Lakers, Clippers, 76ers Highlight Winners in 1st Round of 2K's NBA Playoff Sim

With the 2019-20 NBA season suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, 2K stepped in to sim the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs on NBA 2K20 through an initiative it is calling #2KSim.

Most of the top teams advanced to the second round, including the top seeds in each conference. The No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers swept the Memphis Grizzlies out West, while the Milwaukee Bucks survived a tough test from the No. 8 Brooklyn Nets to win the series 4-2 in the East.

To round out the Western Conference, the No. 5 Houston Rockets beat the No. 4 Oklahoma City Thunder 4-3, the No. 6 Dallas Mavericks took out the No. 3 Denver Nuggets 4-3 and the No. 2 Los Angeles Clippers beat the No. 7 Utah Jazz 4-1.

In the East, No. 4 Philadelphia 76ers eliminated the No. 5 Miami Heat in seven games, the No. 3 Toronto Raptors swept the No. 6 Indiana Pacers and the No. 2 Boston Celtics swept the No. 7 Orlando Magic.

The seedings are largely reflective of where teams stood when the regular season was suspended, although they changed in some instances since 2K simmed the rest of the regular season in addition to the first round of the playoffs.

By virtue of the first-round results, the second-round matchups are as follows:

• Western Conference: (1) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (5) Houston Rockets
• Western Conference: (2) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (6) Dallas Mavericks
• Eastern Conference: (1) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (4) Philadelphia 76ers
• Eastern Conference (2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Toronto Raptors

The rival Lakers and Clippers are still on a collision course for the Western Conference Finals, which is what many expected when the real 2019-20 season began. Also, a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals between the Bucks and Raptors could come to pass in the sim.

With no real NBA games to watch for the foreseeable future, 2K announced that it will continue simming over the next three weeks with second-round results dropping May 1, conference finals results on May 8 and NBA Finals results on May 15.