Community reacts to recent NBA playoff results

The Warriors began setting up for the MVP ceremony honoring Stephen Curry before their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on May 5. They lost the game 97-90, resulting in a 1-1 score for the best-of-seven series.

Trisha Dwivedi

The Warriors began setting up for the MVP ceremony honoring Stephen Curry before their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on May 5. They lost the game 97-90, resulting in a 1-1 score for the best-of-seven series.

With the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs in the books, the conference semifinal round of the tournament has begun, leading Upper School students and faculty to alter or support their predictions.

In the first round, the Golden State Warriors swept the New Orleans Pelicans, winning the series 4-0. In their Western Conference semifinal series, the Warriors look ahead to winning the next three games in a best-of-seven against the Memphis Grizzlies after winning 101-86 in Game 1 of the second round.

With the Warriors setting a franchise record of 67 wins during the regular season, all 14 NBA analysts polled by Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) believe that Golden State will defeat Memphis in the second round.

During the first round of play, basketball player Darius Yohannan (11) constructed a playoffs bracket in which he predicted a NBA Finals matchup between the Warriors and the Chicago Bulls.

“We said that the Warriors are going to win it all,” Darius said. “You know, Golden State they’re doing [great].”

Winning four games straight against a playoff team is not normal for the Warriors. Their last playoff sweep occurred 40 years ago against the Washington Bullets in the Finals. Sweeping the Pelicans serves as a sliver of hope for Warriors fans, who believe that their team will win the championship this year.

“The way that they have played all year, I feel that they are up to the task of advancing to the Finals with their talented and deep squad and dominant defense,” Shreyas Chandrashekaran (9) said.

The other Western Conference semifinal features the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets. The Clippers scraped by the reigning NBA Champions, the San Antonio Spurs, on May 2 after a tight seven-game series that was won on a last-second shot by point guard Chris Paul. The team is favored to defeat Houston in five games, according to the ESPN poll.

According to Mathematics teacher and avid Spurs fan Bradley Stoll, the Clippers-Spurs series was the most exciting series in this year’s playoffs.

“[That was] certainly the best series,“ Stoll said, remarking on the numerous Spurs-Clippers games that were decided in the fourth quarter. “It’s just a shame that they had to meet [so] early.”

In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards will face off against the Atlanta Hawks, who had the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta, the number one seed, recently eliminated the eighth-placed Brooklyn Nets in a contested six-game series.

The fourth semifinal matchup features the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls. Both teams are facing off after solid first round victories. However, polls predict that this matchup will be the most closely contested, with ESPN analysts divided over which team will win.

Now that the Clippers eliminated the Spurs, Warriors fans, such as Mathematics teacher Troy Thiele, are more optimistic about entering the next round.

“Their chances got a lot better when the Clippers beat the Spurs because the Spurs have been a nemesis for the Warriors for years.” Thiele said. “After seeing [the Warriors’] results [from Game 1 of the semifinals], people have to think they’re the odds-on favorite to beat the Grizzlies in the second round.”

Only time will determine which teams will successfully break through the second round to compete for the conference crown.