Thursday, March 19, 2015

2014-2015 Late Season Stretch Run to the Playoffs NBA predictions

I wont lie, I got a little lazy in terms of posting my 2nd half predictions, but with about 15 games remaining, I'll lay out how I see the rest of the regular season going

EAST                              WEST
1. Atlanta Hawks            1. Golden State Warriors
2. Cleveland Cavaliers   2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. Toronto Raptors         3. Houston Rockets
4. Chicago Bulls            4. Portland Trail Blazers
5. Washington Wizards  5.San Antonio Spurs
6. Miami Heat                6. Oklahoma City Thunder
7. Milwaukee Bucks      7. LA Clippers
8. Boston Celtics           8. Dallas Mavericks
9. Indiana Pacers           9. New Orleans Pelicans
10.Charlotte Hornets    10.Phoenix Suns
11.Brooklyn Nets        11.Utah Jazz
12.Detroit Pistons       12.Denver Nuggets
13.Orlando Magic       13.Sacramento Kings
14.Philadelphia 76ers  14.Los Angeles Lakers
15.New York Knicks   15.Minnesota Timberwolves

As for how I see the playoffs going, thats a little tougher to say because these are some good matchups, and its hard to speculate on certain injuries. I feel like I can go in a few different ways. I think the dynamic of the matchups can really make some things interesting as it feels like even the couple of teams that I like the most in the East have teams they could lose to. I personally like Atlanta and Chicago, assuming their health, the most, and think that a healthy Chicago has the best shot to beat Atlanta (though I think a first round matchup with the Celtics could be interesting for them as well). In the West, I'm pretty much sticking to my original thoughts. The backend of the seeding should go down to the last day. Obviously, that means that certain matchups may happen earlier, such as Golden State and OKC. I still stand by the notion that a healthy OKC has the best chance to beat the Warriors, but in the end, I will stick with my preseason prediction, the Golden State Warriors, to come out of the West and win the NBA Championship. The regular season has only strengthened my beliefs there. Assuming everything goes this way, this is what I would have to go with:

Eastern Conference Finals                                       Western Conference Finals
Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers    Golden State Warriors vs Oklahoma City Thunder
               
                                                    NBA Finals
                               Golden State Warriors vs Chicago Bulls   
           
                                       2015 NBA CHAMPIONS
                                  GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS   

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