Western Conference
Warriors over Rockets in 7:
Houston has been working to this for several years now. Ever since Golden State announced its dominance in 2015 the Rockets have been trying to build a team that can stop the Warriors. This roster is there best bet yet. They have two All-NBA guards in James Harden and Chris Paul. They have several hard-nosed wing defenders who have a shot at staying in front of the Warriors: Luc Mhab a Moute, PJ Tucker, and Trevor Ariza. They have home court advantage. Their record with Paul, Harden, and Clint Capela all healthy is an improbable 50-5. However, I don't think it will be enough. The Warriors have two of the five best players in the NBA: Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. Including Klay Thompson and Draymond Green they have four of the 15 or 20 best players in the entire league. I really believe the Rockets have a chance to make the series interesting but the Warriors are simply too good and too proven for me to pick against them.
Eastern Conference
Boston falls to Cleveland in 6:
In the previous round I predicted that the Raptors would defeat the Cavaliers, who had played very poorly during the first round, but I added a caveat that betting against LeBron James had a chance to make me look very silly. Naturally LeBron made the Raptors and myself look quite silly. Meanwhile Brad Stevens and the Celtics also made my 76ers pick look delightfully ridiculous. I believe that Boston will give LeBron an extremely hard time, the Celtics are extremely well coached, tough, and underrated talent wise. However, unless the Cavs are playing the Warriors or until I am proven wrong I will not bet against LeBron.