- WEEK 1 PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS -
WRITTEN BY: STEPHEN A. KELLERMAN
I finished the season with a 65-35 predictions record. A 65% accuracy but I expect to be even better for the ETBL playoffs. Let's get down to business with the first 4 playoff games on tap for Sunday.
7:00PM BULLS vs WOLVES
BULLS + 18 – The Bulls finished the regular season with the 3rd best record in the league. The third seeded Bulls will play the 14th seed, the Wolves. The Wolves will need to bring the best version of themselves if they would like to continue playing in the post season. The addition of Michael Mines has been a great move! Ray will need to coach his heart out to get the win as this Bulls team has two incredible players in Shang and Davion. It's a deadly combo as Shang is one of the best passers in the league and Davion is one of the best shooters in the league. All season long the Bulls have played with a smaller rotation but so has the Wolves. However, the Bulls have shown they can win with it while the Wolves have struggled for the most part. To be most effective, Wolves always hunt in packs...and since that hasn't been the case...the Bulls will win easy.
8:00PM CLIPPERS vs SUNS
CLIPPERS + 19 – The defending ETBL world champions went from the #1 seed (last season) to the #2 seed. The Clippers will play the #15th seed team in the Suns. The Suns have had quite the season from day 1 in ETBL to now in the post season. Both these teams played in the regular season with the Clippers winning by 15. Hopefully the Suns learned from their mistakes and will have a better plan. It’s win or go home time and one of these teams will be extremely dissapointed. I pick the smarter, more experienced, and more talented team in the Clips.
9:00PM THUNDER vs SPURS
THUNDER + 3 – This will be the game of the night and possibly of the entire opening round! You have 7th seed in the Thunder taking on the 10th seed Spurs. Both teams ended the regular season with six wins, however the Thunder registered 3 losses and one tie whereas the Spurs took on four losses. Both teams played in the regular season with the Thunder winning by 10 in a chippy win. The Spurs have one of the deepest teams in the league! The Thunder have Mr. Janath Kumar and a very talented starting 5. Janath has brought a bunch of 3-point snippers at his disposal and with the addition of Hashi...they are ready to go war. I expect a barrage of three pointers from their snipers plus Janath taking on multiple defenders to collapse the paint. If both teams are healthy I give the edge to the Thunder as they are the better offensive team. Defence does win Championships but the Spurs haven't shown the ability to create enough consistent offence and shot making.
10:00PM GRIZZLIES vs KNICKS
KNICKS + 1 – This can go either way as the Grizzlies had an amazing season and earned the 8th seed and the Knicks had an interesting season and earned the 9th seed. Both teams played in the regular season with the Grizzlies winning by a single point. It will be interesting to see how each team plays in the playoffs. The Knicks may not have their star player in Ryan who is dealing with an injury and that could be the difference. The Knicks will look to throw multiple defenders at Ben to slow him down. That has been a tough task this season as he has played at an MVP level every game. I give the Knicks the slight advantage because of the deeper team they have and the chemistry they have shown thus far. The Grizz will need a couple of their role players to step up and I am not sure they can.