Weekly Takes - Monday, April 10th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, April 10th Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs win over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Zach Aston-Reese

3. Morgan Rielly

2. My three stars from the Leafs convincing win over Montreal on Saturday…

1. Mitch Marner

2. William Nylander

3. Matthews

The Leafs best game of the season, for whatever that is worth. It was nice to see the Leafs give Jett Alexander the moment of his life, despite a player destined for the KHL crying about it on the other side.

3. When it comes to Matthew Knies, it is hard to find someone worth coming out of the lineup for him, but that does not mean he should not be given every possible chance to make an impact.

In all three games to close out the regular season, he should be playing in the top six.

4. With the NBA regular season complete, here is a list of general managers and head coaches that I would move on from if I were their respective teams…

General Managers…

• Mitch Kupchak (Hornets)

• Chad Buchannan (Pacers)

• Tommy Sheppard (Wizards)

Head Coaches…

• Jason Kidd (Mavericks)

• Stephen Silas (Rockets)

• Wes Unseld Jr. (Wizards)

5. My NBA regular season awards…

MVP: Nikola Jokic

ROY: Walker Kessler

MIP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

DPOY: Brook Lopez

6MOY: Immanuel Quickley

EOY: Mike Gansey

COY: Mark Daigneault

6. My NBA Playoffs Predictions…

Eastern Conference…

Play In…

• Heat beat Hawks

• Raptors beat Bulls

• Raptors beat Hawks

Round One…

• Bucks beat Raptors in Five

• Celtics beat Heat in Five

• Sixers beat Nets in Five

• Cavs beat Knicks in Six

Round Two…

• Bucks beat Cavs in Six

• Celtics beat 76ers in Seven

Round Three…

• Bucks beat Celtics in Seven

Western Conference…

Play-In…

• Lakers beat Timberwolves

• Pelicans beat Thunder

• Pelicans beat Timberwolves

Round One…

• Nuggets beat Pelicans in Six

• Grizzlies beat Lakers in Seven

• Warriors beat Kings in Seven

• Suns beat Clippers in Six

Round Two…

• Suns beat Nuggets in Six

• Warriors beat Grizzlies in Seven

Round Three..

• Suns beat Warriors in Six

Finals…

• Bucks beat Suns in Seven

The Eastern Conference will be rather predictable until we get to round two, but once we do it will be must-see TV.

The Western Conference will be amazing to watch right from the play-in onward. This has all the makings to be the best NBA Playoffs in quite some time.

7. When it comes to the Mavericks openly tanking against the Bulls on Friday, I was a big fan of it.

The owner and general manager of your favourite team, if you are a Mavericks fan, just told everyone in the world that their goal is to win a championship and that anything else is unacceptable and not worth playing for.

8. The Timberwolves, who have no chance of going on a playoff run, have to keep Rudy Gobert away from the team throughout the entire Play-In.

Doing anything else would mean the franchise has vastly different rules for each individual player. Cannot happen.

9. If Lamar Jackson returns to the Ravens, there is no denying how massive the OBJ signing is for them.

He needed a top target and they now have one.

But how many games do the two combined to play this season in purple and black?

10. For the second year in a row, the golfer who was golfing the best heading into the Masters ended up wearing the Green Jacket by the end of Sunday.

There is no more worthy winner than Jon Rahm.