Please Vote! Playoff Matchup Analysis and Predictions - Round 1

With the regular season finally over the games will officially start to count, this season there are a handful of teams you could make a case for to make a championship run, let the upsets begin.









#1- Boston Celtics v #8- Los Angeles Lakers

If you had told me right after bidding that these two teams were going to meet in the playoffs I wouldn't be surprised, but if you had told me that it would be in the first rounds as the 1 and 8 seeds I wouldn't have believed you. Boston has had an ideal season, up until the last 2 weeks they were absolutely dominating the league, almost untouchable, while the Lakers have had one of the most chaotic seasons you could possibly imagine, but this is the playoffs, where the records reset and upsets happen every season. Boston is a dominant 5-0 this season against LA although they've only actually played 3 times, in those 3 games 2 of them were decided by less than 9 points. The lineups here don't match up though, even in the off chance that the Lakers could squeak out a game or 2 they won't be able to keep up and unfortunately for the Lakers its an easy call, Celtics in 3.

#2 Phoenix Suns v #7- Chicago Bulls

Now this could be an interesting matchup, the Bulls are a week in week out team so this series is going to depend on which Bulls team shows up, or doesn't, the Bulls are 0-4 against the Suns this season and unfortunately for them none of those games have been close. These two teams had completely opposite seasons, the Suns never had a week worse than 4-2, they cruised through with a positive record against almost every team this season and had basically clinched a playoff spot after week 4. The Bulls on the other hand have kept things interesting, they are the only team in LGBA history to have two 5-1 weeks and two 1-5 weeks in the same season, they're going to need some special performances from Munie who has 11 of their 17 wins. I don't see the Bulls flipping the season script, but I could see them stealing a game, Suns in 4.

#3- Brooklyn Nets v #6- Atlanta Hawks

Typically this is where the series tend to get more interesting, but in a season like this where we have 3 teams all equally set up to make a title run I wouldn't hold my breath if you're waiting for this to be an upset. Brooklyn is 3-1 against the Hawks this season and the only time that Atlanta managed to beat them it was with Ando in the lineup, Atlanta has struggled terribly this season against the 5 teams above them with a combined 5-15 record, a trend they'll have to change if they want any chance of even competing in this series. Line wise again these two teams just really don't match up, with Kasra now running on Jiggy's line the Hawks will need their defense to carry them and although Sub and Co have been handing out headaches to almost every PG they play the edge still stays with the Nets, and as for their second lines it would all come down to whether STG can play and perform against Tee. In both cases the answer is pretty simple, Nets in 3.

#4- Memphis Grizzles v #5- Portland Trailblazers

Ladies and Gentlemen here we are, what will most likely be the most entertaining matchup of the first round, 4v5 is usually a series to keep an eye on but this one is definitely on its own level, these teams have met 5 times this season, Memphis holds the edge up 3-2 on their season series after beating the Blazers in extremely close games in back to back weeks. Portland actually started off the season 2-0 against the Grizz, their recent roster changes have kept their last two losses to the Griz by just 7 points combined meaning were in for a hell of a series. This series is going to come down to 2 players, one on each side, for Memphis its going to be Rainy, he's the only Grizzly PG that's had success against the Blazers first line, if the Grizz don't want to be down early in this series they're going to have to rely on him to get them rolling. In the back half of the series CTwicee is going to have to be the X factor against the Grizzlies 2nd unit, if Portland cant rely on their second line to get them some a few series extending/ending wins they might as well just pack it in now, last week Twice was absolutely shut down by the Grizzlies first line so look to see him come back for blood now that the games count. This series is really going to be a toss up, could easily go to game 5 and of these two teams game 5 lines Memphis has the edge, Grizzlies in 5.