Phx-Suns.Net

not gonna watch atlanta vs brooklyn - atlanta in the 2nd round.

cleveland v boston could be fun - cleveland wins this series though

not gonna watch chicago vs milwaukee (yuck) - chicago advances

not gonna watch toronto vs washington - dont know who wins this series

atlanta will be in the ECF. which team wins the chicago-cleveland series will win the east.

atlanta has a glide path to the eastern conference finals.

EAST
4-0 Hawks over Nets
4-0 Cavs over Celtics
4-1 Bulls over Bucks
4-3 Wizards over Raptors

4-2 Hawks over Wizards
4-3 Cavs over Bulls

4-1 Cavs over Hawks

FINALS
4-2 Warriors over Cavs

Atlanta 4-2 over Brooklyn
Cleveland 4-0 over Boston
Chicago 4-2 over Milwaukee
Washington 4-3 over Toronto

Atlanta 4-2 over Washington
Cleveland 4-2 over Chicago

Cleveland 4-2 over Atlanta

• atlanta 4-2 over brooklyn: atlanta dominated the east in the regular season but are dealing with injuries, but this could go 4-1 if the health issues are exaggerated.
• cleveland 4-1 over boston: i see boston scraping one out with IT and brad stevens...
• chicago 4-3 over milwaukee: i think this'll be a very physical series
• toronto 4-3 over washington: washington just hasn't been right. toronto hasn't either, but something's just off about washington this year.

will hold off following first round to make second round predictions.

actually i read a piece (i think grantlant but maybe somewhere else) making a great case for a milwaukee/chicago rivalry, based on, if nothing else, physical proximity. and that was quite a compelling argument. i would watch that more than some of the other games in fact, just to see how kidd handles his team and how giannis matches up with mirotic/butler/whomever, and to see chicago's chances at advancing deep into the playoffs. to me, the east is basically chicago/cleveland.

Atlanta over Brooklyn in 5

Cleveland over Boston in 5

Chicago over Milwaukee in 4

Washington over Toronto in 6