Reaching the Final Four, who will be crowned king in the 2024/25 NBA playoffs?

With the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves in the West, and the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers in the East, who can claim the title of king in the 2024/25 NBA playoffs? This season's NBA playoffs are currently in the final four stage, and the Western Conference finals will be the regular season leader Oklahoma City Thunder against the No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Eastern Conference finals will be the No. 3 seed Knicks against the No. 4 seed Pacers.

The Pacers (yellow) and the Knicks met in the second round of the Eastern Conference in the NBA playoffs last season, when the Pacers eventually defeated their arch-rival Knicks 4-3 after seven games.

The NBA has been dominated for the past 7 years. Since the Tyrannosaurus rex's 2018/19 season ended, seven different teams have won the NBA championship "O'Brien Cup" for seven consecutive years, forming an era of division between the heroes.

This season's defending champion Celtics, 2022/23 champion Nuggets, and 2021/22 champion Warriors all stopped in the Western Conference semifinals earlier, and the 2020/21 champion Bucks and 2019/20 champion Lakers are all "one round tour", and the Raptors can't even make the play-offs.

The Knicks and Thunder were last crowned kings more than 40 years ago, and among the four heroes who are still competing for hegemony, only the Knicks have won a championship with the current team name! The Knicks are an eight-time NBA Finals player and two-time champion, but their last title was in 1972/73 and most recently in 1998/99.

The Thunder's first championship in 1978/79 was a historic record of the predecessor SuperSonics. Since moving to their current name in 2008, the Thunder's previous best record was reaching the Finals in 2011/12 (losing to the Heat).

In the Eastern Conference Finals, Alexander will be able to lead the Thunder to continue to blow the "youth storm" and reach the NBA Finals to compete with the former "three less"?

The Pacers moved to the NBA without a championship, and the Timberwolves did not play in the Finals. A three-time ABA champion, the Pacers have only reached the Finals in 1999/00 since moving to the NBA in 1976 (losing to the Lakers). As for the Timberwolves, they haven't even played in the Finals! Since forming the team in 1989, this is the third appearance of the Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals after the 2003/04 and 2023/24 seasons.

Thunder and Timberwolves defensively face off. In the Western Conference finals, the Thunder and Timberwolves are both teams with solid defenses, and the former has the best defensive efficiency (106.6) in the regular season. Whoever can use the right defensive tactics to minimize points will be the difference between the two sides (2-2 in the regular season).

At the same time, the first brother of the two sides - Thunder "SGA" Alexander and Timberwolves "Ant-Man" Edwards are both regarded as the future face of the NBA, and this head-to-head confrontation is exciting.

Edwards, who has led the team to defeat many star teams in the past two seasons, will look forward to pulling down Alexander and Thunder in the ascendancy and writing a new history for the Timberwolves

SGA vs. Ant-Man. Alexander, who is regarded as the MVP favorite for this season's regular season, will continue to lead the Thunder to play the "Youth Storm" with expectations, to match the glory of the Thunder's "three young years" in the past; Edwards is looking at following the playoffs in the past two seasons and leading the team to eliminate Durant (Suns), Jokic (Nuggets), "James Emperor" James and Doncic (Lakers) and Curry (Warriors) in succession, and then pull down the Thunder and SGA in the sky, leading the Timberwolves to write a new page in team history.

The Knicks and Pacers recreate the classic matchup. The Eastern Conference finals will usher in a classic matchup, with the Knicks and Pacers competing for the same stage of the playoffs for the first time since the 1999/00 season. The two sides fought fiercely until the 7th game of life and death, and the Pacers won the first Eastern Conference championship in team history 4-3, and the Knicks have been extinct in the Eastern Conference since then.

As the star of the New Yorkers, Brunson averaged 28.8 points and 7.7 assists per game in the NBA playoffs this season, and he was full of scoring firepower

The stars of the two teams happen to be point guards, and the Knicks' Brunson averaged 28.8 points and 7.7 assists per game in the playoffs this season, and he was full of scoring firepower; The Pacers' Haliburton averaged 17.5 points and 9.3 assists per game and had excellent passing ability. Both stars have previously shown their "big hearts" in key moments, winning for their respective teams.

The 21st schedule of the NBA basketball playoffs in the United States
Eastern Conference Finals
Game 1: Knicks vs. Pacers
Truce on the 19th
Note: Best-of-7 system is adopted