NBA Playoff Bracket 2016: Final Standings, Postseason Picture and Predictions

There isn't much time to rest between the NBA's regular season and the postseason. The playoffs start Saturday afternoon, less than three days after an epic finish to the regular season Wednesday night.

Although the 73-9 Golden State Warriors look like a heavy favorite to win it all and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers are the best choice to win their conference, there's a lot of excitement in the upcoming first-round series. The Eastern Conference matchups should be especially fun, with four 48-34 teams facing each other in two separate series.

Let's pick the outcomes of all eight series, then focus more specifically on three of the tighter ones. Before that, though, we'll review the final league standings.

	Eastern Conference
	Western Conference
Seed	Team	W	L	Pct.
1	Cleveland Cavaliers	57	25	0.695
2	Toronto Raptors	56	26	0.683
3	Miami Heat	48	34	0.585
4	Atlanta Hawks	48	34	0.585
5	Boston Celtics	48	34	0.585
6	Charlotte Hornets	48	34	0.585
7	Indiana Pacers	45	37	0.549
8	Detroit Pistons	44	38	0.537
-	Chicago Bulls	42	40	0.512
-	Washington Wizards	41	41	0.500
-	Orlando Magic	35	47	0.427
-	Milwaukee Bucks	33	49	0.402
-	New York Knicks	32	50	0.390
-	Brooklyn Nets	21	61	0.256
-	Philadelphia 76ers	10	72	0.122
Seed	Team	W	L	Pct.
1	Golden State Warriors	73	9	0.890
2	San Antonio Spurs	67	15	0.817
3	Oklahoma City Thunder	55	27	0.671
4	Los Angeles Clippers	53	29	0.646
5	Portland Trail Blazers	44	38	0.537
6	Dallas Mavericks	42	40	0.512
7	Memphis Grizzlies	42	40	0.512
8	Houston Rockets	41	41	0.500
-	Utah Jazz	40	42	0.488
-	Sacramento Kings	33	49	0.402
-	Denver Nuggets	33	49	0.402
-	New Orleans Pelicans	30	52	0.366
-	Minnesota Timberwolves	29	53	0.354
-	Phoenix Suns	23	59	0.280
-	Los Angeles Lakers	17	65	0.207

Matchup	Prediction
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 8 Detroit Pistons	Cavaliers in 5
No. 2 Toronto Raptors vs. No. 7 Indiana Pacers	Raptors in 6
No. 3 Miami Heat vs. No. 6 Charlotte Hornets	Heat in 6
No. 4 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 5 Boston Celtics	Hawks in 7
Western Conference
No. 1 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 8 Houston Rockets	Warriors in 4
No. 2 San Antonio Spurs vs. No. 7 Memphis Grizzlies	Spurs in 4
No. 3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 5 Dallas Maverics	Thunder in 5
No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 5 Portland Trail Blazers	Clippers in 6

Most Intriguing Matchups

No. 3 Miami Heat vs. No. 6 Charlotte Hornets

The battle-tested veterans of the Heat face off against the upstart, analytically-inclined Hornets in this first-round matchup. If we're looking at point differential alone to determine the likely winner, we'd have to lean toward Charlotte and its superior margin of victory (2.7 to 1.6). 

However, there's obviously a lot more to the series than that. Even with Chris Bosh's postseason status still uncertain, Miami has a bunch of depth and the deep playoff experience both on the court (Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, Joe Johnson, Amar'e Stoudemire, Udonis Haslem) and on the sidelines (head coach Erik Spoelstra) to adjust to whatever the Hornets throw at them.

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

The Heat will also play on their home court for four of the seven hypothetical games, including the first two contests. Considering their record there was 28-13 and the Hornets were 18-23 away from home this season, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Miami take the first two games at American Airlines Arena to set the tone for the series.

Another factor to consider is Nicolas Batum's ankle injury, suffered Monday. Though the Charlotte Observer's Scott Fowler reported that Batum isn't planning to miss any playoff action, the Hornets have gotten used to the versatile point forward's presence and will have a tough time winning if he's playing in a reduced capacity. They desperately need his passing to unlock their potent three-point attack.

I'm going with Miami's depth and veterans here in six games.

No. 4 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 5 Boston Celtics

The Hawks and Celtics are a somewhat similar matchup to the Heat and Hornets, with the Hawks playing the role of the Heat and the Celtics' counterpart being the Hornets. Atlanta boasts more experience, both in playoff games and overall, but Boston has a bunch of great young players.

One difference here, though, is with the depth—the Celtics have a wealth of difference-making role players in their rotation, while the Hawks have a few, but not as many.

Laurence Kesterson/Associated Press

Will this matter? Yes, but it may fall just short of making the difference in the series. Atlanta's Paul Millsap and Al Horford are an awesome duo that will be tough for all of the Celtics' big men to account for on both ends of the floor, and if one of either Jeff Teague or Dennis Schroder is playing well, the Hawks should be in great shape. The head coaching matchup doesn't tilt one way or the other since Atlanta's Mike Budenholzer and Boston's Brad Stevens are both studs.

There's also home-court advantage to consider here, which may be a bigger factor than you realize for two evenly-matched teams. Atlanta should take this series with a tight home win in Game 7.

No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 5 Portland Trail Blazers

Steve Dykes/Associated Press

Are you noticing a theme here? Once again, we have a matchup between a playoff regular and a young team that overachieved this season. Sure, the Trail Blazers have made the postseason for three consecutive years now, but the previous two teams looked totally different than this year's squad.

Los Angeles' 53-29 record this season was mediocre, according its standards, but it actually looks pretty impressive considering perennial All-Star forward Blake Griffin missed more than half of the year with two separate injuries.

The team found a nice groove without Griffin, going 31-16 with Chris Paul as the ball-dominant point guard and J.J. Redick and DeAndre Jordan thriving in their specified roles. The Clippers are 5-0 with Griffin since his return, but none of their opponents have been as good as the Trail Blazers, and the power forward has only averaged 10.4 points in 24.6 minutes per game on 40 percent shooting.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

We can expect a bit more of a transition to happen in the first round of the playoffs, with Griffin finding his place in the offense again. And that's where Portland can take advantage.

The Trail Blazers have athletic big men, such as Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis and Meyers Leonard, to push Griffin to his limits as he adjusts to playing in meaningful action. And there's obviously the backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, who can both win games single-handedly if they get hot from the outside.

Paul is the best player in this series, though, and he'll make sure Portland doesn't come away with four wins even if Los Angeles doesn't start the series playing well. The Clippers will take this one in six games.