7.      The NBA is my favorite league. I have grown up a huge Jazz fan and I always look forward to the season. As previously written, I was very impressed with how well the Jazz played this year and how many improvements they've made. Rude Gobert is the anchor of that defense that will soon be a top 5 defense. As soon as next season, the Jazz will be contending in the already stacked western conference and I believe they will be a very good team and even win a playoff series.
      With that in mind, lets break down the current NBA playoffs. The Warriors and Hawks enter the western and eastern conference playoffs as the first seeds. The warriors in the west and hawks in the east. As per usual, the spurs and mavericks are in contention in the west and the Lebron James led Cavaliers along with the Chicago Bulls are favorites in the east. Many 'experts' are picking a Warriors vs. Cavs matchup in the finals. However, I do not think that will be the case. The warriors are a team built on three point shooting, led by probably MVP Stephen Curry. While the Curry led Warriors have had a fantastic franchise best regular season, their run will end. As good as they are at shooting the three and defending, a team built on three point shooting can rarely keep it up for an entire season and post season. I predict that the San Antonio Spurs will beat them in the west and reach the finals yet again. In defense of their title, the Spurs have been excellent. To end the season, they looked very dominant and they looked to be in typical form: focusing on ball movement, and constant motion offensively.
     In the east, I do predict that LeBron will lead the Cavaliers back to the finals and I think they will win.
    There are many good teams in the playoffs, but there are a few pretenders. The Clippers in the west are very exciting and produce good basketball. However, they are not build to win and they will lose to the spurs in the first round. They shoot terribly from the free throw line, and play poor defense. These two factors will prove to be catastrophic. They can't close out games, despite being led by a great point guard in Chris Paul. Blake Griffin is not only one of my least favorite players in the league, but he also lacks the clutch gene that many superstars posses. He is one of - if not the most - over rated players in the league. In the East, its much harder to put a label of pretender on because there are so many less talented teams. Teams who barely make it into the eastern conference playoffs wouldn't stand a chance against the western teams.
     I am very excited about this NBA post season and am very excited to see how things pan out.