Eight teams grind it out in the NBA semi-Finals, as they look to seal a spot in the Conference Finals, each playing the best-of-seven series.
The Western Conference sees the LA Lakers taking on Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs coming up against underdogs, the LA Clippers.
In the East, Boston Celtics are up against the Philadelphia 76ers, leaving Miami Heat to battle it out with the Indiana Pacers.
It must be said the Eastern Conference semi-finals haven’t been as easy as expected, with Miami facing a Pacers side which won’t back down, disregarding the star-studded cast of Bosh, Wade and James.
Despite being three games in, the Pacers are showing some promising form, recently overcoming the Heat, 94-75, opening up a 20-point deficit.
Surprisingly, Wade failed to score a single point in the first half, an event unseen through his 95-game playoffs career, leaving Miami facing issues when the going hasn’t gotten anywhere near tough.
The Pacers are threatening to overturn the dominance Miami have seen throughout the year, as they take a 2-1 series lead.
Still East, Boston are leading the 76ers 2-1, each team with wins only by one point in the first two match-ups, but the Celtics prevailed with a 10-point victory in the third game.
The 76ers have nothing to lose and everything to gain, as they finished eighth in the East and are lucky to be in the playoff series. Especially since overcoming the first-placed Bulls, arguably due to the injury attained by MVP, Derek Rose.
The 76ers had not won a playoff series since 2003, until they took down the Bulls, and the Celtics are the next team on their radar.
This being said, Rondo is leading the Celtics with some hot form, and the 76ers must get a win to level the series.
At West, the Spurs have taken an early 2-0 lead, and show no signs of slowing down against the Clippers.
Winning by 10 in the first game, and almost 20 in the second, the Spurs are showing the Clippers why they finished first in the Western Conference this year.
The LA Clippers don’t really pose much of a threat to the Spurs and their 15-game unbeaten streak, but it is still definitely early days with further five games to be played in the series.
Finally, a much-anticipated rivalry between the defending champions, the LA Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, has sparked out West.
A slow start for the Lakers saw them fall short by 29 points in the first game, but picked up in the second to only lose by two.
The Thunder are showing promising form in the build-up to game three, and if they prevail and take a 3-0 series lead, the defending champs will have little hope of progressing to the semi-finals.
It looks as though the Thunder will take on the Spurs in the Western semi-final, and the Celtics will be facing the better of the Heat and the Pacers, it is simply to hard to tell if the Heat will find their feet.
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