The dog days of the NBA regular season are finally over. The real season, the NBA Playoffs, have begun.
I am not a huge fan of the NBA play in tournament. I have the unpopular opinion that sports should not expand their postseason tournaments. For example, I still believe that Major League Baseball’s postseason was at its best when there was only a total of eight playoff teams. Now we have twelve baseball teams competing each October. This waters down the competition and truly devalues the regular season.
Compared to the NBA the MLB’s regular season means buttloads more. The NBA has a comical twenty out of thirty teams qualify for the postseason. Call me crazy but teams who were ten games below five hundred should not be rewarded with a postseason berth.
The highlight of the Play In games were the ten seed Miami Heat winning two games. Doing so made them the first ten seed to ever qualify for the postseason.
Miami went 37-45 during the regular season. Thanks to this relatively new playoff format they now have the right to be the eight seed. I am so pumped to watch them get their ass beat in by the Cavaliers. Yay wahoo. It’s going to be so fun. Not!
Below are my thoughts on each playoff matchup. I will also provide predictions.
Cavs vs Heat
I am a believer in the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland is easily one of the best scoring back courts in the league. The only backcourt duo I might pick ahead of them is OKC’s Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Jalen Williams.
The players for Cleveland who will determine how much success they have this post season are Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. The big advantage Clevland has over other teams is their interior size.
In this particular matchup against Miami, I am not sure if any of these games will be too close. Miami’s culture and structure might allow them to win one game at home. Tyler Herro is a true baller. He just can’t do it all by himself.
Prediction Cavs in 5.
Celtics vs Magic
I know some Boston fans who are deeply annoyed with this matchup. Orlando is a very talented young team that matches up very well with Boston in terms of size.
This is the battle of the Dukies with both team’s star players being former Blue Devils. I am very intrigued to see who Boston decides to put on Paolo Banchero defensively. My guess is Jayson Tatum and Al Horford will share the load.
Tatum and Banchero are two of my favorite players in the league. It is hard for me to choose between them. However, I recently learned that Paolo is a sweaty bastard who suffers from hyperhidrosis just like me. For that reason, I am going to give him the slight edge over Tatum. It is a weird reason, but it is indeed a reason.
I am leaning towards choosing Boston as my overall champion for the entire league. I am not dumb enough to pick them in this series.
Prediction Boston in 5
Pistons vs Knicks
This is the most interesting first round matchup in the first round in the Eastern Conference. An upstart Pistons team looks to ruin the post season dreams of the New York Knicks. The Knicks have been struggling with health all season.
Jalen Brunson is allegedly healthy after having some serious ankle injuries towards the end of the regular season. I have watched him a few times recently and to me he just does not look as quick as he was earlier this year.
The Pistons are the feel good team in this post season. They went from having 14 wins last season to 44 this year. That is quite a turnaround. Head coach Jd Bickerstaff probably will not win coach of the year but he would get my vote.
The determining factor for this series is how well the Piston’s young defenders do against the Knicks star players. Cade needs to contain Brunson. Jalen Duren and my dude Isiah “Beef Stew” Stewart need to lock down Karl Anthony Towns. If they can do this, we will have a very fun series on our hands.
Prediction Pistons in 7
Pacers vs Bucks
This is the least interesting series in the entire playoffs. Neither team has much hope of advancing past this round of the playoffs.
I have never been a huge believer in the Indiana Pacers the past few seasons. I think they are a better version of the Miami Heat. What I mean by that is that they are not overly talented, but they are a very well-run organization. They are also very well coached. For these reasons they have overachieved compared to their talent level.
The Bucks on the other hand are a very sad story. I am a very big fan of Giannis Antetokounmpo. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him power his way to an NBA championship back in 2021. Sadly, Giannis does not have even close to the same level of talent surrounding him as he did back then.
I don’t trust Damian Lillard to be healthy in this series. They are saying he will be good to go by game three at the latest. I will believe it when I see it. Even if he does play Haliburton will abuse him defensively.
Prediction Pacers in 5
Thunder vs Grizzlies
This is the most straightforward series in the entire first round. The Thunder are going to win every game by a minumum of twenty points.
The Grizzlies are still a young promising team. They just have not taken a step forward in their development. The Thunder are a far superior version of the Grizzlies in every facet of the game.
Anyone who doubts if the Thunder are a serious Title Contender either doesn’t watch or doesn’t understand basketball.
Prediction Thunder in 4
Warriors vs Rockets
This is a classic matchup between promising youth and aging championship experience. This is millennials vs generation z in the battle for generational superiority.
I will be rooting for the Warriors to make one more playoff run with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Their mid-season addition of Jimmy Butler might be remembered as one of the greatest mid-season trades in NBA history. The Warriors sneakily have the third best record in the NBA since they acquired Jimmy Butler.
The Rockets are supremely talented but woefully unexperienced. Some of the best athletes in the entire league, such as Amen Thompson, are on the Rockets. They are also very well coached. They are just one season away from having to be taken seriously as a possible contender.
Prediction Warriors in 6
Lakers vs Timberwolves
I am very very very excited for this series. I am not necessarily a Luka Doncic hater. I am just not as high on him as a player as a lot of other people. I thought he was pretty terrible in last season’s NBA finals. Granted the Mavericks would not have gotten that far without him.
Luka is just too much of a liability defensively for his teams to win it all. I think Anthony Edwards is going to ABUSE him. Lebron at age 40 will not be able to pick up Luka’s slack.
The Timberwolves took a long time to adjust to their reshaped roster after they traded Karl Anthony Towns for Julius Randle and Dante Divincenzo. They have been looking a lot better recently. I think they have by far the best player in this series in Anthony Edwards. When in doubt, pick the team with the best player.
Prediction Timberwolves in 6
Nuggets vs Clippers
This might be the most evenly matched series of the first round. This is also a Russell Westbrook revenge series since he played for the Clippers last season and is now on the Nuggets. That is not necessarily a good thing for the Nuggets as an over eager Westbrook tends to do somewhat crazy things.
Despite Nikola Jokic’s brilliance, The Nuggets have not been able to recapture their championship form from 2023. The obvious reason to me is that their second-best player, Jamaal Murry, has taken a step backwards in his development as a player. His regression might be health related as he has had some serious knee issues the past few years. Regardless of the reason he just has not looked like the same player the past few years.
I don’t have much to say about the Clippers other than their success firmly hinges on the health of Kawhi Leonard. He has been playing really well recently. However, recent history has told us that only Kawhi knows if he will feel like playing the entire series. For this reason, I will never pick them in a series.
Prediction Nuggets in 7
That is all for me today. Please like and subscribe if you like what you read.
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