NBA Playoff Preview
After an exciting end to the NBA season, the playoffs are finally here. First, the Timberwolves and Nets earned the No. 7 seed in their conferences with victories in their Play-In games, and the Hawks and Pelicans grabbed the eighth seed on Friday night. Hopefully, we get a fantastic postseason run from the teams who made the stage of the playoffs. Who will we see advance past the first round, and how many upsets will we see?
The Eastern Conference teams in the first round are going to be entertaining, to say the least. You have the one-seeded Miami Heat playing their division rivals the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. With an offensive superstar in Trae Young and one of the best two-way players in the league, Jimmy Butler, we are in for a great series. Taking a look at the 2 seeded Boston Celtics taking on the 7 seeded Brooklyn Nets; the number of stories that are going to come out about these two teams and fanbases is going to make it electric. Kyrie Irving is the biggest story alone playing against his former team, Celtic fans aren’t going to go easy on Kyrie, and Kyrie will chirp back at the fans.
The defending champs; Milwaukee Bucks are also taking on their division rivals the Chicago Bulls, the Bucks dominated the Bulls this season winning every game they matched up in. The fourth and final first-round matchup for the East is a rematch from 2019 the Philadelphia 76ers versus the Toronto Raptors, if this matchup is anything like the 2019 playoffs we are in for a treat because that was ENTERTAINING, to say the least. A wild 7-game series that ended with a crazy game-winning two to end the series and send Philly home. Will the 76ers get revenge on the Raptors, or will the Raptors reign supreme over the 76ers once again?
The Western Conference certainly has exciting games but they don’t seem to have that same hype as the East. The runner-ups for a ring last season the Phoenix Suns are the one seed who are taking on the eight seed Pelicans. Two fairly young teams battling for a spot in the second round just like the two-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves both young with immense talent to propel them forward. Then the team who ran the league a few years ago is a three-seed; the Golden State Warriors are taking on the reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, a pretty average first-round matchup. Lastly, we have the Dallas Mavericks led by Luka Doncic taking on the five seed Utah Jazz led by Donovan Michell, out of the four matchups this is going to be a battle. Can Luka use his “magic” against a very gritty Utah Jazz team or will the Jazz raise supreme.
We are in for a real treat this NBA Postseason.