The NBA playoffs standings has the teams and matchups set for the postseason and things start up on Saturday afternoon with games and the top four teams this year are the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the eastern and western conferences and many think those teams are among the favorites to make it to the finals.
The Pacers and Miami Heat battled all season for the number one seed in the east and Indiana ended up getting it and now they must put their terrible month of play behind them as they move into the playoffs. The Miami Heat have been waiting all year for this and now the postseason is here and while they are not the number one seed this year, LeBron James and company are not phased and they have the chance to win their third straight championship and fourth straight eastern conference.
The schedule starts up on Saturday with four games and the playoffs officially begin with the Brooklyn Nets visiting the Toronto Raptors in the three and six matchup in the east. That game will be on ESPN and the next matchup has the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers and that will be an ABC game, while the Pacers and Hawks will play at 7 pm on ESPN and the final game of the night comes as the Memphis Grizzlies visit the Oklahoma City Thunder and that will be on TV on ESPN at 9:30 pm ET.
The matchups across the conferences has some great series, including the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks as well as the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, which could end up being the most exciting series in the first round. Houston and Portland have been two of the highest scoring teams in the league and that should make for some fun games, especially with talented players like James Harden, Dwight Howard and Damian Lillard going at it against each other. The Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards are playing the four five series in the east, while the Clippers and Warriors is another offense heavy matchup.
The Pacers and Hawks split their season series and both teams come into things with some momentum, while the Spurs should be able to dispatch the Mavs, as Dallas hasn't won in San Antonio for a couple years now. The Spurs won the season series 4-0 and that should be a factor, while the Heat have done the same against the Bobcats and that should be an easy series for Miami.
The Brooklyn and Toronto series is interesting and they split those games 2-2 and the Nets easily could pull out an upset. The Warriors and Clippers split their season series as well, while the Rockets won three of four games against the Trail Blazers.
