"The Stack" 4-25-18
Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers are onto the second round of the NBA Playoffs following their 104-91 win and subsequent 4-1 series win over the Miami Heat. Trust the process has certainly come to fruition.
The Stack is back on this Wednesday. I didn’t get around to posting anything yesterday and today’s post won’t be very long either. The NFL mock draft is just about ready to go for tomorrow. Can’t wait for the NFL Draft to start. Let’s see what’s cooking in “the stack” for today, Wednesday, April 25th:
76ers, Warriors close out series, Celtics take series lead over Bucks
What a time to be a Philadelphia sports fan. “Trust the process” has come nearly full circle with the 76ers eliminating the Miami Heat 104-91. The 76ers started out hot in the third quarter and eventually built up an 18 point lead in the fourth quarter only to see the Heat cut the lead to single digits, but they couldn’t get any close than seven or eight points. J.J. Redick hit a couple of big shots and the 76ers are advancing. Quite the story. This team is good. Sam Hinkie probably deserves some credit for laying the foundation for the team’s success just like Sashi Brown deserves some credit for stockpiling all of the draft picks for the Cleveland Browns. We’ll see if the 76ers can take down either the Washington Wizards or Toronto Raptors. I say they do.
In the Bay Area, Golden State took care of business beating San Antonio Spurs 99-91 to win the series 4-1 and advance to the second round of the playoffs aka western conference semifinals where they will take on the New Orleans Pelicans. The Spurs just didn’t have enough in the series despite LaMarcus Aldridge playing well. He dropped in 30 in game four, but the Warriors were just too much even without Steph Curry. The Spurs enter an interesting time for their franchise with the Kawhi Leonard situation. The Warriors are about to get Curry back and are destined to take on most likely the Houston Rockets in the western conference finals.
Finally in Boston, the Celtics are one win away from the second round thanks to a grueling, offensively ugly at time times 92-87 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics have a 3-2 lead in the series. The Greek Freak and the rest of the Bucks can certainly play better, but poor offense and turnovers have really cost them at times in the series. We’ll see if they can rally or if the Celtics can finish them off Thursday night.
Wednesday’s NBA Playoff games
Washington Wizards @ Toronto Raptors 7 PM ET NBA TV (Series tied 2-2)
Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers 7 PM ET TNT (Series tied 2-2)
Utah Jazz @ Oklahoma City Thunder 9:30 PM ET NBA TV (Jazz lead series 3-1)
Minnesota Timberwolves @ Houston Rockets 9:30 PM ET TNT (Rockets lead series 3-1)
*For the record, I have the Jazz and Rockets closing out their series tonight with the Raptors and Cavs holding serve on home court.
Wednesday’s NHL Playoff game
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins 7:30 PM ET NBCSN (Series tied 3-3)
*Man have the Bruins let this series slip away from them. All of the pressure is on them in this game. They need to play like they did the first two games of this series at home. If they lose, that regular season finale loss to the Florida Panthers will the dagger for this season. I think Boston is an overall better team than the Maple Leafs and I will take them to win this game.
Coming up Thursday: Round 1 NFL mock draft
