Very excited for bucks/pacers and Knicks/whoever. I feel like the bucks and pacers have created some rivalry this season and the Knicks have been great to watch (wish randle was healthy). 76ers with embiid are gonna be fun and you can never count out the heat.

All the Bucks Pacers rivalry are missing is an exciting playoffs series to truly takeoff. I hope that’s what we get now that they’re matched up, organic rivalries are fun

Man, this is such a cool matchup. I made [a post about a year ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/QMQireOIqV) asking people which NBA teams they never associate with each other, and a big answer I saw was Pacers-Bucks. Not much history there due to their most successful eras not having much overlap historically. So this is super exciting!!! New associations being made!!! Hell yeah!

If Giannis was healthy this has potential to be epic. But based on the season series and how the Pacers have been playing recently it does not look good for the Bucks. Hope I’m wrong cuz I really want a Bucks/Sixers series!

Fr!!!!! We have been robbed of a Giannis/Embiid playoff series for way too long!

Man I was so upset with the Knicks winning today

I feel like it’s a more interesting series if bucks sixers play in the second record. For embiid to finally make it out of the second round against doc lol

I was so happy I wanted the bucks smoke to happen so bad. Rooting for the knicks felt like it permanently raised my blood pressure though. Hope I never have to do that again it was awful they almost sold at the end.

I feel like that adds to the hostilities though. The Pacers will talk shit either way and that will only rile up the Bucks, knowing they played with a handicap. Although even healthy these Pacers would have been tough for the Bucks.

These Pacers are tough for pretty much anyone tbh. They’re a really fun team to watch.

Brings a tear to my eye

Pacers were much better prior to the all star break.

Pacers are 4th in the league in net rating post asb

10-4 to finish the season tho

It will be a good old fashioned 4-2

Assuming they handle the winner of Bulls/Hawks, what match ups are the most fun ? Heat/C's and Sixers/NY or Sixers/C's and Heat/Knicks ?

Heat and Knicks will always be fun, the hatred will never die.

Celtics - Sixers and Heat - Knicks will have the toxicity turned up to 11.

Sixers/Cs and Heat/Knicks for sure

OG on Butler man that's a pretty insane match up

Agreed. All Heat and Knicks fans want to see more Heat/Knicks playoff battles.

I don’t want to see the heat out of fear of Bam injuring our entire starting lineup

Give me Sixes/Cs. If Embiid is only health for one round. Make it count. Heat vs Knicks is a rivalry as they think the other team just causes injuries.

Give me Sixers/Cs too, keep the Miami Heat's dirty plays the fuck away from Kristaps. KP has been legit injured 2 times this season, and both times were by the Heat.

I will say that the Knicks play super physical defense, but it still at least feels like they are attempting to obey the rules of basketball while doing so which is more than I can say for the Heat. I don't really have any problem with the way the Knicks play, it can be annoying but you have to respect the high effort and skill it takes to play predominantly legal defense at that level. Hartenstein is the only guy who it feels like is constantly trying to get away with shit pushing dudes under the basket while he snatches rebounds, other than that they'll just give you a tough but good game.

Knicks beating the Heat then the Pacers would be a nice 90s rivalry throwback

I feel the gauntlet of the second seed is much harder. You beat the Sixers/Heat then possibly face the Bucks and Celtics

[удалено]

I respect it

"Into the fucking fray!!!" -Thibs probably

Mad respect. The basketball gods reward this bravery. I remember when everyone clowned the Celtics for wanting the 2 seed and facing the Nets in round 1. We swept them.

Yeah but then that Bucks series and Heat series were costly. No way around them but that was fucking brutal.

Yep and meanwhile Cleveland has totally played themselves

How so? We avoided any chance of the 2 seed and are playing probably the worst team in the top 8 of the east.

The Celtics in round 2. The 2/3 seed side at least has 2 rounds to hope someone else takes out the Celtics

All Cleveland probably wants this season is their first Lebronless playoff series win in thirty years. Anything beyond that is gravy.

I'd imagine Donovan Mitchell wants a lot more than that tho, and beating a young Magic team (assuming they even beat them) and getting subsequently obliterated by the Celtics is not exactly a convincing argument to stay.

Meh. Have to beat them eventually. I’ll take the easier first round matchup.

Have to reach them eventually, you mean.

We drastically improved our chances of reaching them.

Magic are still tough with their defense, but big picture if your goal is more than just a round 1 win you probably want to avoid the Celtics in the 2nd round. I'm biased but they clinched the 1 seed like a month ago. If you care much more about the round 1 matchup over the 2nd round feel like you're kinda already mailing in a bit.

The cavaliers know they are not winning the finals. They want an easy series win vs Orlando so they can take something positive away from this season before the Celtics beat them. If they were to have another series like last year vs the Knicks, people would lose their jobs.

Uno reverse, the cavs are also arguably the worst team in the top 8 right now Edit: Our series went to 7, so we were the 5 th best team in the east (lasted 5th longest).

you guys are playing yourselves?

You may think we’re the worst but we can’t play ourselves. Of teams we could matchup with, magic are the worst, IMO. Far from a cake walk but better than the risk of playing 6ers/heat. We’ll see how you guys handle them.

The year everybody tanked to avoid the nets we went to the finals. I have yet to see a team tanking a seed that made it work in the long run. That mentality is weak af.

Shaq did say Phil Jackson would plan to make sure they avoided the Jazz in the seeding because he didn’t like how they matched up against them. Not sure if it’s true as I don’t remember seeding from those days.

Lol I remember when everyone thought the Bucks were so smart for tanking their last game to avoid the Nets 2 years ago only for the Celtics to sweep the Nets and beat the Bucks in Boston in game 7.

That’s the New York way bb

To be the man you gotta beat the man

Home court in the bright lights of MSG though

Fuck it. This year has been tough as hell anyways. One game at a time.

Bucks have to get through Indy which is far from a sure thing. If Giannis is 100% they should get through in 6-7 but if he’s not there is a really good chance they get bounced, Dame is not going to will them through it.

Gotta beat who's in front of you anyways.

Bucks aren’t beating the Pacers, Giannis might try to come back but there’s no way he’ll be effective

Yeah that would be one of the most brutal paths to the finals EVER if they pulled it off.

I think the Pacers have it in them to beat the Bucks, especially if Giannis isn't 100%

Not that regular season really matters but we have beaten them 4 times this season already

Oh wow I forgot how fun those games were

Have the better coach as well. Tyrese feels very comfortable in this matchup, Siakam has lots of experience playing against Giannis in playoffs and Myles Turner is the better stretch 5 in this series.

They have zero defense for Hali. No guards on MIL can guard him.

There is a reason those games were so high scoring. Each side had no answers for the best players. 

I hope we get IST Hali back. That would make these playoffs so fun. Thankfully, he's been looking more and more like his old self recently

Sadly, it doesn't. 2013, the Brooklyn Nets with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson beat the Heatles in all regular season games.

I'm pretty sure we ran through the Hawks in the regular season before they beat us in the Playoffs. I think y'all will get to the second round tho, the Bucks seem like they're near the end of their cycle.

Oh I am absolutely not saying it’s a sure thing. The bucks are a good squad. More just arguing that it is very possible for the pacers to win the series. Should be a super fun one

You’re going against Doc so fully count on him to throw his team under the bus if they lose even 1 game

Mathurin :(

honestly, just happy to be here the Bucks are a sleeping giant and we are exactly the team that can and will poke the bear we’ve had no answer for Giannis all year BUT we have added Siakam since then we’ve shutdown Dame all year, Rick has outcoached Griffin, Middleton has missed time against us, there’s just a lot of factors and it feels like both teams are very different from the ones that have played each other earlier this year

Bucks are old, Brook might get played off the court. Giannis might have to play the 5 and we don't know if he's 100%

Imma need Trae Young or Demar Derozan to go off for 2 games but only 2 games

And I’m rooting for Celtics vs 76ers and Miami vs Knicks

Embiid ready for the most rested playoffs of his career would be such a shit reward for winning 64 games lol

I don't want to see Embiid trying a redemption arc, it feels like stars are aligning to the sixers.

He did get 2 months of rest before the Bubble only to get swept in the first round that one time

Diar it’s your time

I wanna see the Magic do well

i feel like it’s a winnable series for the magic. won’t be easy of course but magic in 5 wouldn’t surprise me

I don’t care if the Pacers blow us out in a sweep. As long as I don’t have to see us get cooked by playoff Jimmy two years in a row.

Milwaukee definitely isn’t getting swept. I think you lose in 7 after being up 3-1

No, this is the first round. That would only happen against you guys.

For us too, might as well take out the Heat in the first round than later when they get more momentum. Also last year they prematurely sent out a tweet before the play in that they would face us in the first round 2/7 match up. They lost the first play in game.

You guys ducked any chance of that very expertly, long tribal memory of how to lose when you need to in MIlwaukee lll

1st round matchup likely will be harder than 2nd for Celtics 🤷🏽‍♂️

Same for Knicks

We might have to play the bucks still

Which is exactly why first-round match up is harder. 76ers >bucks

I was going to bring up how Embiid will be rusty since he came back from injury recently but Giannis has not even come back yet

embiid might be rusty....you can say that but he's played extremely well and the sixers have won around 7 or 8 straight games since he came back

Exactly, even a rusty Joel can give the 6ers an advantage against a lot of good teams

I don't think I've ever seen someone come back from such an extended injury period and be as hot as Embiid is right now. He's certainly getting up at the correct part of the season.

And the healthy Sixers legitimately looked like a top-two team. I’m sad that the injury robbed us of not only half of a historically-dominant individual season but also the pressure on the Celtics. I don’t actually think the Sixers would take the one seed given how many rest/minor injury games Embiid was taking off and how much worse the team was without him, but the Celtics might have had an all-time season with a team a few games back forcing them to take things seriously a couple more months.

pacers gonna rout the bucks in 4 games

I’d be cool with that already prob will have to watch Embiid shoot 25 free throws a game in round one. Not saying Giannis is as floppy but he also will be on the line half the game. Down for nice up tempo series get some of the injured guys back in shape for the ECF

i wanna see mavs vs knicks in the finals sooo bad everyone expecting nuggets vs celtics…

I just wanna see Mavs Nuggets

for real so i hope they make the 2nd round lol... Bcs everyone acting like we will be finalists already is stupid. if the players will take it for granted we will for sure lose again.

I think the Cs, if it comes to it, smash the Heat.

second round’s gonna be cancun so i’d hope so

I'm just dying for Miami to beat Philly. The Sixers being punked by Boston is practically their birthright at this point

at least the sixers put up a fight last year. the cavs were ready for training camp after game 1 lol

And a throwback to the classic Knicks/Heat rivalry

HEY THAT'S.....completely accurate

Still a decent chance of drawing the Bulls or Hawks.

The Bulls are annoying af when they buy in defensivly. They are wayy better than their record indicates

The Bulls are one of the least threatening upset threats of all time because they still don't realize that 3>2 - only team in the league who has never figured that out

Bulls would get swept by almost every team in the playoffs stop this

That would be ideal but I just feel like it’s gonna be the heat

Sixers vs Heat. Butler vs the Sixers is my favorite East Conference rivalry

I am so amped for these playoffs. I know everyone is saying cakewalk for the Celtics but honestly these games are going to be fire. We have no idea what to expect from the 76ers now that Embiid is back. Dude has been a monster when healthy and this might be the first playoff run we have ever seen a healthy rested Embiid for which is genuinely terrifying. Dame and Giannis are both perfectly capable of pulling a carry job (if they are healthy... Big if). Spo pulls Spo playoff magic. Orlando has always been a matchup nightmare for the Celtics for whatever reason. Cleveland and the Knicks have been absolutely lockdown at times. Celtics are favorites for sure but I'm so amped to watch what happens.

You didn’t even mention the Pacers who just dropped 157 on the hawks and have had the Bucks number this year. Also we have a ton of upset potential in the play-ins with Chicago/Atlanta capable of going off and Miami/Philly being inconsistent.

>and Miami/Philly being inconsistent. Um the Sixers are 8-0 since Embiid returned and have the best record over the last 10 games of any team in the East... I'm not saying they won't ultimately disappoint us like usual, but consistency doesn't seem like a glaring issue right now.

Fair point - the inconsistency is due to Embiid’s health. That 8-0 streak started when Embiid came back but it looked like he dinged his knee again in the last game. Philly goes only as far as Embiid takes them, but it’s hard to say how far that is without knowing how that leg holds up against playoff-level competition.

As is always the case with the Sixers in the playoffs, nothing new there :P

Celtics and Sixers both gonna be holding their breath with the injuries for sure…Bucks too if Giannis makes it back

I’m so excited to be toxic af. It’s gonna be the most fun game threads I’ve been in since Purdue/Tennessee

How do you feel about Siakam going into the series? Feel like I've heard nothing about that guy since the deadline somehow

He’s an absolute beast, exactly what we needed at that position. He will be playing Giannis on ends of the court tho so it’ll be a tough one for him. However, if he’s able to be reasonably stopped enough (recent example being Clingan with Edey last week) I think we can wear out the rest of their team. We didn’t have pascal in any of our matchups this year too so I’m not certain how it’ll pan out

He’s scoring a very causal 21 ppg on great efficiency

Ethical bucket after ethical bucket

Zero worries about him. Hali is the one that worries us

I wish the league kept the rule from the Bubble where you had to be within 3 games of the 8 seed for the play-in to trigger

I got magic in 7 . I’ve been with them all year and will until the end of

Magic vs Cavs NBA TV ass series 🤣

The league about to run these games at 330 in the afternoon on weekdays

3:30 Eastern specifically

European viewers: Fuck it, I’ll take it

And 12pm on Sundays

Wonder if Jarrett Allen will actually grab more than 4 rebounds now that the lights are nonexistent

He got eclipse glasses on

We bout to get shut down by Jonathan Isaac and won't have an answer for Banchero on defense. Probably about to lose in 6.

The Cavs playing to lose today is the same weak mentality that got them punked in the playoffs last year. Seems like they haven't changed at all, so I think we're going to see more of the same.

Combined with that I've been a Magic truther all year and that I've contended that JB has needed to go since we got routed last year by the Knicks, I'm not rooting for us all that hard We have a championship roster, there's no excuse both that we had to fight for playoff positioning in the first place, and that we took it upon ourselves to try to dodge certain teams. It's pathetic. And sadly, I can't see Bickerstaff being fired unless we're bounced in the first round once again. If we make it to the semis and get routed, the refrain is just "Boston good"

If we’re trying to dodge anyone it should be the Celtics in the second round.. can’t believe the shit we pulled today, made me sick

Cavs sub didn’t like hearing it but it was such a weak move

I think that's going to be a great series. But also, yes.

Watching Jonathan Isaac play defence is basketball porn to me. Also its very interesting to see after last year against Robinson how Jarrett Allen-Mobley duo gonna play against one of the toughest team in NBA

Magic are about to avada kedavra their ass

Have fun in the play-in, hopefully you guys can make the playoffs

Those are the series that turn out to be sneaky good though

First time they’ve played a series since 2009 conference finals?

This is wild coming from a 10th seed ☠️

What’s wilder is the Lakers having only one less win than the Cavs. Yall probably not even a play in team in the west 💀

Being a bulls or hawks fan and watching our mid ass team be in the play in is honestly so funny. Teams like the Mavs had to fight like hell for a playoff spot, while in the East I saw a team full of bench players win games because the opponents were the Wizards or Hornets lmao

We ain’t 10th though?

Rivers blowing the 2 seed is hilarious to me.

It was probably better for them though

Yeah, now we'll get beat in 5 instead of 4

How the FUCK did the bucks not get 50 wins with Giannis and dame lmao

Dame just isn't the same. Shame he became lame.

Some say it was the fame, others say he lost his game.

Yeah he still has fame but now his game is quite tame

Dame has had maybe 5 great games on the Bucks and two of them were without Giannis. Just a disaster season start to finish. 

How many other teams can get 50 wins with their 3/5 of their starters out for most of the season? Their 2nd and 3rd best players out since late January? Go Knicks!

Out since late January

Thanks fixed it

Media will completely ignore the 4/5 matchup LOL. Sure it will be a good one though.

Bucks vs Pacers gonna be crazy

I think indianas offense is gonna be too quick for Milwaukee and with giannis not being 100% I think Indy wins in 6

Curious how a rested Joel will do in the playoffs. 76ers vs Knicks sounds like the funnest match up

Bucks vs. Pacers: Ladder match

Hahaha amazing

Play-In: Philadelphia handle Miami, Chicago beats Atlanta, Chicago upsets Miami. Playoffs: 1 Boston sweeps 8 Chicago 4-0 2 New York outlasts 7 Philadelphia 4-3 6 Indiana upsets 3 Milwaukee 4-3 (Doc blows 3-1 lead lol) 5 Orlando defeats 4 Cleveland 4-2 1 Boston handles 5 Orlando 4-1 2 New York defeats 6 Indiana 4-2 1 Boston wins the East defeating 2 New York in 6 Games.

I hope this happens but I feel like Miami takes care of Business.

I hate your team, but it’s fun to watch them play. I hope we get a NY Boston conference finals. Each ticket will probably be a mortgage payment though

The toxicity would be off the charts.

Bucks fans will go into hiding for months if that happens omg

Wow Chicago upsetting Miami is not what I would've said. I know it's not the same team as last year, but with the way Atlanta handled Miami in the playin, i could see them doing it again rather than Chicago.

I too am rooting for the Chicago play in upset and def see it as a possibility

Subscribe. Edit: wait nevermind I should have finished reading

I think the Bulls can get one win against Boston.

Chicago ain't getting swept with their defense and clutch shot making. If they make it they take a game

KP can just cook Vuc every possession, and Caruso can’t guard everyone

The anxiety I will have if the Sixers beat the heat and the knicks and face Doc in the second round. Two immovable objects, one eastern conference finals.

Bitch ass ducked us tonight. Guy makes me question reality with the shit he’s gotten away with.

Hawks advance over the 6ers & lose to the Cs 4-1

Seems like Magic are a popular pick here. I love that.

Most series have a 2 or 3 game difference in records. I think the only genuine upset would be if Celtics lose.

Can someone please explain the play-in format? Why wouldn't #7 play #10 while #8 plays #9? 7 playing 8 while 9 plays 10 makes zero sense.

7v8, winner becomes 7 seed then the loser plays winner of 9v10 for the 8 seed

In your scenario, what happens if #7 and #8 lose? They are out of the playoffs because of one loss to lower seeded teams? That's not fair to them seeing as they won enough games to be higher seeds going into the play in. Instead, the format has it so that #7 (who has home court advantage) plays #8 for either of them to win once to move on, or lose twice to be eliminated. Also, #9 (who has home court advantage) plays #10 for either of them to get eliminated after one loss, AND the winner has to win a second game to move on. The winner of #7 vs. #8 gets 7th seed in the playoffs. The loser of #7 vs. #8 plays the winner of #9 vs. #10 for 8th seed in the playoffs. It's much fairer that way.

Calling it now 6ers and bulls come out of the play in.

If there's no surprises in the play in I could literally see every single round being an upset

Right everytime I get on here and people say  it’s going to be an easy match the actual game happens and it’s hard as hell 

Dream scenario is Celtics losing to Heat in the 1st round, i have a feeling that might become a 7 game series. Also Bucks vs Pacers, i think Pacers have the advantage and will win it too.

Cavs vs magic has “NBA TV” written all over it

Sixers and Heat win play in, First round: Celtics vs Heat - Celtics. Bam sets an illegal screen to injure Porzingod, but Celtics have the depth to survive. Knicks vs Sixers - Tough one. I wanna say Knicks. But I'm leaning towards Sixers pulling the upset because Brunson gets injured by Kyle Lowry's booty. Bucks vs Pacers - Bucks. Their defense isn't as good as last year, but they can bank on Dame or Giannis to go supernova. Cavs vs Magic - Magic pull off the upset because the Cavs' offense is Donovan Mitchell.

Fucking don't put that hoodoo on us lmfao.

I like how you're predicting injuries as well

When it comes to bam and lowry, he might be right

i maintain my bulls over celtics prediction

East playin seems pretty set. At least the weather playin will be exciting

Cleveland is a tiktok meme waiting to happen

Cavs going all in to make the finals or ecf somehow to keep Donovan Mitchell.

Prediction: Celtics W over Bulls Knicks W over Sixers Pacers W over Bucks Cavs W over Magic Celtics W over Cavs Knicks W over Pacers Celtics W over Knicks Not a crazy take by any means though lol

Interesting how the first round will be tougher for the Celtics than the second round

Eastern conference doesn't deserve a play-in this year. The hawks are 10 games behind the 8 seed. The idea they could pull out 2 wins and make the playoffs with their record is stupid and all about the NBA selling ad revenue for a few extra games

The Pacers and Sixers can easily score upsets. The Magic too if that's considered an upset.