Prediction time: NBA Playoff projections, with the Celtics winning it all

Before the season tipped off, I predicted the Bucks would beat the Clippers in this year’s NBA Finals. As the playoffs tip-off, I don’t have either of them making the Finals today, although seeing the Bucks there wouldn’t be a surprise.

It’s time for NBA playoff predictions and here is where I stand, where the East will largely follow the chalk but the West… who knows?

Nuggets over Timberwolves (five games) Grizzlies over Lakers (seven games) Warriors over Kings (six games) Suns over Clippers (six games)

Suns over Nuggets (seven games) Grizzlies over Warriors (seven games)

Suns over Grizzlies (six games)

The Suns get the nod mainly on the “I trust Kevin Durant to be great” theory, but the idea they could lose in the first round is not crazy (if Paul George were healthy I might have picked the Clippers, but without him it’s a big ask for Kawhi Leonard).

And that sums up the West completely — I don’t trust any of these teams and could be wrong from the start. The Lakers and Anthony Davis could consistently get Jaren Jackson Jr. in foul trouble and win that series (I never feel comfortable picking against LeBron James in the playoffs). I do not believe in the Warriors’ playoff muscle memory kicking in enough to come out of the West, but they could (they could fall to the Kings in the first round, although I think this is a bad matchup for Sacramento). A second-round Phoenix vs. Denver series could be the defacto Western Conference Finals.

Bottom line, I would pick the field over the Suns, or any other team in the West. But I’ve got to pick someone, so I will trust Durant to be great.

Bucks over Heat (five games) Celtics over Hawks (five games) 76ers over Nets (five games) Cavaliers over Knicks (seven games

Bucks over