The NBA playoffs are in the final stretch. The Western Conference and Eastern Conference finals are halfway through. The series has been pretty lopsided thus far. The East is Pacers and Knicks, and the Pacers lead 2-1 with Game 4 tonight. In the West, it is 3-1 Thunder over the Minnesota Timberwolves. I will go in-depth about how these teams got here and how the playoffs will finish out.
Let’s start with the Knicks, they won their first series in 6 games against the Pistons. That was a fun series, but almost everyone knew the Knicks were going to walk away with it. Then the fun began in New York after the Knicks took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Celtics; the city was on fire. The Jalen Brunson-led Knicks then won in 6 and advanced to their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years. They find themselves in a bit of a hole down 2-1, but got a big comeback win in game three. They have the talent to win this series.
Next up is the Pacers, another team that has gone on a fun ride through the playoffs. They steamrolled the Bucks in 5 in the first round, capped off by a Tyrese Haliburton game winner in game 5. Then, Indy took on the best team in the East, the Cavs. The Cavs were the favorite, but the Pacers had the magic and took down Cleveland in 5 and moved to the ECF. Now they go toe-to-toe with New York. Haliburton has been amazing in clutch time with three game-winning shots this postseason. They look to take a commanding 3-1 lead tonight at 8 PM.
Then we’ve got the almighty Thunder. They breezed past the Grizzlies in a four-game sweep, which we all expected. However, in the second round, they ran into some trouble but ended up squeaking out a 7-game series win against the Nuggets. Now they have a big 3-1 lead over the young and talented Twolves. This team can win it all, they just need to play well.
Finally, there is the Timberwolves. They seemed unbeatable in the first two rounds after taking out Lebron and Curry in five games. This series against the Thunder has not gone very well due to the lack of play from Anthony Edwards. They will need him to step up big in order to pull off a comeback in this series.
I think that the finals matchup will be the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks. This would be a great matchup that I think the Thunder would take in 7 games. There is no way the Thunder can blow a 3-1 lead the way they have played, and the Knicks will just need to play better and with a little luck, they should be in the finals.