2017 NBA Playoffs

[usagre]

Cavs-Raptors second round matchup now set. I don't see Toronto as a serious threat to win this series. If you consider that LeBron led teams always win a road playoff game dating back almost a decade that would mean Toronto would have to win twice in Cleveland. I can't see such a scenario playing out and would give Toronto a 10-20% chance of winning this series.

[CHBB]

Milwaukee could have won that series but I agree Toronto doesn't have enough (specifically two-way players) to pull it off.

Milwaukee could easily be even stronger next year. They've built the way the Bulls should've this year. Bet Chicago regrets trading Snell right now.

Don't think Washington or Toronto can beat Cleveland. They're too one-dimensional/inconsistent at too many positions.

Spurs could be the team to beat out West. If they match up with the Warriors it could get very interesting. Can't count out Utah though.

[CHBB]

Memphis can't blame the refs for this one. They didn't deserve to win tonight. Getting out-hustled in an elimination game is unacceptable.

[Levenspiel]

what was Kidd trying to do, by keeping Giannis 47mins on court? He's a freak, yeah, but he was already out of breath in mid 4th quarter, and he could really use a few mins on bench. But Kidd was talking about pain and stuff, instead... Naturally Giannis made a few bad decisions down the stretch, and they blew away an impressive comeback from 25 points down.

[CHBB]

Yeah that was crazy. It was obvious he was beyond fatigued.

Jimmy Butler apparently has been dealing with knee soreness. Is he going to become yet another victim of Thibs' overworking his players? I mean playing inside out the way he does is bad enough on the knees as it is.

[usagre]

Celtics-Wizards matchup now set in second round. I think Washington is the better team and will take this series. I am not really impressed with the Celtics if you consider the fact that the Bulls even with Rondo in the regular season barely sneaked into the playoffs so in essence without him the Celtics advanced by eliminating a lottery team.

[CHBB]

I think you all give Rondo way too much credit. If you look at the guys who made this a series, they either barely played in the regular season (Portis, Grant, MCW, Valentine, Zipser), didn't get the emphasis and attempts they deserved (Butler, Mirotic), etc. Rondo and Wade got all the emphasis, and Robin Lopez wrongly started over Portis.

Celtics though to me are WAY too thin down low. Gortat is a pain in the ass who none of those guys want to face. The biggest challenge other than down low as far as I'm concerned is Bradley/Smart guarding Beal/Bogdanovic. Good luck. If you can stop Beal though, you can most likely stop Washington.

[CHBB]

Chris Paul is a one man wrecking crew right now. If he wills his team to the win... just wow.

[CHBB]

Wow. I don't know whether to be disappointed by Utah or impressed as hell by CP3 and Crawford.

[usagre]

Clippers-Jazz headed for the only game 7 of the first round with the winner earning the right to get destroyed by the Warriors in a sweep or at worst 5 games.

[usagre]

My second round predictions :

Cavaliers over Raptors in 5
Wizards over Celtics in 6

Spurs over Rockets in 7
Warriors over whoever in 4

[CHBB]

I just realized that this postseason is basically set up to give Kawhi Leonard a chance to prove he's the best player in the world. Regardless of who he goes up against from here on out, it's a player who was wrongly made out to be better than him or more high profile. Most likely it would be Harden, then Durant, then LeBron. The opportunity is there for him to cement his position.

[usagre]

Or if he loses to Houston it would be the third straight year with him being the undisputed best player and leader of his team that he has failed to even get out of the second round. These last three years it has been his team and not Duncan's or secondarily the Parker-Ginobili duo. He gets the accolades of success but must also take the hits as well.

[CHBB]

For sure. This is make or break for him. I think having a defender like Simmons at the point is huge for them, though. If any year is his year, it's this one.

[usagre]

Celtics take game one after being down 16-0 to start the game. I still think Washington is the better team and will prevail but ankle sprain of Morris could be an issue if it is serious. Washington was coming off a tough fought series with Atlanta that just ended while Boston was cruising past the leaderless, Rondo less Bulls the last 4 games. They caught a huge break when Rondo went down because the Bulls offense completely stalled with no point guard. Grant, Cannan and Williams all had their shot and could not produce. If Morris misses any game action they might catch another break in this series. But sooner or later they will be exposed for the fraud contender they really are.