The NBA 2019 Playoff: Of Parity and Evolution

So, as we enter the third week of the playoffs, we're starting to realize just how much parity there is among the top 8 teams in the league.

Here are three thoughts:

PARITY IS KEY - The 1-seeds in both conferences "only" have a 2-1 lead over the 4th seeds. Both 3-seeds have 2-1 leads over the second seed. While most have the Warriors winning the championship this year, what we should realize is that the road has become harder than ever...with at least 3 teams (Houston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia) having realistic chances of defeating the Warriors.



PORTLAND IS SCARY - The Blazers have shown just how much they've improved since last season. Now imagine of the head the Bosnian Beast in play. Jusuf Nurkic would have been their trump card against the Denver Nuggets, whose frontcourt talent level drops immensely once All-World Nikola Jokic sits and is replaced by someone like Mason Plumlee. As it is, the Blazers have been able to harness Enes Kanter to his old Thunder-scoring ways and are primed to make a deep playoff run.

TORONTO IS THE SAME TEAM IT WAS LAST YEAR - One of the main reasons the Raptors traded away DeMar Derozan was the belief that Kawhi Leonard would allow them to make the jump into championship contenders. And while Leonard has been exemplary, it now seems to be more a one step backward, one step forward move. In fact, it is now Pascal Siakam who seems the more important piece, which is a very weird thing to say. Don't get me wrong, Leonard is still one of the top players in the league. But did he really make the Raptors a better team? At this point in time, it's debatable.