Round 2 Playoff Predictions
Pistons vs Bulls
Bulls lost game one today but they will still contend with the
Bulls. Luol Deng proved himself as the go to guy they needed
in the Miami series which is what they needed to be a serious
contender. But the Pistons are still really really good, and have
a slew of good big men in Rasheed, Webber, Mcdyess, and
Davis to go along with Prince, Hamilton, and Billups that is
one of the best rosters in the NBA. Pistons will win this in 7,
but Chicago will give them a scare. I expect Chicago to win
game 2 in Detroit.
Cavaliers vs Nets
The Cavaliers had trouble vs the injury depleted Wizards,
and did not play that well, despite sweeping the Wizards,
the games were really close. I think there play will pick
up though once they face the Nets, a team that is
signifigantly better than the Wizards, since now the Cavs
know they cant play there C game and still win. The
Nets looked good in the Tornoto series, and played
much better than I thought they would and Kidd really
carried them and played great, and they played good D.
But the Raptors were obviously very very rattled from the
playoff pressure, shooting terribly, and Chris Bosh
admitting that he was extremly nervous in his first playoff
series. The Cavaliers won’t be nervous, Lebron, Hughes,
Ilgauskas, and company have been there before, and will
beat the Nets 4-2.
Suns vs Spurs
The Spurs are playing extremly well, and beat the Nuggets
4-1, who is a better team than the Lakers who the Suns
beat 4-1. But the Suns have the best offense in the league,
underrated defense, not a great defense by any means, but
Raja Bell can get the key stop on a player like Ginobli in the
final moments of a game to close it out, which the Suns have
need to win. The Suns will win this series in 6 games, maybe
7, and even if they don’t completely control the tempo, I still
see Nash and Stoudemire doing enough damage to beat the
Spurs anyway. That pick and roll can’t be stopped, Nash can
score and create off the dribble wonderfully, and that will
create open 3 pointers for Bell, Marion, and Barbosa even in
a half-court offense. The Spurs are a great team year in and
year out, but this year the Suns are just a little better I think.
Warriors vs Rockets/Jazz
The Warriors pulled off one of the greatest feats in sports
history, and I expect them to keep it up. The Rockets are
horribly matched up with the Warriors, just too too slow to
keep up with the frentic pace and I see that series being
won by the Warriors in 5, maybe 6 games. The Jazz series
would be a lot tougher, the Jazz won’t be run on like the
Rockets, but the Warriors have become a very good
swarming defensive team, and contrary to what I thought
were a good defensive team in the regular season. Once
they got rid of the stiffs Dunleavy and Murphy,and
imported the toughness of Stephen Jackson, along with
Al Harrington they took off. There defense over the last
17 games there opponents field goal percentage was .453,
which would put them tenth in field goal defence over a full
season, and over the last ten games it was .439, good for
3rd. Thats some good defence, along with the terrific
offense they have, which would lead them to a 4-2 series
win over the Jazz. And who can stop Baron Davis?
