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It’s Saturday night. There are no NBA games on TV until Sunday.
What else is there to do, then, except open up a discussion thread so everyone can register their Round 2 predictions in one place?
I asked the ever-reliable @deepee30 to go through our entire Round 1 thread to help me find the participants who fared the best. A Dallas fan named Mike (no last name provided) and Michael Kelminson both nailed all eight first-round winners, with Mike also calling the series length correct four times: Bucks in 6; 76ers in 6; Grizzlies in 6; Mavericks in 6. Kelminson got the series length correct in one instance (Grizzlies in 6), while Rohit got seven of the eight series winners right and nailed the series length four times (Heat in 5, Sixers in 6, Bucks in 5 and Warriors in 6).
Yours truly called seven of the eight series winners correct but only two series lengths precisely (Heat in 5 and Bucks in 5). I missed on my Toronto-over-Philadelphia upset bid … and so I send my apologies (as promised) to our famously Philly-loving subscriber James Madison.
What awaits in the second round starting with Bucks-at-Celtics and Warriors-at-Grizzlies? How much will the Joel Embiid (orbital fracture) and Khris Middleton (knee) injuries lessen the drama anticipated among the East’s final four?
Sun in 5, Mavs can't solve CP3 & Co for a while series, but Luka gets one at home.
Warriors in 6, Grizz are too young in every way that matters.
Boston wins in 7 if Middleton misses the whole series. Giannis & Co are too good to be swept, almost too good to lose.
Sixers in 7 if Embiid can come back by game 3, Heat in 5 if he can't play. But if Lowry/Butler are out at least two games each, it goes 7 and most amazing, insane top 5 series of all time, and Sixers just do it with a big game from a fully-unleashed Bball Paul!
Heat in 5 (a healthy embid would be a different story)
Bucks in 7 (BOS has no real answer for giannis)
Suns in 6 (luka can pull out a couple wins, but the suns are a much better team)
Warriors in 7 (Memphis dominated the regular season, but the warriors weren’t complete then. GSW has the playoff experience and will win the series on Memphis’s floor.)
Without Embiid, Miami smells blood in the water. Boston and Milwaukee will be a classic. Giannis will do much better than KD against Tatum, the Celtics can slow him down but that opens up Lopez. Without Middleton or home court the Bucks will lose a close one. Phoenix is too deep and too versatile for the Mavs. Bridges has only one job - make Luka sweat. Suns smart veterans will outplay Dallas backcourt, and frontcourt matchups are all in Phoenix favor. Young and athletic Grizzlies matchup well with Warriors and will push Golden State to 7. Best shooters will win and Golden State takes better shots.
Heat over Sixers in five (embid finds a new way to not show up...every key series). if Butler and lowry start, then they might sweep. Suns over dallas in five, maybe six. Ill say five. Griz over warriors in seven. I think GS is older than people realize. And Celtics over Bucks in five. (or six, but Ill say five). If middleton were active it would be a six or seven game series. But right now nobody beats boston.
I won’t make any predictions (call me a wimp), but I’d note that Miami-Philly is really tough to call because it would depend on whether Embiid can come back to play in any of the games. If he misses the entire series, I could see a Heat sweep.
Heat in 6
Celtics in 7
Suns in 6
Grizz in 7
Heat over Sixers in 6
Bucks over Celtics in 6
Suns over Mavs in 5
Warriors over Grizzlies in 5
My picks:
EAST:Sixers over Heat in 7
Bucks over Celtucs in 7
WEST:Mavs over Sun's in 6
Warriors over Grizz in 5
Heat over Sixers in 5
Bucks over Celtics in 7
Suns over Mavericks in 7
Warriors over Grizzlies in 6
Suns in 7
Grizzlies in 7
Bucks in 7
Heat in 5
My picks:
EAST
Heat over Sixers in 4
Celtics over Bucks in 7
WEST
Mavericks over Suns in 6
Warriors over Grizzlies in 5
Suns in 6
Grizz in 7
Celtics in 6
Heat in 6
Another good response. Hopefully my pal @deepee30 will be up to help me go back and figure out who was the smartest when this round ends.
EAST
Heat in 5
Celtics in 6
WEST
Suns in 7
Warriors in 6
Bucks in 7
Warriors in 5
Suns in 6
Heat in 6
Heat in 5
Bucks in 7
Dallas in 7
Warriors in 6
Heat in 6
Celtics in 4
Warriors in 6
Suns in 6
Celtics in 6
Heat in 5
Warriors in 5
Suns in 6
Heat in 5
Celtics in 5
Warriors in 7
Suns in 6
Heat over Sixers in 6
Boston over Milwaukee in 7
Phoenix over Dallas in 6
Memphis over Golden State in 7
EAST
Heat over Sixers in 5
bucks over celtics in 7
WEST
Suns over Mavericks in 7
Warriors over Grizzlies in 6
Celtics in 7
Heat in 5 (assuming no Embiid)
Suns in 7
Warriors in 6
Sun in 5, Mavs can't solve CP3 & Co for a while series, but Luka gets one at home.
Warriors in 6, Grizz are too young in every way that matters.
Boston wins in 7 if Middleton misses the whole series. Giannis & Co are too good to be swept, almost too good to lose.
Sixers in 7 if Embiid can come back by game 3, Heat in 5 if he can't play. But if Lowry/Butler are out at least two games each, it goes 7 and most amazing, insane top 5 series of all time, and Sixers just do it with a big game from a fully-unleashed Bball Paul!
Mavs in 7
Warriors in 5
Heat in 5
Boston in 6
Heat in 7 with Jimmy Butler going toe to toe with James Harden. Maxie the X factor.
Warriors in 5. Youth catches up to Memphis.
Suns in 6. Luka can only do so much.
Boston in 6. Defence wins playoffs.
Suns in 5 (assuming booker healthy)
Warriors in 7
Celtics in 6 (assuming brown downtown get hurt)
Rivers proves his coaching mettle. Provides a big middle finger to everyone by out coaching spoelstra. Embiid returns game 3. Sixers in 7.
Heat in 5 (a healthy embid would be a different story)
Bucks in 7 (BOS has no real answer for giannis)
Suns in 6 (luka can pull out a couple wins, but the suns are a much better team)
Warriors in 7 (Memphis dominated the regular season, but the warriors weren’t complete then. GSW has the playoff experience and will win the series on Memphis’s floor.)
Heat over 76ers in 6
Celtics over Bucks in 7
Mavericks over Suns in 7
Warriors over Grizzlies in 6
Heat sweep Philly
Celtics in 7 over Bucks
Warriors in 7 over Memphis
Suns over Mavs in 5
Without Embiid, Miami smells blood in the water. Boston and Milwaukee will be a classic. Giannis will do much better than KD against Tatum, the Celtics can slow him down but that opens up Lopez. Without Middleton or home court the Bucks will lose a close one. Phoenix is too deep and too versatile for the Mavs. Bridges has only one job - make Luka sweat. Suns smart veterans will outplay Dallas backcourt, and frontcourt matchups are all in Phoenix favor. Young and athletic Grizzlies matchup well with Warriors and will push Golden State to 7. Best shooters will win and Golden State takes better shots.
Hard to call 76ers Heat as it’s dependant on when Emiid is back, but.. Heat in 5
Celtics in 7
Warriors in 6
Suns in 5
Heat in 5
Bucks in 6
Mavs in 6
Warriors in 7
Heat over Sixers in five (embid finds a new way to not show up...every key series). if Butler and lowry start, then they might sweep. Suns over dallas in five, maybe six. Ill say five. Griz over warriors in seven. I think GS is older than people realize. And Celtics over Bucks in five. (or six, but Ill say five). If middleton were active it would be a six or seven game series. But right now nobody beats boston.
I won’t make any predictions (call me a wimp), but I’d note that Miami-Philly is really tough to call because it would depend on whether Embiid can come back to play in any of the games. If he misses the entire series, I could see a Heat sweep.
Mavs in 7 (sorry, Point God)
Bucks in 7 (super tight)
GSW in 5
Heat in 5 (no Embiid, Harden the big stage choker, return of Dipo!)
Heat in 6
Celtics in 7
Warriors in 6
Suns in 5
Celtics in 6
Heat in 5
Warriors in 5
Suns in 7
The Heat will not sweep Philly ...
East:
Sixers over Heat in 6
Celtics over Bucks in 7
West:
Suns over Mavericks in 7
Warriors over Grizzlies in 6
Mavs over Suns in 6
Warriors over Grizzlies in 5
Bucks over Celtics in 7
Heat over 76ers in 5
C’s in 6
Heat w/a broom
GSW in 5
Suns in 6
Bucks in 6
Heat in 7
Warriors in 6
Suns in 7
Heat in 5
Bucks in 7
Mavs in 7
Warriors in 6
Heat in 5. Sixers cannot win minus Embiid.
Celtics in 5. They’re the much better team since Middleton is out.
Suns in 6. Book and CP3 assert themselves.
Warriors in 5. Memphis issues will get exposed.
Heat in 6 , Bucks in 7, Mavs in 6 , Warriors in 7 !
East:
— Heat in 4
— Celtics in 7
West:
— Suns in 7
— Grizzlies in 6
Going BOLD!
Heat in 5
Celtics in 7
Warriors in 5
Suns in 6
Heat in 6
Bucks in 6
Mavs in 7
GSW in 6
Mavs in 7
Warriors in 6
Heat in 5
Celtics in 7
Hopefully I defend my title.
Warriors in 6
Suns in 6
Sixers in 7
Bucks in 6
Suns in 5
Warriors 6
Bucks 7
Sixers in 6
West: Suns over Mavs in 6; Warriors over Grizzles in 6
East: Heat over Sixers in 5; Celtics over Bucks 7
Heat in 5
Bucks in 7
Suns in 5
Warriors in 6
Heat 4 76ers 2
Celtics 4 Bucks 3
Suns 4 Mavs 1
Warriors 4 Grizzlies3
Heat in 6, Bucks in 6, Mavs in 7, Warriors in 5
Bucks in 6
Mavs in 7
Heat in 6
Warriors in 6