NBA Playoffs Picks

Once again, I'm using the Pyth component of my MDS Model to pick the NBA Playoffs bracket:

Some notes (all rankings reflect Pyth):

• The entire West should be incredible. #2 LAC vs #3 SA, #8 HOU vs #9 DAL, #4 POR vs #6 MEM all in the first round. And then the potential #1 vs #2, GS vs LAC in the Western Conference Finals. Just the first round will outshine any round from the East.

• Speaking of the East dumpster fire known as the East, the Nets are in the playoffs. The Nets are #23 in my model. There are 30 teams in the NBA. They are 23 out of 30.
• There are 3 teams (MIL, BOS, BKN) with .500 or worse records in the playoffs (all from the East).
• The 11th best team (Utah) from the West would have made the playoffs in the East. And per my model, they would've been favored over every Eastern playoff opponent except for CLE and ATL.
• CLE is ranked 5th in Pyth, ATL 7th overall.

• Personally I think it should be a contractual obligation for the Hawks to play the Pacers in the first round and for it to be on NBA TV. We were this close to that happening again, but the Nets had to pull it out against the Magic last night.