The NBA Playoffs

What better way to start off a blog, then talking about the NBA playoffs. I know I'm a little late and many teams are already into the second round, but there are some great first round series going on still that deserve some attention. Let's start in the East conference where Detroit and Orlando have already wrapped up their first round series. Detroit removed all doubt about their capabilities with a route of the 76ers. I think many were surprised by the uppity sixers, lead by Andre Miller, when they took the first game of the series from Detroit. The train of thought was Detroit would come around and win the series 4 games to 1. All Philadelphia did was wake a sleeping giant. Then they took a second game and the series shifted to Philadelphia for a game 6. Would Philadelphia force a game 7? Detroit put the kabosh on that with a resounding romp. Their opponent in the second round is Orlando who wasted no time with the Toronto Raptors. Detroit now has the daunting task of facing Dwight Howard. This will be Howards opportunity to further cement himself as a dominating big man in the league. I believe Dwight will be too much for the Detroit big men to handle and he will have a great series. Orlando in 6 games.

We can't talk about the East with out talking about the Atlanta Hawks and their two wins over Boston. I don't think anyone expected that to happen. I thought it would be Boston in a sweep. That wasn't the case but look for Boston to dominate in game 6. Atlanta had a good couple of games but I look for the big three to become the big three again and dominate the game. Boston will advance to play Cleveland.

The Cleveland / Washington series has become a great matchup. As the series shifts back to the nations capital look for King James to dominate once again. Deshawn Stevenson has managed to get under his skin by calling him overrated and then taking a swipe at his head. King James is getting tired of the pesky Wizards, who really have no business advancing to the second round. James will dominate game 6 and the Cavs will move on to meet the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics.

Now moving to the west. Could any race to the playoffs have been closer then the one this season. It set up for what seemed to be a knock down drag out first round of the playoffs. The only team who seemed to not belong was the Denver Nuggets. San Antonio and Phoenix seemed to have some promise, especially with Manu Ginobli just coming off an injury. San Antonio had other plans. This was a statement series for them, and a statement they made. Many experts were starting to wonder whether or not they were over the hill so to speak. They would say that maybe they were on the way out as other young teams seemed to be moving up. With a 4-1 series win over Phoenix the old men on the block said hold on just one minute, we're still the defending champions. With their 4 wins over the Suns they showed exactly how they won their 4 championships over the last 9 years. Their next opponent, the suprising Hornets.

Chris Paul has the Hornets running on all cylinders. They dominated a faltering Dallas team and now look to the defending champs. This could be a great match up. I say could be, because the match up between Parker and Paul could be a good one. Tim Duncan will dominate David West in the post and Ginobli will be his normal self, seemingly scoring at will. Look for San Antonio to take this one in 5 games.

Now we go to the Lakers. Los Angeles made quick work of the Nuggets and now look to face the winner of the Houston / Utah series. In their series the Lakers looked very good. Their ball movement was superb and Pao Gasol and Kobe Bryant put in several dominating performances. They looked like the lakers of old, only in my opinion better. They have a young team but Phil Jackson has them playing near flawless ball. In the second round we will see if that was mostly due to a terrible defensive effort by Denver or they really are just that good. If they are just that good, they will not be beat.

Now to the Rockets / Jazz series. This is the last of the Western Conference series still in progress. The Jazz took games one and two from the the Rockets on their home court and as the series moved back to Utah, where the Jazz had only lost 4 games on the season a sweep seemed on the schedule for the Rockets. Don't ever count out a team who won 22 games in a row during the regular season. They fought back and took game 3 to pull within one of the Jazz. With the Rockets and Jazz trading off in games 4 and 5, the series now moves back to Utah where the Rockets have two of the wins that make up the Jazz's five losses at the ESA. The name of the game has been defense. Houstons defense has clamped down in the middle forcing the Jazz to take outside jump shots. In two games they have put up 23 three point jump shots and made only 2. Carlos Boozer has been almost non existent, though at points in game 5 it seemed he was starting to get his rythm back. AK 47 had a great game in game one then he dissappeared. In order for the Jazz to win game 6 they need big games from these two. If AK can be his normal disruptive self and Boozer comes alive watch for the Jazz to roll in game 6. After game 4 the Rockets Tracy McGrady took a shot at Derron Williams by pretending not to know his name by saying "what is it? Dare-in or Der-ron?" With such a slight one expected D-Will to be aggressive and take the ball at the Rockets. He was anything but aggressive and seemed to, at times, force the issue. He would fade away. He played soft and, it seemed, disinterested. Carlos Boozer has been anything but an All-Star. The story for Boozer over the last few games of the season and into the playoffs has been his soft play. Last year when playing a formidabl foe in Yao Ming, Boozer played aggressive and took it at him. Now, against a slow, older Dikembe Mutombo, Boozer seems to shy away and settle for long fade away jump shots. Now Mutombo has guaranteed a game 6 Rockets victory. For anyone that is at all compettitive this should be a slap in the face. Look for the Jazz to come out active and aggressive in tonights game. Boozer will be more active on the offensive end and the Jazz will put in a winning performance against the Rockets. We can look back at all the games they have played to this point and the numbers will show that the Rockets are in control of this series. The Jazz on the other hand realize at this point they only need to put together one great game and they move one. Jazz win game 6 and will face the Lakers on Sunday.

My predictions for round 2
Lakers in 7
Spurs in 5
Celtics in 6
Orlando in 6

Conference Finals predictions
Spurs in 6
Celtics in 7

Finals predictions
Spurs in 6