NBA Playoffs: 2018 Season & What You Need To Know!

Stanza

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Stanza

4 min readApr 13, 2018

It’s been a heck of a year for sports in Philadelphia already.

The Eagles win their first-ever Super Bowl through a rollercoaster postseason. Followed by an NCAA Basketball title to Villanova. And now the 76ers are back in contention for a solid run in the Eastern Conference NBA Playoffs — it’s going to be wild.

But Philly’s re-inclusion into basketballs postseason isn’t the only big difference we’re seeing, compared to recent years. We’re not seeing a clear runaway by the Cavaliers and the Warriors — despite most expecting them to still make a Finals appearance.

West Coast Best Coast

A new (bearded) face sits atop the West Coast Conference at the end of the regular season, that would be James Harden’s Houston Rockets. But it shouldn’t really be a surprise in the era of super teams, that they’ve quietly amassed one themselves. Cp3, Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza and rising star Clint Capela will certainly be looking to challenge the reign of the Warriors’ Durant, Curry, Green, and Thompson in the Western Conference Finals.

Is there a new super team in the making?

The rest of the field certainly is formidable too.

The Jazz made a surprise run at the top half of the standings, just one year after shipping star Gordon Hayward to the Celtics — thanks in part to a breakout year from rookie-of-the-year candidate Donovan Mitchell. But, the OK City Thunder big 3 (Westbrook, George, and Melo), Pelicans’ big man Davis, and not to mention the coaching of Popovich in San Antonio, will all be looking to make deep runs in the West.

Ben Simmons who? Donovan Mitchell is making his name known in the West

What made the end of this season a little extra fun?

On the last day of the regular season, seeds #3 through #8 all have the potential of swapping positions — coming down to the wire, including a dual for the 8th seed between the Nuggets and Timberwolves.

Western Conference
(click to add Playoff Schedule)

(1) Rockets vs. (8) Timberwolves
(2) Warriors vs. (7) Spurs
(3) Blazers vs. (6) Pelicans
(4) Thunder vs. (5) Jazz

The Beasts In The East

Now, if you’ve had fun watching the West finish out. The Eastern conference has given us some of the most dramatic storylines in years. As we mentioned, the 76ers are back. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons have ensured their total team rebuild is working, and looking great for the near future.

DeRozan & Lowry = The real Northern Star(s)

At the beginning of the season, the Celtics-Cavaliers were picked to be sitting atop the east. But, honestly, how many picked Toronto? The basketball world is well aware of how lethal the combination of DeRozan and Lowry are, and now they sitting pretty atop the east with the #1 seed, with only Houston possessing a better regular season record. Don’t forget they’ve also quietly won their Division 4 out of the last 5 years. An NBA Championship could be headed to our Northern neighbors this year.

Will King James have something to say about that? ….Yea, he will. We all know he’s not going out without making his presence felt.

Now, what can you expect from the rest of the field, with seeds #5-#8 all having records in the mid- .500’s Pct. All I can say, is I’m looking forward to seeing what the Greek-Freak will be like in his second playoff go-around, as he previously was awarded Most Improved Player, and has shown just how deserved that was this season.

Eastern Conference
(click to add Playoff Schedule)