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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there were no upsets in the 1st round of the NBA playoff. All four top seeds in each conference advanced into the 2nd round, but now it’s possible that will see some of the teams that ended up seeded higher win a series.

In the Eastern conference the Miami Heat won Game 1 of their series against the Philadelphia 76ers 106-92. Now the 76ers are playing at least the first two games of this series without their best player Joel Embiid who is out with a right facial fracture and concussion. Embiid is said to be “feeling better”, but his status is still unclear for tonight’s Game 2.

In the other Eastern conference series, the Milwaukee Bucks took Game 1 101-89 over the Boston Celtics, but the Celtics bounced back and won Game 2 109-86. It seems odd that both of these games ended up being blow outs since both teams are known to be solid defensive teams. Now this series doesn’t resume until Saturday when the Bucks host Game 3.

In the Western conference the #1 seeded Phoenix Suns got their best player Devin Booker back for Game 1 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks. With Booker back the Suns were able to win Game 1 121-114. In their loss Mavericks star player Luka Doncic scored 4 points in his teams’ loss. Phoenix hosts Game 2 of this series tonight.

In the other Western conference series, the Golden State Warriors got a win in Game 1 over the Memphis Grizzlies 117-116. The Grizzlies had a chance to win Game 1, but Ja Morant’s last second drive to the hoop came up short. Memphis however was able to bounce back and even the series at one game apiece with a 106-101 win in Game 2. The series moves to Chase Center as Golden State will host Games 3 & 4 Saturday and Monday.

Both the Bucks and the Warriors are the higher seeded teams in their series and while it wouldn’t be much of an upset if they did win those series, it would still be a higher seeded team beating a team that had a better record than them in the regular season. Milwaukee is the defending champion and Golden State has been a trendy pick to win this round and advance to the conference finals. Both the Bucks and the Warriors were able to win a game on the road and now hold home court advantage for the remainder of their series. I don’t think it would be a huge surprise to see ether Milwaukee or Golden State advance, but it would be #3 seed beating a #2 seed.

Let’s say that the Bucks and the Warriors win their series and move on, what would that mean for the Grizzlies and the Celtics?

I think for Memphis a loss to a team like Golden State that still has a solid core from their teams that has wo an NBA title would be looked at as a learning experience for a young team, but what about Boston? The Celtics have been looked at as one of the better teams in the Eastern conference for a few years now but have never been able to get through the conference and make it to the NBA finals. It would sadly be another failed season for the Celtics.

So, give me your picks for these series. In the Eastern conference, do you like Miami or Philadelphia? Do you like Boston or Milwaukee? In the Western conference do you like Phoenix or Dallas? Do you like Memphis or Golden State?

The NBA handed out it’s 6th Man of the Year award. Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat is this year’s winner. Herro received 96 1st places votes, 2 2nd place and 2 3rd place votes. Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers finished 2nd in the voting while Cam Johnson of the Phoenix Suns came in 3rd. Herro, Love and Johnson where the only players to receive 1st place votes while 10 other players did receive votes for the award.

Herro played in 66 games this season and averaged 20.7 points per game. Herro shot 44.7% from the field and 39.9% from behind the 3-point line. Herro also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game for Miami.

Now to be honest I don’t follow the NBA close enough t know if Herro was a good choice for this award, but his numbers do seem to back up the selection. Let me know if you think there was someone else who should’ve won this award.