Knicks Peripheral #6: Playoff Predictions

Welcome back:

I’m putting my predictions on wax in case my bracket is perfect and we can brag about it publicly. These choices are mostly off of intuition and gut feelings, inspired by basketball analysis of course, but sometimes ignoring it, as all brackets should.

With my fans lens on, I would predict the Knicks to win the Finals by whooping the Pistons, capitalizing on Jaylen Brown’s health issues, outmatching the Cavs’ double bigs with their own, and riding this continued high against whichever West opponent they faced (hopefully not OKC). In the predictions below, I am a more objective.

Outside of the Knicks, I am rooting for the Los Angeles Clippers, OKC Thunder, and Houston Rockets. Either let this be another Kawhi Leonard legacy run, or let the youth lead us into a new era of the NBA.

Round One: East

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #8 Miami Heat: Try your best, Miami. Cavs in 5.

#2 Boston Celtics vs. #7 Orlando Magic: Try your best, Paolo. Celtics in 4.

#3 New York Knicks vs. #6 Detroit Pistons: Talent beats hard work when talents just works hard enough. Cade will be a problem for years to come, though. Knicks in 5.

#4 Indiana Pacers vs. #5 Milwaukee Bucks: I expect Damian Lillard’s eventual return to shift momentum in the series, only for it to shift back in Indiana’s favor. Pacers in 7.

Round One: West

#1 OKC Thunder vs #8 Memphis Grizzlies: OKC can throw a bunch of hounds on Ja Morant. And who’s guarding SGA? Get well soon, Jaylen Wells. OKC in 4.

#2 Houston Rockets vs. #7 Golden State Warriors: A perfect matchup with youth vs. veterans, rivalry, and style contrast, but the experience gap is too wide. Warriors in 6.

#3 LA Lakers vs. #6 Minnesota Timberwolves: A legacy (and contract) series for Julius Randle. But I think LA’s three-headed snake will be too much, anyway. Lakers in 6.

#4 Denver Nuggets vs. #5 LA Clippers: This is also tough. Jokic is dominant, but a healthy Kawhi is 1-of-1, too. If Harden bests Jamal Murray, which he will, it’s Clips in 7.

Round Two: East

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #4 Indiana Pacers: Credit to the Pacers for being a consistently pretty good team in the playoffs. But that’s all they are. Cavs in 5 or 6.

#2 New York Knicks vs. #3 Boston Celtics: Anything less than a six-game series would be an ultimate failure for New York. So that’s what I’m expecting here. Celtics in 6.

Round Two: West

#1 OKC Thunder vs. #5 LA Clippers: Is there a team more equipped to guard SGA than one with Dunn, Kawhi, DJJ, and Ben Simmons? I don’t trust J Dub yet, so Clips in 7.

#7 Golden State Warriors vs. #3 LA Lakers: I read the script - it’s another Steph vs. Bron epic. But do you think Adam Silver gave the Lakers Luka for no reason? Lakers in 7.

Eastern Conference Finals

#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #2 Boston Celtics: The inevitable happens. I’m predicting an eye-opening Evan Mobley coming-out party these playoffs and in this thriller. Cavs in 7.

Western Conference Finals

#3 LA Lakers vs. #5 LA Clippers: The battle of LA; the Ivica Zubac series. We’ve seen Luka and Bron lead ‘meh’ teams to the Finals. I think they do it together. Lakers in 6.

NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. LA Lakers

Adam Silver’s script has LeBron James (and Bronny) playing Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Cleveland, Ohio. I bet the media spends the entire week prior speculating on whether LeBron retires after the series, win or lose.

Well, they will lose. The acquisition of DeAndre Hunter will hint at its championship impact against the Celtics and really shine here against Luka and LeBron. Ty Jerome will make all of New York proud with momentum-changing shooting off the bench. And Donovan Mitchell will join the Steph Curry/Tony Parker/Dwyane Wade/Chauncey Billups crop of guards this century with a Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy.

The Lakers making a Finals run will put a cap on this season’s Dallas Mavericks/Nico Harrison slander campaign. I don’t think their lack of size will hurt them in the West unless they play Nikola Jokic, but eventually the small ball approach will meet its match.

The Cavs, meanwhile, have been too good all season to ignore. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are my biggest X-factors. We’ve seen Garland look horrible in big games before. Fortunately, Cleveland has other options at guard, and Donovan Mitchell is capable of carrying an offense.

Evan Mobley may not win MVP, nor will he light it up from three in too many games, but the all-world defense and offensive skill inside the arc will shine on the biggest stage.

What do you predict? Comment below.