Last Updated on April 18, 2022 3:10 pm by Erwin Noguera
With the regular season over, the playoff table for the 2021-22 season is almost ready. In the absence of the Play-in finishing determining which will be the last two teams from each conference to access the postseason and be able to fight for the title, the positions of each team are already defined, and therefore so are the different crosses. It is therefore time to review what will be the different crosses that we will have in the coming days.
The Play-in will have a very nice battle between 4 teams from each of the conferences to find out which will be the two teams that will continue to live in their race for the championship title. The Nets, Cavaliers, Hawks, and Hornets will fight for them in the East, while the Timberwolves, Clippers, Pelicans, and Spurs will do so in the West.
Preview
The first day of the Play-in is over, as yesterday we had 2 spectacular matches full of emotion until the last second. The Brooklyn Nets, led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, managed to win at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers to keep their hopes of winning the title alive this year. While in the other game, the Timberwolves had a very difficult game against the Clippers but ended up taking the victory with an excellent score of 109-104.
The losers of these games will have one last chance to access the playoffs, in this case as eighth classified, in the next game, in which the winners of the games between the Hawks and Hornets and between the Pelicans and Spurs will be measured.
Now, today we will have the games for the Atlanta Hawks vs. Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans vs. San Antonio Spurs, which we are sure will be exceptional and that we will have guaranteed emotions.
In this way, half of the matches in the first round of the Playoffs are already complete, and the other half will be once the Play-in phase is over.
Next, we will have how the crosses will be defined in the first round.
Eastern Conference
- Miami Heat vs. 8th classified
- Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets
- Milwaukee Bucks vs. Chicago Bulls
- Philadelphia 76ers vs. Toronto Raptors
Western Conference
- Phoenix Suns vs. 8th classified
- Memphis Grizzlies vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
- Golden State Warriors vs. Denver Nuggets
- Dallas Mavericks vs. Utah Jazz
Update
The Golden State Warriors started with an excellent showing against Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets, superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks are strong in title defense and the Celtics stunned Kevin Durant’s Nets.
After the playoffs were played and with the 16 teams that will fight for the ring, this weekend the NBA Playoffs began in the best basketball in the world.
Without a doubt, the great absence of these playoffs is LeBron James and his Lakers. The best eight teams of the respective conferences began the dispute for the ring of champions, which the Milwaukee Bucks currently own.
For this season, the team of the Greek Phenomenon, the Bucks, is once again the favorite to win the title, although other very strong teams could face it, such as the Phoenix Suns, their rivals from last year, and the best team this season, the Miami Heat or the reborn Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors, with their star Step Curry back, started the playoffs on the right foot
With Stephen Curry back and Jordan Poole as an unexpected important figure in this game, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets with a score of 123-107 on Saturday at the start of the NBA Playoffs.
Driven by their fans at the Chase Center, the Warriors managed to take a very wide lead in the second quarter that was then unattainable for the Nuggets, in which Jokic, who is one of the players nominated to be the MVP of the season, did not have much support from his teammates and finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The Warriors did not need Curry to be at his best, returning to the court after 2 games out due to a foot injury, to get ahead of Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets in this Western Conference series.
Tatum knocked out Kevin Durant’s Nets
With a last-second basket by Jayson Tatum, the Boston Celtics cruised to a 115-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in a terrific Game 1 of their series.
The game was high tension from the beginning and took place at the TD Garden in Boston, where the Celtics managed to get an excellent and difficult first win thanks to Tatum’s game-winning basket.
The Bucks continue to defend their title
The Milwaukee Bucks began defending the ring of champions with a tight but very good victory against the Chicago Bulls.
The Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, a finalist for this season’s MVP award, led Milwaukee with 27 points and 16 rebounds although he spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench due to foul trouble. The game had a score of 93-86 in favor of Milwaukee.
Chris Paul liquidated the Pelicans
The Phoenix Suns, the best team in the Western Conference and, for many, in the league, took a very good victory with a score of 110-99 against the New Orleans Pelicans at the hands of the veteran of a thousand battles Chris Paul, who finished with 30 points and 10 assists.
The Sun’s point guard took control of the game when the Pelicans made one last attempt by closing in on just eight points (79-71) at the end of the third quarter. But, in the last quarter, Paul punished the rival defense again and again until he scored 19 points with an excellent 7/7 from the field.
Timberwolves stunned the Grizzlies
The only surprise victory of the day was that of the Minnesota Timberwolves with a score of 130-117 at the home of the Memphis Grizzlies, who finished the regular season on an excellent level and in second place in the Western Conference.
Anthony Edwards, with only 20 years old, made his debut in a Playoff game with a spectacular tally of 36 points, 4 triples, and 6 assists.
Utah beats the Mavs without Doncic
In the first game of the Playoffs, the Utah Jazz suffered extremely to win against the Dallas Mavericks who could not count on their star Luka Doncic, injured in a calf since the last game of the regular phase.
Donovan Mitchell led Utah’s offense with 32 points, 30 of them in the second half, and Frenchman Rudy Gobert was the defensive bulwark, who owned the paint with 17 rebounds, in a victory that the Jazz had to sweat much more than expected.
Miami, without mercy against Atlanta
The Miami Heat crushed the Atlanta Hawks thanks to a relentless defense that wiped out star Trae Young.
Substitute guard Duncan Robinson punished Atlanta with 27 points and 8 triples while Jimmy Butler, the figure of Miami, added 21 points.
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