NBA Playoffs 2017: Updated Bracket Results, Odds and Championship Predictions
The semifinal round of the NBA playoffs is rolling right along. Only eight teams remain in the chase for a championship and four of them—the Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors—were in action on Thursday.
The Wizards and Warriors came out on top.
Now that each series has gone at least two games, we're getting a better feel for how they might shake out. This means we're at a perfect point to start making predictions—which we're going to do here. We'll run down the status of each series and predict the outcomes. We'll also make predictions for the conference finals and the NBA Finals.
In addition, we'll look at the latest championship odds, courtesy of our friends at OddsShark.com and examine the latest playoff-related storylines.
Semifinal Round Standings and Predictions
| Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors | CLE 2-0 | CLE 4-1 |
| Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards | BOS 2-1 | BOS 4-2 |
| Golden State Warriors vs. Utah Jazz | GS 2-0 | GS 4-0 |
| Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs | Tied 1-1 | SA 4-3 |
Playoff Predictions
Conference Finals
Cavaliers over Celtics 4-2
Warriors over Spurs 4-2
Finals
Cavaliers over Warriors 4-3
Championship Odds
| Golden State Warriors | 1-2 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 2-5 |
| Boston Celtics | 12-1 |
| Houston Rockets | 14-1 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 14-1 |
| Washington Wizards | 150-1 |
| Toronto Raptors | 200-1 |
| Utah Jazz | 200-1 |
Friday's Odds
| Cleveland at Toronto | CLE -4.5 |
| San Antonio at Houston | HOU -5 |
Latest Buzz
Parker Out for the Postseason
The San Antonio Spurs managed to change the narrative in their series with the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. After being embarrassed in Game 1, the Spurs did the embarrassing in Game 2, posting a decisive 121-96 beatdown.
Unfortunately, the narrative of the series also changed on Wednesday for a negative reason. Standout Tony Parker suffered a leg injury during the game. According to ESPN's Rachel Nichols, that injury turned out to be a ruptured quadriceps tendon:
Parker is expected to undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the postseason. San Antonio, meanwhile, will have to figure out a different game plan moving forward.
Guard Manu Ginobili said the following of the situation, per KENS 5 San Antonio:
"We will have to regroup, reorganize the game plan, the starting five, and the rotations. We'll try to step up, but it is hard to lose a player like Tony. At first I thought it was just a Charley horse. It looked like he got hit in the quad, but he couldn't even put weight on it to come back to the locker room. That is when we got worried.
"
With Parker out, we're likely to see more of Patty Mills and rookie Dejounte Murray at point guard.
Wizards Battle Back
After the first two games of the series, one might be inclined to think the Boston Celtics were meant to cakewalk their way past the Washington Wizards and into the Eastern Conference Finals. However, the Wizards managed to change that perception with a 116-89 blowout win on Thursday.
Washington made their latest win look relatively easy by winning the second-team battle. The Wizards' poor bench performance—along with some lights-out play from Isaiah Thomas—had things looking easy for the Celtics in the two games prior.
"That's all Washington needs, really," Andrew Lynch of FoxSports.com explained. "If their bench can play the Celtics bench to a stalemate, the Wizards can come back to win this series. Hell, they might not lose another game against Boston."
It seems unlikely that the Wizards will sweep Boston the rest of the way, but they have shown they definitely have the talent to dominate.
Thursday's win was significant because it gave new life to Washington and because it once again looked like the Celtics didn't deserve to hold the No. 1 seed in the conference. With another home game on Sunday, Washington will have a good chance of pulling even.
Raptors Looking For Their Own Rebound
The Wizards managed to breathe new life into their series on Thursday. The Toronto Raptors will be looking to do the same with their series against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.
Toronto has fallen behind 0-2 and has done so in ugly fashion. Cleveland's last win was a 125-103 laugher. At times during that game, it often felt like Toronto belonged in a different league. However, the Raptors were in this same position a year ago and managed to win Games 3 and 4 at home by a combined 31 points.
They'll obviously be looking for a bit of repeat history.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey explained the situation, per Lori Ewing of the Canadian Press:
"You've got to make sure that you understand what the moment is, what we need to do defensively and offensively and it's concerning only about the 15 people in the room. We're coming home, let's take care of home. We've been in this situation before. We've got to go out and physically and mentally do it.
"
If Toronto can do what the Wizards have already done, their own series will become a lot more interesting. If they fail, the Cavaliers will go up 3-0 and will be in position to make another short series on their way to the conference finals.
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