This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Be like Mikal Bridges today. Don’t get me wrong: This is a wonderful time of year.

With eight teams left in the playoffs and four series to be played, we don't have quite as many bold takes to make or analysis to do a deep dive into. Fortunately, it means we can max out our thought process for making the kinds or predictions few would have the courage to make.