A Definitive Entertainment Value Ranking of Round One NBA Playoff Series
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Do we need to wait for the final play-in games on Friday evening to engage in this exercise? Absolutely not. Here are the NBA playoffs round one series, ranked from most entertaining to “barely worthy of NBA TV.”
1. Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors
Less than two weeks ago, Houston held Steph Curry to one of his worst games ever. Largely thanks to the demonically athletic Amen Thompson, among other hellacious defenders, Curry shot 1-10 on the way to a relatively comfortable Rockets win. Now Steph — still the best show in the entire league on the right night — gets to face that defense for two straight weeks. This series has any number of fun narratives — the seasoned champions versus the young up-and-comers, a collection of loose cannons on both teams (Dillon Brooks and Draymond Green, primarily), a 35-year-old Jimmy Butler trying to summon Playoff Jimmy one more time — and we should all just hope it goes seven games.
2. New York Knicks vs. Detroit Pistons
Detroit has been the stealth most-fun-team-in-the-league since early December. The Pistons feature two people — Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland — who would fight the logo at midcourt if it looked at them funny. Cade Cunningham has been a revelation all year. They are the first team to triple their win total from the previous season. The Knicks, though, have the league’s fifth-rated offense and are relatively healthy, for the moment. This will be extremely fun.
3. Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Clippers