NBA Playoffs: Bucks vs. Pistons - Western Conference Showdown

What's going on y'all it's Drew, we're back with another NBA video and oh my god the Western

Conference is really starting to freak me out a little bit. This last week of the season is actually going to be crazy and there are some storylines

I want to talk about, some matchups I want to talk about, some seeding stuff that I'm

trying to talk about. So let's just get into this one. If you guys like this video, make sure to like and subscribe

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Let's just get into this one, man. All right, so we're going to..

I know this... I wanted to make a video about the Western Conference. We're going to breeze through some things in the East first

because there is some little seeding stuff in there that's vaguely interesting

Just some little nuggets. mainly Milwaukee and Detroit battling for this 5-6 matchup

They've got a baseball series to end the year. They play each other back-to-back. I believe games 81 and 82, actually

I think that'll pretty much decide who gets those seeds. If Milwaukee can get the 5 seed

then they stay at a Boston side of the bracket in the second round, which would be kind of nice if they want to save face and convince themselves

that they can actually, you know, make a run without any dame and without any depth

I wouldn't pick either of these teams to beat Indiana in the first round, so I don't really

think it matters, but I do think that both those teams are going to be trying for that

because I think Boston's definitely a little bit more threatening at this point than Cleveland. Other than that, I guess the Knicks could also try to do the same thing, maybe tank to get the

four seed. It seems pretty unlikely that that would happen, but it is a possibility. Jalen Brunson

does need to hit a 65 game limit, so they will probably have to bring him back somewhere in that

span, so that's probably not likely. Other than that, though, like, pretty much the rest of the

East is wrapped. I mean, the Sixers managed to tank their way, like, to guaranteed top five odds

in the lottery. Pretty much all the teams at the bottom of the plane, like, they're all equally bad

so I don't really think it's worth covering any of them. So let's just talk about the Western Conference. So the first thing that really jumps off the paper when you look at the West right now

and for the record, I'm recording this on April the 8th, the Tuesday, so tonight there are going

to be some games that probably change this, but right now there is a four-team tie between

four and eight in the Western Conference, or is it five and eight

Five and eight, excuse me. Denver is a half-game lead on all these teams. But the Clippers, the Warriors, the Timberwolves, and the Grizzlies all have 46 wins and 32

losses, so they're like neck and neck. They're really trying to get out of the basement of this conference, of this playoff bracket

but honestly I think the one thing that I like about the West is I think seeds 2 through 8 could

all very easily make the Western Conference Finals. I think all these teams are pretty evenly matched

I think it's very matchup based and I think coaching is going to be a big swing factor for

all these teams. Most of these teams are fortunately very well coached other than Memphis who

I don know I don think anyone knows I guess before we start talking about these playoff teams and their schedule coming up We can just quickly talk about the rest of the teams who are still in playoff contention

like teams 9 through 11. Starting at 11, the Phoenix Suns! And at number 10, the Dallas Mavericks

They actually got Derek Lively back this week, which is really cool

I didn't think that was going to happen. I think he like broke his foot and he's still like he's back in like three months

Just absolutely crazy. I don't really know why they're bringing him back because they're just going to be cannon fodder for OKC

If they manage to fluke a win against Sacramento and Memphis back to back

Spoiler alert, I do think Memphis is going to stay in the play-in. Then Sacramento at nine

Again, just a cannon fodder team for OKC in the absolute best case scenario

Wouldn't pick either of those teams to make it far in the play-in though. Like as in to get two wins

then the current eighth seed is the memphis grizzlies they're gonna have their work cut

out for them if they want to get out of the plan they've got the nuggets and the timberwolves left

on their schedule the timberwolves are currently the seventh seed i believe that matchup is going

to be an absolute war because those teams are kind of fighting for the same seeding right now

memphis has the tiebreaker over minnesota and denver already so if they can get that if they

can get ahead of them in the standings if they can beat the wolves then they're probably going

to stay out of that eighth seed, which is going to be really, really valuable. Because again, avoiding OKC is everything in the Western Conference, because I don't think any of these

teams can beat OKC, barring like disaster. But yeah, they're going to have their work cut out for

them. Assuming the Nuggets can get Jamal Murray back, they're a tough team. The Wolves are a tough

team. They have a game against the Mavericks, who are going to be scrappy. They're going to be

fighting. They've got Derek Lively back. And then they do have a free win against the Hornets. So I

think most likely for the Memphis Grizzlies, they're probably going to end up two and two

splitting this. If they get that Nuggets win, if they get that Wolves win, that's huge. They could

go three and one. They could maybe go four and oh, but I think most likely they're going to stay in

the plan and stay at the eighth seed. And at the seven, you've got the Minnesota Timberwolves

Obviously they've got that game against Memphis. Then they've got two free wins in my opinion

Brooklyn and Utah. That's, that's really, really helpful at this point in the season. They're

pretty much the only team left in the West that has multiple just completely free garbage trash

teams on their schedule. They've also got Milwaukee left, which is going to be a tough out, although

no Dame, you know, that's also kind of volatile. And so I think Minnesota is in a pretty damn good

spot to wrap up the season. They could go three and one. They could very easily go four and oh

if they get that Memphis win much more easily than I think Memphis could. I think Minnesota

is in a really, really good spot. I'll talk about where I think they're going to land in the

standings later. Then you've got Golden State, who I believe is the sixth seed right now. Yes

Golden State is the sixth seed. I think they have the tiebreaker over Memphis and Minnesota

which is really nice. They are also, in my opinion, just straight up better than those teams

Obviously, they've been a juggernaut since they got Jimmy Butler. And so they've got the Clippers

left on their schedule. That's a tough matchup. But Blazers, Spurs, Suns, I think they could very

easily beat all of those teams. I've got Golden State going three and one down the stretch and

getting to 49 wins which is better than Memphis probably and maybe better than Minnesota though it doesn matter since they got the tiebreaker over them So I do think Golden State is going to place ahead of both of those teams Then your current five seed is the LA Clippers The Clippers have a tiebreaker over Golden State and Memphis

I guess it's kind of weird because they're not ahead of Minnesota in the standings, even though

they have the same record as them. I'm not really sure how it's going to shake out with the Clippers

They're going to have their work cut out for them. They've got Houston and Golden State down the

stretch here, and Sacramento, which is not a free win either. I do think the Clippers are going to

have their work cut out for them if they want to get that fifth seed, if they want to try and fight

for home court. I really think the only team out of all these guys that has a shot at home court

is Golden State. Denver only has three games left on their schedule to make up ground. Yeah, Denver

has the tiebreaker over Golden State, so Golden State really has to get, like, they actually have

to just vault Denver in the standing straight up, but I do think they have the best chance to get

home court outside of the Nuggets. Then if we actually look at the Nuggets schedule coming up

they've got the Rockets and the Grizzlies, neither of those are free wins, and then Sacramento

they've only got three games left on their schedule, but I think they've got a chance to go two and one, or they can go oh and three and end up in the play-in, I'm pretty sure that's the

worst case scenario for them, I think the lowest they can place is like seven, which is obviously

terrifying if you're a Nuggets fan, but like, this West is so packed that if Jamal Murray is like

not healthy right now, like, the Nuggets are kind of cooked, like, they're actually kind of ed

if they can't get some help, they can't get some momentum. And honestly, the rest of these teams have a lot of momentum

You know, the Clippers have been ramping up Kawhi for the last couple weeks. He's been fantastic lately

He just won Western Conference Player of the Week. Golden State's been a juggernaut lately

Minnesota has been amazing lately. Memphis has been, you know, whatever, but I wouldn't put as much on them

I wouldn't put as much stock in them as I would these other teams. But yeah, Denver's going to have a really tricky time, I think

sort of contending with the rest of these teams and getting to that, you know, 2-1 record to sort of ensure them home court in the first round

Then if you look at these upper seeds, the Lakers, I believe, they've got a pretty decent schedule left

Mavericks and Blazers, that should be two wins. That Mavericks game is going to be crazy

It's got Luka Doncic coming back to Dallas, and it actually has playoff implications

Just a wild turn of events for both of those teams. Then OKC, that's probably going to be a loss

They did just beat the brakes off of them, but I think OKC should rebound with a win

And then they've got a very, very important matchup with Houston to maybe decide that

two seed. But honestly, I think the Lakers are probably just going to stay where they are most likely

And the Rockets are probably going to stay where they are as well. After some deliberation, I sort of came up with my own interpretation of what I think

the playoffs standings are going to be in the West. So at number one, I got OKC because, I mean, that's obvious

Then at two, I'm going to keep Houston where they are. They've got high upset odds in the first round

but I think they can very easily beat any of these teams as well. They're not to be ed with, and their defense is really, really gritty

and this team is going to be a very annoying team to play in the first round

no matter who you are. Then I'm going to have the Lakers stay at the three spot

They can conditionally get to that two, and they've got some really interesting matchup stuff

They got a lot of size on their wings which I think they can use to sort of bother a lot of these teams that think they can punish them inside I don really think the Lakers are going to have much of a size issue against most of these teams except maybe the Nuggets who actually do have a dominant center A lot of these teams

honestly like to run a bit smaller so I think the Lakers are actually in a pretty damn good spot

if they keep running this insane small ball group. Then I'm going to have the Nuggets and the Warriors

at four and five respectively. That's just going to be an absolute war of a first round series. I

would love to see that. Obviously, we need Jamal Murray to actually be healthy for that series to

you know, really have a lot of juice, but, you know, Jokic is an aircraft carrier. Like, he's

literally just bench pressing this team every night at this point, so I'm going to be very

interested to see if that series happens. I would love to see that one in the first round. Then

Minnesota, I think, is going to get out of the plane and get stuck at six. I think they've got

a really fun matchup against the Lakers in the first round. You've got Anthony Edwards versus

LeBron. Last year, you had Ant versus KD. It's just like new generation versus old generation

every single time with Anthony Edwards, I guess. Really, really fun stuff there. I think the

Timberwolves have a very high chance to upset the Lakers as well. They've got some good matchups

for Luka. They've got a lot of size that they can throw at them. They've got, obviously, probably

the second best player in the series and a lot of depth, a good enough amount of depth, at least

Nikhil Alexander-Walker's really come into his own, so that's going to be super interesting

Then I've got the Clippers at 7, the Grizzlies at 8, and the Mavs at 9 to round things out

The Clippers, I think, could very easily get to like as high as 4. Their defense is fantastic

Zubats is going to be a very interesting candidate for DPOY this year

and they've got a bunch of other good defensive, you know, scrappy veterans. You know, these guys have all been in the playoffs before

so I think out of all these teams, they're probably one of the most experienced, so I think they could give a team like Houston a lot of problems actually. Then Memphis at the 8

I mean they've just got injuries, they have a new coach, they have really no momentum

although I think they've won their last two games, so if they can rally off like three

if they can win their next four games, like I don't really see a reason why Memphis can't contend

with the rest of these teams, but they need to stay healthy and they need to like actually get

that momentum or they're kind of dead in water. The Mavericks at 9 doesn't really matter, the Kings

at 10 doesn't really matter either. So that's how I think the Western Conference is going to shake out

It is a crazy conference, insanely competitive. The parity between these teams is absolutely wild

Unfortunately, I think OKC is just better than all of them, though. So I think they're going to end up in the finals pretty much no matter what

But that's my take. And if you guys like this video, make sure to like and subscribe

We're trying to get 1,000 subscribers at some point. I'm going to try and post more once I'm done with exams

And let me know what content you guys want to see. during the playoffs during the offseason i'm gonna make some awards videos soon we're gonna

do a bunch of we're gonna do a bunch of fun shit over here so if you guys enjoy the content stick

along for the ride and i will catch you guys in the next one cue that music