Tomorrow my Cleveland Cavaliers kick it off against the Chicago Bulls at 3 pm EST. The real NBA season has begun. Focus: Share your thoughts/predictions on the playoffs here. My predictions for the opening round: Cavaliers/Bulls- Cleveland in 6 - For fucks sake get a ring, Cavaliers! Magic/Bobcats- Orlando in 5 Atlanta/Milwaukee- Atlanta in 5 Boston/Miami- Boston in 5 - D.Wade not enough for playoff ready Celtics Lakers/Thunder- Lakers in 5. Don't tell me the Lakers are down. Playoffs are a new season. Mavs/Spurs- Spurs in 7. Spurs prove they still have it Blazers/Suns- Suns in 6. Losing Brandon Roy is death for Portland Jazz/Nuggets- Utah sucks. Go Nuggets.
I fucking love the NBA playoffs. I don't watch more than 15 or so games throughout the regular season, but I'll probably watch 80% of the playoff games if I have the time. I don't have a favorite team or anything, but I have to root for a LeBron Kobe final. Round 1: Cavaliers/Bulls- Cleveland in 5 Magic/Bobcats- Orlando in 5 Atlanta/Milwaukee- Atlanta in 5 Boston/Miami- Miami in 7 Lakers/Thunder- Lakers in 5 Mavs/Spurs- Mavs in 6 Blazers/Suns- Suns in 5 Jazz/Nuggets- Nuggets in 6 Round 2: Cavaliers/Heat- Cavs in 5 Magic/Hawks- Magic in 6 Lakers/Nuggets- Lakers in 6 Mavs/Suns- Mavs in 5 Round 3: Cavs/Magic- Cavs in 7 Lakers/Mavs- Lakers in 6 Finals: Cavs/Lakers- Lakers in 7 Let's see how wrong I end up being.
My predictions: Cavaliers/Bulls: Cavs in 5 Magic/Bobcats: Magic in 5 Hawks/Bucks: Hawks in 5 Celtics/Heat: Celtics in 6 Lakers/Thunder- Lakers in 5 Mavericks/Spurs- Mavericks in 6 (this is the first round series in the West that matters. The winner of this one goes to the Finals) Blazers/Suns- Suns sweep the series Jazz/Nuggets- Nuggets in 5 Round 2: Cavaliers/Celtics- Cavs in 6 Magic/Hawks- Magic in 5 Lakers/Nuggets- Lakers in 6 Mavs/Suns- Mavs in 6 Round 3: Cavaliers/Magic: Magic in 7 (It probably goes without saying that this will be the best series in the 2010 NBA postseason) Lakers/Mavericks: Mavericks in 6 Finals: Magic beat the Mavericks in 6
Here's what I think will end up happening Cavaliers/Bulls: Cavs in 4 Magic/Bobcats: Magic in 5 Hawks/Bucks: Hawks in 5 Celtics/Heat: Heat in 7 Lakers/Thunder- Lakers in 5 Mavericks/Spurs- Mavericks in 6 Blazers/Suns- Suns in 5 Jazz/Nuggets- Nuggets in 6 Round 2: Cavaliers/Heat- Cavs in 5 Magic/Hawks- Magic in 5 Lakers/Nuggets- Lakers in 7 Mavs/Suns- Mavs in 6 Round 3: Cavaliers/Magic: Cavs in 6 (This is going to be so different from last year. Shaq healthy with the other front court players and no Turkoglu......Magic can't hang, but they'll win a couple close games at home. Games in Cleveland won't be close. This years team was built specifically to take out Magic.) Lakers/Mavericks: Lakers in 6 Finals: Cavaliers over the Lakers in 5 (A healthy Cleveland team top to bottom firing on all cylinders from beating the Magic. Gonna be ugly. Cleveland breaks billion year championship drought.)
Hellllooooo Oklahoma City Thunder. Young, talented, aggressive, they look like everything that the Portland Trailblazers had the potential to be. Kevin Durant will soon rule the NBA. Give him another 2 years.
Lebron has and will most likely always have a more overall game, but I do think within two years Durant will be the best scorer in the league, and stay there for a long long time. I don't think he's quite there yet. Lebron averages about 6 more assists per game and easily could back that off if he wanted and score more points. I will say that those two will be the best in the league for a good long time, but while Durant is more of a pure 3, Lebron can pretty much play any of 4 positions. I could end up being wrong and Durant could very well keep developing and even surpass Lebron's abilities. He certainly has the potential and what he's doing at 21 is pretty sick.
I'm not sure which is coming as more of a surprise: the fact the Spurs are playing well, together, as a unit, or the fact that Dallas has so many pieces and is sucking harder than a gay man through a straw. Seriously, first they choke hard against Golden State (8th seed) and now they're proving they have similar mettle against the Spurs (7th seed).
I'm not surprised at all at Dallas struggling so much against the Spurs. The Spurs haven't been their normal selves this years with some injuries and age catching up with them, but I don't really compare them to Golden State's team. The Spurs are still equal to a 3 or 4 seed at worst in the East. They are still a formidable team when firing on all cylinders. I don't know what it is about Dallas, but they just don't ever seem to have a team together that can perform in the postseason. Dirk and Kidd will go down as two of the better players not to win a ring. Dirk might find himself with a ring when he's near the end of his career and just signs on to a contender and gets lucky, but it won't be with Dallas. Especially with teams Denver being good and OKC which has a very bright future. Injury free, Portland looks good in the near future. Dallas' small window has pretty much closed. I have no idea what could save that team.
And this is what's frustrating about being a Spurs fan: they take an 82-game pre-season, bore everyone to tears, and piss off the majority of their fans as they lose games they should win because they are "experimenting" and "trying to find their identity" and "getting ready for the playoffs." Then the playoffs start, and they absolutely start killing. I'm ashamed to be getting excited for them now, when two weeks ago I was furious they weren't tanking games for the lottery. I am extremely happy right now, but I'm also kind of frustrated, and pissed, and annoyed by the fact they toyed with our emotions and potential allegiances for 82 games before deciding to "turn it on" when the games matter. Go Spurs Go, but damnit, go earlier in the year next time too! Oh, and in case anyone missed the Najera shot:
The thing with the Spurs is that their schemes -- both offensively and defensively -- are so sophisticated that it takes newcomers almost a full season, and sometimes more, to fully understand and become comfortable with. That's why guys like Jefferson, Blair, etc are just now starting to fully understand their role, and why Pop has to spend the regular season altering lineups and experimenting with players and rotations. The Spurs mainstays are at a point now where homecourt advantage isn't as necessary as it was earlier in their careers. The goal isn't to win Southwest Division titles anymore -- they're not going to go all-out in order to do so -- but instead prepare for the playoffs and be running full-steam come playoff time when it truly matters in order to make a run for the title.
And once again the Blazers manage to make the Rose Garden stink. Every single year it's the same thing. I went to bed with about 5 minutes left because when it comes to them my crystal ball seems to work.
Of the 7-game first round era, the Mavs were the first 1 seed to lose the series to an 8 seed (Golden State). Last night they became the first 2 seed to lose to a 7 seed. I'm not sure what's greater: seeing the Spurs win, or seeing the Mavs lose. Give me my crow, damnit. I've never been happier to eat it.
Last night on PTI Cornhiser goes "and now the series we hope to never had to talk about...The Bucks VS. Atlanta..." I was cracking up, it's so true, they have ZERO shpt at winning the EAST or ZERO shot at winning a title. Even if your a bucks or hawks fan......I mean cmon........
god Damn. Im so pumped that we may be only three games away from LeBron leaving Cleveland. That city is a shit hole and needs to die. Preferably in a fire.
Cleveland is down by 18 as I type this. In my opinion, if they lose this game, it is most likely the last game LeBron plays at home in Cleveland.
The Celtics locking up Rondo in November at 5 years, 55 million has to be one of the best contracts in the NBA right now. If they hadn't, he'd likely be either the third or fourth most sought after free agent this offseason, and possibly getting a max contract.
I'm hoping for a good game tonight, there have been way too many blowouts in this series. I think it's funny that Cleveland went out to get Shaq to guard Dwight Howard in the playoffs, and now they may not even get to play the Magic.
So where is LeBron going to be playing next season? For my money it's Cleveland 35%, Chicago 30%, New York 25%, New Jersey 10%.
Not to be a homer, but I'm gonna say 50/50 between Cleveland and New York. No way he goes to Chicago, as it was pointed out their search for a coach could extend into late July, and could hurt their chances at getting any big-name FAs this offseason. Not a smart thing with free agency starting on the 1st. As for the Nets, they're pretty much in the same stage of rebuilding as the Knicks, minus the history and fanbase. Not sure that'd be a deciding factor for LeBron, but I can't imagine he'd want to start something completely anew. Not winning a title in Cleveland this year could also very well motivate him to stay, to take care of "unfinished business." I'm wondering if he'd be more inclined to stay in Cleveland now than if they had won the championship this year, for that reason.
The only way that Lebron wins a title in Cleveland is if they get a solid #2 player. He needs a Scottie Pippen. I don't like the Celtics but props to them on a job well done. They are showing why they were my preseason pick to win the NBA championship this year. I still like the Magic in the next round (and the finals against the Lakers) though.