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majoyenrac
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Hi everyone,
Long time NBA blogger, relatively recent here (I know some of you from my CBS Sports line days).
Anyway, Round 1 is over, and what a great round for us NBA fans...even if my Bulls were knocked out.
That said, the real fun continues....these playoffs have shown us one thing that we have rarely seen in the NBA....parity. I don't think there's any hands down favorites on either side East or West for the title. Plus while over the course of the season the East was ridiculously awful, I think since January the best teams in the East are on point with the best teams in the west.
Here's my Series pick 'ems:
East
1-Indiana vs 5- Washington
I think it's funny that I'm hearing Indy folks wipe their brow saying Atlanta was such a tough matchup that the Wizards will be a comparative cake walk. The way the Wizards played in round 1, I saw very little weaknesses. They manhandled the Thibs defensive scheme, which is no small task....and Thibs D was set up perfectly to stop them (make their bigs hit big shots-and their bigs did hit all those shots in spades). The thing with the Wizards is that Nene is such a puzzling player....a guy with star/superstar ability who oddly disappears occasionally and in other occasions is hurt....if he plays the way he did in Round 1, the Wizards may well be the team to beat out East.....Wall/Beal are as dynamic as any backcourt and crazy young; Ariza has gotten his Lakers mojo back after a year or so lost in the abyss of NO and then injury riddled last year; Gortat is a tough C who contributes well on both ends, Nene is a star player in all but name and might finally show his full strength (that we've seen for years in moments/flashes in Denver etc, but his health makes you forget). Indy isn't as bad as they've played, so you never know if they turn that switch back on, which is why I don't see this being any sort of sweep, and the Wizards do still tend to go cold and make stretches of bad plays to let you back in it. But Indy can't score, and the Wizards D when engaged is stronger than it's rep. John Wall will star in this series. Washington in 6. Miami better hope Indy makes it through....
2-Miami vs 6- Brooklyn
I know the Nets had Miami's number, and the Nets have all kinds of talent....that this should be a nice series. Plus Wade's health is still a bit iffy. But even with the 4-0 season sweep by the Nets, I don't see this series going beyond 6 to Miami. Miami has that 90's Bulls turn it up mentality, and even beyond the big 3, is many deep with guys with all kinds of playoff experience too. If the Nets had Brook Lopez, who knows....but without him I just don't see Brooklyn winning this one. Miami in 6
West I watch the East more by virtue of my Bulls fandom, but it's nice getting to watch the West with fresh lenses because these playoffs are ridiculous....no team should be a hands down favorite....this second round should really be great.
1-Spurs against 5-Blazers
Seeing Manu Ginobili turn back the clock in game 7 yesterday was such a joy....through all the years of the Spurs run he's by far the most polarizing and fun to watch of them (Parker's quick, and tricky but not as too way; Duncan's so fundamentally sound that you watch him and kind of forget just how awesome he is excepting the key closing moments of tight games), but Manu is the flash....and he was on point. Still LMA was a beast in round 1. Lillard has big shot ability like some of the stars of yesteryear except he's also great in Qtrs 1-3 as well....I don't know here....coming into the playoffs I really thought SA was the team to beat in an otherwise pretty close parity conference, but the Mavs gave the Spurs some troubles, and the Blazers are a tougher team than the Mavs. I'm going with experience here though, Spurs in 6.
2-Thunder vs 3-Clippers
Now this series should be a ton of fun. Marquee matchups everywhere. Westbrook's explosiveness and athleticism cause him to be fantastic, despite having a poor bball IQ going against one of the smartest PG's in the league who's also fantastic. Blake Griffin's athleticism against Serge Ibaka's (favorite Blake, but Serge is damn great too when necessary). And then of course the most insanely watchable player in the playoffs is Durant.... For me though, this is the series I'm most interested in. As great as Durant is, and as ridiculous as Westbrook is (seriously the guy makes almost routinely the wrong decision as a PG, but makes up for it almost just as often with his crazy talent), I just don't see how the Clippers can lose this round.....their bigs are too much for the Thunder. Clippers in 7. I CAN'T WAIT.
If the above holds, Miami vs Clippers in the finals with the Heat winning again....but man it's tough to pick.
Long time NBA blogger, relatively recent here (I know some of you from my CBS Sports line days).
Anyway, Round 1 is over, and what a great round for us NBA fans...even if my Bulls were knocked out.
That said, the real fun continues....these playoffs have shown us one thing that we have rarely seen in the NBA....parity. I don't think there's any hands down favorites on either side East or West for the title. Plus while over the course of the season the East was ridiculously awful, I think since January the best teams in the East are on point with the best teams in the west.
Here's my Series pick 'ems:
East
1-Indiana vs 5- Washington
I think it's funny that I'm hearing Indy folks wipe their brow saying Atlanta was such a tough matchup that the Wizards will be a comparative cake walk. The way the Wizards played in round 1, I saw very little weaknesses. They manhandled the Thibs defensive scheme, which is no small task....and Thibs D was set up perfectly to stop them (make their bigs hit big shots-and their bigs did hit all those shots in spades). The thing with the Wizards is that Nene is such a puzzling player....a guy with star/superstar ability who oddly disappears occasionally and in other occasions is hurt....if he plays the way he did in Round 1, the Wizards may well be the team to beat out East.....Wall/Beal are as dynamic as any backcourt and crazy young; Ariza has gotten his Lakers mojo back after a year or so lost in the abyss of NO and then injury riddled last year; Gortat is a tough C who contributes well on both ends, Nene is a star player in all but name and might finally show his full strength (that we've seen for years in moments/flashes in Denver etc, but his health makes you forget). Indy isn't as bad as they've played, so you never know if they turn that switch back on, which is why I don't see this being any sort of sweep, and the Wizards do still tend to go cold and make stretches of bad plays to let you back in it. But Indy can't score, and the Wizards D when engaged is stronger than it's rep. John Wall will star in this series. Washington in 6. Miami better hope Indy makes it through....
2-Miami vs 6- Brooklyn
I know the Nets had Miami's number, and the Nets have all kinds of talent....that this should be a nice series. Plus Wade's health is still a bit iffy. But even with the 4-0 season sweep by the Nets, I don't see this series going beyond 6 to Miami. Miami has that 90's Bulls turn it up mentality, and even beyond the big 3, is many deep with guys with all kinds of playoff experience too. If the Nets had Brook Lopez, who knows....but without him I just don't see Brooklyn winning this one. Miami in 6
West I watch the East more by virtue of my Bulls fandom, but it's nice getting to watch the West with fresh lenses because these playoffs are ridiculous....no team should be a hands down favorite....this second round should really be great.
1-Spurs against 5-Blazers
Seeing Manu Ginobili turn back the clock in game 7 yesterday was such a joy....through all the years of the Spurs run he's by far the most polarizing and fun to watch of them (Parker's quick, and tricky but not as too way; Duncan's so fundamentally sound that you watch him and kind of forget just how awesome he is excepting the key closing moments of tight games), but Manu is the flash....and he was on point. Still LMA was a beast in round 1. Lillard has big shot ability like some of the stars of yesteryear except he's also great in Qtrs 1-3 as well....I don't know here....coming into the playoffs I really thought SA was the team to beat in an otherwise pretty close parity conference, but the Mavs gave the Spurs some troubles, and the Blazers are a tougher team than the Mavs. I'm going with experience here though, Spurs in 6.
2-Thunder vs 3-Clippers
Now this series should be a ton of fun. Marquee matchups everywhere. Westbrook's explosiveness and athleticism cause him to be fantastic, despite having a poor bball IQ going against one of the smartest PG's in the league who's also fantastic. Blake Griffin's athleticism against Serge Ibaka's (favorite Blake, but Serge is damn great too when necessary). And then of course the most insanely watchable player in the playoffs is Durant.... For me though, this is the series I'm most interested in. As great as Durant is, and as ridiculous as Westbrook is (seriously the guy makes almost routinely the wrong decision as a PG, but makes up for it almost just as often with his crazy talent), I just don't see how the Clippers can lose this round.....their bigs are too much for the Thunder. Clippers in 7. I CAN'T WAIT.
If the above holds, Miami vs Clippers in the finals with the Heat winning again....but man it's tough to pick.
