Round 2 of the 2022 NBA Playoffs is now underway. With that, we are one step closer to finding out which team will be ultimately crowned the champions of the world this season.
While we will find that out in the coming weeks, experts have already started to lay out their predictions for the semifinals in both the East and West conferences. The thing about predictions is that there is no way for the experts to make everyone happy.
Moreover, the predictions that we are talking about in this article are made by ESPN NBA experts. Surprisingly, in each series, they have picked one team to be heavy favorites in both conferences.
As per the predictions, the experts have the second round as follows: Warriors vs. Grizzlies 20-0, Suns vs. Mavericks 20-0, Heat vs. Sixers 19-0, Celtics vs. Bucks 14-6.
Upon seeing a post on Reddit about these predictions, NBA fans couldn’t hold their honest thoughts about it. Here is how fans reacted to these predictions.
MikalBridgesFan: “1 guy didn’t feel like picking a winner for the heat/76ers series.”
isaacleeh16: “6 votes for the bucks? It’s written in the stars. Bucks in 6.”
pinkhoesarecool: “No mavs votes is surprising, also the bucks only getting 6 is insane.”
YouStillTakeDamage: “I do wonder how the predictions would look if not for Embiid getting injured.”
fsuheater: “I suspect Embiid is back in a mask by game 3 or 4, at the latest.”
msgs: “A somewhat surprisingly high amount of consensus. I think both West series are going to be very tight. Especially Warriors-Grizzlies. Obviously injuries effecting both East series with Middleton and Embiid out.”
delightfuldinosaurs: “Bucks being severely underrated.”
AncientWvyernShield: “The bucks series is an absolute trap. I don’t care how hot we are. They are defending champs for a reason. With or without Khris.”
Eltricked: “As a mavs fan I obviously hope the mavs win but I think the suns likely will. That being said it being 20-0 is kind of shocking, especially after the way both teams preformed last round lol.”
jakekerr: “Those are some pretty safe picks. No one felt like going out on a limb?”
Paula-Abdul-Jabbar: “Surprised to see the Mavs with 0 votes. That’s gonna be an interesting series. I do think the Suns win though. The Mavs drive-and-kick offense won’t see as much success against the stronger perimeter defenders on the Suns, and the Suns won’t get killed on the offensive glass like they did against New Orleans.”
hersheyuy: “See? Do not disrespect the champs. Eat your freaking words.”
ja-mez: “Wow. At this point, looking like Bucks in 4. Celtics brought their best walking shoes to a track meet.”
stoicsports: “Bucks showing them wrong early on here. Surprised the votes weren’t closer on that series? Giannis is a freak…. a Greek freak.”
All the experts have seemingly picked the safe options in each of the series. Looking at their predictions, they might be correct for the West. But the reigning champions, the Bucks, have received very few votes against the Celtics.
Of course, the Bucks are playing without Khris Middleton, but Giannis is considered as arguably the best player in the league for a reason. Moreover, he proved that in Game 1 of the series, the Bucks won the game and now have a lead.
As for the Heat vs. the Sixers fixture, the 76ers missing Embiid is a huge blow to the team. So it is quite obvious that they have the Heat as the favorite and honestly, that might turn out to be the case.
