NBA Weekly Game Thread: Week of June 7th, 2021

Every Monday at 5:00 PM Central this all-purpose thread goes up, and the comments section is where it’s going down. This is your place to discuss all the NBA’s action happening during the week when the Bucks are off-duty.

Even in a season with plenty of chaos and unknowns, the NBA still found a way to largely stick to the old maxim that the better the seed, the higher the odds that said team will win out their series. The only upset, that of the Atlanta Hawks over the New York Knicks, featured teams that had the exact same W-L record, so it was an upset in technical terms only.

Now things get a little more interesting as the top seeds get underway in the second round. The Hawks have continued apace in upsetting higher seeds, though Joel Embiid on a single real leg isn’t going to help Philly’s odds of advancing. Milwaukee might be able to even their 1-0 deficit with James Harden dealing with hamstring problems, but even then they’re still in the hole as of publication.

So, the question heading forward is whether the trend of top seed trumps all holds yet again. We’ve got very personal experience of a top seed not ensuring a win not just once, but twice, so at least we know that a seed differential isn’t a death knell. In theory, once you reach this stage of the playoffs the difference in quality shrinks considerably. But still, if there’s a real difference in quality, it’s bound to show up in seven games.