With the NBA regular season now officially over, it's time for the 2017 NBA playoffs to get started this weekend. The playoff brackets will feature plenty of star power scattered amongst eight matchups. Two All-Star players who will be featured in the postseason recently were honored with the monthly "top player" award for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. Congratulations are certainly in order to the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul and Indiana Pacers' Paul George for their work over the past month and season as they head towards the playoff grind.

Pacers' George is East's best

Paul George of the Indiana Pacers grabbed the Kia NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month award. The NBA All-Star forward had 32.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists over the past month. That performance by George helped his Pacers' team to go 5-1 and clinch the No. 7 seed in the East. The team clinched a playoff spot on the final night of the season with a win as the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls were also vying for a spot. Chicago also won, as did Miami, but the Bulls grabbed the No. 8 seed due to a tie-breaker.

While the past season involved a lot of work for George to help his team to ultimately get to the postseason, now they've got even more work on their hands.

In the first-round for their NBA playoffs matchup they get to take on LeBron James and the No. 2 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. The reigning NBA champions are considered second-overall for the favorites to win the NBA Finals, behind only Golden State. Game 1 of the Pacers vs. Cavs series is on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time via ABC network.

Clippers' Paul is best in West

For the Western Conference NBA Player of the Month, Los Angeles Clippers' point guard Chris Paul won the honor. Paul's Clippers team has been red hot lately. The team went 5-0 in April with Paul averaging 21.2 points, 9.8 assists, and five rebounds for his stats. That helped the team to grab home-court advantage for the first round.

Paul and the Clippers will be part of an interesting first-round matchup when they start their NBA playoffs schedule this weekend. The team finished as the No. 4 seed and is the hottest team heading into the playoffs with a six-game winning streak. They'll face the No. 4 seed Utah Jazz who finished just a game ahead of them to grab homecourt advantage. Could an upset be brewing in this close matchup or will "CP3" help lead his team to the next round again?

The Clippers and Jazz begin their series with Game 1 on Saturday night via ESPN starting at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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