Spring has sprung and play-offs have begun! If you’ve been too busy to keep track of the NBA and NHL games this past week don’t worry, Legend Rings is here with your bite-sized second-week playoff updates.
NBA
How it works:
The Top 8 teams in both the East and West NBA Conferences qualify for the NBA playoffs based upon their win-loss records. Unlike the NFL the brackets are fixed once the Top 8 teams are announced and the matchups are not re-seeded. The Top 8 teams in both divisions are seeded 1–8, 2–7, 3–6, and 4–5 based on the team’s placement in the regular season. Each round is the best of 7 games and once a team has won the majority of those games (4 wins) they move forward to the next bracket to face a new team for the consequent round.
What Has Happened So Far:
With only eight teams remaining in the NBA Playoffs – the games are heating up!
The Golden State Warriors lead their series against The Houston Rockets 2-1. However, the Houston Rockets had an unreal performance in game three, so this matchup may be closer tied that we previouly expected! Read more about it here!
The Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets are neck-to-neck, tied 2-2 in their series.
Similarly, Philadelphia and Toronto are tied 2-2 in their series. After The Raptors Kawhi demonstrated a spectacular performance in Game 4. Read more about it here!
The Milwaukee Bucks lead the series 2-1 over the Boston Celtics.
NHL
How it works:
Consisting of four rounds with best of 7 series the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are full of energy. Similar to the NBA the 8 teams in each conference (Eastern and Western) with the highest points from the regular seasons. The final round known as the Stanley Cup Finals matches the two divisional winners against each other, to see who takes home the coveted Stanley Cup. Unlike the NBA, the NHL re-seeds based upon the results of the first series. In the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team gets home-ice advantage and hosts 3 out of the seven games in their home arenas.
What Has Happened So Far?
The Carolina Huricanes swept the Islanders in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 2019, moving forward to the conference finals.
Boston leads the series 3-2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Whoever wins this round, is against the Huricanes in the eastern conference finals!
Over in the west, the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars are tied 3-3 after a nail-biting series. The Blues scored twice in 33 seconds in the third period to force game 7!
The San Jose Sharks leads the series against the Colorado Avalanche 3-2.
That is all that happened so far these playoffs! See you next Monday (May 13th, 2019) for another bite-sized recap of the NBA and NHL Playoff race to the ring!
