2021 Playoff Preview

The bottom five teams in each conference have officially been eliminated, so the stage is set for postseason madness. Kinda.

The Chicago Bulls were eliminated Friday as the Wizards were able to defeat the Cavs 120-115 in Washington. Chicago was the last team holding out hope, but their playoff drought extends to four years. This paves the way for May Madness, and the NBA's expanded playoff structure is highly anticipated; the games at the end of the year that would otherwise be pointless actually carry tremendous meaning in a ten-team format for each conference.

Here's the current landscape for the NBA Play-In Tournament and Playoffs:

Memphis briefly moved up to 8th on Friday before the Warriors barely held off New Orleans (both teams played all their bench guys), and the Clippers lost to the Rockets which propelled Denver to take their spot in 3rd. Were the Clippers losing to avoid the scenario of facing the Lakers in the first round should they move up to 6th with two wins and a Blazers loss? NBA Twitter legend Rob Perez seemed to think something of that.

Whatever the case may be, The Lakers will still have to beat Indy and New Orleans on back to back nights to control their side of things, and Portland would have to lose to Denver. Something tells me Denver doesn't want to face the Lakers either. Wob is right in that Sam Presti and company need to lose to the Clippers so that they can get yet another solid draft pick to add to their depository, and this is only a small sample of the drama the play-in has caused.

The Jazz and Suns are still competing for the 1 seed, something that is extremely essential to either of them making a deep run. The Suns won the tiebreaker by sweeping the season series versus Utah, but would need to win their final two games and see the Jazz lose their final game to obtain the 1 seed. If the Lakers do remain in 7th, whoever they face would not be runaway favorites, even with the seed disparity. Both Phoenix and Utah are legit, but their path to the West Finals is contingent on NOT facing the defending champs. The Suns face San Antonio on Saturday and Sunday, and the Jazz face the Kings on Sunday.

Another matchup to note in the West is the Clippers vs. Mavericks should things hold. This would be a rematch of last year's first round series in which Luka was spectacular, and the Mavs may have been a KP injury short of taking LA to 7 and maybe even beating them. Dallas is a different story this year, seeming to play better without Porzingis.

The West is so good this year that whoever loses in the first round is going to be severely disappointed, and their fans will deservingly feel robbed of a potential deep run. A reminder on the current non-play-in teams that could be eliminated in the first round: Utah, Phoenix, Denver, LA Clippers, Dallas, Portland. Three of those teams will be out after the first series if the standings hold. The Warriors are also an 8th seed currently, and We Believe might just be alive again, but don't tell that to Draymond.

Let's head to the Eastern Conference.

Philly officially clinched the 1 seed, which means they'll be facing Boston, Charlotte, Indiana, or Washington in the first round. They'll be favored heavily, but Washington is probably the team they'd want to avoid, if possible. Their path to the East Finals will be much easier than the other two powerhouses in Brooklyn and Milwaukee as those two squads will have to face each other in the second round if they advance, which they certainly should.

Brooklyn, currently in the 2 seed, would play the winner of the 7/8 matchup. Boston is locked in to 7th, and Charlotte is most likely to remain at 8th. The Jaylen Brown injury has squashed the Celtics' hopes of making a deep run, and Charlotte is feisty. Besides, America wants the Hornets in the playoffs. Brooklyn will look to sweep whoever comes their way, though.

The Bucks would face the Knicks, and New York's season has been incredible, so they shouldn't be overlooked. The raw power of Giannis can be too much for any opponent, and the Bucks' failures of the last two postseasons might have been answered by Jrue Holiday.

Hawks-Heat would be a fun matchup of youth versus experience, but the seeding might revert back to Knicks-Hawks, which would be very exciting considering those two teams' expectations heading into the year and their postseason droughts. Miami is sneakily prepared to repeat what they did last year and upset everyone.

The Pacers are having an implosion within the locker room amidst rumblings about Nate Bjorkgren's behavior towards players, and they won't be any better than making the playoffs just to lose in the first round like they always do.