Austin (W)

Welcome one and all to yet another great week of online publishing, and welcome once again to the blog that was a vlog, which is most popularly known as Take Charge- the blog all things basketball.  Eddie, my cowriter, no longer chooses to show up to this class very often anymore, so it looks like this will be the only post of the week. So let’s get to it. First of all, the playoff race is heating up in the NBA. In the Eastern Conference, we could potentially see 3 or 4 teams with losing records make the playoffs, which is just downright embarrassing. Indiana is in first place in the conference, but they’ve been slightly cold lately, as Paul George has been on a cold streak in terms of scoring. Regardless, they still hold a 2.0 game advantage on the 2^nd place Miami Heat, who just lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night for the 3^rd time this year. It’s safe to say that in one way or another, those teams will go 1-2 in the playoffs, as they next team in the standings happens to be the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors didn’t make the playoffs last year, but with some young developing talent, they have found themselves in the 3 spot in the conference. They currently hold a 1.0 game advantage over the Chicago Bulls, who hold a 2.0 game advantage over the Brooklyn Nets. Next in the standings is the Washington Wizards, another team who found themselves towards the bottom of the conference last year. John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter are destined to be a power house in the coming years. So remember me saying that. Charlotte and Atlanta round out the Eastern Conference top 8. The New York Knicks are in the 9 spot, behind the Hawks by 3.5 games, but they’ve been heating up as of late. Keep in mind that Carmelo Anthony hasn’t missed the playoffs since he’s joined the league. I expect them to make the playoffs as the 8 seed. Also, Cleveland and Detroit are only .5 games behind the Knicks. So it may get interesting.

Next, we’ll turn our focus to the Western Conference. San Antonio and Oklahoma City are in a battle for the 1 seed, as the Spurs are ahead by only .5 games. The Clippers are in the 3 spot, 2.5 games behind the Thunder, and 1.5 games ahead of the Rockets. Houston is slightly ahead of the Trail Blazers, who seem to have slightly lost the momentum that they had at the start of the year. But either way, they are still a legitimate contender. Golden State, Memphis and Dallas round out the conference. Phoenix and Minnesota are still in that playoff race as well. To state the obvious, for the first time, in basically forever, the Lakers and the Celtics find themselves at the bottom of their respective conferences.

So let’s say the playoffs start today. In the east, Indiana would play Atlanta, an easy, 4 game series for the Pacers. Chicago plays Brooklyn, and that’d be a series for the ages. I could see Brooklyn’s star power giving them the game 7 victory. At the bottom of the bracket, the Heat would defeat the Bobcats in 4 games, and then Toronto and Washington would be another interesting series. Two young, inexperienced teams would make a good match up. I’d have to take Toronto in 6 games. Then the Pacers would beat the Nets, but not without a little trouble. It’d probably take 5 or six games, but they’ll advance. Then the Heat will have no problem with the Raptors, winning in no more than 5 games. The Pacers and the Heat would be an instant classic, but I think that this will be the last year that the Heat beat the Pacers in the playoffs, for a while anyways. We’ll do the West next time. CYA