rekordy: 2025 NBA playoffs

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The 2025 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2024–25 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder, led by the reigning MVP and scoring leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, finished the season with a league-best 68–14 record, giving them the first seed in the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference's best record was held by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who finished with a 64–18 record under their star Donovan Mitchell. Both teams, along with the Boston Celtics who entered the postseason as the defending champions, were seen as the championship contenders. The reigning runner-up Dallas Mavericks lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament, whil…

Evidence: 68 • authority: 72

The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-Wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team was founded during the league expansion in 1989 and has played its home games at Target Center since 1990. In 2025, longtime owner Glen Taylor completed the sale of the team to former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore, finalizing an agreement that began in 2021. In June 2025, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously signed off on the sale. Alex Rodriguez, Marc Lore, and a consortium of unn…

Evidence: 66 • authority: 72

The Luka Dončić–Anthony Davis trade was a National Basketball Association (NBA) trade made on the night of February 1–2, 2025, which saw Luka Dončić traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a three-team deal facilitated by the Utah Jazz. It was the first time in NBA history that two reigning All-NBA Team players were traded for each other midseason. It is considered one of the most unexpected and lopsided trades in NBA history, even though the Mavericks still received an All-NBA player, as Dončić was perceived as one of the best players in his generation and was almost six years younger than Davis. Previously considered directionless, the Lakers built…

Evidence: 66 • authority: 72

Luka Dončić ( LOO-kə DON-chitch; Slovene: [ˈlùːka ˈdòːntʃitʃ]; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a Rookie of the Year, six-time NBA All-Star, six-time All-NBA First Team member and a two-time NBA Scoring Champion. He also represents the Slovenian national team. Nicknamed “Luka Magic,” he is broadly regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time. Dončić was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2018 NBA draft and then traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Dončić was unanimously selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won Rookie of the Year for the 2018–…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The 2002 NBA playoffs were the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2001–02 season. This was the final postseason that held a best-of-5 first-round series; the 2003 NBA playoffs saw those series expand to a best-of-7 format. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets 4 games to 0 in the 2002 NBA Finals. Shaquille O'Neal was named NBA Finals MVP for the third straight year. The 2002 playoffs are best remembered for that year's Western Conference Finals between the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. The matchup between the Lakers and K…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The NBA playoffs is the annual postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to determine the league’s champion. The playoffs date back to 1947 when the NBA was then known as the Basketball Association of America, and eventually expanded to the present-day four-round, best-of-seven tournament in 2003. Since 2020, it has been held after the preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA play-in tournament. Under the current postseason format since 2021, six teams from each of the two conferences automatically advance to the playoffs based on regular season winning percentage, while those teams finishing seventh through tenth from each conference first compete in the play-in…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The 2025–26 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 79th season of the franchise, its 78th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), its 66th season in Los Angeles, and its 27th season playing home games at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers advanced to the 2025 NBA Cup knockout stage as the winner of West Group B, having finished the group stage with an undefeated 4–0 record. However, they were eliminated by the eventual Cup runners-up San Antonio Spurs in the quarterfinals. On March 31, the Lakers clinched the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and their second consecutive Pacific Division title following a win by the Orlando Magic over the Phoenix Suns. They also won 50 games in b…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, an arena they share with the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA with 17 championships, second to the Boston Celtics. The franchise began in 1946 as the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL), and are one of only eight teams from the NBA's…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The 2024 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2023–24 season. The playoffs began on April 20 and concluded on June 17 with the Boston Celtics defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals. Boston's first title since 2008, it was the Celtics' 18th title, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most championships in NBA history. This was also the Mavericks' third NBA Finals appearance after 2006 and 2011. The Denver Nuggets were the defending champions, but lost in the conference semifinals to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves and the Cleveland Cavaliers set NBA records for having the two largest comebacks in g…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The 1998 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1997–98 season. The tournament concluded with the two-time defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls defeating the Western Conference champion Utah Jazz 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. The Bulls achieved a second three peat, a goal unrivaled since the Boston Celtics in 1966. Michael Jordan was named NBA Finals MVP for the sixth and final time.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The 2026 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2025–26 season. The playoffs began on April 18 and ended on June 13 with the New York Knicks defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games at the 2026 NBA Finals. The Knicks won their first title since 1973, and became the first team to win an NBA Cup championship and an NBA championship in the same season. The Oklahoma City Thunder were the defending champions, but lost in the Western Conference finals to the Spurs in seven games. The Thunder's loss ensured a unique champion for the eighth consecutive year, the longest stretch in NBA history.

Evidence: — • authority: 88

Fuelled by passion: Obsessive passion amplifies positive and negative feelings throughout a hockey playoff series. Previous research has shown that the highs and lows of sports fandom are more extreme for fans with strong levels of obsessive passion (Lafrenière et al., 2012). We tested if this amplification effect applied to how hockey fans felt throughout a National Hockey League (NHL) playoff series. Fans of the Winnipeg Jets (N = 57) reported levels of harmonious and obsessive passion prior to the start of the 2019 NHL playoffs, and then reported their feelings the day after each game of the first playoff round. The results supported the amplification hypothesis by showing that the impac…