Hello NBA Basketball Fans,
At the beginning of the year the talk of the town was, how it is a guarantee that the Brooklyn Nets who at the time had Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving were on path to meet the Los Angeles Lakers led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis and newly acquired Russell Westbrook in the NBA Finals. It was like it would be automatic.
Well, that is not how it all unfolded. Los Angeles Lakers failed to make the playoffs and the Brooklyn Nets were swept 4-0 by the Boston Celtics in the first round. This year has proven to be one that has the most parody amongst teams in a long time. If it wasn’t for injuries to key players some of these other playoff battles make have also went to a deciding seventh game.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, we have the #1 seed Miami Heat facing the #2 seed Boston Celtics. In the Western Conference Finals the #3 seed Golden State Warriors will face the #4 seed Dallas Mavericks.
Miami Heat defeated Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks in the first round (4-1) then followed that up by beating the Philadelphia 76ers led by MVP candidate Joel Embiid (4-2) in the second round.
Boston Celtics beat the defending champions Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo in 7 games after sweeping Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets (4-0).
Golden State Warriors have been fortunate defeating MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the first round followed by a hard fought second round match up against the Memphis Grizzles. They pulled off a (4-2) victory in game 6 after an injury to upcoming star Ja Morant.
Dallas Mavericks are following the lead of their Superstar Luka Doncic who has surprised this playoffs by leading his team to victories over Utah Jazz and defending Western Conference champions Phoenix Suns.
Time for the predictions:
Eastern Conference Finals will be a hard-fought defensive battle between two of the best defences in the league and these playoffs. Boston Celtics rookie head coach Ime Udoka will be playing chess against the veteran Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Boston star players Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown lead their respective team against Miami stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Both teams have credible role players who can make a difference and tip the scale towards their team’s favour. If the stars deliver than it will come down to coaching and whichever team’s role players do a better job.
Boston Celtics have impressed me. IMO they are playing the best basketball right now. The way they played in game 7 against who I feel is the best player in the world right now Giannis. Leads me to believe they will beat the Miami Heat.
Prediction > Boston Celtics in 6 games.
Western Conference Finals will be a different style of play. It will be much more offensive, and the tempo will be a higher pace game. Golden State will run their high octane, everybody in motion offence with the ball swinging around while Klay, Steph and Jordan Poole look to get open off screens. Dallas will run crazy iso sets in half court and let Luka do his thing. This has worked for both teams to get them this far, so do not expect many changes in offensive philosophy. The deciding factor will come down to what the coaches try to do defensively to shut down each team’s high-powered offence. Jason Kidd came up with an amazing game plan to shutdown CP3 and Devin Booker in the last round. I am interested to see what he has in store for the GSW. Steve Kerr has cleared Covid protocols and is ready to return to coaching the Warriors after missing the last 3 games of the series against Memphis. Expect GSW to throw different looks at Luka as to make it uncomfortable as possible for him to get cozy, seeing the same scheme every time up the floor. Luka will see everything including the kitchen sink.
Golden State Warriors have too many weapons offensively while Dallas Mavericks will have to live and die with the performance of Luka Doncic. GSW have that championship pedigree and DNA. They have a coach that has 3 rings in his trophy case, Steph Curry and former DPOY Draymond Green. Golden State Warriors have too much fire power, high IQ players and defensive stalwarts.
Prediction > GSW in 6 games.
It will come down to Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics for the NBA Championship.
Who do you like in the Eastern and Western Conference Championship series?
Please get let us know in the comments below.
Going to be some great Basketball games in the coming weeks!!! Enjoy!
