It’s time for the mid-round breakdown of the first round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs with a bit of a fantasy basketball spin.

Portland (8) vs. Golden State (1): Golden State up 3-0: It’s unfortunate that Jusuf Nurkic is unhealthy because the Blazers have been getting eaten up in the paint. We all expected Draymond Green to eat, but JaVale McGee? The Blazers have not posed a single threat inside and Kevin Durant sat because the Warriors knew that. Noah Vonleh, Al-Farouq Aminu and Meyers Leonard are not pushing them out of the paint. We are still unsure if Kevin Durant will play in game four, but let’s be honest, does he have to? The Warriors supporting cast is getting the job done offensively to make up for Durant. Andre Iguodala has not only been scoring, but rebounding as well. We are seeing meaningful minutes come from Iggy, Ian Clark and JaVale McGee? Really?! Durant should not have to play in game four. Damian Lillard will have to score 50 points in order for the Blazers to win. Outside of C.J. McCollum, it is hard to rely on any of the other Blazers options for consistency on either side of the ball. Nurkic is clearly too hurt to play. Harkless is getting into his groove offensively as the series continues and we have seen Evan Turner become a minor rebounding threat. Issues for the Blazers continue to point right to lack of all-around consistency and lack of paint play. The Blazers offense will continue to come mainly from their backcourt, and unless they start pushing guys like McGee out of the paint, they will continue to get dominated. So what if one of the Blazers big men foul out! They need the enforcers to simply pose a threat and push. Yes, foul them! When you are on the verge of getting swept, time is your friend. The Blazers need to make the Warriors big men beat them from the free-throw line. The biggest question is if the Warriors will be without Coach Steve Kerr for the remainder of the post-season?

Utah (5) vs. Los Angeles (4): Series Tied 2-2: This series has been a war with injuries galore. Rudy Gobert instantly gets hurt minutes after the opening tip of the series. He has played, but his minutes are clearly being monitored and he is not 100 percent. The Clippers lost Blake Griffin to a Toe injury and he is out for the remainder of the Playoffs and because DeAndre Jordan is very limited offensively, the offense will run about 90 percent through their guards. Gordon Hayward is dealing with food poisoning and that completely took him out of game four and his status is uncertain moving forward. Despite the loss of Griffin, how are the Jazz still in this series? JOE FREAKING JOHNSON! Johnson is earning every bit of his paycheck and years ago, he was the highest paid player in the NBA. Johnson has not only been scoring from the perimeter, but he has also been driving and posting, taking advantage of the Clippers smaller defenders. With Hayward and Gobert’s health issues, Johnson and Derrick Favors will need to provide a good amount of the offense to keep pace with the Clippers. Favors looks healthy and has found his rhythm this series and even though his minutes are being watched because he has been hurt all season, he will still provide offensive help from the mid-range to the low block. For the Clippers, the best thing they can do is run. Utilize your speed because Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick, Raymond Felton and Chris Paul are all quick and the most effective way to take the Jazz older Vets out of rhythm is by making them run. Chris Paul will continue to lead the team in scoring along with whichever guard is having the most success in their match up. All of the Clippers guards are in play and should be considered as punt plays to win DFS tournaments. Crawford has the upper hand for now when it comes to ball possession and shots.

Oklahoma City (6) vs. Houston (3): Houston up 3-1: There’s been Hack-A-Shaq, Hack-A-Dwight, Hack-A-DeAndre and now Hack-A-Andre Roberson? Houston played an amazing game of Chess in game four to put the Thunder in elimination territory and they did so by taking advantage of a flaw of the Thunder’s top perimeter defensive weapon Roberson. Roberson was fouled repeatedly for two reasons, one being the obvious fact that he struggles mightily from the free-throw line, but also to slow down the general pace of the game. The Thunder and Rockets are excellent offensive teams and they both like to run, but defensively they are both horrible. Speaking of horrible, Clint Capela simply looks lost and is totally out of touch with the game. It’s been Nene Hilario who has been the Rockets primary interior weapon and the Thunder have not found an answer in cutting him off mid-range. The Thunder need to let to get the ball out of his hands and force a struggling Ryan Anderson to take more shots. Taj Gibson and Steven Adams need to put more pressure on him in the low block. The Thunder are in an interesting spot because they may be put in a position in which they have to bench Roberson in close game situations. I don’t trust Victor Oladipo’s offense and Enes Kanter has not been a difference maker because Nene knows how to force him out of position early. To me, Westbrook and Harden cancel each other out, and when it comes down to supporting cast, the Rockets simply have too many weapons and two shooters are always on point.

Memphis (7) vs. San Antonio (2): Series Tied 2-2: These two teams aren’t strangers in the post season and this series has clearly reflected that. Marc Gasol has been on fire from the field and clearly outplaying his Brother Pau. Hats off to the Grizzlies for stepping up defensively and if they are going to continue to win games, Conley will need to score 20-plus points in each game and Zach Randolph’s mid-range game will need to be on as well. JaMychal Green has risen and has been a big help offensively for the Grizzlies. Hats off to Tony Parker for continuing to expose the Grizzlies defense at the elbow has he continues to go reverse on them and score layup after layup. The easy access in the lane’s have lifted his confidence to the point in which he is hitting shots from the outside. Kawhi Leonard carried the Spurs offense at the end of game four and if Gasol didn’t hit that shot with under one second to go to put the Grizzlies ahead, Leonard would have been the hero as he put on one of the best Playoff performances the league has seen in a long time. This series seems destined to go the distance and familiarity is key in the Playoffs and these two teams have a history and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. After all, these are two of the three best defenses in the NBA in 2017.

Chicago (8) vs. Boston (1): Series Tied 2-2: The tide has definitely turned since the start of the series and the Bulls are getting louder in regards to what they think of the Refs in this series. The Bulls were doing exactly what they should in continuing to attack the Celtics inside and Amir Johnson could not handle keeping Robin Lopez out of the paint. Then the Celtics catch the biggest break they can get when “Playoff” Rajon Rondo fractured his Thumb and will likely be out for the remainder of the series. There is a slight chance he can return if this series goes to seven, but do you really want you ball-handler to be dealing with fractured Thumb? It’s a big risk, but Jerian Grant and Michael Carter-Williams have not been getting the job done. We saw some spurts of positivity from Isaiah Canaan, but none of these guys were driving as ferociously in the lane as Rondo was. The Bulls have lost all of their momentum and Dwayne Wade cannot drive like he used and often gets caught up at the elbow. Jimmy Butler has been driving more, but unless Nikola Mirotic will hit 10 three-pointers a game for the rest of the way, the Bulls are limited offensively and even though they play good defense, the Celtics are one of the best offensive teams in the league. There’s a reason they are the No. 1 seed in the East. Al Horford has definitely picked up his defensive intensity and Marcus Smart needs to be careful regarding his intensity because he is getting in players faces and that could swing the momentum back to the Bulls if he is not careful. On both ends of the court, Gerald Green has been effective. He has the shooting range and gets open a lot and he has ups as well. Green did win the NBA Dunk contest years ago and his ups have given DFS players’ rebounds. He has taken shots away from both Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley. Isaiah Thomas has been able to drive all day on the Bulls and they have to force the ball out of his hands a bit more in order to keep up with the Celtics high-powered offense.

Atlanta (5) vs. Washington (4): Washington up 2-1: I was an eyewitness for game two of this series and the Wizards just looked a step ahead of the Hawks. Any time the Hawks would go on a run, the Wizards would answer right back. The John Wall-Dennis Schroder match up has been exactly what I thought it would be; highly productive for both. Neither can stop the other on the defensive end and this is how it will continue. The way the Wizards will lose this series; taking themselves out of it mentally and emotionally. Markieff Morris should keep his mouth shut and not call out the Hawks top offensive weapon, Paul Millsap, who has been highly productive this series. Morris and Marcin Gortat were unable to produce inside and the Hawks now know how to keep up with the Wizards scoring. Dwight Howard has not made a huge impact offensively, but if the Hawks focus more on running a two-man game inside with Millsap and Howard. Millsap is the more skilled, but Howard has the bigger body and the Hawks should start sending bench options out to foul Howard and make him beat them from the free-throw line. Otto Porter is not 100 percent as he is dealing with a Neck strain, but he’s not expected to miss time. A key to the Hawks game three victory was taking the ball out of Tim Hardaway Jr.s hands. Taurean has crushed the Wizards on and off the stat sheet this series and expect him to continue scoring in double figures as the Wizards have not been able to stop him from driving inside and he has been left open frequently beyond the arc. If the Hawks can continue to minimize the Wizards offense inside, they will be able to keep up for the remainder of the series.  

Milwaukee (6) vs. Toronto (3): Series Tied 2-2: This has been another big battle between lanky players in Giannis Antetokounmpo and DeMar DeRozan and while both battle each other out and have big games, it will ultimately cancel each other out, and it will be up to Kyle Lowry and Khris Middleton to provide impact. Middleton put more emphasis on crashing the boards and shooting than waiting for the cutter to feed inside. The Bucks need as many players involved in the offense as humanly possible in order to compete with big men Raptors shooters in Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka. Both Norman Powell and Tony Snell have been getting a ton of open looks and that shows the lack of focus on perimeter defense by both teams. Greg Monroe continues to impress off the bench as we have seen consistent double digit scoring outings with high rebounding totals. Both of these teams mirror each other in a lot of ways but Toronto has better transition play and they have to continue speeding up the tempo. By tiring out Antetokounmpo, he will start forcing more contested shots rather than work for them and he will get fatigued on defense and start fouling a bit more. This series could easily go to seven games. For DFS purposes, Middleton, normally scoring dependant, could be relied on as a good weapon to spend a bit more on because of what we have seen in production in rebounding and assists and he will never lose playing time, even if the shots are falling. Expect Norman Powell to pick up a few more minutes each game as the series continues while he is shooting well from the field.

Indiana (7) vs. Cleveland (2): Cleveland Wins 4-0:  This is no surprise as the Cavs simply have more weapons and the Pacers were not stopping them at getting inside. They would get leads in games and then get too comfortable. Their pace would naturally slow down and they would try to play more one-on-one isolation. Team leader Paul George calling out his teammates throughout the series is a bad look and his time in Indiana could very well be finished. The Pacers did a poor job of keeping Tristan Thompson off of the glass and even with Kevin Love’s shots not falling in game four, the Pacers got hot at the wrong times and just overall could not keep up with the defending champs. Kyrie Irving out-produces Jeff Teague, and even though Lance Stephenson was impressive at times, he could not keep up on the other side of the court. The Cavs await the winner of the Bucks-Raptors series and the Raptors are better built overall, the Bucks may have the edge when it comes to potentially limiting LeBron James, but overall, the Cavs should win either series in five or six games.