No. 1 Atlanta Hawks (60-22) vs. No. 8 Brooklyn Nets (38-44)
What a difference a year makes. The Atlanta Hawks acquired new coach Mike Budenholzer last season and went a middling 38-44 after losing center Al Horford for the year to a pectoral injury. Fast-forward to today and the Hawks and a healthy Horford can boast about a 22-win improvement despite coasting since the All-Star break. Budenholzer’s screen-heavy, off-ball-movement offense shares the stats and has turned oddballs like DeMarre Carroll and Dennis Schroder into essential role players (and in Carroll’s case, a big-time free agent). Atlanta is excited about basketball again, which is about the polar opposite of dispirited, disinterested Brooklyn. In a must-win game against the Magic Wednesday, the Nets slumbered until the fourth quarter before dispatching Orlando and have looked identical to last year’s squad of checked-out veterans just there to cash in their paychecks every week. This series was over before it started. See you in the conference finals, Hawks.
Prediction: Hawks in four
No. 2 Cleveland Cavaliers (53-29) vs. No. 7 Boston Celtics (40-42)
LeBron James, reunited with Cleveland, led the Cavs on a familiar learning curve. Just like when the Heat assembled its Big Three, the Cavs began the season shakily, stories emerged about chaffing in the locker room, LeBron publicly called out a few people, suddenly the team went on a torrid winning streak and then settled into cruise control before the playoffs. Remind anyone of the last four years in Miami? Cleveland now has a bewildering array of weapons, and its only concern is juggling them properly during the playoffs. Luckily for them, they get a few tune-up series before facing real competition. The Celtics, a loveable underdog story ever since shipping Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett out of town, have been fun down the stretch and definitely earned their playoff berth over the likes of the Pacers and the injury-riddled Heat, but will prove to be little more than cannon fodder for the Cleveland postseason monster.
Prediction: Cavs in four
No. 3 Chicago Bulls (50-32) vs. No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks (41-41)
The Bulls are a mystery, the Bucks are building. This is one of those series that you look at on paper and go, “Man, Chicago is going to roll over Milwaukee” yet you remain unconvinced. Maybe it’s because the Bulls have been unconvincing this season, seemingly able to light up the nets one game and struggling to score at all in the next. Or perhaps it’s because Jason Kidd is overachieving at his second straight coaching job, somehow turning a team featuring an awkwardly sized Greek youngster, the still-flawed Michael Carter-Williams, retread Zaza Pachulia, Khris Middleton and a thin bench full of shooters and not much else into a .500 basketball team. Then there’s the fact that Chicago came up empty against a Bucks that had won just three of its previous 11 games the last time they met. All that being said, it’s hard to pick against a Bulls team that’s finally as healthy as it has been all year and Derrick Rose about to play in his first postseason since 2012. You gotta think he’s going to be playing with a little extra fire.
Prediction: Bulls in six
No. 4 Toronto Raptors (49-33) vs. No. 5 Washington Wizards (46-36)
Speaking of unconvincing… Does anyone believe in either of these teams? What would their records be if they were dropped in the Western Conference melting pot? Will either of them put up a fight against the likes of the Cavaliers and Hawks in the next round? Ehhhhhh. The Raptors and the Wizards are the sort of good, not great teams that highlight the talent gap between East and West. Both had stretches this season where they looked like contenders. Both are entering the postseason under less-than-auspicious circumstances. Toronto is an enigma few understand and fewer can predict. Expect the unexpected. Washington is probably the better overall team in terms of talent, but the craptastic disconnect between awful coach Randy Wittman and his players holds the Wizards back. Despite it all, they have one of the better backcourts in John Wall and Bradley Beal and one of the better big men pairings in Marcin Gortat and Nene. Be ready for the Wizards to shake off their 2013-14 Indiana-like indifference and get up for the playoffs.
Prediction: Wizards in six
On the Glass with Thomas and Tyree 
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