East
Heat up 3-1 on Hawks
Thought the Hawks might shine out and make this a series but outside of their late comeback in Game Three, the Hawks have been rather lackluster. The Heat are still just warming up but Jimmy Butler looks to be locked in. This series is over and actually should have been over in 4. The Heat have effectively bottled up Trae Young and the Hawks attack just isn't scary right now.
Celtics up 3-0 on Nets
Man, Durant looks old, Kyrie has been fustigated by this Celtics defense and pour one out for Coach Nash (hardest easy money in the history of the western world). The Nets should've won Game One, but Tatum stole it late and the air went out of the Nets' sails after that. Game Two turned into a Celtics' rout and in Game Three the Nets offense just couldn't get going. They don't make the proper use of Seth Curry (he's in the Tiago Splitter role of being the bail out guy, so he gets a pass at his knees with 2 seconds on the shot clock and the goose egg on his stat line) and why haven't they been able to find any kind of role for Blake Griffin or LaMarcus Aldridge? The Celtics D is legit, it is shutting down the vaunted Nets attack and it is making easy buckets at the other end (that the lackluster Nets D is powerless to stop). Once you remove all the hot air, the Brooklyn Nets kinda have nothing going for them. This series is over (though I wouldn't be shocked if the Nets won tonight).
Bucks up 3-1 on Bulls
Bulls had one nice game (an eye-opening W in Milwaukee in Game Two) but seems like that's all they had in them. Even in Game Three when the Bucks were without Khris Middleton, the Bulls just floundered on offense and put up no challenge at all to the Bucks, even though they had just beat them in Game Two. It looked for a moment like the Bucks might get challenged in this series and without Middleton, that offense seemed likely to take a hit, and yet the Bulls reverted back to the team that couldn't be playoff squads all season long. This series is over.
Sixers up 3-1 on Raptors
Embiid has been pretty great, Maxey is blowing up and Harden hasn't been dead weight. Throw in that the Raptors just haven't found their offense (Fred Van Vleet is just not in the zone right now) and this series should probably already be over when it promised to be the most competitive series. Are the Sixers capable of acking up four straight? Oh, absolutely! But the Raptors haven't shown enough offense (Van Vleet out for Game Five makes for an interesting dynamic) to strike any fear in Philly hearts. This series is over.
West
Suns 2-2 Pelicans
Well well well....what do we have here? It isn't that the Suns have already lost 2 games (to the #9 seed), it's that in their two W's, the Pelicans have looked pretty damn good! Can they win two more? Probably not, but the Suns have lost Devin Booker for the rest of the series and that is not an easy thing to overcome. Chris Paul will get this back on track in Game Five and I wouln't be surprised to see the Suns winding this up in 6 back in New Orleans. But...there is some creeping doubt as this Pelicans team is clearly playing their best basketball of the year. Bradom Ingram is a legit scorer, Jonas Valenciunas presents problems down low and CJ McCollum suddenly looks like the best move of the trade deadline. (Dang, if there best player would maybe think about playing some basketball, then this Pelicans team could actually be kinda dangerous, right?) The series isn't over but it's still hard to imagine the Pelicans winning two of the next three games.
Grizzlies 2-2 Wolves
Not a surprise that they're tied after 4 games but I am surprised by how brutally awful the Wolves were in their two L's. Both of them were bad bad bad losses and the Grizzlies probably should've snatched Game Four, as well. The Wolves are pretty good when it all comes together but D'Angelo Russell disappears from time to time, Anthony Edwards is not yet ready to take the next step and Karl-Anthony Towns just makes so many dumb mistakes, that I just can't see the Wolves beating anyone--even a green, untested squad like the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies have all that they need, they just need to put it all together (and they could still murder-ize the Wolves). The series is tight but I'm sticking with the Grizzlies to pull it out.
Warriors 3-1 Nuggets
Kudos to the Nuggets for keeping the series alive, but the Warriors are by far the better team. Not even close. The Nuggets had to move heaven and earth and make big plays down the stretch to even have a prayer of pulling out Game Four, its just hard to imagine they can do that three more times. Especially considering that the Warriors are looking good but not great, they've still got a lot of room to get better. This one is over.
Mavs 2-2 Jazz
The Jazz blew their chance to dominate this series when they failed to win in Game Two (the second straight game without Luka Doncic). The Mavs blew their chance to dominate this series when they failed to finish Game Four, though they had their chance to get up a game winner (and just never could get a good look). The Jazz seem ready to get blown up this summer and the Mavs don't quite know who they are when Luka's not in there. This series is still totally up in the air. I still got the Mavs--but I'm not putting money on 'em!
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