Playoff Time!
The NBA playoffs start in 45 minutes when the Wizards take on the LeBron and the Cavs.
I wanted to get my picks on record before the first game starts so here they are:
Round one:
Lakers over Nuggets in six games.
Carmelo and Iverson can win one game each for the Nugs but in the end the Lakers are too much better and will win fairly easily. Most people wouldn’t even give the Nugs two games
Jazz over Rockets in six games.
I would never predict the Rockets in this series because the Jazz have just been so much better. Houston only has a better record because of their 22 game streak. I originally picked Utah in seven but they aren’t good enough to win a game seven in Houston so i changed it to six.
Spurs over Suns in seven games.
Bill Simmons called it the best first round series ever. It is most deffinately the best in the ten years I have been watching basketball. Both the Spurs and Suns scare me a lot and luckily only one of them can win. Unfortunately, on the slip side, only one will lose. Shaq will be a tough match up for Duncan but Parker is too quick for Nash and there is no Ginobili on the Suns (even if Barbosa is the next best thing it’s not the same) so the Spurs win a very tough series.
Hornets over Mavericks in seven games.
Chris Paul is too fast for J-Kidd. Maybe Devin Harris would be quick enough but now the Mavs have Kidd instead. The Mavs have more expirience and will put up a good fight but eventually Paul will be too much.
Celtics over Hawks in four games.
While the Celts are a historic regular season team the Hawks are making people question if there should still be an 8-8 format or if they should just take the 16 best teams. Golden State won more than ten more games than Atlanta but the Hawks are in and the Warriors are out. ‘Nuf said.
Wizards over Cavs in six games.
With Arenas back the Wiz have one of the most underrated “big threes” in the NBA. Jamison and Butler were both all-stars this year while Arenas is the one considered to be their best player. LeBron is the second best player in the league (yes Kobe is still better especially when you factor defense in) but he has no team mates. He can win too games but the Wizards trio will be too much even with Arenas still at 85%. (Note: The deadline trade for the Cavs was awful. I said it then while nobody else did and now that everyone else is saying it too I’m sticking with it. Wally Szczerbiac is bad. Ben Wallace is bad and payed like he’s amazing.)
Raptors over Magic in six games.
This is my token upset. The Raps are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a center who stands a chance against Dwight Howard in Chris Bosh (although Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace and Boston’s Kevin Garnett both could handle Super-Man despite being considered powerforwards). Toronto has much better point guards than Orlando in T.J. Ford and the Spanish Jose Calderone who should’ve been an all-star this year. Orlando has the advantage at the forward positions with sharp-shooters Turkuglu and Lewis but Toronto has the two time defending three-point champ Jason Kapono to counter that. Don’t expect to see much perimeter D in this series.
Pistons over 76ers in five games.
The two Andres are a good combo in Philly (Iguodala is my favorite player not on the Lakers mainly thanks to this runner up (are you serious?) showing in the ’06 dunk contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKkVzaM-L_k ). With Thaddeous Young there too now in his rookie year they have a good group but the fact is they finished sub-.500 in the worst conference ever while the Pistons still have the same core that won it all in ’04. No contest here.
Round two:
Lakers over Jazz in seven games.
The Jazz are a very tough team to face in round two. Carlos Boozer is one of the top forwards in the league. Deron Williams is one of the four best point guards. The Lakers will have a tough time guarding both of them. Lamar Odom can take Boozer but will get pushed around. Williams is far too young and fast for Derek Fisher. The Lakers, however, have the most fearsome weapon of all: Kobe Bryant. The Jazz are even worsely prepared for Bryant than the Lakers are for Boozer and Williams put together. Kyle Korver may have lifted the Jazz back from a bad start this seaon but he did so by hitting three point shots and looking like Ashton Koucher, not by playing defense. He is one of the last guys in the NBA you would want on the league’s best player. Kobe will be too much and Pau Gasol will be a big problem for the Jazz as well.
Spurs over Hornets in six games.
The Hornets get homecourt but the Spurs haven’t always had home court in round two in the past. In 2007 they were on the road when they took out the higher seeded Suns and went on to win it all. In 2005 they were also on the road to take out the higher seeded Suns. They won it all that year too. The Hornets have a great team but they don’t have the expirience to take out the Spurs.
Celtics over Wizards in four games.
Here the Wiz’s trio I praised runs into a problem. A bigger three. Even if Arenas was healthy their trio lacks a big man. The Celts have that big man in Garnett. Easy win for the Celtics.
Pistons over Raptors in five games.
Bosh will be a problem for Dertroit. But not that big of one. Wallace can take him and Detroit has a very good defense to stop anyone. Calderon and Ford are good at the point but Chauncy Billups is better for the Pistons. The more I write the less I’m convinced that the Raps can even take one.
Round three, Conference finals:
Lakers over Spurs in seven games.
The Spurs have Parker at the point. He’ll be very hard for Fisher to stop, but the Lakers have the best coach in history Zen Master Phil Jackson and he’s figured out how to stop Parker in the playoffs before. Duncan will also be tough but the Spurs lack of a center will allow the Lakers to throw a double team of Gasol’s size and Odom’s versatility at him that should be fairly effective. Ginobili will have issues in this match up because he gets the pleasure of being guarded by Kobe. The Spurs will throw mastermind Bruce Bowen on Kobe but he seems to have lost a step this year so No. 24 shouldn’t have much of a problem. Gasol’s athleticism will prove tough for Duncan and there’s no good match up for Lamar Odom on the Spurs. The Lakers also have the better bench if you take away Ginobili who plays a starter’s minutes and is the second best player on San Antonio. The Lakers also just blew out the Spurs by about 20 points about a week ago (to be fair Ginobili did not play). Although the league would rather see a Suns-Lakers match up because of Shaq, this series will be a very good battle.
Celtics over Pistons in seven games.
The Celtics won two of their three meetings this year. They have looked better all year and play with more motivation. All though it will come down to seven games it really won’t be that close a series.
Round four, THE FINALS:
Lakers over Celtics in seven games.
The league will get what it wants. The Lakers fans will get what they want: a chance to beat the hated Celtics. The Celtics fans will get what they want: a chance to beat the hated Lakers. Both teams will think they will win. Both teams will have good reason to. It will be battled out for six hard games leaving it tied at 3-3 for a long anticipated game seven in Boston. Home court is a great advantage but eventually the home crowd will be stunned as the Lakers pull with in one title of their long time rivals (the C’s have 16 and the Lakers have 14, both are waya ahead of any other team). What it comes down to, once again, is that the Lakers have Kobe Bryant. Kobe WILL not lose a game seven in the NBA finals. True he lost in ’04 to Detroit in five games, but that team was dysfunctional. It also was not his, it was Shaq’s. This team is Kobe’s and he will not let it lose and he is simply too good for the Celtics when he is accompanied by Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, veteran leader Derek Fisher, the league’s deepest bench, and hopefully Andrew Bynum back from injury. All this plus being coached by the best ever.
Lakers Rolling
They have only lost one with Pau on the team (to Atlanta a team they have always struggled with for no appearent reason) but they got their revenge on the Hawks after the break. They followed that but ruining the “Big Aristotle’s” debut in PHX and after a win vs Clippers paired with a New Orleans loss to the Spurs are back ontop of the West. Thank you Mitch, thank you Pau.
Hello world!
Pau Gasol debuted for the Lakers last night. He shocked everyone with how quickly he fit in, scoring 24 points with 12 rebounds to go with it. He carried the Lakers to a 15 point win over the New Jersey Nets despite Kobe Bryant only scoring 6 due to a dislocated finger. Derek Fisher was also key putting in 18 points.
