Top 10 player matchups of Round 2 of the 2018 NBA Playoffs

Jrue and Klay have been playing against each other since they were 15 in Southern California high schools. They’re the same age. Both have brothers who play professional sports. Jrue missed big chunks of the last five seasons due to injury, while Klay doesn’t remember big chunks of the last five seasons due to his medical marijuana card. And while neither is the team’s first option, they’re explosive enough offensively to win a playoff game themselves. They were red-hot in the first round, with Jrue putting up 28 points per game, and Klay drilling 16 threes (in only 31 attempts). Of course, both guys will face much tougher defenders this time; namely, each other.

With Ricky Rubio limping, Donovan Mitchell figures to be primary Jazz point guard against Houston, matching up directly with CP3. Paul convinced Mitchell to stay in the draft this year, and now he has to face him in Round 2. Mitchell is at a disadvantage as a rookie in his first playoffs, but he’s still made it to the conference finals the same number of times as Paul. The Jazz are going to absolutely depend on Mitchell’s scoring to keep pace with the juggernaut Rockets offense, and if there’s one thing that motivates Chris Paul more than insurance commercials and teaching his son, Kevin Love, about the facts of life, it’s shutting down a young upstart guard.

Joel Embiid is a freak of nature, a 7-footer with a sweet three-point stroke, and a defensive impact on par with Rudy Gobert and Anthony Davis. But Embiid isn’t quite as dominant when he plays the Celtics, particularly when he’s guarded by Al Horford. Joel shot only 36 percent when matched up against Horford, who isn’t as spectacular as Embiid, but is good at literally every aspect of basketball. Horford passes, shoots from outside, plays smart defense, tapes his ankles perfectly, makes his free throws, blocks out on rebounds, throws a beautiful two-handed bounce pass, and is polite to clubhouse attendants. Plus, he’s not active on social media, tweeting only about Celtics milestones, European soccer, and the NCAA Tournament. How is Embiid supposed to trash talk him when Al doesn’t check his mentions?

Thanks to Kevin Love’s injured thumb, George Hill’s sore back, and Jeff Green’s inherent Jeff Greenness, Korver was the second-best player on the Cavs in Round One. Meanwhile Kyle Lowry has gone from being the worst shooter in NBA playoff history to a deadly three-point threat. In fact, Lowry has taken over half of his shots from deep (and another quarter right at the basket). While Korver held up defensively against Indiana, Lowry and the Raptors guards are going to be a bigger challenge. The player who sinks the most threes wins the Battle of the Kyles, and might determine who takes this series.

Iguodala and Rondo squared off in the second round back in 2012, when Rondo was a Celtic and Iguodala was Jrue Holiday’s teammate in Philadelphia. Andre started at point guard in Steph Curry’s absence, which means he should match up with Rondo when the Warriors play the Pelicans. They’ve got a lot in common. They’re smart defenders, with six All-Defensive Team selections between them. Both players seem to coast in the regular season, saving their energy for the playoffs. They’re also unreliable shooters who teams often ignore on defense, but they’ll make you pay  Andre was 7-17 on three-pointers in the first round, while Rondo hit 3-7. It was already going to be a battle, but Iguodala really poured gasoline on the fire by attacking Rondo's prowess at children's games, telling reporters “I could beat him at Connect Four. He cheats.”

The Cavaliers dealt Channing Frye at the trade deadline, and Tristan Thompson has been an ineffective player, both on the court and in the “how-to-be-a” sense. Opponents pick on him more than TMZ, and there’s embarrassing video in both cases. Which means that Beach Nephew Kevin Love is the primary center for Cleveland, as they go with all-offensive starting lineups out of desperation. Love has a bad thumb, but if he’s feeling at all good, his outside shooting could force JV to the bench. The Raptors have been much better with Valanciunas’ screen-setting, rebounding, and occasional three-point bombs on the floor, so if he can keep Love in check, the Raps are in great shape. Plus, it would be fitting that the best Lithuanian player since Zydrunas Ilgauskas is the one to finally end LeBron’s Finals streak.

James Harden gets to the basket better than nearly anyone in the NBA, but Rudy Gobert defends the basket better than absolutely anyone in the league. The Rockets take more three-pointers than anyone else in the league, but that’s part of their strategy to shoot threes or at the rim. Gobert has a 7’8” wingspan that can erase the “at the rim” part, and as a result, the rest of the Jazz can sell out at the three-point line. The Rockets may well try to force Gobert out of his comfort zone by playing Ryan Anderson at center, but that will compromise their own defense. What might swing that matchup is the officials. Harden flops all the time and creates a ton of contact, while Gobert gets bailed out by the refs and uses length and verticality to defend without fouling. However, it’s hard not to believe that Harden and his wild beard will triumph over Gobert and his elaborately designed hair. Plus, a French defense hasn’t been reliable since the Maginot Line.

There might not be a single center who can handle AD one-on-one, which is why the Warriors need to use the reigning Defensive Player of the Year on The Brow. Usually the Warriors save their Death Lineup/Hamptons Five/Draymond-at-center for emergencies, but after watching what AD did to Portland's traditional lineups, they might forego traditional centers altogether. Draymond will deny the ball, slap passes away, and make life difficult for Davis. Because you can't battle Draymond Green in a playoff series without being at least a little worried about the safety of your junk.

It's the No. 1 pick from the 2016 Draft vs. the No. 3 pick. Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown are both preternaturally talented defenders with a ton of length who can guard multiple positions. On offense, Brown will make you pay if he's given too much space to shoot, and if you give Simmons too much space, he'll use it as a runway to blow past you. The Celtics have to hope the series becomes a rock fight, and the first step to slowing down the game is to slow down Simmons. Even if Brown gets worked by the presumptive Rookie of the Year, Boston's almost certain to win the matchup of this year's lottery picks, Jayson Tatum and the shooting-impaired Markelle Fultz.

The Toronto Raptors have a lot of options when it comes to guarding LeBron James, none of them ideal. They can put rookie OG Anunoby on him to start the game, or try to use Pascal Siakam’s length to bother him, or take Norman Powell out of mothballs to try his luck. But no one can really stop LeBron, except, well, LeBron’s own body. He had to play over 40 minutes a game just to get past the Pacers, but had to come out of Game 7 due to cramping – don’t tell Gatorade. Thaddeus Young even made him bleed his own blood. LeBron is going to need every recovery method at his disposal – his training van, his hyperbaric oxygen bag, blood transfused from Cedi Osman, whatever it takes. Because every moment that LeBron rests is a moment that the Cavaliers fate is in the hands of J.R. Smith and Jeff Green, and that's truly exhausting to think about.

Steve Kerr has been Alvin Gentry's boss on two occasions, as the GM in Phoenix and then as head coach with the Warriors when Gentry was his assistant coach and offensive coordinator in 2014-15. Now they're facing off for the first time in the playoffs, and Gentry has the chance to live out everyone's fantasy: To beat the hell out of your old boss. Sure, the two men seem friendly, and they share joint custody of Ian Clark, but even reaching the conference finals isn't quite as sweet as smacking down the boss, whoever he is.

The OKC Thunder are waiting on decisions from both All-Stars they acquired this summer. Paul George has a $20 million option for 2018-19, which he will almost certainly decline, and Carmelo Anthony has a $28 million option, which he will almost certainly pick up. George was effective next to Westbrook this year, save a 2-16 disaster in Game 6 against Utah, and a bizarre rivalry with Joe Ingles. Anthony looked lost all season, shot 21 percent from three in the first round, and played awful defense, all contributing to a -58 plus-minus for the series. At his exit interview, he added that coming off the bench was “out of the question.” The Thunder are capped out, and paying nearly $100 million for their four starters who aren’t PG so they desperately need George to come back. But does he want to return to a first-round loser alongside a totally washed Melo?