The NBA Playoffs are here and the Eastern and Western Conferences have some crazy competition. The playoffs have recently ended and all the teams are seeded and ready to go. The NBA implemented a new tournament to get to the playoffs called the Play-In Tournament in the 20-21 NBA season. The top six teams in the east and west are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs and teams seeded seven through ten will enter the play-in. The Eastern conference teams that have clinched a Play-In spot are the seventh seed Orlando Magic, eighth seed Atlanta Hawks, the ninth seed Chicago Bulls, and the tenth seed Miami Heat. The western conference teams were the seventh seed Golden State Warriors, the eighth seed Memphis Grizzlies, the ninth seed Sacramento Kings, and the tenth seed Dallas Mavericks. The teams that won their play-in game in the eastern conference are the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat, and the western Conference teams that made it were the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies.
The top 6 teams in the Eastern Conference to clinch the playoffs were the Cleveland Cavaliers, who was the one seed with an amazing record of (64-18). The Boston Celtics who cliched number two seed with a record of (61-21), The third seed New York Knicks who were (51-31),The fourth seed Indiana Pacers that went (50-32), The fifth seed Milwaukee Bucks who were (48-34) and the (44-38) Detroit Pistons have all clinched a playoff berth.
The Eastern Conference is very competitive this year with teams such as the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although the Boston Celtics are the second seed they are heavy favorites to win the East this year. They are led by all-stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they also have solid role players in Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and 6th Man of the Year winner, Payton Pritchard. Even though they are heavy favorites I think the Cleveland Cavaliers will win the East. The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers have had a very competitive season against each other this year with both teams winning two games of the four game series, but all around I think the Cavaliers dominated the wins more than the Celtics did. The Cavaliers have defensive player of the year Evan Mobley who was an All star joined by his other all star teammates Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. The key role players include Jarett Allen, and Ty Jerome.
Basketball assistant coach Nicky Ballone said, “I have the Celtics winning because they have a lot of depth. They always do everything the best.” He said, “The Pacers are my underdog story. I think they’re going to make the conference finals.”
Starting point guard Richard Willrich III said, “The Cavs are winning because they have Donovan Mitchell and he is the best shooting guard in the league.”
In the Western Conference the one seed who had the best record in the NBA was the (68-14) Oklahoma City Thunder. The second seed is the (52-30) Houston rockets. The 3rd, 4th and 5th seed all have the same record of 52-30. The third seed is the Los Angeles Lakers, 4th is the Denver Nuggets, and the 5th seed is the Los Angeles Clippers and the 6th seed is the Minnesota Timberwolves with a record of (49-33).
In the Western Conference the Oklahoma City Thunder are favorites to not only win the conference finals, but they are favorites to win the Finals, too. The Thunder is led by the NBA points per game leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the favorite to win the MVP this year. The Thunder had a very nice regular season, but since they are such a young team I don’t think they have the experience to make it all the way and win it. I think the Golden State Warriors are going to pull though and make it to the finals this year. They are the seventh seed, but they have the most postseason experience out of any of the teams in the western conference. Nicky Ballone said this about the west. “ The Thunder are the best team in the west and they have the best scorer in the league ( Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). Ricky Wilrich has the Thunder winning. He said, “They have Shai and Lou Dort on the same team. Shai’s offense with Lou Dort’s defense is unmatched in the league.
The NBA playoffs are a big toss up this year and any team can take it.
