RedCar Rundown - NBA Playoffs

redcar (25)in #sports • 6 years ago

Welcome back to another RedCar Rundown

Major League Baseball has begun. The NBA playoffs are about to begin as the regular season just ended last night. Even cryptocurrencies are coming out of their shells now. There is so much going on and popping off, sometimes it can be quite difficult to keep up with everything... like the Red Sox - Yankees game last night!
Just in case you were wondering who won...

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
the Yankees did, but the Red Sox did some winning too. Here's a video of the fight from the MLB Twitter, if you are interested.

NBA Playoffs

Let's just hit the big thing here, NBA playoff basketball. In fact, its so big that's all this post is going to be about. This is some of the most high-caliber and intense basketball played anytime, anywhere. If you don't really understand basketball or watch a lot of it, now is a great time to watch. The announcers know a lot of viewers will not be avid NBA followers and seem to try to explain things in better detail. Everyone is taking the games seriously, from the bench to the zebras (referees). A total of 16 teams all fighting for the right to say they are the best in the league. The East seems easy, but the West is so tight that the final standings were just decided by the outcomes of nearly 4 games last night. That is crazy to think about. Spots 3-8 were all up for grab before the final games of the season yesterday. We're going to see some exceptionally good playoff basketball in the West this year, so I hope everyone is ready!

The favorite in the West are the Houston Rockets. Full disclosure, happens to be my favorite team. I grew up watching the Rockets in the 90's with Clyde the Glide and the Dream. I watched still through the Steve "Franchise" Francis years, the beginning and the end when you could hear on the broadcasts the crowd screaming "Franchise!" Many have been waiting for a team like this for almost 25 years. That being said, any team in the West is capable of making it to the finals this year. The Thunder are looking especially dangerous, as were the Blazers though as of late they seemed to have cooled off a little bit. No matter who the Rockets get in the 2nd round, it will not be a walk in the park. Either series will be a physically tolling series as both the Thunder and the Jazz are two of the more physical teams in the league. The Blazers and the Warriors should be determining who makes it for the other bid to the Western Conference Finals, and will also be an exciting one to watch. I know the Warriors have been sliding over the past few weeks, but this is playoff time now; we'll be seeing a different Warriors team coming out to play. Rockets - Blazers for the Western Conference Finals seems to be the best bet, we'll see how far the Warriors can turn it up.

The East is rather simple. Raptors are my favorite to get to the Finals in the East until Embiid comes back for the 76ers. The Celtics will have a hard time keeping up with everyone with Irving unable to play. The Cavaliers will give anyone trouble, but as of late they have not looked like contenders. The Cavs-Raptors series will likely be the first entertaining series where both teams are making the plays for the Eastern Conference though. 76ers almost have a clear path to the Eastern Conference Finals, so not too much to talk about there. Look to see the Raptors and the 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals, because it will be a very exciting match-up to enjoy. These are two high caliber teams in both offense and in defense, and they happen to match-up rather well.

For a Finals match up, my call is that we will be seeing the Rockets and the Raptors. The Raptors have managed to win the season series 3-1 against the 76ers, so they know how to beat the Sixers already. Rockets, as I am telling you, are the best team in the NBA. They are going to the finals this year. What do you know, those two teams just happen to also be the top 2 teams in average point margin for the season, the 2 most winning-est teams, and in the top 5 in Effective Field Goal percentage. The Rockets will probably win the Championship too, in case you were wondering. The Raptors and the Rockets only faced each other 2 times this year, splitting the series. The stats still favor Houston in this match up, just like the rest. The match up is tight; Rockets will have trouble with DeRozan and Lowry, and the Raptors will have trouble with Harden and the rest of the pieces surrounding him. Houston has the higher average margin, more wins, a better road record, a lethal 9-man rotation and a more experienced bench. This is the beginning of the long awaited return of a Houston dynasty, so saddle up and learn to ride a horse because the Rockets are the new kings (not the Sacramento Kings) of the league now. Houston is just taking over the sports world entirely. Won a world series last year, going to win another world series this year, and now the Rockets are taking over the NBA.

Anyway, that's about it. Rockets to win the NBA. Houston to take over the world sports.