These are the current rankings of the remaining teams in the NBA playoffs:
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City cruised through in their first-round series against Memphis. Ja Morant’s injury did Memphis no favors, but the Thunder dominated every aspect of the game. They have trailed in this series to the Nuggets, but have found a way to even it up twice already and will look to take a 3-2 series lead in game five at home.
2. Indiana Pacers
Indiana has been a top-ranked playoff team in FG%, FT%, and assists. They won game 5 in OT over the Bucks to win their series 4-1. The Pacers shockingly won the first 2 games of their series against the Cavs in Cleveland. They lost game three at home but won by 20 points in game four to take a 3-1 series lead.
3. Boston Celtics
The Celtics losses in their series vs. the Knicks are pretty shocking. They had huge leads in both games one and two and realistically could be up in their series 3-0 right now, but instead, trail it 2-1. They will look to even the series up tonight after a 22-point win Saturday.
4. New York Knicks
New York played close games throughout their first-round matchup against Detroit. The Knicks’ defense has been a mainstay throughout the regular season and has carried over into the playoffs. They won in comeback fashion in game one against the Celtics in Boston, and then did it again in game two.The Celtics beat the Knicks by 22 points in game 3 though and for most of the series have been better than the Knicks despite being down 2-1.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves
The T-Wolves were able to beat LA in 5 games and advance to the second round. They lost game one to the Warriors 99-88, but have won the past 2 games to take a 2-1 series lead.
6. Denver Nuggets
Last Monday, they opened up their round 2 series against the Thunder, the best team in the NBA all season long, and were able to come away with a 121-119 win. Unfortunately for them, the Thunder were far too much for them to handle in game two. The two teams split the games in Denver, and now it has become a best-of-three series with OKC having home-court advantage.
7. Golden State Warriors
Golden State led their series over the Rockets 3-1, but let the Rockets win games 5 and 6 to force a decisive game 7 in Houston. They were able to win it on the road and advance to round 2. They used that momentum to win game one on the road in Minnesota, but were beaten by 24 points in game 2 and lost by 5 points in game 3 to fall down 2-1 in the series.
8. Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland dominated their first-round series with the 2nd-best point differential at +15. Over their series, they won by an average of 20+ PPG. This series hasn’t been the same. The Pacers have dominated them and they head home for game five down 3-1 in the series.
