The NBA playoffs commenced Saturday as 16 teams are now competing for the Larry O’Brien Trophy awarded to the NBA Champion.

And the Stanley Cup Playoffs are ushered in tonight as 16 teams in the National Hockey League try to capture Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Both trophies will be awarded in June.

The NBA Playoffs can be seen on ESPN, TNT, ABC, and NBA TV, while the Stanley Cup Playoffs can be viewed on ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS.

The NBA Finals begin on Thursday, June 1st, with game 1, and conclude with Game 7, if necessary, on Tuesday, June 18th. ABC will telecast the entire Finals.

The Stanley Cup Finals commence on Saturday, June 3rd, with the rest of the Finals’ dates and times to be determined. TNT will broadcast the Cup Finals.

The Milwaukee Bucks finished with the best record in the NBA, but were defeated last night by the Miami Heat in game one and are uncertain on the status of their great center, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was injured in last night’s game. Could be a problem going forward for the No.1 overall seed.

In the NHL, the Boston Bruins finished the regular season 65-12-5 with 135 points, 22 points better than the Carolina Hurricanes, which finished with 113 points. Teams get 2 points for victories and a point for an overtime loss. A loss does not count against the point total. The Bruins 65 victories and 135 points are now all time records in the history of the National Hockey League.

So, there will be plenty of phenomenal clashes in both leagues coming up in the next two months.

Here are White’s World’s predictions for the NBA and the NHL Playoffs, respectively.

NBA Playoffs, All series best 4 of 7

Eastern Conference

Miami Heat over Milwaukee Bucks in 6

New York Knicks (excellent team) over Cleveland Cavs in 6

Philly Seventy Sixers over Brooklyn Nets in 6

Boston Celtics over Atlanta Hawks in 4

Western Conference

Denver Nuggets over Minnesota Timberwolves in 5

LA Clippers over Phoenix Suns in 6

Sacramento Kings over Golden State in 7

LA Lakers over Memphis Grizzlies in 6

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Knicks over Heat in 7

Celtics over Sixers in 7

Western Conference Semis

Kings over Lakers in 7

Clippers over Nuggets in 7

Eastern Conference Finals

Celtics over Knicks in 6

Western Conference Finals

Kings over Clips in 7

NBA Finals

I love this Sac Town Kings team. Coach Mike Brown is a stud and so are the great De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, both Kentucky players. If you want to win a Super Bowl in the NFL, draft Alabama players. If you want to win a World Series in baseball, draft Vanderbilt players. And if you want to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the NBA, draft Kentucky players. It’s mind blowing how many suoperstar Kentucky players there are in the NBA. It’s also mind blowing that John Calipari hasn’t won more than one national championship with all the talent he’s accumulated in Lexington. Guy can recruit through the roof, but his on floor coaching leaves a lot to be desired.

As much as I love this Sac Town team, I’m going to take Jayson Tatum, a former Duke player, Jaylen Brown, a former Cal player, and the great veteran, Al Hereford, who played at Florida for Billy Donovan, and has been an awesome NBA player in his 16 years in the league. The 36 year old Horford brings it every time out. I’ll take the Celtics.

Celtics over Kings in 5

Most Valuable Player of the Finals

Jayson Tatum

Stanley Cup Playoffs, Best 4 out of 7

This is a very interesting historical fact. Of the previous 36 winners of the President’s Trophy, awarded to the team with the leagues’ best record, only 11 have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final and only 8 of those have hoisted the Cup. Only 3 teams in the salary cap era, since 2005-06, have won the President’s Trophy and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. It’s been only tougher in recent years. Since the NHL changed to a wild card format in 2013-14, there hasn’t been a single President’s Trophy winner that has advanced to the Stanley Cup. The 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning team, whose point record the Boston Bruins topped this year for the all time points achieved in the regular season, were swept in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets after defeating the Blue Jackets all three times they played in the regular season. Then Blue Jackets goalie, Sergie Bobrovsky, now plays for the Florida Panthers, the Bruins first round opponent.

Otherwise, seven Presidents’ Trophy winners in the wild card era have lost in the second round. Talk about unpredictable playoffs. The Stanley Cup’s are it.

But, I’m a predictor, so I’ll take a shot.

Eastern Conference Finals

Bruins over Carolina Hurricanes in 7

Western Conference Finals

LA Kings over Colorado Avalanche (defending Stanley Cup Champion) in 7

Stanley Cup Finals

I believe in the Bruins. Maybe the odds are stacked against them, but this team has been terrific all season. I like them to break the wild card era trend and get the job done in the postseason as well. Give me the Boston teams to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the Stanley Cup Trophy, respectively.

Bruins in 6 over the Kings

Conn Smythe winner, Most Valuable Player in Stanley Cup Playoffs

David Pastrnak

The great scorer for the Bruins leads them to a title.

Some of the NHL intel is courtesy of ESPN.