Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs is done and dusted and we are down to the final 8 teams to compete for the NBA Title.
We said goodbye to a couple of NBA Championship contenders like the Bucks and the Clippers but there’s still plenty of exciting match ups coming up in round 2!
Boston (1) v Cleveland (4):
The Cavs survived in a tough 7 game series v Orlando and are rewarded with a match up v Boston in round 2. Boston will be without Kristaps Porzingis in this one, but it shouldn’t matter all that much. The Celtics have shown in the past that they’ll play with their food, so you can give the Cavs at least 1 win, but we all know the boys from Boston will be marching into yet another conference final. They’re simply far too good to lose 4 games in a series against anyone other than the Knicks this year it seems!
Prediction : Boston 4-1
New York (2) v Indiana (6):
The Knicks are well and truly back! A huge victory v Philly in Round 1 sees the boys go head to head with a young Pacers line up in Round 2. Indiana had a great win themselves, finishing off the Milwaukee Bucks with no Giannis in 6 games. Indiana will hope Pascal Siakam can give them a Championship push in the 2nd round, needing him to get back into his early round form he had going against Milwaukee. The series will be decided on the play of Jalen Brunson v Tyrese Haliburton though, and Brunson will show Team USA what they’re missing with another dominant showing to get the Knicks through to the Conference finals!
Prediction: Knicks 4-2.
OKC (1) v Dallas (5):
This series has it all and all basketball fans are locked in for what is going to be a long series! 2 MVP nominees face off as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander goes head to head with Luka Doncic to decide who goes on to the Western Conference Finals! Both have been phenomenal this season, and the superstars are every chance of both averaging 30+PPG in this series. Shai is well supported by some young studs in Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Josh Giddey, whilst Luka will be heavily reliant on his superstar team mate Kyrie Irving! Kyrie was incredible in the 2nd half of game 6 against the Clippers, scoring 28 of his 30 points to get the Mavs into Round 2!
Prediction: This is going 7 games - coin toss so sit back and enjoy because the winner of this series will be Hoops Fans!
Denver (2) v Minnesota (3):
Game 1 is already underway in this series and the TWolves mean business! Ant-Man showed that he has taken the next step and is ready to compete for an NBA Title! He popped off for 43 in Game 1 and the Nuggets desperately need to win game 2 to avoid falling in a 2-0 hole heading back to Minnesota.
Nikola Jokic will need superstar team mate Jamal Murray to get going with him the remainder of this series to survive and advance, whilst the play of Karl-Anthony Towns will also go a long way in deciding how things go here. We know what Edwards is going to give us, but Towns will need to ride with him so Ant-Man isn’t doing this solo!
Prediction: Similar to OKC Dallas, this is going 7! Denver manage to get this done, but they are going to have to work for it!
Enjoy the ride everyone!
Bauky