#i'm so wrong

I’m gonna rush through all the predictions I made rather quickly to avoid this being too drawn out:

Rockets beat Timberwolves 4-1, predicted 4-1

Hey that’s exactly what I said would happen. No real surprise there. Rockets are a monster, but Timberwolves are too hungry to get totally swept. Maybe next year Wolves.

Warriors beat Spurs 4-1, predicted 4-2

I gave the Spurs a bit too much credit and didn’t give the Warriors enough. I don’t know that I can believe even the Rockets can stop this goliath, especially now that Steph is back. It’ll be interesting to see how the Kawhi situation plays out, and what the Spurs will do to finally replace some of their older players. I’d be worried as a Spurs fan, it’s looking like the Spurs are sinking down to the Grizzlies era of mediocrity; good enough to make a lower seed playoffs appearance, but not good enough to get far.

Pelicans beat Trail Blazers 4-0, predicted 2-4

Wow I couldn’t have been more wrong about this. Jrue Holiday put the clamps on Lillard and completely removed him from the equation, and really made the difference. Anthony Davis was his usual monstrous-self, but Jrue Holiday also stepping up and Lillard not being able to stop them led to a massacre.

Jazz beat Thunder 4-3, predicted 1-4

Setting aside my salt about the poor reffing performance in game 7 (not saying it’s rigged, but hey if you said it I wouldn’t voice any disagreement), the Jazz played way better than I expected. Donovan Mitchell is already a star, Ingles has jingled more than a few bells, and Ricky Rubio was a monster out there. And, of course, Rudy Gobert to lock it all down. That, combined with the disgusting performance of Carmelo “[coming off the bench is] not an option” Anthony led to a surprising upset. I did say I was ready to be wrong about this one the most so it wasn’t like nobody could’ve predicted this, but it’s still impressive nonetheless. Now to hope they can do something against Houston.

Raptors beat Wizards 4-2, predicted 4-3

Wizards put up about the fight I expected them to put up, Raptors won just like I expected them to. Not much else to say.

Celtics beat Bucks 4-3, predicted 4-2

Reverse of Raptors, still played out how I expected it to. Lets see this battered shambling Celtics team face the 76ers now.

76ers beat Heat 4-1, predicted 3-4

Dang it Heat. They consistently collapsed in the 4th. Credit to 76ers, Simmons is a monster and Embiid is a beast. Credit to old-man Wade for stopping the sweep.

Cavs beat Pacers 4-3, predicted 4-0

Ooph this Cavs team looks ROUGH outside of LeBron. But it helps that LeBron is the best basketball player on Earth and is able to put up 3 40+ point games in a series. The Pacers are such a consistently strong, consistently underrated team, Oladipo earned his all-star even if he wasn’t totally present during this series, and Lance is just as annoying as he needs to be. Cavs are lucky, and I’m not looking forward to my heart rate during this upcoming Raptors series.

So that wraps up the first round. I was very wrong except when I wasn’t. Let’s move on to the 2nd round predictions, which will probably be much easier than the 1st round.

1. Houston Rockets vs 5. Utah Jazz

Prediction: Rockets 4-1 Jazz

I’m hoping that the Jazz can put up more of a fight than this, but the realist in me doesn’t see that as a possibility. It seems like every time Chris Paul has a bad game James Harden carries the weight, and the reverse. The Utah Jazz are missing Rubio, so it’s a bit overly hopeful for me to even say they win 1 game considering what a blow that is. The west is going to be a lot more boring this round if I’m being honest.

2. Golden State Warriors vs 6. New Orleans Pelicans

Prediction: Warriors 4-0 Pelicans

I don’t think even Holiday and Davis combining for 90 points could overcome this Warriors team with Steph Curry back. I’m not sure anybody can stop that machine.

So that’s the West. Like I said, not a lot to say and the predictions are a lot less tough to call. The Rockets and Warriors are both just so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s crazy.

1. Toronto Raptors vs 4. Cleveland Cavaliers

Prediction: Cavs 4-2 Raptors

LeBron is a monster, TT seems to be coming out of his year-long hibernation, Korver is hitting his threes, and LeBron is a monster. The Raptors are the better team, and they have arguably the deepest bench in the league, but the Cavs with only LeBron and one other player were able to take down a very strong Pacers team. If literally anybody starts to step up who hasn’t so far i.e. Clarkson, Nance, Hood, or KLove, then the Cavs will win. The only hope the Raptors have is LeBron is too banged up from the Pacers series and gets hurt or Kyle Lowry and DeRozan become literal gods.

2. Boston Celtics vs 3. Philadelphia 76ers

Prediction: 76ers 4-2 Celtics

The Celtics don’t have either of their stars but they’ve stepped up as a team so amazingly that I still think they can be a legitimate threat to the 76ers. We’ll see if that turns out to be true or not. I don’t think the Celtics have any hope of actually beating this team, though.