Ty's NBA Preview: Postseason and Awards
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Finishing off my NBA preview, today I have some playoff predictions and awards predictions. Tomorrow I will do a men's NCAA basketball preview to wrap up all of my basketball writing for a little bit. For my playoff predictions I will do the four play-in teams from each conference, then finish out the playoffs until I get to each conference winner. Then it will be the awards.
I'll start with the East.
From 7 to 10 in the East I have the Pacers, Hawks, Magic and Wizards. That would mean that the Pacers would face the Wizards in the 7-10 matchup, and the Hawks facing the Magic. The Pacers will make easy work with the Wiz. The Pacers are better, and pretty much whole again. The Hawks and Magic game is a little tougher for me to pick. I'm going to go with the Magic because I believe that they play defense just a bit better, and that will be enough to get them the win here. So that means the Pacers will wrap up the 7 seed, and I'm going to go with the Magic to secure the 8th seed once again.
As for 1-6 in the East, in order I have the Knicks, Celtics, 76ers, Raptors, Cavs and Pistons. That means I don't have the Hornets or the Heat in the playoffs. Those were two tough cuts for me, but here we are. And with the way the Heat have started the season, it looks like it may take a lot longer to work it out with Giannis. As for the 1-8 matchup I have the Knicks playing the Magic. The Magic may take a few games from the Knicks, but in the long run the Knicks have a far superior offense and they will find a way to score, probably at will, when they need to. Knicks win in six. My 2-7 matchup in the East has the Celtics facing the Pacers. I am going to go with the upset here and pick the Pacers to win in seven games. The Pacers have this certain clutch gene, and they seem to activate it when they need to, especially in the playoffs. I also think Tyrese Haliburton will outplay Jayson Tatum, and the unwillingness the Celtics have for attacking the rim will be their undoing. My 3-6 matchup features the 76ers facing the Pistons. The 76ers are more experienced, a better team and have better experience in the playoffs. They also have LeBron James, and he will want to prove that he can win with a new team. It will be close for the first couple of games, but in the long run the 76ers will wear the Pistons down and win the series in six games. Finally, the 4-5 matchup has the Raptors facing the Cavs. This time the Raptors will win. Kawhi will play enough to make a difference, and the leap that Scottie Barnes showed last season will be even bigger this year. He will show himself to be the best player in this series. The Raptors will win in six games.
The second round will see the Knicks facing the Raptors and the Pacers going up against the 76ers. These two series should be pretty exciting and fun to watch. I would love to see the Knicks make another run to the East Finals, but I think they will be too tired and worn out from the season and being the reigning champs will take its toll. We will have another new champ for the ninth straight year. Scottie Barnes will continue his ascent, and the Raptors will beat the Knicks in seven games. As for the Pacers and 76ers, I'm going against my best thoughts and picking the 76ers. I don't know how healthy they may be at this point of the season, but I'm going to imagine most of the important players will be good, probably not Embiid, and they will outlast the Pacers in seven games. LeBron James will remind everyone about his dominance in the Eastern Conference.
That means the East Finals will feature the Raptors and 76ers. I'm going to go with the Raptors. Again, I'm all in on Scottie Barnes, and I think this is the season he announces himself as a top 10 player in the NBA. The Raptors will represent the East in the NBA Finals.
Onto the West.
My 7-10 teams in the West are, in order, Denver, Portland, Phoenix and Dallas. The 7-10 game will be a pretty easy win for the Nuggets. Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving will make it close for a half, but then the Nuggets will take over and not look back. The 8-9 game will be pretty high scoring, but I'm going to go with the Trailblazers because I think Damian Lillard will be so happy to be playing playoff basketball, and he may score at will, especially with the game being played in Portland. The Nuggets will be the 7 seed, and the Trailblazers will eventually secure the 8 seed.
As for the top 6 in the West I have, in order, OKC, San Antonio, Houston, Minnesota, Lakers and the Jazz. The sixth seed was tough for me, but I think the Jazz will surprise some this year. So, the 1-8 matchup will be a walk through for the Thunder. Sure, the Trailblazers may take a game, they took one from the Spurs last season, but the Thunder will have no real trouble with them. SGA will score at will, and the Thunder big men will feast on the Trailblazers smaller guards in pick and roll mismatches. The 2-7 series, between the Spurs and Nuggets, will be yet another coming out party for Wemby. All of the media members who love Nikola Jokic so much will see him get abused on offense by Wemby. And Jokic won't be able to do all the things he used to when the Nuggets have the ball because Wemby will haunt him. Also, the Spurs guards will feast on the horrific defense that the Nuggets backcourt "plays". I'll take the Spurs in five games. The 3-6 series features the Rockets facing the Jazz. The Jazz will have this nice run to the 6 seed, and then the Rockets will dispose of them in an easy four games. This series may be the most lopsided one in all of round one. And in the 4-5 have the Timberwolves playing the Lakers. The Timberwolves backcourt is going to abuse the Lakers backcourt. LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards are going to do whatever they want against Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. And Rudy Gobert will completely neutralize Walker Kessler. I have the T'Wolves winning in five.
So that leaves me with the Thunder playing the Timberwolves and the Spurs facing the Rockets in round 2. I hate to say it, but I do believe we will have another Spurs-Thunder series in the West Finals. The Thunder are going to be able to stop the T'Wolves backcourt, and Gobert is not going to be able to deal with all the bigs the Thunder will throw at them. The Rockets and Spurs should be a pretty good series, but again, Wemby is going to dominate Sengun and the other Rockets big men. VanVleet may be a little too old to keep up with the Spurs backcourt, and while KD can still score at will, he is going to have a tough time matching up with Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell. I think the Rockets will get a few games off the Spurs, but I have the Spurs winning in six.
So we have the aforementioned West Finals rematch. But I think the Thunder will prevail this time. They have a bad taste in their mouth from last season, and in that game seven SGA figured out how to get his points against this defense. I think it will go the full seven again, but this time the Thunder will find a way to win. The Thunder will represent the West in the Finals.
So, that means I have the Raptors facing the Thunder in the 2026-27 NBA Finals. And while this series will be a blast to watch, I think the Thunder will reclaim the throne and win it all in seven games. Scottie Barnes will make this a true series, but I don't think Kawhi will be 100 percent, and while Collin Murray-Boyles is an up and comer, the Thunder big men will be able to neutralize him. And Scottie Barnes can only do so much. SGA will be the Finals MVP again, and the Thunder will be back on top again.
Now onto awards.
I'll start with Rookie of the Year. I'm going to go with Cam Boozer. I have so much faith in him to be awesome right off the bat. I think the Grizzlies will be better than expected, and that will be because of Boozer. Sixth Man of the Year will be Alex Caruso. The Thunder will use him as the first bench guy all season, and Caruso will do all the things he does well enough to get him the award. Defensive Player of the Year will be Wemby. All he has to do is play enough games, and this award is going to go to him. He is a one man wrecking crew on that side of the ball, and he has proven he can guard all five positions. Coach of the Year will be Darko Rajakovic. Toronto is going to be really good this season, Rajakovic proved he could coach last season, and with their big jump incoming, I think the award voters will give him the trophy this season. Finally, MVP is going to be Wemby. This is the season that Wemby continues to prove how dominant he can be on both ends of the floor, and as long as he hits the 65 game threshold, he is going to be taking home a ton of hardware this season.
That's it for my NBA preseason stuff. Come back tomorrow for my men's college basketball preview.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.
