A helpful process for NBA Playoff Best Ball is to create a playoff bracket and go through how you expect it to play out. Not only that, but playing out some alternative versions in the matchups where you aren’t so sure on who you’d pick as a winner can open your eyes to some new combinations of players and team stacks that you’d like to build into your portfolio. But without further ado, here’s my current NBA Playoff Bracket Prediction:

Eastern Conference

My only real contrarian take for the seeding here is that the Sixers get jumped by the Pacers for the 5 seed. The rest is pretty ‘chalky’. Without Embiid and with a Pacers team looking more dangerous with Pascal Siakam, I’m going to make a bet here on the Pacers making up those 2 games they currently trail by.

Beyond the seeding, I’m personally riding with the ‘chalk’ in the East. The Celtics have been the best team in the NBA from the jump, and despite the fact that I really do like this Knicks team and think they’ll give the Celts a fight, I can’t take the Knickerbockers over them. On the bottom side of the bracket you’ll see why the Cavs are my favorite team to target in these drafts right now. They have a stranglehold on the 2 seed in the East, and yet they’re very cheap in drafts. I am assuming it’s bias from last year or the injuries they’ve been dealing with, but they’re fully healthy now and look like they’re on a collision course with the Celtics.

That being said, there is more uncertainty than it probably appears in the East. We know how dangerous the Heat are in the playoffs, assuming they get in. That’s a super scary matchup for my Cavs, and they’ve slayed the Bucks (and Celtics) in the past too. The Sixers are a team I’ve been a bit lower on than market all year, but there’s no denying the fact that if Embiid is back healthy they could easily take down a vulnerable Bucks team. And lastly, the Knicks at full strength can beat any team in the NBA in a 7 game series. The additions of OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic, and others plus the return to health of Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson are going to make them a super tough out. With the Celtics being so expensive in drafts, I wanted to note these other teams as extremely viable options to build around in our drafts because they are very, very dangerous.

Western Conference

I decided to leave the top 4 alone from a seeding perspective, but it’s most important to note that that group of 4 is pretty much locked in regardless of order. After that is where it gets interesting. I actually moved Dallas up to 6 over New Orleans. Call me a fool, but I am buying this current version of the Mavericks if we assume full health. The additions of PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford are great pickups, and when the roster gets fully healthy with guys like Dante Exum back as well, I think they’re a lot more dangerous. Lastly, I put the Lakers in as the 8 seed over the Kings and Warriors. It is a near lock that 3 of New Orleans, Dallas, Sacramento, LA Lakers and Golden State make it in, but how the play-in shakes out is very up in the air. I am loving what the Warriors are doing right now after their move to the new starting lineup with Draymond at the 5, but the Lakers also picked up Spencer Dinwiddie and have been using more of their best lineup (with Reaves and Rui) so I have an ever so slight lean to them over the Kings and Warriors in the play-in.

From an advancement perspective, I am ready to be hurt by the Clippers. We know they have disappointed in the past, and we know James Harden has been a playoff disaster for much of his career, but I firmly believe they are the 2nd best team in the NBA right now at full strength.

As I mentioned above, I have the Mavs moving up to the 6 seed, which is a disaster for them if they run into the Clippers. However, if they actually stay at the 7 and draw the Thunder in the first round, I’ll be even more bullish on them. I think Luka’s price is pretty ridiculous right now, but I like their ancillary pieces, and I’m not going to full fade Luka because of my belief in their upside at full strength combined with the vulnerability of both the T’Wolves and the Thunder.

I am also buying the full strength Suns, but a matchup with Jokic and the Nuggets in this iteration of the bracket is a disaster for them as well. However, the Suns are another team next to the Mavs who I have a lot of interest in drafting despite the fact that my bracket has them losing in the first round. Same for the Lakers to a lesser extent because a matchup with Minnesota in the first round is very appealing.