Playoff picture - East

All we have heard all season (from me especially) is how much better, deeper and stronger the western conference is compared to the east, which it is...But the east has produced some very entertaining basketball in the first round.

As expected the Cavs didn't have to much trouble with the Celtics...though the series wasn't without controversy! Below is the video of Kelly "doesn't ever want to feel like he did that day, take him to the place he loves, take him all the way" Olynyk (sorry I stole that from here and thought it was hilarious, plus I love the Chili Peppers!!) and Kevin Love getting tangled up! A play which resulted in Olynyk being suspended one game and Love being ruled out of the conference semis...

What are your thoughts? Deliberate? or occupational hazard? ...For what its worth, Love is convinced he did it on purpose and described the play as "bush league"

JR Smith has also been suspended for two games for striking the Celtics Jae Crowder in the face. 

So in the conference semis they will be down Love and Smith for two games...They will most likely be facing Chicago in the semis. Could present a great opportunity for them to steal a game or two in Cleveland...They still have LeBron though so they will still be pretty good, but losing two starters hurts whether LeBron is on your team or isn't!

The Wizards also swept the Raptors 4 - 0...I didn't actually see any of the games but looking at stats and a few sportscenter highlights John Wall and Marcin Gortat were very influential and Paul Pierce hit some clutch threes in fourth quarters...Plus this is pretty funny

(I've recently jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon, so I actually understand this lol)

The last two series are were it gets interesting! The number one seeded Atlanta Hawks are locked up 2 - 2 with the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls have 3 -2 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks!

I guess in the Atlanta v Nets series both teams did what they are 'supposed' to do and defended home court...But in a 1 v 8 series most would have expected a sweep or Atlanta to get one win in Brooklyn. Deron Williams had probably his best game of the season today in game 4, Brook Lopez also continued the great form he has been in lately with 26 and 10 for the Nets

But the Chicago v Milwaukee series has been my favourite so far...The Bulls started the series 3 - 0 and it looked like a sweep was on the cards. But the Bucks executed to perfection on an out of bounds play in the dying seconds of game four to win on the buzzer with a Jerryd Bayless lay up and upset the Bulls on the road in todays game...The Bucks don't get a lot of games shown on TV down here and it was the first game I had seen them play this season! I gotta say they were very impressive! A very young and athletic team with great size and length across all positions...They were aggressive, fearless and very active. They created what seemed like a million turnovers, routinely getting in the passing/driving lanes for deflections and steals...I think the Bulls will ultimately win the series but I think it will go the full seven games. Definitely a team to keep an eye on over the next few years.

AP