The NBA Playoffs are the annual basketball tournament to determine the champion among 16 teams (eight teams from the Eastern Conference and eight teams from the Western Conference).
The tournament is divided into four rounds, starting with the top-seeded teams playing against the lowest-ranked teams. When teams go against each other, the winner is determined by which team wins the majority of seven games. The tournament starts with the first round, then the conference semifinals, the conference finals and ends with the NBA Finals.
The last two teams in the NBA finals play against each other for the league championship and the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Here are our NBA playoff predictions as the tournament nears its end:
Westen Conference Finals:
The Western Conference Finals will feature the Thunder against the Spurs, with the Thunder advancing to the NBA Finals. The Thunder have had consistent wins throughout the playoffs, unlike the Spurs, winning the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0, while the Spurs advanced after many more games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and finally advancing 4-2.
We predict that after a few tough games, the Thunder will beat the Spurs due to their overall number one ranking and hot streak after crushing the Lakers three times in a row so far in the Semifinals. The Thunder may even overtake the Spurs just as easily as they did the Lakers with another 4-0 and breeze their way through to the NBA Finals.
Eastern Conference Semifinals:
The New York Knicks have already defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in their round of the Semifinals, advancing the Knicks to the East Conference finals.
The remaining Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers currently stands at 3-3. Both teams were eliminated last year in the East Semifinals and had close calls in the 1st round, both advancing 4-3. These matches are almost a fair game considering the tie, yet the Pistons have an overall higher ranking as number 1 on the Eastern bracket and we predict that they will be the team to advance to the East finals.
Eastern Conference Finals:
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the number three team, the Knicks, will, as we predict, be facing the number one team, the Pistons. Despite Detroit’s higher seed, the Knicks have been having an exceptional season, winning in the first round (4-2) and their semifinals (4-0), while the Pistons have been struggling. Therefore, the Knicks will likely advance to the NBA finals.
We predict that the Knicks will advance, with the Pistons winning no more than a minimum of one of the games against the Knicks. The Pistons struggled against the number four-seeded team, the Cavaliers, which leads us to believe that against the number three-seeded team, the Pistons may have even more trouble, regardless of the fact that they are seeded as number one. The Knicks have overall been taking over the playoffs this year and will continue to do so all the way to the NBA Finals.
NBA Finals:
Assuming that the Knicks face the Thunder in the NBA Finals, it will be an exciting, edge-of-the-seat game. Oklahoma City entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and in the 1st round were undefeated as well as in the conference semifinals so far. The Knicks were also undefeated in the conference semi-finals and have a top-three ranking for the East. The Knicks had only reached the conference finals last year, while the Thunder won the NBA Finals and took home the trophy. Yet with the Knicks’ resilience and current streak, it is not unrealistic to root for the underdogs, which is why we predict that the Knicks will win the NBA finals and capture their first championship since 1973.
