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The 2019 NBA Playoffs will get underway on Saturday afternoon, ending a very strange 2018-19 regular season that featured a whole lot of twists and turns throughout the league.
This postseason probably features more uncertainty than any playoffs in recent memory in some respects. While the Golden State Warriors are still clear title favorites, no one really knows how the Eastern Conference will pan out or whom the Warriors will be facing in their probable Western Conference Finals appearance.
Also, how this postseason plays out will also likely have a rather dramatic effect on the offseason.
So, let's examine the five biggest storylines of the 2019 playoffs:
5. No LeBron James
For the first time since 2010, a LeBron James-led team will not represent the East in the finals, and for the first time since 2005, James is not in the playoffs, period.
James opted to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, and while most understood that the Lakers would not be competing for a championship this season, just about everyone at least expected them to make the playoffs.
LeBron James not making the postseason? Insanity.
But, here we are, and for the first time in nearly a decade-and-a-half, the playoffs are starting without LeBron.
While it is certainly a refreshing change, particularly in an Eastern Conference that had been dominated by James for almost a decade, it will definitely feel different.
Imagine: a postseason without Shannon Sharpe and Nick Wright explaining why LeBron is the GOAT and without Skip Bayless micro-analyzing his every move.
4. Can James Harden Finally Get Over the Hump?
James Harden is dominant. He is a reigning MVP and an MVP candidate once again. He is an all-time great scorer.
But his playoff track record is not all that great.
Yes, Harden has led the Houston Rockets to a couple of Western Conference Finals appearances, but he has not looked all that great in either instance, and last year, he was brutal in Game 7 against the Warriors, going just 2-of-13 from three-point range in a nine-point loss.
Harden looking completely shaken in elimination games is nothing new, as he still has not lived down his essential no-show in Game 6 of the second round against the San Antonio Spurs two years ago. And who could forget his miserable performance in the 2011 NBA Finals while with the Oklahoma City Thunder?
We know what Harden can do and how unguardable he is when he is locked in, but we have yet to see him dominate on a consistent basis in the playoffs.
With the Rockets having an aging roster, this might be one of Harden's last real chances to truly assert himself as an all-time great.
This isn't to say Harden needs to win a ring to validate himself this year, but he at least needs to show up in elimination games.
3. Will Russell Westbrook Redeem Himself?
Russell Westbrook's stock has taken a massive hit since he won the MVP award back in 2017, so much so that NBA players voted him the most overrated player in the league in a recent poll.
Westbrook has been knocked out of the first round two postseasons in a row, with last year's six-game loss to the Utah Jazz particularly damning given the fact that the Thunder were favored to win the series.
This year, Oklahoma City finds itself in sixth place in the Western Conference, but the Thunder will be battling a Portland Trail Blazers team that will be missing big man Jusuf Nurkic. So, even though the Blazers are the higher seed, there is no reason why OKC, a team led by Westbrook, Paul George and Steven Adams, should not win this series.
If Westbrook comes up small again, those already harsh critics will get louder and louder, and you have to wonder if his image would ever recover.
2. Will the Boston Celtics Put it Together?
Going into this season, the Boston Celtics were viewed as the clear-cut favorites to win the Eastern Conference, and some had them penciled in for 60 wins.
Instead, the Celtics had a maddeningly inconsistent season and ended up winning just 49 games, finishing fourth in the East standings.
In Boston's defense, the C's had injuries up and down the roster throughout the year, but things just did not look right there for most of the season.
The thing is, when the Celtics are hitting on all cylinders, they are the best team in the Eastern Conference and it isn't even particularly close. Their talent and depth is unparalleled, and their ability to switch everything defensively makes them the one team that can actually match up with Golden State.
But which Boston team are we going to see in the playoffs? Are we going to see the team that dismantled the Warriors by 33 points at Oracle Arena and also did some significant damage against their top competition in the East? Or we going to see the club that lost home games to the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks?
Whether or not the Celtics band together is the biggest X-factor in this postseason.
1. Will the Warriors Three-Peat?
Can the Warriors do what has only been done five other times in NBA history and win three consecutive championships?
The odds are on Golden State three-peating, as, even with the Dubs coasting throughout much of the regular season, the Warriors still finished with the best record in the Western Conference and looked downright terrifying when engaged.
We really can't make too much of the Warriors' struggles during the year, as they were clearly bored with the regular season and just wanted the playoffs to start already.
Yes, they are a bit older; yes, Draymond Green may be half the player he was a couple of years ago; yes, their depth is not quite what it was.
However, Golden State is still clearly the best team in the NBA, and it would actually be somewhat surprising if it didn't complete its three-peat.
With Kevin Durant likely walking via free agency over the summer, this may very well end up being the end of the Warriors' dynasty, so expect them to go out with a bang.
