I'm surprised no one has started a playoffs thread yet (Basketball on Big Soccer must be dead). FIRST ROUND Saturday, April 19 Cleveland beat Washington 93-86 San Antonio beat Phoenix 117-115 (2 OT) Dallas-New Orleans in progress Utah-Houston coming up later tonight Sunday, April 20 Toronto at Orlando Denver at Los Angeles Philadelphia at Detroit Atlanta at Boston
already off to a wild start. Tim Duncan hits first 3 of the year to send the game into double-overtime and then ginobili wraps it up with the bucket at the end. I am so looking forward to the next two months. Earlier game today was a doozy too. That lebron dunk was crazy.
like barkley said, wizards are the dumbest team in the world. might as well give the predictions. I think it's gonna be spurs-celtics final. I really am pulling for the lakers, but without bynum, I don't think they can beat the spurs in a long series.
Prediction for the first round: WEST Cleveland - Washington San Antonio - Phoenix Dallas - New Orleans Utah - Houston EAST Toronto - Orlando Denver - Los Angeles Philadelphia - Detroit Atlanta - Boston Pretty straight-forward (and predictable I suppose) There are bound to be some upsets though.
Dallas has no chance whatsoever to beat the Hornets UNLESS Paul gets injured. He can do whatever he wants against Dallas, whenever he wants to do it. And since when were Los Angeles and Denver in the east while Cleveland and the Wizards were in the west? I really missed something in geography class!
WEST San Antonio - Phoenix Dallas - New Orleans Utah - Houston Denver - Los Angeles EAST Toronto - Orlando Philadelphia - Detroit Atlanta - Boston Cleveland - Washington Fixed it . I also agree with New Orleans beating Dallas.
Toronto I think has the best chance of overcoming home court disadvantage. If they apply themselves a bit defending the wings (Lewis and Turkoglu), all they need to do is use their PGs and Bosh, for which the Magic have no answer. As for Howard... 58% FT, all you need to do is Hack-a-Shaq II. Sadly, Real Madrid and Toronto play at the same time tomorrow. When Kobe is on a mission, things happen. The Spurs played well today, but they have no one to throw at Kobe. Look at the Spurs' rotation on SG and SF: Bowen (37), Barry (37, hasn't played in 3 months), Finley (35) and Ginobili (31). As of today, none of them can defend Kobe with any effectiveness. I wouldn't put tons of money on the Lakers, but I think that if they can contain Parker, there's only so much Duncan can do. The Suns still can't defend worth shit, though, which is why they lost. Parker and Ginobili scored at will.
"I really am pulling for the lakers, but without bynum, I don't think they can beat the spurs in a long series". I didn't say that, DefenseWinsCliche did.
kobe has balls of steel. He is fearless. But I don't trust his supporting cast. Lamar Odom is a good support player. But that's it. Just a good support player. Pau Gasol has been impressive since being with the lakers, but his track record in the play-off is dodgy. I have to see him in this series in order to believe in him. Rest of the cast is either too young or not good enough. With 20 seconds left, san antonio got three players who's got the heart to take and make difficult shots on an consisten basis. Duncan, ginobili and parker are all battle-tested big time performer. Lakers only got kobe in that regard. I'll give you the fact that the spurs are getting too old. They've always been a veteran-heavy team, but they are about to cross the line to being a grandfather-time team. They definitely need to start blending in some new blood in the coming years.
Orlando beat Toronto 114-100 Denver - Los Angeles in progress (end of 1st quarter). Lakers fans were just chanting "D.U.I" to Carmelo Anthony. One of the commentators though that was something he would expect to hear at college B-ball games, not NBA.
LA up 97-78 at the end of the 3rd quarter. 19 point blow-out and Gasol continues to be a monster (he's getting closer to 40 points).