NBA Playoff Bracket 2019: Full Review of Postseason Picture, Matchups and Odds
Four games each on Saturday and Sunday kick off the 2019 NBA playoffs.
The opening contest each day features teams from the Eastern Conference dealing with injuries that could hamper their respective playoff runs.
The eight-game weekend slate is expected to feature plenty of intriguing individual matchups, including Damian Lillard going head-to-head with Russell Westbrook.
Seven of the eight higher seeds are favored to pick up first-round victories, while the Oklahoma City Thunder are the only side seeded fifth or worse to have favorable odds at the start of the opening round.
1st-Round Odds
Playoff Matchups
Eastern Conference
No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 8 Detroit
No. 2 Toronto vs. No. 7 Orlando
No. 3 Philadelphia vs. No. 6 Brooklyn
No. 4 Boston vs. No. 5 Indiana
Most of the intrigue in the Eastern Conference comes from the matchups involving Boston and Philadelphia.
The Celtics enter their first-round series with Indiana without Marcus Smart, who could miss the first two rounds with a torn oblique, per ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Losing Smart won't doom the playoff chances of the Celtics, but it does make the task of beating Indiana a bit harder.
Smart is one of the top defensive agitators in the NBA, and the Celtics lose an edge on defense with him out of the first-round series.
According to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston, Jaylen Brown appears to be Smart's replacement in the starting lineup over Gordon Hayward based on practice observations.
Being able to turn to Brown or Hayward as a fifth starter speaks to how much depth the Celtics have built up over the last few years.
As long as head coach Brad Stevens is able to put the right combination of players out on the floor, the Celtics have a good chance of advancing into the second round.
There is more concern over an injury down in Philadelphia, where Joel Embiid's status for Saturday's Game 1 against Brooklyn is up in the air.
According to ESPN's Cassidy Hubbarth, Embiid told reporters Friday that he doesn't know if he will play because of pain in his knee.
Playing without Embiid against a Brooklyn team playing with no fear could be a dangerous proposition for the Sixers, even if Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler rise to the occasion by taking over some of Embiid's scoring production.
Philadelphia was 2-3 in the last five games Embiid missed in the regular season, and since the All-Star break, it is 7-7 without the services of the big man.
The Sixers should be able to deal with Brooklyn for the first two games at home, but every contest without Embiid will cast more doubt on a potential run to the NBA Finals.
As for the other two series, Milwaukee and Toronto are expected to handle a pair of sides that struggled just to get into the postseason.
It would be seen as a huge shock if the Bucks and Raptors were pushed past five games in their respective series.
Western Conference
No. 1 Golden State vs. No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers
No. 2 Denver vs. No. 7 San Antonio
No. 3 Portland vs. No. 6 Oklahoma City
No. 4 Houston vs. No. 5 Utah
On paper, the collection of first-round series in the Western Conference is much more appealing than the quartet of matchups in the East.
Even Golden State's first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers carries some intrigue because the Clippers possess the right group of players that could get under the skin of the Warriors' stars.
The Clippers aren't expected to surprise the Warriors by beating them on a few occasions, but at the least, Patrick Beverley and Co. will make it difficult for Golden State to pull away in every game.
Denver appears to be in good shape as the No. 2 seed, but counting out Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs this time of year seems silly.
San Antonio split the four-game regular-season series with the Nuggets, which included a one-point Spurs victory on March 4.
But the real intrigue lies in the other two matchups, with Portland and Oklahoma City likely taking center stage.
Portland is hoping to avoid a second straight playoff humiliation after it was swept by New Orleans as the No. 3 seed in 2018.
But the prospects are not promising for the Blazers since they lost all four regular-season meetings with Oklahoma City.
If anything, the games between the Blazers and Thunder will be packed with offensive fireworks, as at least 109 points were scored by both sides in each of their regular-season meetings.
With Lillard and Westbrook going back and forth, that series could produce the most excitement, but if Paul George provides a scoring complement to Westbrook, the Thunder could move on.
The series between Houston and Utah hasn't been talked about as much because most of the conversation regarding the Rockets has centered around a potential second-round clash against the Warriors.
As we saw a year ago in the West No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup, the Jazz won't play with any fear as the No. 5 seed, and if the Rockets aren't solely focused on Utah, the Jazz could move on to the second round for the second straight season.
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