Men's Basketball NBA 2023 - 2024

[Josh 10,493]

Regular season concluded yesterday which means the playoff brackets are now set. 
 

Western Conference

Play In: #7 New Orlean Pelicans v. #8 Los Angeles Lakers for #7, winner to take on #2 Denver Nuggets in the first round, loser to take on the winner of #9 Sacramento Kings and #10 Golden State Warriors for the #8, winner of the second match takes on #1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. 
 

#1 Oklahoma City Thunder v. #8 TBD (Second play-in winner)

#4 Dallas Mavericks v. #5 Los Angeles Clippers

#3 Minnesota Timberwolves v. #6 Phoenix Suns

#2 Denver Nuggets v. #7 TBD (First play-in winner)

 

Eastern Conference

Play In: #7 Philadelphia 76ers v. #8 Miami Heat for #7, winner to take on #2 New York Knicks in the first round, loser to take on the winner of #9 Chicago Bulls and #10 Atlanta Hawks for the #8, winner of the second match takes on #1 Boston Celtics in the first round. 

 

#1 Boston Celtics v. #8 TBD (Second play-in winner)

#4 Cleveland Cavaliers v. #5 Orlando Magic

#3 Milwaukee Bucks v. #6 Indiana Pacers

#2 New York Knicks v. #7 TBD (First play-in winner)

[Olympian1010 7,971]

“Oh! He gave them chicken,” might be one my favorite commentary moments in a while.

 

 

[Josh 10,493]

#8 Los Angeles Lakers defeat the #7 New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 for the #7 seed in the West and will take on #2 Denver Nuggets in the first round. 

#7 New Orleans Pelicans will take on the #9 Sacramento Kings for the #8 seed, after the Kings beat the Golden State Warriors 118-94. 

Edited April 17 by Josh

[Ogreman 355]

My regular season predictions turned out to be half decent so lets give the playoffs a go. I haven't thought as much as I would have liked about these series so I'm sure I'll look back on this in a weeks time and hate half of my predictions but sure look.

 

Eastern conference round 1

 

Boston Celtics (1) vs Miami Heat (8)- Celtics in 4- This should be what happens but its the heat so you never know.

 

New York Knicks (2) vs Philadelphia 76ers (7)- Sixers in 6- Could be the most interesting series we see at any point in the eastern conference, Would be the best team Joel Embiid has beaten in the playoffs if the sixers can win. I think the coaching advantage decides this.

 

Milwaukee Bucks (3) vs Indiana Pacers (6)- Bucks in 7 - Both teams have major question marks, interesting series stylistically especially with regards to pace. I wouldn't be particularly shocked by any outcome in this series

 

Cleveland Cavaliers (4) vs Orlando Magic (5)- Magic in 7- One for the purists ay, Both teams will gift the other a game or two, Cavs because of coaching/general playoff incompetence and the Magic because of how inexperienced they are.

 

Western conference 1st round

 

Oklahoma City Thunder (1) vs New Orleans Pelicans (8)- Thunder in 5- Likely no Zion makes this less interesting than it could have been.

 

Denver Nuggets (2) vs Los Angeles Lakers (7)- Nuggets in 5- Not sure why I'm giving the lakers a game but I am apparently, I'll preemptively blame the refs.

 

Minnesota Timberwolves (3) vs Phoenix Suns (6)- Timberwolves in 7- Suns won the regular seasons matchups and their Iso heavy offence seem to disarm the stifling Timberwolves defence fairly effectively, Anthony Edwards has probably got to be the best player in this series but timberwolves should win the adjustment battle. Two good coaches just timberwolves have a lot more options. 

 

Los Angels Clippers (4) vs Dallas Mavericks (5)- Clippers in 7- This changes if Kawhi doesn't play. Everyone seems to love the Mavs, They are good and Luka is amazing obviously but if they are healthy the clippers should win this just like they won previous clippers mavs series in spite of Luka's brilliance. Also this is a don't trust March basketball series.

 

 

Eastern conference semis

 

Boston Celtics (1) vs Orlando Magic (5)- Celtics in 4- Whether its Cleveland or Orlando, this is a sweep unless Boston plays with its food.

 

Milwaukee Bucks (3) vs Philadelphia 76ers (7)- Sixers in 6- If we get this series, Giannis and Embiid are both healthy at this point although who can stay that way could decide this series. Can't believe I'm picking Embiid and the sixers in the second round given their history but the coaching battle will be crucial in this series and there is only one winner there.

 

Western conference semis

 

Oklahoma City Thunder (1) vs Los Angels Clippers (4)- Clippers in 6- Shai is great but for me he is not the calibre of player that the general nba world seems to have decided he is despite not seeing him in the playoffs as a primary option. The thunder are as inexperienced as they come but teams like the clippers will likely be able to out execute them when it comes down to it.

 

Denver Nuggets (2) vs Minnesota Timberwolves (3)- Nuggets in 6- Timberwolves' size has given Denver trouble at times and if there is a defence to slow Denver down its this one. Denver should be too talented though. Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels, older Anthony Edwards and this not being directly after the play-in gives Minnesota one more game than they won in this series last year

 

 

 

Eastern conference finals

 

Boston Celtics (1) vs Philadelphia 76ers (7)- Celtics in 6- This could be a sweep or this could be ridiculously close. Let's go somewhere in the middle. 

 

Western conference finals

 

Denver Nuggets (2) vs Los Angeles Clippers (5)- Nuggets in 5- Clippers had a better record this year against Denver than they had had in recent years and James Harden does allow them offensive versatility that they lacked in this matchup in the past. Denver will score though, potentially a lot.

 

NBA Finals

 

Boston Celtics (1) vs Denver Nuggets (2)- Nuggets in 5- If we get this matchup it would be the highest quality finals we have had in a while. Wouldn't normally read too much into regular season matchups but both teams targeted their two meetings in the regular season and Denver took both. Celtics will have a game or two where they shoot 50+% from 3 but other than that I don't see them beating Denver despite their historically good regular season. Stylistically the Celtics don't have the type of offense or defense that can challenge the Nuggets few chinks. There are a lot of indicators thrown about regarding what a team needs to have the be a title contender (top 10 offense and defense, top 3 seed/ above a certain net rating, etc) but the one that has been most true in recent years is you need to have one of the best 2/3 players in the league. Tatum is far away from that level, maybe this celtics team is the one to prove it wrong and hypothethically against other finals teams of recent years (2022 warriors, 2021 Bucks/ Suns) maybe they would have but Denver is a level above plus they are a bad matchup for the Celtics so for me if this ends up being the finals, Denver wins a shorter than expected but still very entertaining series.

[Josh 10,493]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:34 PM, Josh said:

#8 Los Angeles Lakers defeat the #7 New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 for the #7 seed in the West and will take on #2 Denver Nuggets in the first round. 

#7 New Orleans Pelicans will take on the #9 Sacramento Kings for the #8 seed, after the Kings beat the Golden State Warriors 118-94. 

#7 New Orleans Pelicans defeat the #9 Sacramento Kings 105-99, for the #8 seed, and will take on #1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. 
 

In the east, #7 Philadelphia 76ers defeated #8 Miami Heat for the #7 seed, and will take on #2 New York Knicks in the first round. #8 Miami Heat defeated the #9 Chicago Bulls 112-91 for the #8 seed, and will take on #1 Boston Celtics in the first round. 

[Monzanator 4,498]

Knicks lead 2-0 vs Sixers.

 

Meanwhile Nuggets still own the Lakers

 

 

[Monzanator 4,498]

Onto round 2 and Timberwolves won both games in Denver

[Josh 10,493]

Round 1 Results

 

Eastern Conference

(#1) Boston Celtics d. (#8) Miami Heat 4-1

(#4) Cleveland Cavaliers d. (#5) Orlando Magic 4-3

(#6) Indiana Pacers d. (#3) Milwaukee Bucks 4-2

(#2) New York Knicks d. (#7) Philadelphia 76ers

 

Western Conference

(#1) Oklahoma City Thunder d. (#8) New Orleans Pelicans 4-0

(#5) Dallas Mavericks d. (#4) Los Angeles Clippers 4-2

(#3) Minnesota Timberwolves d. (#6) Phoenix Suns 4-0

(#2) Denver Nuggets d. (#7) Los Angeles Lakers 4-1

Edited May 8 by Josh

[George_D 1,205]

 

[PHI2019 262]

Therapy With Nikola Jokic