Time for the real deal: Playoff action in NBA

By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun

ANKARA 

The regular season has ended for the National Basketball National Association after 16 teams achieved a playoff berth.

After the 82-game regular NBA season, eight western and eight eastern conference teams will square off in the first round in a bid to eventually accomplish the ultimate success, winning the NBA trophy. 

The first rounds of the playoffs starts on Saturday and will have a total of eight match-ups. The teams with four victories will continue to the semi-finals of their conferences.

Let's have a look at the match-ups for the first rounds:

Western Conference:

San Antonio Spurs (62-20) - Dallas Mavericks (49-33)

The San Antonio Spurs, the most successful team in the 2013-2014 regular season with 62 victories, will face off against the eight-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the Texas derby.

While the Spurs will have the home court advantage throughout the playoffs, the Mavericks are the only team in the western conference with less than 50 wins.

The Spurs are the most assisting team with 25.2 per game, and six of their players have double-digits scoring averages. In order to cause an 'upset' in the first round, the Mavericks will have to play good defence despite their average of 40.9 rebounds per game.

Oklahoma City Thunder (59-23) - Memphis Grizzlies (50-32)

The Thunder finished second in the western conference and they will play against the Grizzlies who secured their playoff berth in the final days of the season.

The Thunder were eliminated by the Grizzlies in the western confrerence semi-finals in 2013 and will look for a payback against them. Most Valuable Player (MVP) candidate Kevin Durant led the NBA in scoring average with 32 points per game and will be the Thunder's go-to guy throughout the series. However, the Grizzlies only allowed 94.6 points per game and will depend on their defence to improve to the next round.

Houston Rockets (54-28) - Portland Trail Blazers (54-28)

The Houston Rockets finished in fourth place in the western conference to play with the fifth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.

Led by their All-Stars James Harden and Dwight Howard, the Rockets finished the regular season with 54-28 records - same as the Blazers- but earned home-court advantage by winning the season series by three games to one.

Rockets' Turkish big man, Omer Asik, averaged 5.8 points, 7.9 rebounds in the regular season and is expected to be an important part in the defensive end. Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers will look to advance to the semi-finals under their All-Star-duo Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge's performances.

Los Angeles Clippers (57-25) - Golden State Warriors (51-31)

The Los Angeles Clippers, NBA's best scoring average team with 107.9 per game, will face off the Golden State Warriors, who only earned their third post-season appearance in the last 20 years.

Turkish forward Hedo Turkoglu signed with the Clippers on January, and added depth to the team's bench contribution. All-Star point guard Chris Paul averaged a league-leading 10.7 assists per game, while power forward Blake Griffin led the team with 24.1 points per game.

The Warriors will look to their 'splash brothers' Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson's outside scoring, while power-forward David Lee's performance will be vital considering their center Andrew Bogut's injury. 

Eastern Conference:

Indiana Pacers (56-26) - Atlanta Hawks (38-44)

The Indiana Pacers led the Eastern Conference with 56 wins and matched-up with the eight-seeded Atlanta Hawks, which is the only playoff team with a winning percentage of less than 50 percent.

The two teams faced off in last year's playoffs - the Pacers won the series 4-2 to advance to the semi-finals. 

The Pacers only allowed a league-second 92.3 points per game in the regular season while the Hawks averaged a league-second 24.9 assists per game. 

Miami Heat (54-28) - Charlotte Bobcats (43-39)

The back-to-back reigning champions, Miami Heat, is heading for the playoffs with the second-seed in the Eastern conference to achieve a 'three-peat', they'll take on the seventh-seeded Charlotte Bobcats.

The reigning season and playoffs MVP LeBron James had another MVP-calibre season, averaged 27.1 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game and 6.4 assists per game. LeBron and his friends will look to overcome the Bobcats' center Al Jefferson's performance, which the Bobcats will mostly rely on.

This is the Bobcats' second playoffs appearance in their franchise history. The team was founded in 2004.

Toronto Raptors (48-34) - Brooklyn Nets (44-38)

The 2013-2014 Playoffs' first game will be between Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets at 12.30 pm local time.

This is the Raptors' first playoffs appearance since 2007-2008 season. The team's leading scorer in the regular season is DeMar DeRozan with 22.7 point per game, while their big man Jonas Valanciunas averaged 8.8 rebounds.

The Brooklyn Nets will look into the possibility of their players' playoffs experience with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson, Deron Williams and Jason Collins, who have previously seen the conference finals or beyond.

Chicago Bulls (48-34) - Washington Wizards (44-38)

The Chicago Bulls has so far overcome their superstar Derrick Rose's injury to secure the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. They will have the home-court advantage against the Washington Wizards who eliminated Chicago Bulls in their last playoff match-up in 2004-2005 season.

The Bulls only allowed a league best 91.8 points per game, however they are the lowest scoring team with 93.7 points per game.

The Wizards will look into the possibility to benefit the most from their All-Star guard John Wall, who averaged 19.3 points per game and 8.8 assists per game.

Here are some numbers from the playoffs history:

Most NBA Championship winning teams:

Boston Celtics: 17 times

Los Angeles Lakers: 16 times

Chicago Bulls: 6 times

Most NBA Championship winning players:

Bill Russell (Boston Celtics):   11 times

Sam Jones (Boston Celtics):   10 times

Tom Heinsohn (Boston Celtics):   8 times

K.C. Jones (Boston Celtics):   8 times 

Tom Sanders (Boston Celtics):   8 times

John Havlicek (Boston Celtics):   8 times

Most NBA Championship winning players among active players: 

Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers):   5 times

Derek Fisher (Oklahoma City Thunder):   5 times

Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs):   4 times

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