There are approximately 6 to 8 games left for every team in the NBA. As march madness come to a close with UCONN and Kentucky fighting for a national championship tomorrow, the NBA playoffs will soon begin. In my last post I told you why I'm so excited to see the playoffs this year and now I want to expand to look into some of the potential match ups and who is going to win.
First they Pacers have been on a terrible skid since the All star break and Miami looks to claim the number one spot from them. With only a handful of games left Miami looks poised to take over the number one spot. Does that mean Indiana can't beat Miami? Well even if Indiana did have home court Miami would beat them in six games. The funny part is now that they lost home court, Miami is going to be favored to win and have a home court advantage for game 7. The funniest part to me though is Indiana believed they needed home court to beat Miami and now that they don't have it their moral is destroyed. They still have problems incorporating Evan Turner and Andrew Buynum into the lineup, while Danny Granger is thriving with the Clippers. The fact that Indiana believed they needed home court to beat Miami only shows me that they never had the potential to beat them in the first place. The Eastern Conference is already decided in my opinion. The Heat vs Pacers series will only go 5 to 6 games. However, the second round matchup between Toronto and the Pacers will be interesting, I believe the Pacers will have difficulty guarding the dynamic guards of the Raptors. The Heat vs Brooklyn or the Bulls in the second round should be slightly entertaining as well. Both teams have played well going into the playoffs and could potentially take the series 6 games.
Now in the West I believe it is open season for any team to make a run at the Western Conference Championship. Strangely I don't believe the Spurs or the Thunder are going to make it to the NBA Finals this year. I don't think the Spurs have enough legs to make it to the Finals because last year they had a rather easy road to the Finals; A depleted Lakers team, injured Golden State Team and an inexperienced Grizzlies team. This year even if they got out of the West I doubt they would have the 11 games of rest like they did agains the Heat in game 1 last year. In the Thunder's case they don't have enough firepower to get through the western conference playoffs. I think its one thing to beat teams in the regular season on a consistent basis, but going head to head against the top teams in the west with no real inside presence and a team that relies on jump shots will not produce a Western Conference Champion. Even if they got out of the West I give them no chance against the Heat especially without James Harden. As for the rest of the West teams, I think the winner out of the west will be a surprise this year. Houston, The Clippers, Golden State, and Portland look poised to become the dark horses of this year's western conference playoffs. The key to me that all these teams have in common is an inside/outside presence and a core of young talent. This is the key to success in the long term but I believe this year there is an opportunity to overtake the Thunder and the Spurs. If one of these four teams is able to beat the Thunder or the Spurs it will make it easier for someone else on this dark horse list to sneak by. The key to the west is match ups and its hard to tell who is going to win right now because most of the teams are jostling for positions. The only cog in this equation could be that these teams could all take 3 through 6 positions in the West, which means they will all play each other in the first round.
Overall, The west playoff picture is far more interesting and captivating. I expect the Heat to come out of the East and win another title for the three-peat, becoming the first team in a long time to go to 4 straight NBA Finals. I don't believe the Thunder or the Spurs will beat the Heat but if one of these dark horse teams out of the west does, I think they will give the Heat a real challenge. No matter what these playoffs will be the best I've seen in a while and should be very interesting.
First they Pacers have been on a terrible skid since the All star break and Miami looks to claim the number one spot from them. With only a handful of games left Miami looks poised to take over the number one spot. Does that mean Indiana can't beat Miami? Well even if Indiana did have home court Miami would beat them in six games. The funny part is now that they lost home court, Miami is going to be favored to win and have a home court advantage for game 7. The funniest part to me though is Indiana believed they needed home court to beat Miami and now that they don't have it their moral is destroyed. They still have problems incorporating Evan Turner and Andrew Buynum into the lineup, while Danny Granger is thriving with the Clippers. The fact that Indiana believed they needed home court to beat Miami only shows me that they never had the potential to beat them in the first place. The Eastern Conference is already decided in my opinion. The Heat vs Pacers series will only go 5 to 6 games. However, the second round matchup between Toronto and the Pacers will be interesting, I believe the Pacers will have difficulty guarding the dynamic guards of the Raptors. The Heat vs Brooklyn or the Bulls in the second round should be slightly entertaining as well. Both teams have played well going into the playoffs and could potentially take the series 6 games.
Now in the West I believe it is open season for any team to make a run at the Western Conference Championship. Strangely I don't believe the Spurs or the Thunder are going to make it to the NBA Finals this year. I don't think the Spurs have enough legs to make it to the Finals because last year they had a rather easy road to the Finals; A depleted Lakers team, injured Golden State Team and an inexperienced Grizzlies team. This year even if they got out of the West I doubt they would have the 11 games of rest like they did agains the Heat in game 1 last year. In the Thunder's case they don't have enough firepower to get through the western conference playoffs. I think its one thing to beat teams in the regular season on a consistent basis, but going head to head against the top teams in the west with no real inside presence and a team that relies on jump shots will not produce a Western Conference Champion. Even if they got out of the West I give them no chance against the Heat especially without James Harden. As for the rest of the West teams, I think the winner out of the west will be a surprise this year. Houston, The Clippers, Golden State, and Portland look poised to become the dark horses of this year's western conference playoffs. The key to me that all these teams have in common is an inside/outside presence and a core of young talent. This is the key to success in the long term but I believe this year there is an opportunity to overtake the Thunder and the Spurs. If one of these four teams is able to beat the Thunder or the Spurs it will make it easier for someone else on this dark horse list to sneak by. The key to the west is match ups and its hard to tell who is going to win right now because most of the teams are jostling for positions. The only cog in this equation could be that these teams could all take 3 through 6 positions in the West, which means they will all play each other in the first round.
Overall, The west playoff picture is far more interesting and captivating. I expect the Heat to come out of the East and win another title for the three-peat, becoming the first team in a long time to go to 4 straight NBA Finals. I don't believe the Thunder or the Spurs will beat the Heat but if one of these dark horse teams out of the west does, I think they will give the Heat a real challenge. No matter what these playoffs will be the best I've seen in a while and should be very interesting.
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