Western Conference Preview 2021

 

The Western Conference Finals is underway in a matchup that sees the young upstart Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Clippers. The road to the conference finals has been drastically different for both the teams. The Phoenix Suns beat the defending NBA Champions Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games in the first round. In the second round they swept the NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in 4 games. The Los Angeles Clippers won their first round matchup in 7 games after trailing 2-0 initially against the Dallas Mavericks. In the second found they beat the Utah Jazz, who the best record in the NBA, in 6 games. This occurred after trailing 2-0 in this series as well. The Clippers become the first team in NBA history to come back from 2-0 twice in the same playoff season.

 

The Clippers will be without one of their star players Kawhi Leonard due to ACL sprain. Leonard availability is seen as a day by day situation. The Suns will be without their star player Chris Paul due to Health and Safety Protocol. This situation is also a day by day situation as well depending on any further information that is given out likely on Monday.

 

This will be a hard fought series with each having the ability to defend very well because most of their perimeter defenders are versatile. It will come down to a battle between Devin Booker of the Suns and Paul George of the Clippers. I predict that the Suns will win in 6 games with the X factor of the series being Deandre Ayton.

 

 

Takeaways from Eastern Conference Playoffs!!

 

The Eastern Conference has some intriguing match ups in the 2^nd round of the playoffs.

In this article I have listed my takeaways from both series currently going on.

 

Philadelphia 76ers vs Atlanta Hawks (Phi Leads 2-1)

 

The Philadelphia 76ers have won 2 straight games which include great contributions from their bench. The Atlanta Hawks do not have an answer for Joel Embiid on the inside and their only hope is hitting their 3’s and limiting their turnovers. The Hawks have committed at least 12 turnovers in every game this series. Turnovers combined with their poor 3-point shooting just 36 and 25% from 3 in the last two games. The Hawks will not win another game in this series if they cannot limit their turnovers.

Brooklyn Nets vs Milwaukee Bucks (BKN Leads 2-1)

 

The Brooklyn Nets are complete control of the series.

It took a very poor shooting night from the Nets for the Bucks to be able to win a game. The Bucks victory on Thursday came with themselves shooting just 19% from the 3 point Line. Joe Harris who shoot 1 for 11 in game 3 likely will not shoot like that again in this series. Until Giannis Learns to shoot from the perimeter the Bucks will not go to the Eastern Conference Finals let alone a NBA Finals.

2nd Round Playoff Preview

The second round of the NBA Playoffs begins this weekend.  In the first round many series went the way they were expected with The Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks both making easy work of their opponents and advancing to the next round. The Atlanta Hawks took care business against the New York and will face the Philadelphia 76ers in round 2. The 76ers won their series but the star of the team Joel Embiid a knee injury which could limit his effectiveness in the remainder of the playoffs. The Denver Nuggets will be taking the on the Phoenix in an anticipated matchup featuring Nikola Jokic and Devin Booker. The Suns beat the Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. The Utah Jazz await the winner of Dallas Mavericks vs the Los Angeles Clippers series, which has a game 7 on Sunday. I will point out 3 things to look out for in the 3 series that are set.  

 Brooklyn Nets vs Milwaukee Bucks

 

1.       Joe Harris will be an X Factor for the series if he can hit 4 threes a game it will force the Bucks to have to play one of the Nets star players without help.

2.       Milwaukee’s Perimeter defense will be key for them to win the series. 

3.       Ball movement will be pivotal and whichever team wins the Assist battle will win the series.

Philadelphia 76ers vs Atlanta Hawks

1.       3^rd scorer must emerge for the 76ers with Joel Embiid being limited with knee injury

2.       Hawks must shoot above 40% from 3-point line to win the series

3.       Ben Simmons’ aggressiveness, not necessarily scoring but when it comes to setting up teams to get open shots.

Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns

1.       Suns 3pt defense will be key against Nuggets in the series

2.       Can Michael Porter Jr carry over his round one performance?

3.       Deandre Ayton must  hold his own against Nikola Jokic