PSO's Top 5 Predictions for the 2021 NBA Playoffs

After a shortened season, the NBA playoffs are finally here. The new play-in format has made for some very interesting scenarios around the league, like the reigning champion LA Lakers and LeBron James versus Golden State and Steph Curry for a chance to grab the seven seed in the West. The final bracket has set some teams up for success, while many unproven higher seeds are at risk of being upset early on. In honor of it finally being playoff time in the NBA, here are PSO’s top 5 predictions for this year’s postseason:

Prediction #1

THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF HOME TEAMS LOSING IN THESE PLAYOFFS

This season has been unlike any other in many different ways. There was the whole restructuring of the league format due to COVID issues, and teams have had many star players missing time. These injuries have caused the standings to look a lot different than anticipated. Plenty of squads who haven’t had recent postseason success are at the top, and those who have proven themselves in playoff settings won’t benefit from many (if any) home-court playoff series this year, but will that prevent all these potential upsets?

The six through eight seeds in the West are full of proven winners. Portland has missed CJ McCollum this season, and are sixth but made a run to the Conference Finals just two years ago. The reigning champions in LA have missed LeBron/AD and are in a play-in position. Golden State hasn’t had Klay Thompson at all, has played games without Steph Curry, and finished eighth. This is happening in the East too, with the reigning conference champs, Miami, finishing sixth as Jimmy Butler (among others) has missed significant time this year.

Now, at the top, it is full of teams who haven’t proven to have the same playoff success. None of the one or two seeds in either conference have been to a conference championship game in at least 10 years. Phoenix did it in 2010, but both of the top teams in the East date back to the early 2000s. Many higher seeds are on upset alert this postseason due to likely matching up with proven playoffs teams early on. 2021 has been a unique season already and it could very well end up with the most playoff upsets ever considering the caliber of teams with the lower seeds.

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Prediction #2

LOU WILL’S CLUTCH GENE WILL HELP LIFT ATLANTA TO A 1ST ROUND VICTORY

The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the more surprising teams this season. They finished fifth in the Eastern Conference ahead of teams like Boston, and last year’s champs, Miami. Atlanta has been especially good more recently in the season, and Lou Williams, since his move from LA, has been a key reason why.

He proved that he still has his clutch gene specifically in a game against the three seed, Milwaukee, back in late April. Lou Will dropped all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter, and 12 of the 15 came from three-pointers all within the last seven minutes of the contest. One of his buckets gave Atlanta their first lead of the entire second half.

Lou Will has been clutch throughout his career and still is at 34 years of age. The Clippers trading him away made it clear that they didn’t value him too highly anymore, but he is proving to them that he can still ball, especially in the clutch. His 21 minutes per game with Atlanta have been efficient and key to their recent success, going 18-6 with Williams in the squad.

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Prediction #3

JRUE HOLIDAY WILL BE A MAIN CATALYST FOR MILWAUKEE’S BEST PLAYOFF RUN YET

When Milwaukee gave up a lofty amount of picks for Jrue Holiday over the offseason, it served multiple purposes. The biggest one was to convince its all-world talent Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign with the Bucks long-term. Giving up Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and those future assets have already paid off because the Greek Freak signed his max extension and ensured MIL will be contending for years to come as long as he stays healthy.

The other main purpose of trading for Jrue Holiday was to add a standout two-way player who is the perfect fit to play alongside Giannis and Khris Middleton as an All-NBA caliber defender with an offensive skillset that’s capable of basically anything on a basketball court. What has prevented the Bucks from turning regular-season No.1 seeds into Eastern Conference championships has been the team’s inability to perform as well in close games during late situations.

MIL almost took an insurmountable 3-0 series lead over Kawhi‘s Raptors in 2019 but failed to hold on to multiple leads in a 2OT classic that swung the entire series. Then against Miami in 2020, Game 1 was a one-point game with five minutes left before Jimmy Butler put the team on his back and Giannis couldn’t do the same. Game 2 came down to the wire where Milwaukee came up short again. The Bucks held a one-point lead with 4:20 left in Game 3 before collapsing for the third straight time.

Milwaukee needs to improve in these critical situations that decide champions and Jrue Holiday is the perfect man for the job. Holiday will be huge for the Bucks as he’s not only a proven scorer in crunch time like Middleton, but he can also prevent the other team’s best playmaker from rising to the occasion themselves as he’s shown this season on offensive stars like Kyrie Irving.

The reigning 2x MVP will always be the face of the team, the most productive player throughout the game, and receive the majority of the credit/blame. However, the addition of Jrue Holiday can make the difference in those season-changing moments that have decided the Bucks’ fortune in recent years and has shown he can be relied upon to get the job done when it matters most.

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Prediction #4

PHILLY IS A LOCK TO MAKE IT TO THE CONFERENCE FINALS

After each team played their final game on Sunday night, the playoff field and seedings were finalized. The Philadelphia 76ers are looking like the big winner after the bracket was all said and done. They have had the one seed in the East locked up for a few games now, and their hard work to earn this position is looking like it is going to pay off big time. Luckily, their path runs through some of the weakest teams in the entire playoff field.

Since they’ve received the top spot, their first-round matchup is not yet determined but will be the second team to come out of the play-in tournament. No matter who they face, it’ll be a team without the week of rest they get and coming off playing two games instead of rest. Their most likely opponent is Boston who is now without Jaylen Brown while Indiana has had problems with coaches, Charlotte has struggled without Hayward, and DC’s best player Bradley Beal is dealing with a hamstring injury that could limit him.

Assuming they don’t get upset by an eight seed, which hasn’t happened since 2012 when Derrick Rose went down with an injury for Chicago, Philly will draw New York or Atlanta in round two. These two teams, although seeded fourth and fifth respectively, are extremely unproven and don’t have the same level of talent. ATL hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 and NY’s on an eight-season drought. Essentially, Philadelphia’s competition to reach the conference finals is about as easy as it gets in the postseason.

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Prediction #5

BROOKLYN HAS THE MOST TALENT, BUT THEY’RE TOO RISKY TO PICK TO WIN THE EAST

The star trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden have only played together in nine games this season. Health, personal reasons, and COVID issues have kept the most high-profile Big 3 from playing many games together this season. Many of the real contenders this season have had issues with missing stars, but Brooklyn has been dealing with it all season.

Philly has missed Joel Embiid, the LA teams have played games without their star duos, and Denver, along with Utah, have been without a star player for some time now. Although Brooklyn has posted an impressive record and overcome this adversity all season long, they are the title favorites under the assumption they will all be ready to go by playoff time.

There is doubt this will be possible as they’ll lack continuity even at full strength, are led by an unproven HC who has never been a part of a Championship team himself, and have the most injury risk of any title contender. They obviously have the talent to win it all, but the injury risks and defensive ineptitude could easily catch up to them throughout a hard-fought playoff series against one of the best teams in the East.

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