Nets Rise, Thunder Silenced (Season 4 NBA 2k26)

Simon Carver

Alright, what’s up everybody—welcome back to the 2k Bros Podcast. I’m Simon Carver, sitting in with Jimbo, and today’s episode is, well, about as juicy as it gets: “Can joe go for the 3 peat?” So, Jimbo, let’s just get right into it, man. These rosters this season, I mean... talk about two very different visions.

Jimbo

You’re not kidding. Phillip went all-in on, you know, "win now mode" after letting Joe take the 2-1 championship lead. With the Nets, he took LeBron, Kyrie, Harden. That’s like some NBA multiverse All-Star team, right? I mean, you look at that and you can almost hear the AARP jokes...

Simon Carver

But seriously—the old heads can still hoop. Phillip makes that very clear. He stacked up veteran superstars for Brooklyn. And on the other side, you’ve got Joe over with OKC, running kind of this perimeter-oriented, high-efficiency squad—Tyler Herro, CJ McCollum, Porzingis as the main core. Not flashy, but, like, brutal if the shots are falling.

Jimbo

This came up last season a bit—remember when we talked about bench depth with the Jazz in that Kevin Durant run? Joe is still leaning on that “spread the floor, stack efficiency, ride the hot hand” approach. But, back to draft night, OKC got loads of shooting, basically building around Herro as an offensive engine. He just lets it fly, and everybody spaces out from there. Tons of shooters—some you almost forget are on the floor until they hit a big shot.

Simon Carver

Yeah, and with the condensed season—you don’t get twenty, thirty games to figure things out. You either click fast or, you know, you’re fishing. Joe picked up guys like Nick Richards, who looked like a throw-in on draft day, but man, that turned into, what, a plus-7.4 plus/minus? Sometimes the chess pieces aren’t what you expect.

Jimbo

Exactly. Meanwhile, on the Nets’ side, Phillip went full "veteran juggernaut." He’s got LeBron leading with over 13 PPG, Kyrie as the secondary scorer, Harden facilitating, and Gobert playing security at the rim. What gets me—it’s not just “big name chases ring” here, it’s balanced. Every one of those guys knows what to do, where to be. I dunno, Simon, I always say—sometimes chemistry just trumps all the fancy spreadsheet numbers.

Simon Carver

Right, but, Jimbo, don’t you think this actually sets up a season that’s gonna test the two classic philosophies we talk about? Like, "collect the superstars and hope the egos mesh" versus "spread the floor and punish every coverage mistake." Every year, we say, "Surely one is better," and then the league throws us a curveball—not to mention, no injuries, so these guys just run wild the entire season. Hard not to get sucked in by the drama before Game One’s even tipped, right?

Jimbo

Yeah, so let’s actually talk about how it played out, because man, the Thunder... they were flamethrowers in the regular season. Led the league with 65.6 points per game, a plus-9.3 differential, and just, I mean, Herro was hitting almost sixty percent from three! That’s not even real, Simon, c’mon.

Simon Carver

Yeah—I checked that stat twice. I mean, like, in a normal NBA season, that’s “lead the league by a mile” stuff, right? Herro goes 59.6% on threes, McCollum and Porzingis just quietly putting up about nine and eight a night. And then you get Nick Richards popping out of nowhere with the highest plus/minus on the team at +7.4. It’s, like, every lineup combo Joe throws out there just works. You know, that’s what we harp on, every possession matters in fourteen games. Every time you roll the dice on a rotation, you better get something out of it.

Jimbo

That part—OKC’s “committee” approach. But the Nets, ah, man, they didn’t exactly slouch. 63.9 points per game and a +5.9 differential, but the difference is, they did it so methodically. You watch a Nets game and it’s, like, LeBron orchestrates for two minutes, then Kyrie takes over, then Harden’s out there running the pick-n-roll until Gobert gets a layup. It’s like a math equation—if you leave somebody, boom, open look. Not always fancy, not always fast, but every time you blink, someone else is scoring.

Simon Carver

And what I noticed, Jimbo, is how Phillip never panicked. If a game’s close, they start running that late-clock stuff—LeBron or Kyrie isolating, Harden kicking for a corner three. It’s what separates the teams that “feel” pressure from the ones that turn “close game” into “just another Tuesday.” The leadership showed up early. I mean, Kyrie shot almost 58% from the field in the regular season. You’re not supposed to get that from your point guard, right?

Jimbo

No, not at all! And Gobert, by the way, might be the least flashy anchor in the whole simulation—just soaking up rebounds, changing shots, quietly making everyone’s metrics better. I wanna ask you this, Simon—what really, truly does it take to keep that level of efficiency when you know every single game could be the difference between a top seed and getting knocked out before the dance?

Simon Carver

Man, that’s the million-dollar question. Honestly, you need an offense that doesn’t get stuck. You need lineups that work when shots aren’t falling. And you need a guy—could be LeBron, could be Herro, whatever—who treats every game like a Game 7. Both teams showed that—OKC’s twenty-point blowouts, Nets’ grind-it-out wins—the issue is sustaining it. Because as we’ve seen a hundred times, what works in the regular season may not work when it’s elimination time. Like, the margins just vanish in the playoffs. I guess, you gotta have a team that can both “punch first” and “take a punch,” y’know?

Jimbo

Yep, everybody thinks regular season is the try-out, playoffs are the real test. Well, spoiler alert: they are, and this year really proved it.

Simon Carver

So, playoffs arrive and—bam, total reversal. Number one Thunder, who looked invincible, suddenly see their three-point accuracy drop off a cliff—down to 30%. That dynamic, Jimbo, it never gets old, even though it always stings. Joes thunder gets bounced in Round One by the eighth seed Pelicans. Meanwhile, Phillip and the Nets? They crank their scoring from 64 to 77 points per game. Like, what?!

Jimbo

Yeah, I wanna harp on that for a second, ‘cause we keep seeing this, right? Sometimes, you’re the regular season darlings—Herro doubles his scoring up to 18 a night in the playoffs, but suddenly the shots aren’t dropping for the rest of the crew. McCollum’s points dip, Porzingis gets quieter, and those bench mob plus/minuses go from “world-beaters” to, well, negative. That’s tough, man, but you live and die by the three, you sometimes... die by the three.

Simon Carver

Absolutely. Oh, and here’s where Phillip’s old veterans put on a clinic. The Nets not only get better, they look like a different animal. Harden leads the squad in playoff scoring at 12.4 PPG. Kyrie? Nearly twelve a night, and he snags Finals MVP with insane 96% FT shooting. What I didn’t expect, though, Jimbo, was that scoring leap—plus fourteen points per game after the regular season. That doesn’t just happen unless it’s, like, the "flip the switch" cliché actually coming true.

Jimbo

Yup, and that Game 3 against Minnesota in the Finals—Harden drops 25, Kyrie 24. Obie Toppin, breakout, 11 points. Draymond Green—who we barely mentioned all year—leads the team in plus/minus with plus-11 off the bench. Like, talk about timing your hot streak, right? The funny thing, Simon, is I keep thinking, playoffs come and certain guys just get that extra gear, while others fade.

Simon Carver

Which... well, I guess that’s the mystery, and the magic, of a short playoff series. Joe’s Thunder looked built for a title—regular season stride, elite efficiency, not a weakness on paper. And then, they cool off in the worst moment. Meanwhile, Phillip rolls out those Nets veterans... and they just... do the thing. Sweep Minnesota, walk away with the trophy. Like, what else is there to say?

Jimbo

Not a lot, man! I mean, it’s the beauty and heartbreak of these short, high-stakes playoff runs. One slip and the script gets flipped. I dunno, maybe next year we see a whole different storyline. That’s kinda the fun of it, right? We'll see how Phillip does with Golden State , and Joe Heads to Orlando.

Simon Carver

Couldn’t put it better myself, Jimbo. That’s gonna do it for this episode of the 2k Bros Podcast. We’ll be back next time breaking down new teams, new strategies—maybe even a little redemption arc for Joe, who knows? Appreciate you tuning in, folks. Jimbo, always a pleasure, man.