At the beginning of the NBA season, experts had penciled in a Los Angeles Lakers v Brooklyn Nets NBA Finals series.

Neither team will even feature in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

 

Boston wiped the floor with the Brooklyn Nets, providing us with the only sweep of the 1st Round, one in which no one saw coming.

Boston survived a late game push from Brooklyn in Game 1 to win on the buzzer (courtesy of a Jayson Tatum layup), and they never looked back.

Never has a team suffocated Kevin Durant like the way the Celtics did, and Kyrie was just as much of a non-factor at the hands of Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart.

Earlier this season, questions were being asked of this Celtics team and if this young core could finally get it done together as a group.

The time looks like it has come in Boston if they can survive a likely round 2 match up with the Milwaukee Bucks.

 

Milwaukee are a game away from knocking out the Chicago Bulls.

Milwaukee lost Khris Middleton in Game 2 of the series and things looked to have shifted towards the Bulls.

Giannis has had other ideas and dominated both games in Chicago, showing us why they’ll still be a very tough out against the Celtics in Round 2 of the playoffs (even without Middleton).

 

Miami took care of business today against the Atlanta Hawks, and seemingly have a secret weapon up their sleeve.

Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry were a no go in game 5, but the corpse of Victor Oladipo appeared to save the day!

Oladipo went off for 23 points on 8-16 shooting, and could be a key piece off the bench come round 2 against the likes of Philadelphia or Toronto.

 

Philadelphia held a 3-0 lead up against Toronto and were ready to walk into Round 2 of the Playoffs.

They now head to Toronto in Game 6 holding a 3-2 lead, and with Joel Embiid battling a bad hand injury, may be on the brink of being the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead.

Toronto look to have got their spark back, with Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes returning from injury, Pascal Siakam will look to lead this team back to Philly for a game 7 and create history!

Miami will be hoping this is the case, getting the likes of Butler and Lowry healthy on as much rest as possible!

 

Some of the big seeds in the West have their own concerns!

Phoenix are currently battling against the 8 seeded Pelicans, and now lead the series 3-2 heading back to New Orleans, hoping to get over the line and get Devin Booker back into the line-up for Round 2!

New Orleans will be no easy beat in Game 6, as Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum will do everything in their power to get the underdog over the line and force a game 7 of their own!

 

Memphis survived another scare from Minnesota today to take a 3-2 series lead on the back of some Ja Morant brilliance.

Morant hit the go ahead tough lay up with a second to play to win by 2 at home, and will now look to finish things off in Minnesota in Game 6.

The way this series has gone though, we will be heading back to Memphis for Game 7.

It must be tough being a Minnesota sports fan!

 

One team that hopes this series goes the length is the Golden State Warriors.

Golden State play host to Denver in Game 5 at home tomorrow and will want to put the final nail into the Denver Nuggets coffin.

Having Steph Curry come off the bench has been a little ridiculous (all credit to the great play of Jordan Poole), but you get the feeling Steph gets the start in Game 5 and looks to put the foot on the throat early.

Nikola Jokic has been nothing short of phenomenal all season long (and looks to have the regular season MVP wrapped up), so you just know he isn’t ready to head home just yet!

 

Dallas has Luka Doncic back, and boy isn’t it great to see this kid play basketball!

Luka dominated Game 5, and Dallas will look to finish off Utah in Utah in the 6th game of this series.

Utah has looked frustrated all series long, and whispers will only get louder about the exit of Donovan Mitchell and blowing up this team with a loss at home.

Year after year we’ve seen Utah implode in the playoffs, and the same issues of ball watching Donovan Mitchell come up with a play late in games continues to re-surface.

As good as Mitchell is, no Championships are being won in Utah like this!

 

Round 1 has been a whirlwind so far, with the rest of these Playoffs sure to have more fireworks!!

 

Bauky