NBA Playoff Preview
More NBA predictions, Hooray!!! I am going to go through every single round of the playoffs. I actually won’t give more than a sentence or two on the first two rounds because seeding is so fickle. However what I will do is go relatively in depth on my picks for conference matchups and obviously my Finals pick. As there are no current NBA standings, I will be using my predictions because I am all knowing.
Let's start in the Eastern conference shall we. The first round matchups would start with the Milwaukee Bucks taking on the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks would probably sweep this series though the star power Indiana has may be able to squeak one game out. An entertaining series for sure, but not a close one. Next up would be the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards and oh boy do I want this series. Please let me have Russell Westbrook versus Kevin Durant in the playoffs. This would be another sweep potential as Brooklyn would just be too deep for Washington. Then on the docket we have the Philadelphia 76ers hosting the Toronto Raptors. And now we have a very interesting series. I think the star power of the 6ers would be too much for the bench and coaching advantages that the Raptors have, but this could easily be a six or seven game series. The last game of the first round in the eastern conference would be a rematch between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. I believe this series would go largely the same way it did last year, Tristan Thompson is not enough to make that much of a difference this time around.
In the second round, should my predictions come vaguely true, we would be getting the very boring top four seed playing each other. The Bucks would be taking on the Heat and the Nets would tying it up with the 76ers. Both of these series are very intriguing. The Heat are not invincible but the Bucks were a good matchup for them last year and should be again this year. I would actually have the Heat coming out ahead in a very close series once again. As for the other side of the bracket, I would have the Nets just edging out the 6ers. Philadelphia does not have an answer for Kyrie. And if they decide to put Ben Simmons on Kyrie then Durant will run absolutely roughshod over the series and you can’t allow that. The Nets provide a bad match-up for 6ers and Embiid has not proven that he can be “the” dominant force in a playoff series.
That takes us to my Eastern Conference Finals prediction: the Brooklyn Nets versus the Miami Heat. What a fantastic series this would be. The Heat are one of the best equipped teams to take on the stars of the Nets. The matchups between Durant and Bam Adebayo, and also Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler would be wonderful. Both teams have an excessive amount of young depth on their teams. The only real difference I see is in the coaching. Steve Nash has the potential to be a great coach but I think the experience of Spoelstra gets it done. I have the Miami Heat going back to the NBA Finals in 2021.
The Western Conference is a bit wild. The first round match-ups are all fantastically interesting. Even the one seed versus the eight seed is a weird and interesting match-up. The Phoenix Suns would be taking on the Los Angeles Lakers in a series that would not last very long. The Lakers are too talented and the Suns just are not ready. Next we have the Denver Nuggets taking on the Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets are too deep and without Klay the Warriors just don’t have the offensive firepower. I could see this being a tough six game series but the Nuggets are just too strong. The Los Angeles Clippers would then be taking on the Portland Trailblazers and we have our first real upset alert. I think the Trailblazers, if healthy, would be too much for the Clippers. I have no faith in Paul George in the playoffs. He needs to earn that back. The last match-up would be between the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks. I feel bad for Donovan Mitchell because he deserves to make it out of the first round, but he won't be doing it against the Mavericks.
So in the second round we have the Lakers taking on the Mavs. I love Luka and this Mavs team but they just aren’t quite ready for the Lakers and that tandem of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. I see that series lasting five or six games. The trailblazers would then be taking on the Nuggets and the Nuggets just cannot catch a break. I think they win the series but this would be a seven game series that would go down to the wire. Dame Time could be a huge factor in a game seven but I think the Nuggets are just too deep for the Blazers to keep up with long term.
So we have a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals with the Lakers going against the Nuggets. I think the same thing happens as last year honestly. The Nuggets and Lakers have both gotten better, but the Nuggets (at least in my opinion) would once again have the much harder schedule and I don't think they have the legs to keep up with the Lakers over a seven game series. The games would be hard fought and the series would be exciting, but the Lakers would ultimately take the series in six, I think.
Finally we have the NBA Finals prediction. It is lame and boring but I have the Lakers topping the Heat in six games yet again. The Heat are basically the same team as last year. They lost Jae Crowder but picked up Avery Bradley. Hopefully the young guys Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn develop more and become the next generation stars they showed flashes of. The counter point is that the Lakers did nothing but add legit pieces that have been proven to be legitimate commodities. The Lakers won the title, went out, and upgraded their team. That is more often than not a recipe for success in the NBA. I hate the outcome as much as the next guy but I think the Lakers repeat. My dark horse pick though would actually be the Nuggets to take out the Lakers in the conference Finals and then probably roll over any East team just as easily as the Lakers would.