Courtside: A Recap of the NBA Playoffs and Predictions for the NBA Finals

As spring begins to transition to summer, one of the most exciting sports events of the year will be taking place: the NBA playoffs! After an action-packed regular season, it’s finally time to see who will come out on top and claim the NBA title.

After just two weeks, there have already been multiple records broken, upsets achieved, and plenty of storylines to watch.

So far, the most eye-catching series have been the Heat versus the Bucks, the Lakers versus the Grizzlies, and the Warriors versus the Kings.

For starters, everyone was expecting Miami to be easily rolled over by Giannis and the Bucks, especially given their advantages in size and the fact that the Bucks were the number-one seed in their conference during the regular season.

Things took a turn for the Bucks when star-player Giannis was taken out of Game 1 with a back injury. But, even then, everyone thought it would still be a cakewalk for the Bucks.

And yet, here we are, with Butler and the Heat tied against the fifth-seeded New York Knicks.

With the Lakers and Grizzlies series, the Lakers had a particularly impressive turnaround during the ladder half of their season after a remarkably slow start.

After circumnavigating the issue of LeBron’s injury to get passed the play-in tournament, the Lakers have now found themselves a win against a younger and more athletic team in the Grizzlies.

This series sweep means that the Lakers are currently up a game against the defending NBA champions, the Warriors.

The Warriors-Kings series was somewhat overlooked compared to the other two major series, but this matchup was just as entertaining as any other in round 1.

Being the only series that went to all seven games, it was very competitive. This competition was in large part due to the fact that two of the league’s offensive juggernauts went head-to-head. Despite the added aggression and quick pace of the Kings, the Warriors made it out on top.

Now here in round two of the playoffs, even more, fun matchups are playing out. The Nuggets and Suns series sees Booker and KD trying to make it work given the criminally few games they have played together during the season.

They face off against a Jokić-led Nuggets, who have been the best in their conference for the entire season.

The 76ers and Celtics were two of the favorites to take the title, so it will be interesting to see how that series ends, too.

It’s almost impossible to predict what might happen, so I decided to ask the former Cavaliers player and basketball extraordinaire Mr. Goldcamp: “I really like seeing how the Nuggets are playing, and I think they are a very complete team. If I was a betting man, I feel like they would be my favorite.”

Will the final four looks just like the 2020 NBA playoffs? Will Butler and the Heat be able to overcome the doubt cast by their eight-seed status? Tune into the NBA finals to find out the answers to all these burning questions!