After a wonderful regular season with gems like the in-season tournament and a great all-star weekend, it is time for the NBA playoffs! We have an electric second-round series between the Cavaliers of Cleveland and the Boston Celtics. Here is what you should know.

Man, the Cavs Magic series was so much fun. With some crazy blowouts, super close games, and finally the best two words in sports; game seven! The Cavs came out on top thanks to fantastic guard play from Donovan Mitchell, but there were contributors at every position. Darius Garland and Evan Mobely have been solid, and Jarrett Allen anchors the middle, scoring with ease but also a great defensive threat in the painted area. After a brutal game one, the Cavs really turned it around and were able to blow out the Celtics in game two. Mitchell looked great as did the rest of the lineup, the bench players were fantastic, and defensively they were able to give the Celtics a run for their money. If they can look like that every night, this might be a deeper playoff run than I originally thought the Cavaliers would have! Can they keep it up, though?

I wouldn’t be so sure. The Celtics are the favorites for a reason, and they are loaded. With Porzingus probably out for this series the Cs will struggle a bit with big depth, but they have a deep enough roster where it should not be a problem. JT is one of the best players in the league, JB is one of the best second options, Holiday and White are absolute clamps on defense with huge scoring upside, Al is aging like a fine wine, and the bench rocks. Hauser and Pritchard have proven they can explode for 30 if needed. This Celtics team is scary and hungry, I think they should come out on top in this one. Game three should be a big bounceback effort for the Celtics, and now they know they can’t just mess around and win every game. A wake-up call if you will. Will the Celtics be able to take their bad loss and use it as fuel or will the Cavs be able to turn the series around because of it?

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