NBA playoff preview
With the end of another great National Basketball League (NBA) regular season, the best part of the year is still upon us. The playoffs, where we get to see players become legends, will begin on Apr. 15, and there are many questions on fans’ minds. Will Giannis Antetokounmpo win another title? Will Kevin Durant help the Suns finally win it all? Will the Celtics finally make that jump toward victory?
Before the 1-8 seeded matchups start, the play-in tournament will provide some exciting contests. In the Eastern Conference, Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors will take on the Chicago Bulls and Demar Derozan. The winner of that game will play the loser of the Jimmy Butler-led Miami Heat and streaky Atlanta Hawks. Miami is the favorite entering the game, and assuming their win, they will lock up the seven-seed.
In the West, there are some very exciting matchups as well, the first of them being the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a battle of two very young up-and-coming teams. Another exciting game will be between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves, where Lebron James is on the quest for title number five while Minnesota will be without their big man Ruby Gobert after he was suspended for punching a teammate.
The number one seeds in both conferences are Milwaukee in the East and Denver in the West. Milwaukee is looking to win their second title in two years while Denver and Nikola Jokić are looking to finally get over the hump after having great regular seasons without much success in the playoffs in recent years.
An interesting matchup in the West will come between the Phoenix Suns with their new weapon in Kevin Durant as they take on the LA Clippers in a matchup that is sure to go to six or seven games. In the East, the Cavaliers will play the Knicks—a matchup between two young athletic teams looking to become serious contenders in their conference.
The Sacramento Kings, after seventeen years, have finally made the playoffs after a great regular season but have a tough matchup against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who started slow but picked up speed, especially at the end of the regular season.
Philadelphia is also looking great entering the playoffs, especially with Joel Embiid playing at the top of his game now along with James Harden, who led the league in assists per game. They play a very scrappy and tough Brooklyn Nets team that is set on upsetting the Sixers and their hopes of a possible title run.
This postseason looks to be very competitive with the regular season standings being so close, while only two games separate teams from a top-three to a bottom seed. The championship favorites at the moment are the Boston Celtics, who finished in the two-seed in the East. After that, the other favorites include Milwaukee, Golden State, and Phoenix.
If I were to take a look at each conference and think about who was to come out of each, Boston is likely to come out of the East after a hard-fought battle with Milwaukee in the conference finals, but that remains speculation.
The West is much harder to predict, because all the teams could have a reasonable chance. Phoenix looks the strongest right now, especially with Kevin Durant on their side, but don’t be surprised if Golden State gets hot and makes it to the NBA Finals.