The Conference Semifinals are beyond us, as we have four more teams remaining. Who will make it to the NBA Finals? There can only be two teams out of the remaining four. The Conference Finals begin Tuesday, May 19th.

1. Golden State Warriors - 2. Houston Rockets: WARRIORS in 5.

First things first, this series will feature the largest gap in regular-season point differential in a conference finals since 1996, according to Kevin Pelton of ESPN. Say we ignore that fact. However, the matchups and bench depth favor the Warriors so much, especially if Patrick Beverley is unable to play in this series.

James Harden is going to go from being defended by J.J. Redick, Chris Paul, and Matt Barnes to Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and maybe even Draymond Green. The Warriors have plenty of defenders to throw at Harden to make it difficult for him and are extremely versatile on the defensive end. Golden State has far more better defenders than the Clippers did. Down low, Andrew Bogut could hold his own against Dwight Howard. He has the size and physicality to give Howard fits like he did to Marc Gasol the final three games of the Memphis Grizzlies series. On the other side of the ball, the Rockets may have a tough time matching up against the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Say Trevor Ariza takes one of the two, but who is going to take the other if Beverley is out?

Golden State also has a deep bench in which Steve Kerr can utilize to keep guys fresh. The Warriors can go nine deep, possibly 10 if Marreese Speights is healthy. They can even go 11 if Festus Ezeli is required to play due to foul trouble. The Rockets have been going eight deep during these playoffs, and although Corey Brewer and Pablo Prigioni provide a ton of energy and hustle, the Warriors bench is simply far more talented.

1. Atlanta Hawks - 2. Cleveland Cavaliers: CAVALIERS in 6.

In the playoffs, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you had the best record during the regular season. The Hawks have demonstrated that really well, as they were pushed by both the eighth-seeded Brooklyn Nets and half-the-series John Wall-less Washington Wizards.

The first problem with the Hawks has been their mental toughness. They were outplayed by the Wizards most of the series and barely squeezed by in three out of the four victories. They looked soft and relied heavily on their outside shooting, while the Wizards were grounding them with solid pick-and-roll play. The lack of toughness hasn’t cost the Hawks their season yet, but it could against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As the game has slowed down in the playoffs, so has Atlanta’s offense. Hawks’ offensive efficiency has dropped from 46.6 percent from the regular season to 43.4 percent during the playoffs. With the game being slower in the playoffs, the Hawks have had trouble running their offensive sets in the half court. Kyle Korver has been absolutely brutal from the field, and with a slower game, it’s become easier to slow him down. Atlanta will definitely need him to produce more, but Korver will most likely be chased around by Cleveland’s defensive ace, Iman Shumpert.

It’s hard to imagine Atlanta’s lackluster play will get them past a now well-rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Co., who have not played since Thursday, giving the banged up Cavs time to heal. 

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About the author
Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.