Only eight teams remain in the hunt for the Larry O’Brien trophy as the second round of the 2026 NBA playoffs has started. The top seeds of the two conferences — the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Detroit Pistons are still alive. Their expected top challengers, the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics, respectively, have been eliminated.

Having seen all teams play in the first round, Hall of Famer Reggie Miller thinks two teams stand out for him as the conference semifinals begin, and he thinks they are the two teams that have the best chances to win it all this season.

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“There are two teams that are so connected as these second round kicks off,” said Miller on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “That’s the Thunder…that first round, you could just tell, okay, we’re on a mission to repeat. And the last four games for the New York Knicks, everyone thought the sky was falling when it was 1-1. When they went down 2-1 to Atlanta, oh my god, ‘Fire Mike Brown’, and then their last four games have been spectacular. It just shows me that they are so well-connected at both ends of the floor. The Thunder and the Knicks are the two teams.”

Knicks and Thunder win their respective second-round Game 1s convincingly

The Thunder went about their first-round business without breaking a sweat, even if Jalen Williams played just the first two games of the series. OKC swept the Phoenix Suns, winning the first three games by a double-digit margin and Game 4 by nine points. On Tuesday night, the Thunder made easy work of the 4th-seeded Lakers 108-90 in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series to take a 1-0 lead.

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Meanwhile, the Knicks’ path was different. New York took the series opener convincingly, then lost back-to-back one-point games in Games 2 and 3. Since then, they have looked like a different team, sweeping the last three games by winning margins of 16, 29, and 51. The Knicks then went on to spank the Philadelphia 76ers by 39 points, 137-98 in Game 1 of their second-round series.

“I like what Minnesota has done short-handed,” added Miller. “You still have San Antonio in there. But if you are talking about two teams that are so well connected, I’m going with the Knicks and the Thunder.”

Nobody is looking like themselves in the East

It’s no surprise Reggie picked the Thunder, since the defending champs are the current favorites to win back-to-back titles. However, Miller talking about the Knicks and not mentioning the other three remaining teams in the East could be the same reason Stephen A. Smith is picking NY to represent the East in the 2026 NBA Finals.

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“They have experience, they have veteran leadership, they’ve got athleticism, they’ve got shot makers, and they have a unit that can be elite defensively. So we got to give credit where credit is due. But here’s the other side to all of this: Nobody is looking like they were supposed to look,” Smith explained.

New York was the only team in the East to avoid a Game 7 in the first round. The Sixers, Cavaliers and Pistons were all pushed to the limit by their opponents. With how dominant the Knicks have looked in their last four games and how shaky the other East teams are, this could indeed be the year the Knicks finally make it back to the NBA Finals.

However, their prize for doing so would most likely be a showdown with the reigning champs in the 2026 NBA Finals. That’s going to be a good one.

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.