| Well well, what have we here? One of the messiest NBA regular seasons in recent history has spun itself into a rather delightful playoff picture, meaning there’s still hope the 2024-25 campaign won’t be defined completely by chaos. There is so much to look forward to as the playoffs begin Saturday, especially in the Western Conference. Here are the five matchups I’m most excited to watch. 1. Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Clippers Storylines abound! The action should be excellent, provided we all concentrate our collective energy on keeping Kawhi Leonard healthy! Leonard looks closer to his league-dominating, cyborg-like days than he has in years, even when playing heavy minutes of late, and James Harden has been quietly great. The Clippers' tenacious defense goes up against the biggest offensive threat in the NBA in Nikola Jokic, and both teams are coming in hot: Los Angeles won its last eight games, and the Nuggets have won three straight since firing coach Michael Malone. Jokic said it himself after their first win post-coaching change, “The beast is most dangerous when [it’s] vulnerable. Maybe they woke up the beast.” That shrieking you hear is me running around my apartment with excitement. 2. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves There’s no need to put too much thought into this. It’s LeBron James and Luka Doncic against Anthony Edwards. The trash talk potential alone has me giddy, and you know Doncic is salivating at the thought of going up against Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert again after beating him in the playoffs with Dallas last year. To put it mildly. 3. Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors A classic young team vs. old team matchup! The wily Warriors will have their work cut out for them against a team that plays like a pack of hungry wolves. I’m sure somewhere out there you can take bets on who gets thrown out of a game first, Draymond Green or Rockets wild card Dillon Brooks, but I’m more interested to see how the Rockets’ defense handles the Warriors’ offensive threats. 4. New York Knicks vs. Detroit Pistons, but only for like two games I do not think the Pistons have what it takes – yet — to beat the more mature, more playoff-experienced and more complete Knicks in the postseason, but there are two reasons I find this series compelling. I’m looking forward to seeing Detroit centerpiece Cade Cunningham make his playoff debut, and the Pistons went 3-1 against New York during the regular season, so there’s clearly something for them to latch on to. Watching the Knicks solve that in real time should be fun. 5. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. whoever Speaking of coming-out parties, these playoffs are Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s opportunity to turn himself into a household name. Oklahoma City was so good this season — they were just the seventh team in NBA history to win 68 games and had the league’s best defense — so I don’t expect them to run into trouble early (they’ll play either the Mavericks or Grizzlies in the first round). But I do expect Gilgeous-Alexander to elevate his already exquisite game as an MVP candidate should in the playoffs. I can’t wait to watch. | 
_tstmp_1697552896-700-303.png)
