"I'm looking at Khris Middleton being hurt, and I understand what the 76ers are doing" - Jay Williams makes his pick for which team will come out of East in NBA playoffs
While the NBA playoff games in both conferences have been exciting, the sheer number of contenders in the East gives it an edge the West just doesn't have.
Going into the playoffs, realistically, there were two, maybe three, real contenders in the Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference, five out of the eight teams had a solid chance at the start. But with injuries and poor performances, some of those teams might be losing their edge.
The Bucks suffered two losses on Wednesday. First, the Bulls leveled the series at 1-1 with a 114-110 win. Second, Khris Middleton sprained his MCL. The Bucks are still the favorites against the Bulls. But if Middleton doesn't return for the second round, their playoff hopes will take a huge blow.
On ESPN's "Keyshawn, JWill & Max," former NBA player Jay Williams made his pick to emerge as the Eastern Conference champion:
"Right now, the Boston Celtics. If I'm looking at Khris Middleton being hurt, and I understand what the 76ers are doing – Joel Embiid made an incredible shot last night – but I'm looking at the Boston Celtics. If they're able to get Robert Williams III back, they seem like the most complete team there is with how they defend."
The 76ers have lately been playing some of their most electrifying basketball. Sure, Joel Embiid is Shaquille O'Neal with a 3-point jumpshot, but to put it contextually, he made that shot against the Toronto Raptors, and that too, in overtime.
Embiid should be the regular-season MVP, even though the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic has probably run away with that honor. Still, a lot more needs to be seen from the Sixers in the playoffs, especially against elite defenses of the Celtics, Heat and Bucks.
The NBA playoffs are just getting better every single day, and the Eastern Conference might not be as wide open anymore
In the Eastern Conference, the five contenders entering the playoffs were the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. However, the East is narrower than it was.
The Celtics have shown an incredible ascension, while the Nets have posted two extremely poor performances by their standards. The Heat defense has clamped down on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young. The Bucks lost Khris Middleton. And Joel Embiid has looked like Shaquille O'Neal for the Sixers.
The Celtics, who had about a 30% chance of winning the NBA Finals last week, now have about a 40% chance of doing so, according to fivethirtyeight. Numbers are obviously not the final word, but are more realistic than "Nets in six" or "Suns in four."