The NBA regular season is done and dusted and we’re now in the post penultimate stage of the NBA season; The Postseason, where the NBA Championship is up for grabs and a chance for stars to grasp immortality in their legacies. It’s only right we take a look at a few things to look forward to in this year’s Postseason but before we get ahead ourselves let’s being with a preview of the NBA Playoffs 2019.
LeBron-Less Playoffs
IMAGE CREDIT: SUPERSTAR SPORTS.COM
For the first time in a decade, we’ll be witnessing a Playoffs without the mega superstar that is LeBron James and to be honest, it’s still pretty hard to digest that considering that we’ve seen him dominate the Eastern Playoffs all decade long. With his switch to the West, it made things more challenging and harder for him to reach the Playoffs due to the high competition in the West. But this also gives a new hope in the East that we’ll be getting a new wave of competition in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. So don’t expect LeBron to just make a sudden appearance not unless he’s a spectator in the arena but otherwise the next time we’ll be seeing LeBron James will be next season.
A Rumble In The East
IMAGE CREDIT: USA TODAY SPORTS
With LeBron James out of the window, the vacant spot for King Of The East has caused some teams to suddenly evolve such as the Milwaukee Bucks who finished the season as the first seeded team followed by the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers. Although we were all expecting the Boston Celtics to immediately snatch the crown of the Eastern Conference, you can see that these evolved teams have made it harder for them to even try to snatch the crown. Although the Bucks aren’t officially the Kings Of The East as they still have to win the Eastern Conference Finals, the crown for the East is really anybody’s game. For all we know, the Brooklyn Nets could win the Eastern Conference!
The Warriors’ Defense
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The Golden State Warriors are complete now, with DeMarcus Cousin fully recovered, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson fully locked in, Draymond Green ready to bully players and Stephen Curry having full 20/20 vision on the court. However, critics have been quite critical of the Warriors stating that they’re not the same dominating team they once were. But that doesn’t really taint the Warriors because they’re still in the chase for a third consecutive title and a fourth championship in the last five years. But the Warriors will have to fend off the likes of Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and the unexpected Denver Nuggets of which all these teams have improved drastically. Sure the Rockets finished the season two places lower than they did last season but they’re just as lethal as they were last year. So it’s no secret that the Warriors are in for a heck of Playoffs run and don’t expect them to sweep roll their way to The Finals just as they did last season and the season before that. The Western Conference Playoffs will surely be a Wild Wild West.
The MVPs Will State Their Case
IMAGE CREDIT: USA TODAY SPORTS
The MVPs frontrunners James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo have been phenomenal all regular season long and we don’t expect them to slow down come Playoffs time as this will be there final opportunity to prove why one of them deserve to go home with the prestigious individual award. We cannot say either players have an easy case because they’re guaranteed to meet up with teams stacked with a lot of defense and firepower to distract them from attempting to pull MVP numbers. But one thing we should expect is to see both Giannis and Harden playing in a much more superior level than they’ve played during the regular season.
And there you have it, the NBA Playoffs is here and we will be clued to our phones and highlights of these teams battling their way to the allusive NBA Finals to grasp at opportunity at immortality and supremacy in the league. This year’s Playoffs are guaranteed to surely entertain us.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NBA PLAYOFFS WILL NOT BE BROADCASTED ON SOWETO TV OR ANY OTHER DSTV CHANNEL. OPENVIEW HD VIEWERS WILL GET TO VIEW ALL PLAYOFF GAMES ON THEIR TV’S
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