Isaiah Gutman:
WARRIORS 4, RAPTORS 1
The Warriors may be missing Steph Curry for the first few weeks of the playoffs, but make no mistake; they are the best team in the NBA by an ample margin. Without Curry, the Warriors do struggle periodically on offense, but Kevin Durant is more than capable to make up for lost production.The Rockets are a great team, but it would be foolish to pick against the defending champs provided their superstar returns. The East is more muddled, but since the Cavs have struggled early against the Pacers, they don’t seem in shape to once again take the weaker conference. It is hard to trust the Raptors in the playoffs, but Masai Ujiri has done well to build a very solid team around DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, and as long as Fred VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl and the rest of their bench mob perform, they are poised to reach the elusive Finals. Once there, they will be outmatched by a Warriors squad which will undoubtedly shed the less than stellar effort of the regular season and handle the Raps easily.
Justin Heitzman:
ROCKETS 4, RAPTORS 3
For the past few seasons, the Toronto Raptors have failed to get over the hump despite the star power of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. This has been in part due to their lack of a suitable supporting cast. But now, this Raptors team has enough depth to not only exorcise the greatest demon of their past, LeBron James, but to get all the way to the NBA Finals. Houston, though, has proven this year that they have an incredible upside. Despite the fact that Toronto’s defense matched up favorably against the Houston offense in their meetings this season, when it comes down to it, the Rockets are clearly the best team here and should be able to take home the championship in a seven-game series.
Patrick Yuan:
WARRIORS 4, SIXERS 1
The East is wide open this year, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are still incapable of playing defense and are severely lacking in offensive star power outside of Lebron James and Kevin Love. Although the Toronto Raptors are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference this year, having won an impressive fifty-nine games, it is also well known that they regress significantly during the playoffs, as teams can take advantage of Demar DeRozan’s inability to shoot threes and their tendency to resort to “hero ball” and isolation down the stretch. Look for the Philadelphia 76ers to come out of the East, having won sixteen in a row heading into the playoffs with two generational talents in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons leading the way. In the West, there are only two teams who are in contention: the Warriors and the Rockets. The Rockets, though owning the league’s best record, are vulnerable to well designed defensive game plans; this was seen in last year’s playoffs, as the Spurs were able to shut down the Rockets by running them off the three point line and having the roll man defender on pick-and-roll plays sag deep into the paint, forcing them to take mid range shots they don’t want. Expect the Warriors to take advantage of this and come out of the West. In the Finals, the Warriors simply have too much talent compared with the Sixers; Embiid and Simmons, though good enough to come out of the East, are no match for Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. The Warriors will maul the Sixers in five games for their second consecutive NBA championship.