As we all know the 2018 NBA Playoffs has just begun, it brings a lot of hype as the regular season was crazy this year. In the West it took 82 games for some teams to clinch a playoff spot, the race for the playoffs berths were so awesome. It went down to the wire with Minnesota edging out the Denver Nuggets in the final game of the season. Now let us forget the awesome regular season, and focus now on the upcoming Playoffs.

Here were the final standings on the Western Conference:

Western	W	L
Houston	65	17
Golden State	58	24
Portland	49	33
Oklahoma City	48	34
Utah	48	34
New Orleans	48	34
San Antonio	47	35
Minnesota	47	35

The Matchups

Houston Rockets(1st Seed) VS Minnesota Timberwolves(8th Seed)

This match up will be awesome with the red hot Rockets going against the young Wolves. It would be an exciting match up, with the MVP front runner James Harden against the young and hungry Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl Anthony Towns. It would be a great series as in my opinion in the West any team can cause an upset.

My Verdict: Houston wins in 6 Games
Houston 4 - 2 Minnesota

Golden State Warriors(2nd Seed) VS San Antonio Spurs(7th Seed)

It was a surprise to see the Champions Golden State Warriors not winning the West this year, with a lot of their players banged up and injured. The Spurs was also a surprise as they reach the playoffs once again this year even though their players were injured during the regular season, most notably Kawhi Leonard. I think this would be a straight forward series with Golden State getting their groove, and players back, even without Steph Curry who is currently injured and the return date is somewhere in the second round of the playoffs. Golden State will have no problem in winning the series.

My Verdict: Warriors in 5
Golden State 4 - 1 San Antonio

Portland Trail Blazers(3rd Seed) VS New Orleans Pelicans(6th Seed)

This series is intriguing as one of the super stars of New Orleans is out injured Boogie Cousins. Anthony Davis will take that load and will be battling it out with Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum. This would be a tight series, as I have said any team in the West can cause an upset. If Portland maintain their killer instincts they showed in their winning steak going at the end of the season, I think they can edge this series, but if not I think it would be in 7 games.

My Verdict: Portland in 7
Portland 4 - 3 New Orleans

Oklahoma City Thunder(4th Seed) VS Utah Jazz(5th Seed)

This is also a tough one to call, Utah in the summer lost its Best Player in Gordon Hayward when he signed for the Celtics, but the emergence of Donovan Mitchell was a great replacement. It was also a disappointing season for OKC as the coming of Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony was disappointing. It would be a great match up and a showcase for my bet for the Rookie of the Year Donovan Mitchell vs the stars of the Thunder. If Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony show up in the series I think they can win over Utah.

My Verdict: Thunder in 7
Oklahoma 4 - 3 Utah

So that is it that is my predictions for the First Round in the West, in the coming days I will be posting my predictions this time in the Eastern Conference. Thank you for reading!

Scores Just In - First Round

GSW 113 - 92 SAS
GS leads series 1-0

TOR 114 - 106 WAS
TOR leads series 1-0

PHI 130 - 103 MIA
PHI leads series 1-0

NO 97- 95 POR
NOleads series 1-0

Image Credits:

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/scouting-report-wolves-rockets-6
http://www.nba.com/warriors/2018/series-preview-warriors-vs-spurs
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/4/14/17238468/trail-blazers-pelicans-2018-score-live-results-highlights
https://www.slcdunk.com/2018/4/12/17228214/how-to-watch-okc-thunder-vs-utah-jazz-online-where-on-tv-streaming-internet-cable-cutters