After an exhilarating two weeks of first-round play filled with Game 7s and series sweeps, the second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs will get underway.
The No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers, after a dominating regular season, swept the Miami Heat in the first round and became the first team in the East to claim a spot in the conference semifinals. On Sunday, the Cavaliers will take on Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers after they knocked out the Milwaukee Bucks from the playoffs for the second season in a row.
The Boston Celtics, the 2024 NBA champions, move one step closer to a repeat Finals appearance. But Boston will first have to face off Monday against a gritty New York Knicks team, which is coming off a tough first-round series against the Detroit Pistons.
In the West, after a grueling seven-game series against the LA Clippers, the Denver Nuggets will meet the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in an MVP showdown beginning Monday between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic. The Minnesota Timberwolves will take on the Golden State Warriors after they defeated the Houston Rockets in Game 7 on Sunday.
Before we kick off the second round, our NBA experts break down the biggest questions for each matchup, including which underdog is most likely to advance and which player matchup they're most excited for.
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Eastern Conference
Cleveland Cavaliers (1) vs. Indiana Pacers (4)
In a battle of two elite offenses, which will prevail?
The gap between these two teams over the past few months hasn't been as wide as their regular-season records would indicate.
Since Jan.1, the Cavs are 35-14; the Pacers are 34-14. Still, Cleveland has led the Eastern Conference all season because of an elite offense that led the NBA in scoring with 121.9 points per game. That's the second-best mark for any team in the past 40 years, behind the Pacers' 123.3 points in 2023-24. The Cavs (136.2) and Pacers (118.0) were the No. 1 and No. 2 offenses, respectively, by points per 100 possessions during the first round of the playoffs.
Both teams want to push the pace, and this series could be decided by which offense establishes itself as more dominant. -- Jamal Collier
The Pacers will make their second straight ECF if _______.
Haliburton can dictate the flow of this series against Cleveland's All-Star backcourt. Indy comes into this series as the more experienced team, advancing deeper in last year's playoffs than most of the core members of the Cavs. And the Pacers will go as far as Haliburton takes them. He's already produced some big playoff moments in the past two years -- besting the Knicks at Madison Square Garden last season and sending the Milwaukee Bucks home in Game 5 of this season's first round with a game-winning layup.
The Cavs are not talking about the status of two-time All-Star Darius Garland, who missed the final two games of the first round with a sprained left big toe. If Haliburton gets comfortable, starts spreading the floor and forcing Cleveland's bigs to the perimeter, the Pacers can get the Cavs into some uncomfortable positions. -- Collier
Best bet: Cavaliers -1.5 games (-180)
Put me down as the one who expects the Cavaliers to win and win convincingly. Yes, the Pacers won the season series, but that is misleading.
Two of those wins came in April after the Cavs had clinched the top seed and was starting reserves. And the Pacers' first win came before the trade deadline deal that sent De'Andre Hunter to Cleveland and with Ty Jerome out. The Cavaliers team at full strength is significantly better than the Pacers and can beat them at their own style.
My official pick is Cavs in six games, but I could see them taking this series in five. -- Andre Snellings
More bets for Cavaliers-Pacers
Boston Celtics (2) vs. New York Knicks (3)
After going 0-4 against the Celtics in the regular season, what will be the Knicks' biggest adjustment?
New York desperately needs to find a way to collapse on the Celtics' shooters better than it did during the regular season.
No club played as much pick-and-roll drop coverage against Boston as the Knicks did, and Tom Thibodeau's club paid handsomely for it, surrendering 21 made 3s per game with the Celtics hitting 43.5% from deep in those four defeats.
A heavier presence of backup Mitchell Robinson, who has the agility to come higher up on screens, will be key, as will schematic changes on defense. -- Chris Herring
The Celtics' biggest concern in this series is _____?
Jrue Holiday's availability. Holiday missed the past three games of the first-round series against Orlando with a hamstring injury. He was a huge difference-maker in the regular-season meetings with New York, averaging 16 points and three assists on 67% shooting in three games.
Perhaps most important: He's one of the Celtics' top defensive options for Jalen Brunson, who scored 30 or more five times in six games during the first round.
According to NBA.com's matchup data, Holiday defended him for 80 possessions, limiting Brunson to 3-for-6 shooting and six points in that regular-season span. -- Herring
Best bet: Exact series total games -- six (+295)
The Knicks have struggled against the Celtics, losing eight of their past nine matchups.
They're also coming off a hard-fought series against the Detroit Pistons. While New York will give Boston more of a challenge than Orlando did in Round 1, the Celtics are simply too potent offensively with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and excellent depth -- including Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard.
They're also stout defensively. Boston won't sweep New York, but I envision it closing the series with relative ease. -- Eric Moody
Western Conference
Oklahoma City Thunder (1) vs. Denver Nuggets (4)
How do Murray and Jokic solve OKC's league-leading defense?
They can start by watching the tape of the last time these teams met: a 140-127 win for the Nuggets in Oklahoma City on March 10.
It was Jokic's only efficient shooting outing in four meetings with the Thunder, but it was a dominant performance, as he scored 35 points on 15-of-20 shooting and dished out the ball to get eight assists. Murray scored 34 points that night, more than he had combined in the other two games he played against Oklahoma City this season.
He'll need help from Jokic and other teammates to free him from Lu Dort, who is as good as any defender in the league at fighting over or through screens. -- Tim MacMahon
Which MVP candidate will have the bigger impact on this series?
It better be Jokic if the Nuggets are going to have any chance to pull off the upset.
The Thunder are the much more talented and deeper team, as evidenced by Oklahoma City cruising to a league-best 68 wins and shattering the NBA record for point differential in a season.
But the Thunder are as well-equipped as anyone to contain Jokic, featuring a pair of defensive-minded 7-footers in Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren, as well as several guards and wings who are pests in the passing lanes. Denver is also lacking an All-Defensive candidate to take the primary assignment on Gilgeous-Alexander. -- MacMahon
Best bet: Exact series total games -- five (+175)
Over the summer I predicted the Thunder were going to win it all this year, and nothing I've seen has changed my mind thus far. However, any team with "Playoff Jamal Murray" and Nikola Jokic is a threat to not only win games, but the series. It's tough to find value in this series but I do like Denver to get at least one game and the +175 seems like a reasonable payout if the Thunder can win 4-1. The Thunder could sweep, or Denver could win more than one game, but five games feels like the smartest bet to me. The teams split the season series 2-2, but I'll be surprised if Denver gets that many wins in this one. -- Steve Alexander
Minnesota Timberwolves (6) vs. Golden State Warriors (7)
How can Kerr plan on stopping Anthony Edwards?
Steve Kerr and his coaching staff, including defensive coach Jerry Stackhouse, have a day to figure out how to slow down Edwards for Game 1. Already loaded with confidence, Edwards enters this series on a high, averaging 26.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists in the first round win over the Lakers. Kerr knows how talented Edwards is after coaching him with USA Basketball. Edwards averaged 26 points against the Warriors this season, but Minnesota went 1-3 against Golden State. The last time the two teams faced each other was on Jan. 15, but both teams are different now with Minnesota playing with more confidence and Golden State now in a rhythm with Jimmy Butler III. The Warriors will have to use their championship pedigree and vast playoff experience to get the best of Edwards and will have to send different defenders at the three-time All-Star. Kerr could also put his best defender, Draymond Green, on Edwards, but Green will also have to worry about the Minnesota big men. "He's playing with supreme confidence," Curry said of Edwards. "We know they had their run last year [to the Western Conference Finals] and a new look with Randle. But same Ant who's trying to take strides with every opportunity he gets and it's going to be a tough challenge. We know we got to send multiple bodies at him and figure out a game plan to go at him. But yeah, they're hot right now." -- Ohm Youngmisuk
How do the smaller Warriors avoid the Lakers' fate against Gobert, McDaniels, Randle and Reid?
First and foremost, Green has to maintain his composure and stay on the court without getting into foul trouble and earn any potential technical and flagrant fouls against Rudy Gobert as these two have a history. He took onus that he set a poor tone in Game 6 by earning an early flagrant foul and spoke to the team about it in an emotional players meeting on Saturday before Game 7 against Houston. Golden State had all sorts of issues against Houston's giant front line of Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams while having trouble containing the athletic Amen Thompson inside as well. The Warriors were outrebounded by a combined total of 51 rebounds in the seven-game series, winning the rebounding battle only once in Game 5. They'll face another challenging series on the glass against Gobert, Randle, McDaniels and Naz Reid. The Warriors could use Kevon Looney in a bigger role and despite his struggles at the end of the first round, also utilize rookie Quinten Post because of his ability to stretch the floor. Butler can also help by looking to make shots and get the Minnesota bigs into foul trouble. -- Youngmisuk
Best bet: Series total games -- over 5.5 (-175)
The juice here is quite strong, but at least it's an entirely reasonable position. Point being, this is the toughest second-round series to project. It doesn't appear one team has a massive advantage either way, which would naturally lead to expectations for a long and competitive series. The Timberwolves bring similar dimensions of the toughness, athleticism and attitude the Rockets showed in their first-round with the Warriors. They also bring far more offensive firepower in a variety of forms. This reads like a long battle, so the price is more palatable in that context. -- Jim McCormick
More bets for Timberwolves-Warriors
Bonus!
The underdog most likely to advance is _____.
The recent track record for teams such as the Timberwolves, which go from underdogs in one round to favorites in the next, is mixed. That has happened six times since 2020, with the newly minted favorites going 3-3 in those series. Minnesota fell into that category last year in the conference finals. Underdogs against Denver in round two without home-court advantage, the Timberwolves were then favored to beat the Dallas Mavericks as the higher seed in the series, only to lose in five games. I'm still picking Minnesota to win because Golden State has to run out of gas at some point, but I think this series is best considered a toss-up. -- Kevin Pelton
What is the most intriguing player matchup in the second round?
Do I get to say Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic? The last time the top two finishers in MVP voting squared off in the playoffs was James Harden and Russell Westbrook in 2017. That year was during the NBA's short-lived awards show era, so we didn't yet know the results. It's possible this time the trophy could be handed out during the series, as in 1995, when David Robinson was presented with MVP before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against reigning MVP Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon responded with 41 points and 16 boards as the Rockets won in San Antonio. -- Pelton