The 2018 NBA playoff matchups ranked from best to worst

After a hectic season finale played out Wednesday night, the NBA playoff picture is finally set. We’ve got a mixed bag of treats in the first round: Some match-ups you can’t miss; others you might just miss on purpose.

Here are all eight first-round playoff matchups, ranked in order of watchability.

Neither the Trail Blazers nor Pelicans are playing for a championship this season. Barring an incredible upset, only the Rockets or Warriors will come out of the West. But Portland and New Orleans are pretty exciting teams. One is led by Anthony Davis, an MVP candidate who powered his team to the playoffs after Pelicans teammate DeMarcus Cousins’s torn Achilles. The other is pushed by one of the league’s best back courts: Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

The Trail Blazers are favored in this series, but you can’t count Davis out. This is Davis’ first trip back to the playoffs since 2014. He doesn’t want to go home any time soon.

The NBA is a guard-driven league, and only one playoff series features two sets of all-star guards. With DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry going head-to-head with John Wall and Bradley Beal, Raptors vs. Wizards is going to be a wild one. Toronto is the No. 1 seed in the East by a wide margin, but the playoff Wizards are no cake walk, especially with Wall back from injury.

Toronto has had its fair share of playoff struggles in the past. They want to put that behind them. The Wizards want to prove the world wrong. This one should be fun, no matter who comes out on top.

The Thunder go as Russell Westbrook goes, and this year, he has actual real-life help in the form of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. But is that help enough to get OKC through a first-round series against a gritty Utah Jazz team?

If the regular season is any indication, the Thunder beat the Jazz three times out of four. But Rudy Gobert only played in two of those four games before missing half the season with a knee injury. OKC and Utah split those two games.

We also get to see rookie Donovan Mitchell under the brightest lights of his young NBA career. This is a battle between two of the wildest fanbases the league has to offer. OKC has one more game at home than Utah does. That could be the difference.

Are the 76ers for real? Are they too young to succumb to the pressure of the playoffs? Those questions will be answered with maybe the toughest first-round matchup between two of the country’s best cities: Philly and Miami.

Miami is a battle-tested team with one of the league’s best defenses. Dwyane Wade has been there, done that before. And Erik Spoelstra knows what it takes to win a championship: After all, he’s got two of them.

But the 76ers are coming. They’re not just a young team; they’ve got a good mix of veterans to lead them to the promised land. Joel Embiid might not be around for the first round, but the way Ben Simmons is playing, very few players can stand in his way.

The Timberwolves are a lot better than a No. 8 seed. They only came crumbling down the standings when Jimmy Butler tore his meniscus midseason, but earlier on they were a legitimate No. 3 seed in the wild Western Conference.

Circumstances changed, and the Wolves ended up playing for their playoff lives against the Nuggets on Wednesday. Minnesota won; now they play Houston.

The Rockets might be the tallest possible order for any team, and the Wolves needed overtime to get past Denver. But this is a motivated Minnesota team in the playoffs for the first time since 2004. This one should be fun, even if it doesn’t go very long.

Uhhhhh ... LeBron James vs. Lance Stephenson, Part 27 anyone?

We all remember when Stephenson blew into James’ face in Game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals. They’ve both grown older, and maybe wiser since then. That doesn’t mean the shenanigans will stop.

On the court, the Pacers pose an interesting challenge for a Cavs’ team looking to make it four straight trips to the NBA Finals. Indiana is the third-youngest team in the playoffs, and they get up and down the court like a team with fresh legs. Cleveland is the oldest team in the NBA, and they play defense like a group of geezers.

The Pacers have won the season series against the Cavaliers, 3-1, but Cleveland has had its fair share of roster issues. The lineup is set for the playoffs now. James and Kevin Love will lead the way.

The Celtics are ridiculously shorthanded. Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Daniel Theis, and Marcus Smart are all out, and they’ve got a tough first-round matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. The thing is, though, Boston is the league’s best defensive team, with or without its stars. And Terry Rozier has had some huge games in Irving’s absence.

You can’t ever rule out a team as solid defensively as Boston, but Antetokounmpo is a player unlike the world has ever seen. This will be a fun series whichever way it goes.

Meh, not much to see here. The Spurs don’t have Kawhi Leonard. He actually hasn’t played meaningful minutes since these teams met in the playoffs last year, but that’s neither here nor there. What you need to know is this: LaMarcus Aldridge is having his best season as a Spur. It doesn’t matter.

The Warriors, if healthy, will be done with this series with quickness. If healthy, though, is the operative phrase here as Golden State has been battered much of the second half of the season. They’re the favorites to win this series with or without Stephen Curry. It’ll just be a lot easier for the Warriors if their superstar point guard is available.