Always sleeping in his sneakers, it shouldn’t be a shocker to learn about Chet Holmgren’s love for the NBA playoffs. He’s only been through two postseasons, but the 23-year-old has quickly developed a reputation as a riser with the lights bright.
The deeper the Oklahoma City Thunder have gotten in the playoffs, the better Holmgren has played. He’s fresh off his best playoff series yet. He was one-third of the reason they made quick work of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
It feels like eons ago when Holmgren suffered a hip fracture that cost him three months. Struggling with some initial rustiness, the seven-footer is back to gliding around the court and finishing at the rim with spin moves that highlight his foot speed.
“I love the playoffs personally because in the regular season you’ll run into situations where the schedule is really beating another team down. They’ll kinda take a game to reload and everything,” Holmgren said. “Towards the end of the season, some teams are playing for certain things or have different, I guess you could say, intentions.”
You always hear about how much different the playoffs are from the regular season. The average viewer only needs a quarter to notice the difference. Same goes for NBA players. Holmgren has fallen in love with the high-stakes consequences of the playoffs. A loss could send you spiraling. A win could make you feel like a champion.
“But in the playoffs, you get everybody’s best shot every single night, which is the way you want it to be,” Holmgren said. “It’s been great to learn from every single night, try to figure out how to be better for the next one.”
After three playoff series wins that span from a clean sweep to a stressful seven games, the Thunder are back to square one against the Indiana Pacers. They enter the 2025 NBA Finals as a heavy favorite. But you know how unpredictable sports can get.
“You’re also seeing the same team for two weeks rather than playing a new team every single night. You’re really able to take a deep dive, get into things. It’s really like a puzzle. You got to take the time to figure it out rather than in the regular season,” Holmgren said. “I feel like you’re just working on your own stuff and trying to build yourself throughout the whole season. In the playoffs, it’s then taking that and also trying to kind of figure out the other team.”