It’s April Madness in the NBA. That means playoff time, and there’s one thing for sure at the very beginning. There will be no Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs III. Without LeBron James the Heat didn’t make the playoffs with a 37-45 record.
The match-ups in a very weak East are: the Atlanta Hawks, 60-22 vs. the Brooklyn Nets, 38-44; the Cleveland Cavaliers, 53-29 vs. the Boston Celtics, 40-42; the Chicago Bulls, 50-32 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks, 41-41 and the Toronto Raptors, 49-33 vs. the Washington Wizards, 46-36.
Results so far: Cleveland sweeps Boston, Washington sweeps Toronto, Chicago takes aa 3-1 lead over Milwaukee, and the big surprise, Atlanta and Brooklyn are tied 2-2.
In the much stronger West: Golden State Warriors, 57-25 vs. the New Orleans Pelicans 45-37; the Portland Trailblazers, 57-31 vs. the Memphis Grizzlies, 55-27; the Houston Rockets, 57-26 vs. the Dallas Mavericks, 50-32; and the defending champions San Antonio Spurs, 55-27 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers, 57-26.
Big surprise is the Oklahoma Thunder didn’t make the playoffs.
The results: Golden State sweep New Orleans, Memphis 3-0 over Portland, Houston 3-1 over Dallas, and San Antonio and Los Angeles tied 2-2.
Games will resume this weekend.
My predictions. Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta will join Washington. Then it will be Atlanta vs. Washington; and Cleveland vs. Chicago.
In the West: Memphis, Houston and San Antonio will join Golden State. Who plays who is not known because of the records being the same? The Clippers just may upset the Spurs.