NBA Playoffs – Round 2

Eastern Conference

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Toronto Raptors

It’s just blasphemous to see how the Toronto Raptors team is performing in this second round of the NBA Playoffs. Throughout  the regular season the performance of the Raptors was exceptional, they are the top seed in the East. Why is so hard for them to beat the Cavaliers? Is it a psychological thing?  It’s like the Cavaliers mainly LeBron James is their kryptonite when it comes to the playoffs. To me the Toronto Raptors has one of the best benches in the league, and they have proved that this season. I need to see some adjustments for the duration of this second round, without adjustment they are going to get swept for a second year. Two games been played in this series thus far, in the first game there was so many opportunities for the Raptors to clinched a win, but the ball just didn’t want to get into the basket, losing the game by 1 point. The second game was just an embarrassment being hammered by LeBron and Kevin Love, Cavaliers leading the series 2-0. It’s about time the Toronto Raptors reach a Eastern Conference Final, they to step up and play with a lot more confidence if they are going to come back and take this series.  

Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers

The second match of this series, showed how great of a coach Brad Stevens is. After a sloppy start by the Boston Celtics, they were able to rise from a 22 points deficit, defeating the 76ers 108-103. The most interesting thing, during that incredible comeback run by the Celtics was the 76ers coach, he never called a timeout, not once. It seemed like he was confused and didn’t know how to  approach the Celtics at that time. In addition, Markelle Fultz, number one draft pick 2017/2018 never got a minute in this game for the 76ers, why was that? Coming back from his injury the kid has been playing pretty good, definitely needed some minutes. The series now moves to Philadelphia, could the 76ers get a win on home court or will the Celtics continue their winning ways?

Western Conference

Golden State Warriors vs New Orleans Pelicans

This series just got interesting after the New Orleans Pelicans clinched a convincing win in the third match of this series. After losing their first two games, the Pelicans ensured that they take full advantage on home court, winning game 3. In the third match up, leading the team offensively for the Pelicans were Anthony Davis (33 points,18 rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (21 points), also Nikola Mirotic (16 points, 13 rebounds). Another major factor that added to the Pelicans win were Rajon Rondo who ended with a franchise playoff record high of 21 assists. Former Warriors player, Ian Clark showed up for the Pelicans coming of the bench scoring 18 points , which kept the momentum going for the Pelicans. In the final quarter of the game the New Orleans Pelicans were leading by some 25 points with just about five minutes to go, eventually they won 119-100 an defeating the current NBA champions. With the series coming alive, I think the New Orleans Pelicans could win the series, just got to wait and see how the series unfolds.

Utah Jazz vs Houston Rockets

Not too much to say about this series, is pretty evident to me that the Houston Rockets will win, despite losing game two. Game three was just too simple for the Houston Rockets. The Utah Jazz didn’t play with much aggressiveness, they were sloppy, after winning game 2 I expected to see that momentum being portrayed in game 3,  however that didn’t happen being defeated 113-92. 

Honestly, I don’t see Utah winning any more games, Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz), still my rookie of the year though.

Thank you for reading. 💖

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