The seven seeds in each conference have been locked down, as the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-108, this past Tuesday night, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves rallying past the Los Angeles Clippers to win, 109-104, on that same night. And of course, with both of those outcomes being said, the Nets will face the Boston Celtics in the First Round, while the Timberwolves will face the Memphis Grizzles in that same round.
Of course, the Cavaliers and Clippers each have one more chance to make the First Round, with the former of the two hosting the Atlanta Hawks (they won 132-103 against the Charlotte Hornets last night), while the latter of the two will host the New Orleans Pelicans (they won 113-103 against the San Antonio Spurs last night) tomorrow night for the right(s) to take on the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns, respectively. So, with all of that being said, I will blog each prediction via the next paragraph.
In a matchup of two teams that were once coached by the great Lenny Wilkins, I like the Hawks, due to all the experience that they gained last year, advancing to take on the Heat. And as for the Pelicans-Clippers Play-In Game, I have to go with experience again, so I’m taking the Clippers to face the Suns in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals.
So yeah, I’m taking both teams that lost in last year’s Conference Finals to get the two eight seeds in this year’s NBA Playoffs.
Tune in two days from now to both see how I did with these predictions and my predictions for all eight First Round matchups.