NBA Playoffs: Sky Sports' Mike Tuck makes round two predictions - and you can have your say too!
Read Tuck's take on Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics vs Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets vs Golden State Warriors then vote in our playoff polls
Saturday 27 April 2019 11:59, UK
Sky Sports NBA TV analyst Mike Tuck has made his predictions for the second round of the NBA playoffs. Do you agree with his prognosis?
With three of the four conference semi-final match-ups now set, we asked Sheffield Sharks forward Tuck for his expert analysis and predictions on the respective outcomes of each series.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Toronto Raptors
I love Joel Embiid, his personality and his confidence but I don't see Philadelphia getting past Toronto.
The Sixers have a great starting five with a lot of starpower. Toronto are a really smart team with a lot of different pieces that can do a lot of different things.
Defensively, the Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka vs Joel Embiid match-up is going to be extremely interesting. Gasol is super-smart, especially defensively, and he has the ability to give Embiid some headaches.
There's also the health issue with Embiid. Can he withstand another six or seven games in what will be a physical series banging away with Gasol and Ibaka? I don't think the Raptors will double-team Embiid, which will allow their other guys to operate.
Toronto are really good at making reads on the fly and have the ability to switch out on almost any position. Kawhi Leonard is a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year almost every year. Then there's Pascal Siakam who has been great defensively this season. Even Kyle Lowry, with his strength and low centre of gravity can switch onto forwards and hold his own in the post.
I've got Toronto winning this series in six games.
Boston Celtics vs Milwaukee Bucks
I think we saw 'Playoff Boston' against the Indiana Pacers. They looked great defensively, albeit against a team without much offensive threat. 'Playoff Kyrie' has arrived too! He was promising that all season. He's a great closer and he's doing an excellent job of facilitating. They are finding a way to play together with all these pieces. Unlike in the regular season, they are now attacking the basket too instead of settling for jump shots.
My only concern is that sweeping Indiana was 'fools' gold'. All the games were extremely scoring and a couple were pretty close in the fourth quarter. They didn't steamroll the Pacers. They averaged 99.3 points per game in that series, compared to 112.4 in the regular season. Ninety-nine for a team with all those weapons is relatively low.
Live NBA: Boston @ Milwaukee
The Bucks are extremely tall, long and athletic. They have guys that can shoot it or take it to the basket. And then you have Giannis, who has his own claims on being the league's best player right now, especially in terms of transition and driving to the basket.
The biggest questions for the Celtics are, 'How are we going to stop Giannis? Who do we put on him? How do we get the ball out of his hands early?'
I think the first two games of this series are crucial. The Celtics are not great on the road while the Bucks play extremely well at home and have the homecourt advantage in the series.
Boston need to steal one of those two opening games on the road to stand a chance. But they were only 21-20 on the road in the regular season. Add to that the low scoring, this could be a really tough match-up for them.
I'm picking Milwaukee to win in six games.
Houston Rockets vs Golden State Warriors
This will be the best match-up of the playoffs so far - a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals between two amazing shooting teams.
The Rockets are playing at an extremely high level and, in James Harden, they have arguably the most-skilled and best player in the league. I think they are in a much better place than they were last season.
I really like the way the Rockets are playing this season. I really like their grit. You can see the way Harden has matured this season. Last year you'd see him force shots up. In the series against Utah, when the Jazz forced him hard right into the jaws of the defense in the paint, he can make the reads, make the kick-out pass or throw the lob to Clint Capela. He's better at taking what a defense gives him.
If there is any team that is going to take down the mighty Warriors, it will be Houston.
Complacency and boredom are the Warriors' biggest enemies. All the great teams over the years, that third championship season run has always been the toughest one. So many teams struggle to get there. Going back-to-back is tough enough!
The Warriors will be without DeMarcus Cousins, but if you look at some of the advanced stats, the Warriors are just as good if not better without him. Cousins' absence could be a blessing in disguise, especially in pick-and-roll situations. I didn't see 'Boogie' switching on Harden working out very well.
Kevin Durant has already shown in the Clippers series how he responds to adversity - he goes off! His head-to-head with his former Thunder team-mate Harden in this series will be absolutely amazing.
I think this will be a seven-game series but at this stage it's impossible to pick a winner.
