If you’re a Houston Rockets fan, like I am, it’s been tough enjoying this postseason. I’m not just talking about the infuriating, lackluster fashion in which the Rockets were knocked out in the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m also referring to the harbingers of doom over the next decade that are unfolding in the Western Conference.
It was believed that Oklahoma City would be the generational dynasty into the 2030’s, and they may still be. However, they were vanquished in seven games by the San Antonio Spurs, so it’s fair to see there are two dynasty candidates in the Western Conference, and neither of them are the Houston Rockets.
Still, if you’re reading this, then you’re likely a sports fan, so you’ll probably watch the NBA Finals. Thus, consider this article both a promotional flyer, as well as a warning label, for this matchup between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Here are three good things and three bad things about this finals matchup:
GOOD — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s flopping will not be on your television
This is not hyperbole — there is no recent NBA player’s playing style that I despise more than that of two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA, as the kids refer to him, is the most notorious flopper in the current NBA product, which is saying something because this league is full of convulsing, out-of-water fish level floppers. How bad is it? Jay Williams of ESPN clowned SGA with this segment two days ago:
It’s pretty embarrassing, and thankfully, this affront to the game of basketball is somewhere in Cancun now, almost assuredly flopping when someone bumps him at the pool bar.
GOOD — Chet Holmgren has seized C.J. Stroud’s spot as “most ridiculed young playoff under-performer”
Yes, a second good thing about these NBA Finals is Thunder related. Since being selected second overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, Chet Holmgren has always struck me as someone overrated. He is MORE than somewhat goofy looking. Yes, the Thunder won a title last season with Holmgren as their second or third best player, but this postseason, he is viewed as THE reason they didn’t return to the Finals. He is getting killed by media and fans alike. This Kendrick Perkins cut sums it up:
C.J. Stroud, congrats! You’re off the hook. Chet Holmgren is the most ridiculed playoff performance of 2026.
GOOD — More Danhausen!
Danhausen is a WWE superstar whose gimmick is that he places curses on people or places that get sideways with him. This postseason, he cursed the Knicks at the beginning of the playoffs, and they lost their first two games of the postseason. He then, thanks to a Knicks fan paying him “human monies” (Danhausen’s words) on Cameo, uncursed the Knicks, and they’ve won 11 games in a row, with the biggest point differential for 11 games in league history. This is a fun angle to the Knicks’ playoff journey, and we get it for four more games, at least!
BAD — The Spurs are young, like SUPER young
Okay, now comes the warning label. The Spurs are the first team to ever make the NBA Finals with their two leading scorers age 22 or younger. Also, by weighted minutes played, they are the second youngest roster to ever make the NBA Finals, behind only the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers (shout out the late Bill Walton!). This is incredibly depressing for Rocket fans, who watched the team tank vigorously for four years, actually collect some capable players, trade for Kevin Durant, and it still feels like the Rockets are light years behind the Spurs.
BAD — Yeah, it’s hard to like either of these teams, if you’re from Houston
So yeah, here we are in Houston, and the two teams in the NBA FInals are a team from New York City, and the in-state rival, who is essentially the New England Patriots of the NBA. I’ve ready stories lately about meteors exploding over the northeast part of the United States, and asteroids on paths far closer to Earth than normal. Is it bad that I am rooting for one of these projectiles to squash the arena?
BAD — At least four games, likely more, of phony celebrity Knick fans at courtside
One thing about having either Los Angeles or New York teams in the playoffs — you can count on the celebrities paying their 40 grand to sit courtside, so that the world can see them. The deeper the teams go, the more phony fan celebs show their faces. For the Knicks, the only celeb that gets a pass from me is Spike Lee, who goes to every Knicks game, whether they are good or bad. Any of these other phonies? Screw ‘em all!
