NBA Playoffs

NBA+Playoffs

The NBA playoffs have tipped-off once again, and at the time of writing this, it is currently midway through the second round, and already we have experienced some incredible basketball. For the first time in NBA history, there is currently one of each seed alive in the second round, but to get to that point, we saw eight incredibly contested series. 

Round one in the Eastern Conference saw no series make it to seven games, and only one got to six. There was a surprising sweep, as the 76ers breezed past the Nets, but the main shock was in the matchup between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks against Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat. The Bucks were heavily favored, being the one seed in the East, but in just five games, Jimmy Butler’s incredible performance propelled Miami to advance to the second round. Also in five games, the New York Knicks, led by former college teammates Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, downed Donovan Mitchell and his Cavalier team. And lastly, Celtics-Hawks went to six, with the favored Boston team cruising onto the next round. 

Meanwhile, the Western Conference first round was highly anticipated, as the West was shocking close and competitive in the regular season. Any team could’ve moved on, and there was large amounts of intrigue in all but one series, that being the Nuggets against the Timberwolves, which went just as expected: A Denver victory. However, despite going to five games just as the Denver series did, a lot more buzz surrounded the Clippers-Suns matchup. This series likely would have gone longer, but injuries to Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for the Clips handed the series to Phoenix. The Warriors and Kings played in a hotly contested NorCal series, which ended up going all the way to seven games, but the Warriors managed to clinch the series on the road in game seven. Additionally, the Lakers-Grizzlies series, despite it’s shorter length being six games, the intense games and trash talk by one Dillon Brooks of the court added fuel to the series. Dillon Brooks’ comments on LeBron James gave some motivation to the team, along with the Laker fanbase, who constantly booed whenever Brooks got the ball and cheered loudly when he missed a shot at Laker home games. “He’s old, you know what I mean,” Brooks said about LeBron, and after an ejection in game three, along with losses in game four and six, Brooks declined to speak to the media. The series went six games, with the Lakers moving on after a win at home in game six. 

Though currently ongoing at the time of writing, the second round has been just as thrilling as the first. Currently, two series are tied at two apiece, and two stand at 3-1 leads for the underdogs. Both Miami and Los Angeles have leads over the Knicks and Warriors, much to the surprise of the basketball world. The two tied series are matchups between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets, as well as a rivalry matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. If everything goes the way they have, the NBA playoffs should continue to stay exciting, and end with a thrilling matchup in the finals.