With the NBA postseason set to get underway Saturday and the championship field narrowed down to 16 teams, it's time to put our prognosticator hats on and peer into the future to make some bold predictions for the NBA playoffs.

Raptors lose opening-round series

The No. 2 seed in the East and widely regarded as the biggest threat to the Cavaliers' chances of defending their conference crown, expect the Raptors to fall to the Pacers in six games - their third consecutive opening-round exit. To put it nicely, the Raptors have been at a tactical disadvantage in their last two trips to the postseason, and Frank Vogel's taken the Pacers past the first round in three of four trips to the playoffs.

Clippers win the West

Big things were expected from the Clippers this season, with high-profile offseason additions counted on to give the team the kind of secondary scoring it's sorely lacked in recent years. While all hasn't gone according to plan, the team is quietly heating up at the right time, ending the regular season with wins in 10 of 12. The Clippers are also the last team to hand the Warriors a postseason defeat, ousting Golden State in 2014, and did the same to the Spurs in 2015.

Thunder sweep Spurs in round 2

It's a shame a terrific season by the Spurs has been overshadowed by the record-breaking Warriors. San Antonio's been so good that a Warriors-Spurs matchup in the West final seems inevitable. But San Antonio draws Memphis in the first round, and the Grizzlies' brand of basketball isn't pretty. With Marc Gasol out and the team short on skill players, the Grizzlies limp into the playoffs with losses in 10 of 11. They'll turn that series into a bar fight, and expect what's left of the Spurs to falter against the Thunder.