NBA Playoffs: Play-In Tournament Round One Predictions
The NBA’s postseason officially kicks off tonight with Round One of the Play-In Tournament for the Eastern Conference.
The wild, frantic end to the NBA season gives us interesting matchups between the seventh-eighth seed and the ninth-tenth seed on back-to-back nights.
The Charlotte Hornets fly to Indiana to take on the Pacers, followed by the Boston Celtics versus the Washington Wizards for tonight’s slate on TNT.
On Wednesday night, the Western Conference Play-In begins with matchups between Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs and then the headline of the tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Golden State Warriors in an epic battle between rivals LeBron James and Steph Curry, both on ESPN.
The stakes are high as you either guarantee your team a playoff spot or go down to fighting for your lives in the loser bracket in a one-game elimination scenario. Who that team will be? Here are my predictions for the first round of the tournament:
Hornets-Pacers
Earlier today we got the news that Pacers’ guard Caris LeVert will be missing tonight’s game due to health and safety protocols. Losing him will be a big blow for this team that is already missing point guard Malcolm Brogdon and Aaron Holiday. On the other end, Gordon Hayward remains out with his foot injury that led to the almost demise of an exciting season for the Hornets who struggled without his services. With both teams missing key pieces it will be up to Scary Terry or Domantas Sabonis to win it for their team.
My Prediction: I got the Hornets winning this matchup. I believe with all the pressure on Sabonis with the injuries and COVID-issue to LeVert, the Hornets will be able to game plan better against him, seeing multiple bodies of Cody Zeller, Biyombo, and P.J Washington. Pacers are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and that’s due to them absolutely hating their head coach and his schemes. If the Hornets get off to a hot start by hitting threes then I expect the Pacers just to bow down and put an end to a miserable season. The guard play of LaMelo, Rozier, and Graham will be too much for Indy to overcome.
Wizards-Celtics
This will be a fun scoring matchup between two average squads this year. The Celtics have been struggling all season with their up and down play, which to be fair is primarily due to injuries and COVID, but this roster has also been a problem. The Wizards were literally dead in the water, just for Russ to go All-NBA and lead them back into the playoff picture with a historic season. Before Brown’s injury, this would’ve been an easy pick but since he is out with torn ligaments in his wrist the Celtics have a big challenge coming to town.
My Prediction: This was hard but I got to go with the Celtics in this matchup. Jayson Tatum has also been playing at an All-NBA level this season and if he gets any type of help from the likes of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, or Evan Fournier then the C’s will have enough firepower to handle the Wizards. What’s going to stimey the Wizards is going to be the health of Bradley Beal. He admitted after the Wizards beat the Hornets in the season finale that he wasn’t fully healthy and it was “hard-headed” of him coming back early. You could tell by watching him that he wasn’t right and he would be a liability on D. I fully expect C’s to attack that. Wizards would need an All-Time great performance from Russ to win this game.
Spurs-Grizzlies
This one doesn’t exactly scream ratings, but it will probably be one of the better games we see this season. You got the young Grizzlies looking to rebound from their loss against the Warriors for the eighth seed versus Pop’s young Spurs. The better coach in this series obviously goes to Pop, who has more playoff wins than Taylor Jenkins has career wins. These teams are basically about equal in stats and both are one of the worst three-point shooting teams. So who wins?
My Prediction: This was the hardest to pick but I will be going with the Spurs to pull the upset? They struggled to end the season, going on a four-game losing streak but I believe Pop will muster whatever excellence he can from this team on this big stage. The Grizzlies was the best scoring team in the paint this season led by second-year sensation Ja Morant and I know Pop will preach that stat in his team’s head. If the game is close which I believe it will be, I’m going to trust in the veteran scoring Demar Derozan to win the game for the Spurs.
Warriors-Lakers
My my my, talk about a coincidence that Bron and Steph find themselves in this position. Obviously, we know injuries have a lot to do with this but who couldn’t ask for better theatre for the Play-In Tournament. The Lakers’ two superstars have been injury-prone this season, Bron the latest example going down briefly in the season-ending game against the Pels. AD averages about two trips or falls a game himself. On the other side, the Warriors have surprisingly been playing good to close out the season with Wiggins playing better and Draymond looking motivated.
My Prediction: Fight me Bron stans, I got Curry knocking y’all to the loser bracket to fight for y’all playoff lives. We can’t ignore what we are seeing from this light-skinned, green-eyed killer in Wardell Stephen Curry. Even the King had to admit it himself, donning Curry the MVP this season. What we also can’t ignore simply is the Lakers’ health. If Bron and AD are limited then who will step up for the Lakers? They have been in a shooting slump from deep and their new acquisition Kareem Drummond hasn’t been very good. Also Dennis the Menace will have to deal with following Steph around the court and that will be tough for someone who hasn’t had much action lately due to him being out. Petty Curry will be activated.
