NBA conference semifinals: Previewing the second round - ESPN

The NBA postseason started with 20 teams, four of which were eliminated during the play-in tournament. Eight more saw their seasons end in the first round, leaving us with eight teams in the second round, each of them eight wins away from the NBA Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons all had to win Game 7s over the weekend to advance, and the Oklahoma City Thunder swept their opening series.

Can the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves stop the juggernaut Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in the West? Are the battle-tested Pistons still the No. 1 team in the East? And how do the injuries to Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards affect the West?

ESPN's Tim Bontemps talked to two Western Conference scouts, breaking down the keys to each series, and our NBA insiders answered the questions that could determine who moves on to the conference finals — and who doesn't.

Jump to a series:
Thunder-Lakers | Spurs-Timberwolves
Pistons-Cavaliers | Knicks-Sixers

How they got here: Thunder swept Phoenix Suns 4-0; Lakers defeated Houston Rockets 4-2.

Season series: The Thunder won all four meetings by an average score of 125.5-96.25. Only one of the four games was decided by single digits.

Do the regular-season results foreshadow a lopsided series?

The Thunder swept the regular-season series against the Lakers in historically dominant fashion. The average point differential in the four meetings was 29.3 points. According to ESPN Research, that's the largest average margin of victory against the Lakers by any team in a single season and the highest average point differential in a regular-season series between teams that met in the playoffs.

The closest of the four games was Oklahoma City's 119-110 road