@KeepTheJuice21 NBA Playoff Picks - 4/19

This may sounds repetitive if you read the breakdown for the Suns/Pelicans Game 1 but nothing I saw in that game makes me think this one could turn out any differently. The Suns looked unbelievable and Chris Paul put on a master class. They’re a completely different class team than the Pelicans and frankly New Orleans was lucky to get the score as close as it was. If anything, the Suns are getting more used to how the Pelicans play and will adjust to beat them by even more. They’re a very smart team and well coached enough to exploit a huge talent deficit. Take this to the bank.

It was blatantly obvious in Game 1 of this series how great the Heat’s defense is. They took away every scoring option the Hawks had and made them look like they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs. Trae Young is always liable to catch fire and light up the scoring and it’s almost impossible they hold him to single digits again, but Miami contained them on every level. I just don’t see where they are going to get 100 points from, especially with Clint Capela remaining out. The Heat on the other hand, were crazy efficient, shooting 47.4% from 3 and 52.4% overall. That will be difficult to replicate even if Atlanta gives up like they did Game 1.