2022 NBA Playoffs: First Round Predictions
Bracket from Sportzshala.
Aayush Iyengar & Srikar Kalapala
One of the closest regular-season races, not just in recent years, but in NBA history came to a close, and the fight for the Eastern Conference title promises to be even more thrilling. Between the top four seeds in the East, including the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Philadelphia 76ers, only two games separated the number one seeded Heat from the number four seeded 76ers. Even more illustrative of the tightness of this year's regular-season race is the minuscule 10-game gap between the Heat and the 8th-seeded Atlanta Hawks. Each of these teams are entering the postseason with the hopes of hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June, including the pre-season Eastern Conference favorite, the 7th-seeded Brooklyn Nets.
The story out in the West was a little different. If the East was known for its closeness between the playoff field, the West proved to be just the opposite. Eight games separated the one-seeded Phoenix Suns and the two-seeded Grizzlies, and a whopping 28 games separated the Suns and the eight-seeded Pelicans. The Suns still seem like the cream of the crop, trying to avenge their finals loss from last season. After the Suns, there are still a plethora of solid teams that are vying for the chip. Furthermore, only two of the eight teams in the West have won a Finals before (Warriors and Mavericks), so there is a lot of fresh blood waiting for their taste of the Finals. In fact, the top four seeded teams (Suns, Grizzlies, Warriors, Mavericks) have had a top-five draft pick sometime within the last five years.
Ultimately, the 2022 NBA playoffs will be decided by the players, not the team records; here, role players will become playmakers, stars will become superstars, and the team that gains the most momentum will finish on top. The only thing we know for sure? There is going to be absolutely no shortage of entertainment.
1st Round Predictions:
Eastern Conference
Miami Heat vs. (8) Atlanta Hawks
Heat in 6: Overall, with Trae “Ice” Young, the Hawks are going to be competitive in every game. However, the athletic ability, length, depth, and homecourt advantage of Miami will prove too much for Atlanta. Trae will be good enough to steal a couple of games, but the combination of Jimmy Butler’s leadership, Tyler Herro’s shooting prowess, and the Heat’s collective defense will be too much to overcome.
--Aayush Iyengar
Heat in 5: The Heat have been the East’s most complete and consistent team this season, and their stifling defense appears to be able to keep Trae Young under control. Trae has been able to carry the Hawks before, but against this defense, it won’t prove to be enough. Miami will test the depth behind Young, and if the Hawks can’t respond, this series will not be long at all. It will be hard for Young to find a weakness in the Heat’s defensive scheme, especially since the Heat like to switch whenever they can.
-Srikar Kalapala
Boston Celtics vs (7) Brooklyn Nets
Celtics in 7: This is the most entertaining of any first-round matchup. It features the best defensive team in the league, the Boston Celtics, against two of the greatest scorers in NBA history, in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and the Brooklyn Nets. In order for the Celtics to come out on top, a couple of things need to happen. First, they need to buy into the phrase “Defense wins Championships,” with a team approach to slowing, not stopping the Brooklyn juggernaut. Second, Jayson Tatum will rise into the spotlight as a face of the league, by outdueling Kevin Durant in four out of the seven games in this series. Whatever happens, from drama to scoring prowess, it promises to be a great one.
--Aayush Iyengar
Celtics in 7: This is the marquee matchup in round one. The Nets may be the best seven-seed of all time, featuring Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But there is one team that has more experience together, and seem to have it all clicking at the right time. That team is the Celtics, who went on a 26-6 run since Jan. 29. Since then, the Celtics have had the most efficient offense and defense. Meanwhile, for the Nets, Irving and Durant have not played together enough, and the debut of Ben Simmons is still in question. When both teams are as offensively gifted as the Celtics and Nets, give me the team with the better defense, or in the case of the Celtics, the best defense.
--Srikar Kalapala
Milwaukee Bucks vs (6) Chicago Bulls
Bucks in 5: The defending champs, the Milwaukee Bucks will continue their recent dominance of Chicago with a gentleman’s sweep of the Bulls. After going 4-0 against the Bulls in the regular season, Giannis and the Bucks will ease into the second round, dropping one game to the heroics of DeMar DeRozan in the process.
--Aayush Iyengar
Bucks in 4: Milwaukee’s title defense starts now, and they couldn’t have asked for a better first-round opponent to do it against. In the regular season, the Bucks faced their division foe four times and beat them all four times. I don’t see that being a fluke either, as the Bulls had an atrocious record against the top three seeds in either conference (0-15). The two stars that Chicago has, Lavine and DeRozan, will be guarded by two of the best defenders in the NBA in Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, so this matchup proves to be a total nightmare for the Bulls.
--Srikar Kalapala
Philadelphia 76ers vs (5) Toronto Raptors
76ers in 5: Although their records were identical through the regular season, these teams are quite different. Ultimately, with the 2022 scoring champion, and a former MVP in James Harden who is looking to oust his former playoff shortcomings, Philadelphia will jump on the younger Raptors, and finish the series without much drama, setting up an exciting second-round matchup.
--Aayush Iyengar
76ers in 6: Philly might be the obvious pick, but there are a couple reasons this series might not be a cakewalk for them. For one, defensive stud Matisse Thybulle will not travel to Toronto due to vaccine protocols in Canada. On top of that, Harden has only played 21 games as a member of the Sixers. The Raptors on the other hand came out to a sluggish start but then turned it around into being a team that nobody wants to play. Coach Nurse is one of the best coaches in the NBA, and he plays his starters for as long as he can. Featuring rookie Scottie Barnes, they can switch on anyone defensively as well due to their length and athleticism. The reason the Sixers win this one, however, is because they feature the two best closers in the series, and that should be enough to send them to the second round.
--Srikar Kalapala
Western Conference
Phoenix Suns vs (8) New Orleans Pelicans
Suns in 4: Although the New Orleans Pelicans underwent a thrilling finish to the regular season, leapfrogging the Lakers in the standings and then defeating the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers en route to the 8-seed, the road, unfortunately, will end against the well-oiled machine that is the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix, led by Point “God,” Chris Paul, and hyper-efficient scorer Devin Booker will look to erase last year’s heartbreak in the Finals. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, they are just an obstacle in the way at this point.
--Aayush Iyengar
Suns in 4: The Pelicans deserve a round of applause for just getting to this point without Zion Williamson, but when they go up against the Suns, their flame will likely go out. The Suns boasted the best record in the entire NBA this season and were also the best team in the clutch. Of the 42 games that they played in the clutch, the Suns had a 33-9 record, which is the best record since the 73-9 Warriors team. The Suns are just too deep, too talented, and too hungry after last year's Finals loss, so this one won’t last long.
-- Srikar Kalapala
Memphis Grizzlies vs (7) Minnesota Timberwolves
Timberwolves in 7: The only major upset in this first-round lies in this matchup. Although the Grizzlies tied their franchise record for regular-season wins, their inexperience will catch up to them at this point. The Timberwolves, led by superstars and veterans alike and second-year phenom Anthony Edwards are hungry to make some noise in the Western Conference. Their combination of star power and length to slow down Ja Morant poses as the perfect formula to spoil the Grizzlies dream season, and set up for a potential deep run themselves, in the 2022 playoffs.
--Aayush Iyengar
Grizzlies in 6: This matchup features two of the younger, more upstart teams in the NBA. The Grizzlies feature Ja Morant, but they also have one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. In fact, without Ja, they had a 20-4 record before he came back to the starting lineup. The Timberwolves, on the other hand, feature three players that could explode and steal a game on any night (Russell, KAT, Edwards), which will make the Grizzlies work hard for it. But the Grizzlies are just too deep, and that will be the difference in the series.
-- Srikar Kalapala
Golden State Warriors vs (6) Denver Nuggets
Warriors in 7: Golden State, making their return to the playoffs after a one-year absence is a scary sight for the rest of the association. Although Kevin Durant may not be sporting the white and gold, the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green, along with all-star Andrew Wiggins are more than ready to pick up the slack. Ultimately, the scoring punch, depth, and defensive presence of the resurgent Warriors will be a little too much for MVP-frontrunner Nikola Jokić and the injury-ridden Nuggets to handle, giving the Warriors a slight edge, in a highly competitive, and highly entertaining first-round matchup.
--Aayush Iyengar
Warriors in 5: The Warriors can’t stop the reigning MVP Nikola Jokić, but they can try to limit him as much as possible and without Wiseman, that task becomes a lot harder. What they can do is try and throw as many bodies on him as they can, and rely on their talent and depth offensively. The length of this series depends on when Curry returns, and if the Warriors struggle without him, this series could go to 6. But the Warriors have an x-factor in Jordan Poole, and I like the combo of Thompson, Poole, and Wiggins as secondary options over… Morris and Will Barton? Jokić can’t do everything himself, and that will prove to be the case in this series.
-- Srikar Kalapala
Dallas Mavericks vs (5) Utah Jazz
Jazz in 6: Once again, us fans will be gifted with a tight, action-packed series. However, once again, injuries will play a huge role in deciding which team moves on to the next round. On April 10th, Luka Dončić, the Maverick’s 1st team All-Pro superstar, suffered a left calf strain. Calf strains are notorious for their inconsistent recovery timetable, which has already caused Luka to be ruled out for game 1. The Mavericks are clearly not the same force without Luka that they were during the regular season, and it doesn’t help that they are going up against the battle-tested Utah Jazz. If not for Luka’s injury, I could see the series shifting in favor of the Mavericks. But without the young superstar, even for a couple of games, it seems like too much to ask of the rest of the Mavericks, giving the All-star duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and the rest of the Jazz another opportunity on basketball’s biggest stage.
-- Aayush Iyengar
Jazz in 6: The Utah Jazz might be the team facing the most pressure in these playoffs. Five years of the Mitchell-Gobert tandem hasn’t really broken them out to be a serious contender yet, and if they lose this series, big changes will be coming to Utah. On the other hand, the Mavericks' chances in this series come entirely down to the availability of superstar Luka Dončić, and for each game he misses, the chances for the Mavs winning the series go down exponentially. The Mavs don’t feature a great second option behind Dončić, so don’t expect this series to go very far if he doesn’t come back until game 3 or 4.
-- Srikar Kalapala
