Written by Chaim Cohen
April 16, 2022
(1) Heat vs. (8) Hawks
The Heat are coming off of their strongest regular season in a long time and they will face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. While the Atlanta Hawks are the 8 seed they are still a scary team to face. Last year as a 5 seed they knocked off the 1 seed in the second round and went as far as the Eastern Conference finals. Trae Young is also one of the best young players in this league and embraces his villain role. The Heat are much different from the Hawks though. They are a much more complete team and will show that during the series. They are well-coached, have great depth, and are great defensively. I would expect the Heat's role players like Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson to do well this series and their shooting will be the X-Factor to this Heat team these playoffs. The Heat play rough with great intensity and I don't think the Hawks are ready for that. I think the Heat win in 4 or 5.
(2) Celtics vs. (7)Nets
As a surprise to everyone, we have the preseason favorite, Brooklyn Nets, as a 7 seed. Even though they are the 7 seed they are still considered a top contender to win it all. While they had their fair share of struggles during the regular season as long as Kevin Durant and Kyrie are playing they should always be favored to win. The Celtics may not have players with championship history, but they are a force to be reckoned with. They have one of the best scorers in the league Jayson Tatum and he is eager to try and show the world what he is truly about. While they have great scorers in Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they also have the #1 ranked defense which is led by DPOY, Marcus Smart. What the Celtics also have that the Nets don't is great chemistry because this main group for Boston has been with each other for years. While Brooklyn built through free agency, Boston built from the draft for the most part. I think this will be the main reason that I favor the Celtics over Brooklyn. The Nets have had constant locker room issues and nobody even knows when Ben Simmons is coming back. So I have the Celtics winning in 6.
(3) Bucks vs. (6) Bulls
This series is two entirely opposite teams playing each other. The Bucks are coming off winning the championship with a team that is relatively the same as last year and we know what to expect from each of their players. The Bulls on the other hand are a newly assembled team of a bunch of "unproven" players. This will be Zach LaVine's first playoff appearance and just the second appearance for Nikola Vučević. While DeMar DeRozan has been in the playoffs a bunch he has a reputation of being "a chocker". This Bulls team has everything to prove and if they somehow pull off this upset it would really show everyone that they mean trouble. The biggest problem with the Bulls this year has been their lack of wins against good teams. While they are 44-16 against non-playoff teams they were 2-20 against playoff teams (before the play-in tournament). While some statistics are random and irrelevant this stat really tells a story and if you can't beat good teams, you have no chance against Giannis and the Bucks. I expect the Bucks to win in 5 games.
(5) 76ers vs. (6) Raptors
While these two teams had an all-time series just three years ago, I think this year will be a lot quicker. While I am not particularly high on either of these teams I think the 76ers are still much better than the Raptors. The Raptors have some talent in Siakam, Vanvleet, and Barnes, this Sixers team is on a different level. Philly's team is led by two legit superstars. Joel Embiid is trying to push a case for MVP, and James Harden is trying to be the guard this needs to win a championship. Even a player like Tyrese Maxey is cementing himself as a young star in this league. I would expect Maxey to play a big role for the Sixers as far as scoring in this series. Even though James Harden is a three-time scoring champion he is more of a facilitator for Philadelphia. He has also been struggling recently from the field and needs to start shooting better if the 76ers want to go out and win the championship. For this first round against the Raptors, it shouldn't really matter though and I expect the 76ers to win in 4 or 5 games.
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