The NBA regular season is over and now we are on to the postseason, starting with the State Farm Play-In Tournament. On Tuesday, The Hornets head to Indiana to play the Pacers at 6:30PM/EST on TNT, and then in Boston, the Wizards play the Celtics at 9:00PM/EST also on TNT. Then, Wednesday, the Spurs and Grizzlies play at 7:30PM/EST on ESPN in Memphis and the Warriors head to LA to play the Lakers at 10:00PM/EST on ESPN. Then, Thursday, the WINNER of the Hornets at Pacers plays the LOSER of the Wizards at Celtics at 8:00PM/EST on TNT. Finally, Friday, the WINNER of Spurs at Grizzlies plays the LOSER of the Warriors at Lakers at a time TBD on ESPN. So the winner of the Wizards at Celtics and Warriors at Lakers gets the 7th seed and the loser of those games plays the winner of the two other games (Hornets at Pacers and Spurs at Grizzlies) in which the winner of that game would get the 8th seed. I hope that makes even a little sense because I am terrible at explaining things. Anyways, let’s look at the match-ups and make some picks.
Game one is Hornets at Pacers. Charlotte lost 5 games in a row to end the season falling from 8th into the 10th spot after they lost on Sunday against the Wizards. Gordon Hayward has not played in a game since April 2nd and is unlikely to play on Tuesday. LaMelo Ball has been a Rookie of the Year candidate and a major addition to the Hornets lineup in the backcourt with Terry Rozier. However, I think Indiana will have too much. At home and with Caris LeVert and Domantas Sabonis on their team, I believe Indiana is the better team and will win the game, advancing to play the loser of the Wizards at Celtics.
Game two of Tuesday is the Wizards and the Celtics. Boston has had a tough season. They lost their second best player when it was announced Jaylen Brown would miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury. The Wizards have played good basketball as of late but Bradley Beal is injured so that will hurt Washington’s chances. The Wizards do also have Russell Westbrook who has had a very solid season after a rocky start to his Wizards tenure, after coming over in a trade for John Wall. Washington will need guys like Daniel Gafford and Rui Hachimura to step up in the game if they are going to win. The Celtics have so many injuries, to go along with Brown, as Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams have been in and out of the line-up all season and have been out over the past couple of games. Walker is expected to play but for Smart and Williams, it is unclear. I have gone back and forth on this one, but I’ll pick the Celtics. I think they will have too much from Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker and advance to play the Brooklyn Nets, likely getting swept.
Game three is Spurs at Grizzlies. I am picking the Grizzlies. Their team is much superior than the Spurs, Ja Morant is an awesome player who is so fun to watch. Dillion Brooks was excellent when guarding Steph Curry on Sunday and I would expect him to take on DeMar DeRozan in the game on Wednesday. Jarren Jackson Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas are the bigs that San Antonio will have to deal with and I do not think they will successfully. I just simply do not feel the Spurs will have enough answers to beat the Grizzlies and Memphis will advance to play the loser of the Lakers and Warriors.
Game four is going to be awesome. Steph and LeBron, winner, heads to the playoffs. Curry has had a MVP level season and will receive consideration for the award, though Nikola Jokic should and will win it. With Golden State missing Klay Thompson for the entire season it has been all about Curry and he got them this far. For the defending champs the issues have been the injury bug that the Lakers have caught all season. Anthony Davis missed 36 games and LeBron James missed 27 games, not to mention guys like Dennis Schroder also missed an extended period of time, the Lakers did not meet expectations. Both teams are strong defensively and have players that can take over a game. The question is can Golden State get enough offensive production from everyone not named Steph Curry, guys like Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole will need to step up in a big way. If that production happens and Golden State defends well enough, I think the Warriors will have a chance to win the game. However, I am picking the Lakers at home, advancing to play the Phoenix Suns in the first round.
For game five I am projecting Pacers at Wizards, winner plays the 76ers. I think the Wizards are a better match-up for Indiana then the Celtics are. I also think the Hornets are a better match-up for Washington then the Pacers are. However, I am leaning Washington in this potential match-up. I just feel that the duo of Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal would be too much for Indiana to overcome. While the Celtics can match the duo with Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker, Indiana has Caris LeVert and Domantas Sabonis, and while both players are very good (Sabonis an All-Star), I do not think the Pacers would have the firepower to match the Wizards scoring output, especially with it being a Wizard home game.
For game six and the final play-in game, I am projecting Grizzlies at Warriors, part 2, winner plays the Utah Jazz. Sunday’s game was so good until Dillion Brooks fouled out and the Warriors pulled away, I would expect another good one. Memphis matches up well with the Warriors and while I think that the Warriors would win in that potential match-up, Memphis would battle to the very end and make the Chase Center a very nervous place. The Grizzlies are well coached, have good NBA players 1-10, and have a star in Ja Morant. The Warriors will need to rebound well enough and get out in open space if they decide to play small with Draymond Green at center. As I stated earlier though, I think at home, the Warriors would have too much and beat the Grizzlies in this potential game.
The regular season is finally over and the play-in has arrived. The play-in was introduced last season and was renovated this year and I would not be at all surprised if it was here to stay, with the way it made the last month of the season much more interesting. Postseason basketball is here and I think we can all get excited about that.
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