NBA Eastern Conference playoff preview

The playoffs are nearly upon us, and we've got you covered with previews of every series and our favorite bets in each.

Here are our top plays for the Eastern Conference, which is as top-heavy as it's been in years.

No. 1 76ers (N/A) vs. No. 8 Wizards/Pacers

We won't dive too deep into this series for two reasons: we don't know who the 76ers will play in the first round, and it doesn't matter, anyway.

When healthy, Philadelphia might be the best team in the league. The starting lineup of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, and Seth Curry ranks sixth in net rating (+14.0) among 35 lineups with at least 200 minutes, and the 76ers are 27-5 when all five are active.

Yes, the Wizards have been red-hot over their last 25 games, but more than half of those came against teams not currently in the playoff field. They also feature one of the worst frontcourts in the NBA, which simply won't fly against a healthy Embiid and one of the NBA's biggest lineups.

The Pacers' size is their strength, though Domantas Sabonis (quad) is still banged up and Myles Turner (toe) isn't coming back anytime soon. Malcolm Brogdon (hamstring) and Jeremy Lamb (knee) also would enter this series at less than 100% if Indiana can survive Thursday's play-in game.

Whichever team wins will likely earn the right to get swept in the first round. Don't overthink this one.

Pick: 76ers (TBD)

No. 2 Brooklyn Nets (-1350) vs. No. 7 Boston Celtics (+850)

Two weeks ago, this would have been an entirely different series. The Nets were mired in a four-game losing streak and had injuries to their stars, while the Celtics seemed to be finally putting it all together behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

What a difference two weeks makes. Brooklyn has won five straight with relative ease, while Boston has lost nine of its last 14 games - including six of nine in that stretch without Brown, who is out for the season with a wrist injury. Marcus Smart (ankle) and Robert Williams (toe) also left Tuesday's play-in against the Wizards, though Smart returned later in the game.

Kemba Walker missed that contest and has played in just six of the team's last 15 games, leaving Tatum as the Celtics' only "healthy" starter entering the first round. Granted, he showed he can carry this team on his back, though it's telling that the C's needed a 50-piece from their young star to erase a halftime deficit against a sub-.500 team.

It's not like the Nets are at full strength, either. Their star trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving has played a grand total of eight games together this season, though they boast a plus-7.2 net rating in just 202 minutes on the court.

Simply put, the healthiest available version of Brooklyn's roster is far superior to what Boston can offer. Even if one of those three succumbs to a playoff setback, the Nets have learned to adapt with any combination of their three stars and still own a top-eight net rating since acquiring Harden (+4.0) - better than Boston's mark over the full season (+1.2) and since Brown's injury (+0.4).

Ultimately, that's the key difference between these two clubs: while the Nets have spent all season experimenting with lineups in the absence of their stars, the Celtics haven't played more than 45 minutes with any lineup comprised of available players. There are reasons to be skeptical of Brooklyn's title trajectory, but unless Tatum is the best player on the floor for the entire series, Boston doesn't have enough horsepower to steal more than a game.

Pick: Nets -2.5 series wins (-134)

No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks (-300) vs. No. 6 Miami Heat (+250)

The last time Jimmy Butler shared the court with the Bucks, he scored 17 points on just six shots and hit six free throws down the stretch to hand Milwaukee its second consecutive early exit in the postseason. You know the rest: the Heat downed the Celtics in six games before succumbing to injuries in a Finals loss to the Lakers.

That set the tone for the next seven months, as Miami slogged through an injury-riddled campaign before ripping off 12 wins in its last 16 games to avoid the play-in game. Meanwhile, the Bucks have essentially spent seven months preparing for this moment - treating the regular season as a testing ground after two stellar campaigns with nothing to show for it.

The results are mixed. Milwaukee's offense scored 4.6 points per 100 possessions more than last year's, the largest jump by any team this season. Much of that came from emphasizing higher-value shots - the Bucks' offensive rebounding rate (26.9%) skyrocketed from last season, and they lead the league in pull-up 3-point percentage (37.8%). They also played a more malleable zone defense, sparking the league's most aggressive transition game and a more efficient offense as a result.

It didn't come without a cost. That relaxed defense led to the biggest drop in defensive rating of any team (from 102.5 to 110.7), and they allowed an NBA-record 14.8 made 3-pointers per game and among the league's highest field-goal percentages outside of the paint. The recipe is clear: create easy looks on one end and prevent them on the other, to an extreme degree.

We don't know if Milwaukee's approach will bear fruit in the playoffs, but there's plenty of risk in assuming it will at this price. Conversely, we know who the Heat are when healthy, and we've seen it throughout the regular season - Miami was 11.1 points per 100 possessions better when Butler was on the floor, which has been the case in 52 of 72 games this season.

The Heat are 33-19 (63.5%) in those games, which would have ranked eighth in the league just behind the Bucks (63.9%) across an entire season. We know what this team is: Miami will bombard you with shooters at every turn, and it'll harass you on defense with an active zone that erases inside looks and stifles opposing teams in transition.

Much like last season, this is simply a bad matchup for the Bucks, albeit against a shaky Heat team that has only recently shown its true colors. Is this new-look Milwaukee team equipped to exorcise its playoff demons? I'm willing to bet on a repeat of last season, especially at such a generous price.

Pick: Heat (+250)

No. 4 New York Knicks (+105) vs. No. 5 Atlanta Hawks (-125)

The two biggest surprises in this year's playoff field will face off immediately out of the gate, and it's anybody's guess which version of these teams we'll see.

Will we see the Knicks team that played gritty but unconvincing defense and owned a sub-.500 record as of early April? Or the one that ripped off nine straight victories and won 16 of its final 20 games behind the NBA's fifth-best net rating over that span? What about the Hawks, who went 14-20 under Lloyd Pierce before closing out the year on a 27-11 run under Nate McMillan?

Since firing Lloyd on March 1, Atlanta boasts the NBA's seventh-best net rating (+4.5) - better than the Knicks' (+3.7) over the same stretch - with a top-12 offense and defense. That came despite many of its top scorers rotating in and out of the lineup with injuries; nearly all of them should suit up for this series.

Tom Thibodeau's group hasn't dealt with the same attrition, and the team's deep rotation has been pivotal given the energy the coach demands from his players on the defensive end. Can hustle win in the playoffs? New York still ranks 29th in assist rate (54.3%) and attempts 30 triples per game, the fourth-lowest in the league. That combination doesn't bode well for their ability to generate offense in the playoffs when those easy looks simply fade away.

The Knicks' slogging pace should prepare them for the tempo of the postseason, but that combined with a lack of shooting will also make it tougher for them to mount a comeback if the Hawks' gunners heat up. Julius Randle has been an MVP-caliber player this year, but he'll be hard-pressed to find space against Clint Capela and Atlanta's sneakily competent interior defense.

There are simply too many weapons to defend to expect New York's defense to carry it in a seven-game series. Trae Young can win this series outright if he gets hot; if the Knicks try to trap him or hedge on ball screens, he has two elite rim-runners in Capela and John Collins and a litany of shooters around him.

There's a scenario in which New York's defense suffocates those shooters and walls off the paint while its two-man game of Randle and RJ Barrett steals the show. It's far from the likeliest one. Don't be surprised if the Hawks get better as this series wears on and they become more familiar with the Knicks' effective (but overperforming) defense.

Pick: Hawks (-125)

C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.