Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder have faced little resistance in building their 2-0 lead in the first round.
Each week, NBA.com’s writers will weigh in on some of the most important topics around the league.
Which team has been the most impressive so far in the playoffs and why?
Steve Aschburner
The Portland Trail Blazers. Look, it’s clear the non-Luka, non-Austin Lakers have been impressive in smacking down Houston twice. But they were at home in a 4-5 matchup vs. an absent, then gimpy Kevin Durant. The Trail Blazers are dealing with the league’s hottest teams since Feb. 1, at the end of their own hectic season, getting just above .500 and reaching the playoffs for the first time in five years. Beating the Spurs on Tuesday, on the road, and rising from the 14-point grave San Antonio had dug for them in the final eight-plus minutes is a Webster’s definition of “impressive.”
Yes, Victor Wembanyama exited due to concussion protocols after playing less than 12 minutes. But Portland won those minutes by 11. The Spurs are accustomed to playing without him, going 12-6 in games he missed and overall, Wembanyama played fewer than half their 2025-26 minutes. Special mentions go to Scoot Henderson, Robert Williams III, Jrue Holiday and interim coach Tiago Splitter. Henderson (31 points) no longer needs to hear the wisecracks about being the linebacker who walked onto a basketball team. Williams is like a Clydesdale that responds to the playoffs like it’s a Super Bowl commercial. Holiday, so accomplished, doesn’t need to be doing this. And Splitter remarkably has kept it all together. Anything more in this series is gravy for the Blazers.
Brian Martin
The Los Angeles Lakers. Of the three teams with 2-0 series leads — the Thunder, Cavs and Lakers — only Los Angeles is doing so without its top two scorers from the regular season: Luka Dončić (33.5 ppg) and Austin Reaves (23.3 ppg).
How have the Lakers done it? LeBron James continues to defy Father Time by nearly averaging a triple-double (23.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 10 apg) as he looks to improve to 25-0 in playoff series when his teams hold a 2-0 lead. Luke Kennard is shooting the lights out (25 ppg on 72.7% from 3-point range) while logging over 40 minutes per game. Marcus Smart is stepping up on both ends of the court, including his breakout Game 2 performance with 25 points, five 3-pointers and five steals.
In addition, the Lakers have defended at a high level, holding the Rockets below 100 points in each of the first two games. The Rockets were held under 100 points only seven times all regular season … and they lost each of those games.
Shaun Powell
The Lakers. They’re not the best team in the playoffs, and are not even in the top five. But they’re the most impressive. To go up 2-0 on the Rockets without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves — even with Kevin Durant missing a game for Houston — is just shy of remarkable. Not only that, the Lakers finished the regular season with three straight wins to capture home court advantage in the first round. There are two players worth mentioning. LeBron James, of course. He’s 41 and executed a reverse dunk the other night, which usually requires young legs. The other is Luke Kennard. He spent much of his career as a bashful 3-point shooter, thereby minimizing his terrific accuracy. Without Dončić and Reaves, Kennard decided to take a more aggressive attitude and actively looks to score, even off the bounce, instead of just running to a corner and waiting for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer.
John Schuhmann
The Oklahoma City Thunder. They’re the defending champs and the No. 1 overall seed and it’s no surprise that they’re up 2-0. We may have to wait until the Western Conference Finals to really see them challenged. But the champs have outscored the Phoenix Suns by 25 points per 100 possessions, more than double the differential of any of the other seven series.
On defense, the Thunder have held the Suns to 14.7 fewer points per 100 than they scored in the regular season. On offense, the Thunder have scored 11.6 per 100 more than Phoenix allowed in the regular season. They’ve been absolutely dominant, but now we wait to learn the extent of Jalen Williams’ latest hamstring injury.
Jeff Zillgitt
The Los Angles Lakers. Shorthanded without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, the Lakers have received tremendous offensive and defensive performances from their starting five: LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton. James continues to defy time with 23.5 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds per game, Kennard and Smart are doing their finest impressions of Dončić and Reaves and JJ Redick and his coaching staff have put together a game plan that has held the Rockets to fewer than 100 points in the first two games
