National Basketball Association playoffs preview: Who’s playing who in the East and West

The NBA announced Thursday that the league set an attendance record for the fourth straight season, topping 22 million fans for the first time.

The playoffs is the postseason tournament of the world’s oldest and biggest professional league.

My prediction: Raptors versus Rockets in this year’s NBA Finals.

The long National Basketball Association regular season has finally concluded, and now it’s time for the real season to begin. Eastern, followed by the Washington Wizards at the Torontot Raptors, the Philadelphia 76’ers hosting the Miami Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers entertaining the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Sunday, it’s No. 7 Milwaukee at No. 2 Boston, and the Cavs hosting the No. 5 Indiana Pacers in the East, followed by No. 5 Utah at No. 4 Oklahoma City. And although I do love a good sports dynasty, it doesn’t mean you have to become a fan of them to win another ring.

Each conference’s bracket is fixed; there is no reseeding. As stated above, all rounds, including the NBA Finals, are in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.

The Raptors tied the Houston Rockets for the best home record in the league, 34-7.

Vogel spent two seasons with the team and had a record of 54-110.

Don’t be surprised if the NBA Champion comes out of the Western Conference yet again. A little more experience and one of the best backcourts in the National Basketball Association with McCollum and Lillard with homecourt advantage should be enough for them to get past the Pelicans, but it won’t be easy. A couple of first-round series are expected to be one-sided, but there are only a handful of matchups in which only one team seemingly has a real chance to advance to the conference semifinals. Getting back John Wall and the recent strong performances of Otto Porter Jr. will help the Wizards down the stretch. Still, Toronto – which was third in offensive rating and fifth in defensive rating this season – should be able to survive.

Season series: Split, 2-2. Another team that could challenge in the East is the Philadelphia 76ers, who are the NBA’s hottest team entering the playoffs. The Miami Heat’s most recognizable players are an All-Star injury replacement (Goran Dragic), an interior bag with sagging stats (Hassan Whiteside) and a 36-year-old sub (Dwyane Wade). The teams split their four-game regular-season series.

Not often is a No. 4 seed one of the teams to beat in the postseason, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are no ordinary No. 4 seed. With coach Nate McMillan and All-Star guard Victor Oladipo leading the way, the Pacers were a wonderful surprise this season.

Earlier on Wednesday night, Minnesota Timberwolves vanquished the Denver Nuggets from playoff contention with an overtime win. All the other first-round matchups are ones where the playoff foes split four meetings this season.

Season series: Rockets, 4-0.

Game 1 between Golden State and San Antonio opens the slate on Saturday at 3 p.m. Antetokounmpo was in the MVP conversation at times this season after setting career highs in points (26.9) and rebounds (8.0) per game.

“Jeff is a true professional who has worked tirelessly for this organization the last two seasons”, Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry said in a statement. Season head-to-head, advantage Warriors, 3-1.

For starters, the Philadelphia 76ers have been a struggling organization for the past six years. Absolutely. There’s nothing more risky than a team that has nothing to lose and that’s exactly what this Celtics team is.