Playoff Predictions (East, 1st round)

EAST

Hawks over Nets in 6.  I like the Nets to give the Hawks a 1st round test with some veteran savvy and good luck.  The Hawks haven't played their best ball in a coupla months now, probably could use a good punch in the face to get going.  The Nets are terrible but they've got enough talent to give the Hawks pause.  I like the Nets to take one in Atlanta, then win game 3 to go up 2-1.  Then the Hawks get it together and bumrush past the Nets.

Cavs over Celtics in 4.  I thought the Celtics would be awful all season long, getting rid of Rondo and Green was the only move to make, picking up Isiah Thomas and another pile of draft picks was just a bonus.  Brad Stevens emerged as one of the great coaches in the game and he kept a mediocre crew of misfits on track to the playoffs.  I think a playoff appearance beats a late lottery pick every day of the week: young players need to get into the party, the fans and local media need to be involved, free agents need to have some faith in your squad, and the difference btw the #12 pick and the #19 pick is not a big deal.  That said, the Cavs have too much scoring for the Celtics to keep up.  I like Celtics to keep every game competitive into the 4th quarter, I just don't think they'll pull out even a single game.  Still an excellent season for the Celtics.

Bulls over Bucks in 6.  The Bucks lost more games last year than the Knicks have this year...wow...think about that for a second.  But that Bucks roster wasn't that bad, they just had a knack for giving away games.  They gave Antetokounpo plenty of time to play, picked up Jabari and Jason Kidd (perhaps the pleasant-est surprise of the season), and became a much better team by just not being so bad any more.  I like the direction of the franchise, I'm digging their vision of roster construction, good to see them in the post-season (though I'd love to see Jabari joining them).  The Bulls, on the other hand, vastly overacheived last year, added a ton of talent (Pau, Mirotic, welcomed back D Rose), and everything more or less worked...so why aren't the Bulls better?  All year long I've wondered why they aren't better.  The easy answer is the continuing in-and-out-ness of D Rose but to my mind that shouldn't even matter.  Based on what they did last year without him, seems like ANYTHING they get from Rose is a bonus.  Add in a solid season from Pau, a great maturation year from Jimmy Butler, a top notch rookie season from Mirotic, the steady play of Noah and Gibson, getting Dunleavy back to his proper place in the rotation, shouldn't that alone be better than the previous season?  Apparently not.  They had 3 fewer W's and finished the same place in the conference table.  Basketball, man... (The Bulls were my pre-season to win the East and I'm ready now to put them back in that place.  They have to pull it together, if they do I have no doubt they can beat anyone in the East...even the Cavs and Hawks.  I've got no real reason to think this will happen...but I do think it'll happen!  I like the Bulls to win the East)  The Bulls are better than the Bucks but not so much that they'll just roll through them.  I think the Bucks will kick the Bulls into gear.  I can see the Bucks taking one in Chicago, the Bulls coming back and winning two in Milwaukee.

Raptors over Wizards in 7.  I thought both of these squads would be better this year, thought both would be really solid regular season teams that would have to re-prove themselves come playoff time.  Well, one's gonna make the 2nd round and one ain't.  I'll take the Raptors to win in game 7, just because....I dunno....the Raptors lost game 7 at home last year, be rugged to see them lose back to back home 7's.