The 2016 NBA and NHL Playoffs: What will Happen?
Calling all sports fans! The 2016 NBA and NHL postseasons are underway! There are several teams vying for a chance to play for and win a world championship. These teams include the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Washington Capitals, the Golden State Warriors, the Chicago Blackhawks, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. April may be one of the best months in sports, primarily for the NBA and NHL playoffs, MLB season, and the NFL draft. But for right now, I would like to focus on the 2016 NBA and NHL postseason.
Many crazy things could happen this time of the sports year. Lower seeded playoff teams could potentially eliminate the prohibited favorites and keep their momentum going. For example, if both the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets were to somehow shock Cleveland and Golden State, respectively, then they would’ve accomplished major feats: The Pistons would keep the Cavaliers from winning their first title since 1964, and the Rockets would prevent the Warriors from repeating as NBA champions. However, the Goliath-like teams in the NBA and NHL playoffs don’t usually lose a series to underdog, disrespected David-like teams.
In the NHL, there are teams who are desperate to not only win the Stanley Cup championship, but also trying to advance past the first round. These teams include the Nashville Predators, the San Jose Sharks, the Dallas Stars,the St. Louis Blues, and the Detroit Red Wings. Last season, all of these teams went home early.With new additions and higher levels of motivation, these organizations would like nothing more than to make headlines for their own causes, putting tears into the eyes of the fans of heavy favorites Chicago, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, New York Islanders, and Washington.These series are not going to easy, and they are not always going to produce tight, defensive, and goalie-driven games.
As a follower of these two professional sports leagues, I find myself very intrigued by the difficult journeys each club had to endure in order to make the postseason. For the NBA, the Pistons, Hornets, Mavericks, and Rockets all had to win a certain number of regular-season games just to get into the playoffs, while having to overcome injuries from key players, and, in Houston’s case, controversy surrounding two stars(James Harden and Dwight Howard). For the NHL, the Minnesota Wild and the Nashville Predators had to win the remainder of their scheduled games, and hope and pray the Colorado Avalanche(who was also chasing a playoff spot) lost theirs. In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers needed to win and hope the Boston Bruins lost. Both scenarios worked out.
To summarize, the 2016 NBA and NHL playoffs are part of arguably one of the best months of the sports world(April), and allow fans to predict what will happen during these games.