeka Okongwu played well after becoming the starting center and Dyson Daniels almost won Defensive Player of the Year.  

Atlanta liked what they saw and made big moves in the offseason.  Kristaps Porzingis was probably the biggest add as Boston shed salary.  Nickeil Gilgeous-Alexander is another good wing defender to pair with Daniels.  They brought in Luke Kennard to help with perimeter shooting.  They get back Jalen Johnson.  I think they have a solid starting unit and if Zaccharie Risacher can make strides, who knows.  The East isn't as stacked as it was. I expect they'll be no worse than the #8 seed but I expect them to be a better team.  They solid defenders and defense will win them games.  Trae Young must play something resembling defense though and must also do a good job getting all the new pieces and parts involved in the offense.  I'm not saying they make a run to the Finals but if they get hot at the right time, I think they could win at least one series in the playoffs.

Portland Trail Blazers 2025-2026 Season Preview

The Portland Trail Blazers surprised by winning 15 more games in 24-25 than they did the previous season.  I wish I could explain how.  They did have solid guard play, DeAndre Ayton was a solid center, but overall this team wouldn't wow you by looking at it.  Toumani Camara did make his mark with a great second half and an All-Defensive team nod.  Scoot Henderson saw modest gains while Jerami Grant struggled.

Portland still decided to go in a different direction this season after the gains made last year.  They bought out Ayton.  Good move.  They traded Anfernee Simons for Jrue Holiday.  Trade your better shooting guard for an expensive older player (he'll be 35 this season and making $100M+ over the next three seasons)?  They bring back Damian Lillard for $31M over the next three seasons though he will be out all of 25-26.  They drafted another center though Donovan Clingan had a solid rookie season.  I'm not sure how much, if any improvement, the team can expect this season.  Sharpe has to shoot better while Portland decides if he's in their long-term plans.  Seems like they like him, but we'll see.  Can they find takers for Grant or center Robert Williams?  Can Scoot step up and be the player they envisioned when the was taken with the #3 pick?  I can see the team taking a step back.  That's rough considering they won only 31 games but I'm not sure any of the moves made them better.  We'll see.  I think this year they try to figure out what they have overall while fans are left wanting for a team that can win consistently.