The Cleveland Cavaliers finished with a record of 64-18, leading the East by just three games. They’re one of the two most likely teams to come out of the Eastern Conference. This is the most likely path to track their finals hopes.
Round One – Orlando Magic
In a rematch of last year’s playoffs, the Orlando Magic clock into the postseason as the seven seed. I’m projecting their loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the 7/8 game, then winning against either the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat in a play-in scenario. The Hawks have better overall shooting and Trae Young always finds his step come the postseason, especially with an opportunity to face Boston on the line. Dyson Daniels will be a tough perimeter matchup
Orlando will be tough, but they don’t have the same gritty defensive presence they had last year. A total lack of shooting has set them back from league contemporaries, but leading wings Paolo Banchero or Franz Wagner have a chance to get hot in one of these games. The Cavs should come out of this series in five.
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Indiana Pacers
The Pacers should be able to dismantle the Bucks. Kyle Kuzma isn’t a reliable playoff performer in the year 2025, and despite Giannis’ incredible recent performances, the Pacers are up and down a better roster. Tyrese Haliburton is one of the league’s best guards over the second half of the season, and has shown post-season prowess through last year’s Conference Finals run. As for the Bucks, they’ve exited the playoffs early for the past two years, and this year doesn’t seem to be much different.
The Cavs and Pacers should be a fun series. There’s a lot of good guard play, and the Siakam-Mobley matchup is going to be fun, and both teams have good enough bench units to keep the games pace throughout.
As for the outcome, I’m assuming the Cavs come away in six games. The Pacers run away with one game early, and another comes down to the wire in favor of Indiana. Overall, Cleveland’s high powered defense slows Indiana’s quick offense over all six games.
Eastern Conference Finals- Boston Celtics
This is the Eastern matchup everyone has been waiting for all year. It would be shocking if Boston were to be upset by either the Knicks or Pistons, they should have a relatively easy path based on their regular season.
The Cavs will give Boston as good of a fight as any. Boston’s reliance on Kristaps Porzingis may be the deciding edge. Can their three-ball stay consistent throughout the playoffs like last year? While having certain health issues to Porzingis and Brown, they’ve still looked like a top-three team in the league.
Either way, this should be a seven- game series. It’s difficult not to lean Cleveland, being biased as well as taking into account their early 3-25 comeback, showing composure and mentality that hadn’t been present years previous. Taking Boston to 5 games while injured last year with different personnel, I’m going to lean Cleveland in seven games.