Just moments ago, the NBA seeding was finalized… that means its time for one of my favorite 60-day spans of the year – the NBA Playoffs! Note: I may be one of the only people in America who enjoys all of the NBA Playoffs. Remember, I’m also in favor of baseball ditching the last 40 games of the season and just having a double-elimination tournament.
Anyways, let’s breakdown the matchups!
Eastern Conference
1-Detroit vs. 8-Orlando – Yes!!!! This is the matchup I’ve been dreaming of for years. Finally, we get to see the “Revenge of Darko”! I’m EXPECTING Darko to throw down at some point with Rasheed Wallace. It has to happen. Plus, Darko has every right to talk as much trash as possible during the brief 20-25 minutes he plays each night.
Pick: Detroit
4-Miami vs. 5-Chicago – This is clearly the marquee matchup of the 1st round. Everyone thinks Miami is going to win, but you know what? The Bulls are dangerous. The problem all season for the Bulls has been figuring out a rotation. Hell, the Bulls couldn’t even figure it out against the Nets on this last night of the season. Even though logic would dictates that the Heat should win (hell – even their dance team won the playoffs this season - http://www.nba.com/features/dance_bracket_2007.html AND last season http://www.nba.com/features/dance_bracket_2006.html ), I don’t believe Wade is healthy, and I believe these Bulls will get their first playoff series victory since the Jordan era.
Pick: Chicago
3-Toronto vs. 6-New Jersey – The Raptors are dangerous. Even with Garbajosa going down for the season, the Raptors still have an underrated Chris Bosh, and the speedy PG TJ Ford. This is a terrible matchup for Jason Kidd, because everyone knows he can’t guard quick players. Maybe the Nets will play a zone for the whole series. The only way the Nets win is if they continue to get surprise production from their 2nd-half surprises, Boston Nachbar and Mikki Moore (who’s boxing his way out to a big free agent deal this summer).
****Bonus: Vince Carter will be getting booed at every moment in Toronto!
Pick: Toronto
2-Cleveland vs. 7-Washington – I usually try to remain unbiased, but it’s not often that every outcome goes exactly the way you want it. The Cavs began the night faced with the prospect of taking on the Miami Heat in the first round (4-5 matchup) and then having to take on the Pistons. The Cavs needed three outcomes Wednesday night (Cleveland winning, Chicago losing, Washington winning) to play the Washington Wizards (who are missing Gilbert Arenas AND Caron Butler), and every game happened the way Lebron and all of Cleveland dreamed it would! I will be eating MJ’s Frosted Rage Flakes for 1 week straight if the Cavs lose this series.
Pick: Cleveland
Western Conference
1-Dallas vs. 8-Golden State – last time Golden State was in the playoffs, in the 1993-1994 season, they also were eliminated by the Suns in the 1st round. That Golden State team was very fun – it was coached by Don Nelson and they started Chris Webber, Latrell Spreeewell, Chris Mullin, AND Avery Johnson! I clearly should have taken that bet that one of the players would soon coach against Don Nelson and dominate. Anyways, this 2007 Golden State team would get killed by that 1995 Golden State team. Plus, Avery Johnson knows ALL of Don Nelson’s weaknesses after coaching under him for multiple years in Dallas. WARNING: Golden State actually went 3-0 versus Dallas this season, BUT, it's very misleading, because one victory was the 3rd game of the season, and a second took place on Tuesday when Dallas was resting everyone. Pick: Dallas
4-Utah vs. 5-Houston – Houston actually has the homecourt advantage in this series. The edge really has to go to Houston, because Utah has been terrible in the last half of the season. It should be fun to see former Illini alumni Deron Williams and Luther Head go against each other. Ultimately, Yao and McGrady and the Rockets have been playing great, and that’s who I have to go with.
Pick: Houston
3-San Antonio vs. 6-Denver – They played in the 2005 playoffs, and there was a lot of bad blood. Kenyon Martin may be gone, but the rest of the team is pretty much still there. Denver actually would have had a better chance just sprinting the whole game against Phoenix.
Pick: San Antonio
2- Phoenix vs. 7-Lakers – This could get interesting. The Lakers have a great coach, and definitely have some weapons. Hell, according to this video, Kobe is actually Neo from the Matrix and doesn’t even need to breathe oxygen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmLFP8o8S5Y Still not clear why the Lakers struggled so much this year, which really makes me believe Kobe is a mortal, so you have to believe in the Suns here. It is also possible that Raja Bell and Kobe will get into fisticuffs.
Pick: Phoenix
Of course, I can’t stop at the 1st round. My crystal ball has been very distorted of late, but I’ve got to keep predicting.
2nd round
1-Detroit over 5-Chicago – After a brutal 7-game series, the Bulls then get to take on the Pistons. Ben Wallace will be getting booed every time he touches the ball! Or… we may find out that his signing with Chicago was really just a farce and that really Ben Wallace was wearing a Pistons shirt underneath his Bulls jersey the whole time! Anyways, it was only 19 years ago, in 1988, when a young Bulls team took on an experienced Pistons team for the first time… and the Bulls lost in 5 games! I still don’t think Scott Skiles has figured out how to maximize his team yet, and even though the Pistons are coached by the basketball equivalent of Marty Schottenheimer, I think the Pistons will find a way to win this one.
2-Cleveland over 3-Toronto – As I’m writing this, I did a triple take at the scores from earlier in the night. The Raptors were resting all of their players, and they let Luke Jackson, former 1st round pick of the Cavs, start the game. Luke responded by hitting 30 points on 80% FG shooting! Luke may be ready to get revenge on the Cavs, but let’s be honest here – he really doesn’t play in normal game situations. Anyway, this should be a VERY entertaining series. The Cavs won’t have anyone to stop Bosh, and the Raptors certainly can’t stop Lebron. In the end, Lebron will find a way to win because the referees are on his side.
1-Dallas over 4-Houston – The Western Conference is going to have some sensational games! If any team can negate the Yao factor, it would be the Suns who are going to run the whole damn time. Plus, Steve Nash has the power of a thousand Canadians. And he knows physics so well, he can do soccer tricks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqQfYUrQ_Qg
3-San Antonio over 2-Phoenix – No one has been playing better in the 2nd half of the season than the San Antonio Spurs! The only person who could even stop Tim Duncan was that referee who ejected Duncan so that he could fight him. Now that that referee is banned from the playoffs, the path is clear for a slight upset!
Conference Finals
2-Cleveland over 1-Detroit – This is a very tough series to call. The Cavs are the most inconsistent team in the NBA. No one is ever sure when they will give 100%, or when they will just stand around and drool over the fact that they play with Lebron on their team. I just have a suspicion that Detroit will be ailing by the time they get through Orlando and Chicago, and Detroit will not be capable of surviving without a fully healthy team.
1-Dallas over 3-San Antonio – such a tossup… very torn over what to do, but I feel like Dallas is playing with a mission this year after last year’s collapse in the Finals.
NBA Finals
1-Dallas over 2-Cleveland – won’t even be close. But if the Cavs make it, it will be a great experience for Lebron and the coaching staff.
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