Your boy Steviepooooo accurately predicted the winner of seven of eight NBA first round playoff series. My one miss was picking the Pistons to beat the Knicks in seven games. An outcome that was very possible if the referees had made some better calls down the stretch of those games. There is no point dwelling Detroit fans. You will be back next year.
Not only did I accurately predict seven out of eight winners, but your boy also picked the exact number of games each team would win the series five out of seven times. Some might argue that this might be a testament to just how predictable postseason basketball can be. I think it means Steviepooooo knows ball. Either way I totally just jinxed myself for this next round because of how hard I just blew my own horn.
My predictions for this round will be a little different than the first round. This is because of the fact that the series have all started. I will not lie and say that I was going to pick the Knicks and Pacers before the first two games of their respective series. I would have definitely picked the Celtics and Cavaliers. My goal is to provide more detailed predictions on how each series will play out from this point forward.
Knicks vs Celtics
I am about to say something that I do not believe I have ever said before in my adult life. I think the New York Knicks could make the NBA Finals. They are currently up 2-0 on the Celtics after winning the first two games in Boston.
The Knicks executed down the stretch while the Celtics faltered. Jaylen Brown in particular continues to struggle mightily from three-point range in this series.
This has been a shocking start to this series where the Celics were heavy favorites. I confidently picked the Celtics to play the Thunder in the NBA Finals before the playoffs began. I am more than a little nervy at this point.
Credit needs to be given to the Knicks who are playing phenomenal basketball. Jalen Brunson continues to play amazing basketball after I called him the “B” word. It’s like he is on a one-man mission to stick it to Steviepooooo. Ever since game six in Detroit, he has ignited the Brunson Burners and will not turn them off.
Boston’s poor shooting simply cannot continue. Boston is a historically great three-point shooting team. The average needs to return to the mean at some point. Boston is going to blow out New York in at least two of these games coming up.
Prediction: Boston in 7
Pacers vs Cavaliers
This is possibly the series that might lead to me eating the most crow. I stupidly placed a large wager on the Cavaliers money line at -550 before the start of the series. I thought they were the much superior team.
On paper they have way more talent and were much better than the Pacers in the regular season. This series might be another shining example that the NBA regular season means almost nothing when it comes to the Playoffs.
The underdog Pacers won the first two games on the road in Cleveland to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. These games were shocking to watch as they were almost a mirror image of the first two games of the Knicks Celtics series.
Tyrese has silenced a lot of his haters, me included, by making one of the most clutch plays I have ever seen at the end of game two. He intentionally missed a free throw down two with nine seconds left, got his own rebound, and then made a three pointer to win the game. I honestly have never seen anything like that in the NBA.
I have seen enough to confidently say that the Pacers are going to complete the upset and defeat the Cavs. The Cavs apparently have no defensive answer for Haliburton. It looks like that try as hard as they might, the Pacers are just simply a terrible matchup for the Cavaliers from a defensive perspective. Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome in particular need to step up.
Prediction: Pacers in 6
Warriors vs Timberwolves
A tragedy happened in America the past couple days. Stephen Curry pulled a hamstring and is possibly out for the rest of the playoffs. Anyone who knows anything about pulling a hamstring knows that the Warriors announcement of him being back in less than a week is more than a little optimistic. The only solution to a pulled hamstring is rest. At age thirty-seven, Steph may not heal as quickly as he used to.
This is the most exciting matchup of the second round to me. The reason being is we just watched Anthony “Antman” Edwards knock off the overhyped Lakers. Eliminating Lebron James and Luca Doncic in the process. Can he do the same thing with Stephen Curry and the Warriors? If he does so it will signal an official changing of the guard in the NBA Western Conference.
The first game of this series was a classic case of rest vs rust. The Timberwolves were resting and waiting to see who would win between the Warriors and Rockets. The Warriors took their momentum from their game seven win in Houston all the way to Minnesota and convincingly won game one.
I still think that even if the Warriors had a healthy Curry the Timberwolves are the more talented team. The way Julius Randle has been playing is really raising their ceiling in regard to how much they can accomplish this post season.
Prediction: Timberwolves in 5
Nuggets vs Thunder
This is a very interesting series. The two MVP candidates Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous Alexander are going head-to-head. People on both sides of the fence of that debate are watching intensely to see which of these players teams will prevail. The outcome will either help or hurt their narrative.
I have thought about it a lot in terms of which player I would vote for. I have gone back and forth. I believe that I have firmly decided that I would vote for Jokic. My reasoning is that he had a historically great offensive season. He averaged a triple double while shooting very efficiently. The Nuggets would not even make the playoffs without him. As great as Shai is, the Thunder would still be really good if he was not on their roster. Jokic is the better player and for that reason I would vote for him. That being said if SGA wins, I will not be upset. Both players deserve to win.
In regard to the series, Aaron Gordon’s game winning three pointer at the end of game one was incredibly fun to watch. As much fun as game one was, I think the rest of the series will be similar to game two where the Thunder won by 43. The Thunder will not win the rest of the games by forty points. But they may win them all by ten to twenty. The talent disparity between these two teams was on full display in game two. That display will continue.
Prediction: Thunder in 6
A bientot!
Bennie's Blasts 
Leave a comment