On Sunday, the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs finally begins. So long, Boston and Milwaukee — you both gained valuable experience a year before any expectations start to weigh on you. Good luck, Brooklyn and Toronto, with your offseasons full of tough questions.

Are they gone? Great. Now we can get real. Thank goodness Round 1 is over — it was painfully devoid of real drama beyond “Oh God, are we going to have to watch the Nets in another series?” The two series we have left promise to jump a level of excitement or two, and neither one has a runaway favorite. There are big questions that will need to be answered before a winner emerges in both matchups.

Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards

1. Will “Stretch Four” Paul Pierce remain effective? In the Wizards’ sweep of the Toronto Raptors, they looked like an entirely different team than they had since the calendar turned to 2015. Part of that was head coach Randy Wittman’s sudden willingness to go with a small lineup and play Paul Pierce as a power forward with Otto Porter at small forward. It opened up the floor for young guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, and the Raptors couldn’t punish them on the boards.

Sure, Wittman could have known that lineup would work all along but saved it for the playoffs, or he could have simply turned to it out of necessity, but we’ll get to that second possibility. Either way, the Hawks are better equipped to defend that Wizards’ lineup thanks to the versatility of DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap — actually, they’re simply better defensively top-to-bottom than Toronto. Still, the Wizards should be able to score well enough. The question will be on defense. Will Pierce be effective against Paul Millsap, or will Millsap force rotations that expose shooters? If he does, the Hawks move the ball well enough to punish Washington over and over.

2. How healthy are the big men? It’s just as likely that Pierce saw action at the four because Nene was still dealing with plantar fasciitis and his backup is Drew Gooden. Nene only averaged 24 minutes in the first round (it was 30 per game in the regular season), and shot only 47 percent from the field. Sure, he may not seem as necessary as he did before Wittman discovered the Pierce-Porter combination, but if he’s healthy, he can be an imposing physical presence on the glass and an effective midrange shooter. He outweighs Millsap and that additional size would be an asset to the Wizards.

For Atlanta, both Millsap and Al Horford entered the playoffs nursing injuries (Millsap’s shoulder and Horford’s finger), and they started out looking rough against Brooklyn before finding their strides in Games 5 and 6. However, there’s only so much time between games in the postseason, and any injury can be aggravated when not given time to heal. A couple of achy nights for either Hawk could potentially swing the series.

3. Can Anyone Guard Kyle Korver? If we simply play like-for-like in predicting who guards Korver in this series, then the deadly shooter would be Bradley Beal’s assignment. Beal isn’t very good at navigating screens, however, and he’s considerably smaller than Korver, so it might fall to Porter. Regardless, Atlanta screens for their sharpshooter so relentlessly that the Wizards will be forced to switch frequently to keep a hand in Korver’s face. If Korver still gets enough openings and knocks them down, it could be a short series.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls

1. What do the Cavs do without Kevin Love? We’ll touch on this in more detail very soon, but for now let’s say that this is the single biggest issue heading into this series. It’s not just about how the Cavs play it, however; how the Bulls try to take advantage is an open question at this point, too.

2. How much will Cleveland miss J.R. Smith for Games 1 and 2? With J.R. available, the Cavs have a dangerous wing rotation with him and Shumpert complementing LeBron. Without him, there will be more Matthew Dellavedova than David Blatt will be comfortable with. When he’s on, Smith is a decent enough defender who is a deadly shooter with the confidence to trigger at any time.

Of course, whether he will be after his two-game ban could be its own question. This isn’t J.R.’s first suspension in the playoffs, and when he returned for the Knicks, he failed to crack 40 percent shooting from the field in any subsequent game in those playoffs. He went ice cold. If history repeats itself and Smith can’t remain an outside threat, it will allow Chicago to pack the paint even more with their big bodies to deny penetration from LeBron and Kyrie Irving.

3. Who has the upper hand: Kyrie Irving or Derrick Rose? Irving may not be a total liability on defense, but he sure isn’t a net positive on that end. The only way he could avoid guarding Rose when both starting units are out there is by taking Jimmy Butler or Mike Dunleavy, and neither of those assignments sound easy, either. Rose might not have his A-game every night, but he’s still lightning quick, and will draw rotations that open up his teammates if he gets past Kyrie with regularity.

Of course, Rose has had his own defensive issues so far in the playoffs. Kyrie uses screens very well with or without the ball, and he’ll test Rose’s mobility and attentiveness whenever they face off. It should be one of the most exciting things to watch for in this series.