Durant MVP (NBA 2K26 SEASON 9)

Simon Carver

um so so I was thinking about momentum this morning, right? How a team can just be humming along smooth as silk, and then suddenly boom, everything snags.

Jimbo

Wait, are we talking general momentum or are we talking about Phillip's Jazz completely dropping the bag in the Season 9 Finals?

Simon Carver

Both! Honestly, both! I mean, think about where Utah was. They roll into the Finals on a ten game winning streak. Ten in a row! They go up two to one on Joe's 76ers. You can practically hear the champagne corks popping in Salt Lake.

Jimbo

And then Joe just, well, he completely snatched the momentum away. Erased that two to one deficit, won Games 4 and 5, and wrapped up the crown three to two.

Simon Carver

It is wild because Joe's regular season was, I mean, it was statistically absurd. Fourteen and zero. Undefeated. A plus 15.6 point differential and a team three point percentage of .483. That is forty eight point three percent from deep across a whole season!

Jimbo

Yeah, but, but Phillip had him right where he wanted him. That is what makes it so crazy. You have an undefeated juggernaut on the ropes, down two to one, and then Phillip's offense just... froze.

Simon Carver

Man, I, I know that feeling all too well. Early in my radio career, I used to get these brutal on air freeze ups. Mind goes blank, spotlight hits, heart starts hammering against your ribs. You can see the play, but your hands just do not move. And in Games 4 and 5, Shai Gilgeous Alexander's scoring dropped to 14.1 points per game in the postseason. When your primary creator gets squeezed like that, everything stalls.

Jimbo

Well, Joe made a massive defensive adjustment inside. Jarrett Allen was tearing through the bracket shooting a ridiculous .747 from the field in the playoffs. Seventy four point seven percent! So Joe started throwing serious size at him, leaning heavily on Jonas Valanciunas, who was a plus 9.9 in regular season plus minus, alongside Kristaps Porzingis.

Simon Carver

They just walled off the paint, didn't they? They forced Utah to beat them from the perimeter, and when Shai couldn't pull them out of it, the whole ten game momentum streak just evaporated.

Jimbo

And look, when you need a bucket late in the clock to break a press or stop a run, Joe had the ultimate cheat code sitting right there in Kevin Durant.

Simon Carver

Oh, KD was unreal this season. Swept Season MVP and Finals MVP. In the regular season, he put up 25.4 points per game while shooting .645 from the floor and .584 from three. Then in the playoffs, 22.5 points per game on .611 shooting and .571 from deep. You, you literally cannot guard that.

Jimbo

You can't! And then as if KD wasn't enough, Joe has Paul George coming off the bench winning Sixth Man of the Year! PG gave them 16.6 points per game in the regular season as a backup. Compare that luxury second unit to Utah's bench. Malik Monk crashed hard in the postseason, averaging just 3.0 points per game on .393 shooting.

Simon Carver

That bench differential was a canyon, Jimbo. A total canyon.

Jimbo

It really was. And zoom out for a second, look at the big legacy picture here. This title pushes Joe's 2k26 championship tally to 5 to 3 over Phillip. Five to three! That raises a massive macro question heading into Season 10.

Simon Carver

Which is?

Jimbo

Can Phillip's balanced, deep team building model ever consistently beat a heliocentric Kevin Durant roster in a quick five game sprint? Or is balance just, you know, dead in top tier competitive 2K?

Simon Carver

Hmm. That is the lingering tension, isn't it? Does Phillip stick with his Shai and Jaren Jackson Jr depth build, or does he give up his principles and go hunting for his own unguardable top tier scorer? Man, Season 10 is going to be something else.

Jimbo

Alright, good chatting, talk soon.