Once again, let us begin with the First Seed, the San Antonio Spurs. They have the unfortunate task of taking on one of the hottest teams in basketball who actually made Lionel Hollins look like a legitimate coach. The Memphis Grizzles have been winning games without Rudy Gay and having Orange Juice Mayo come off the bench. In fact, guys like Sam Young and Darrell Arthur have been propelling their recent success. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs could not look older (once again).
Now I am not buying into the fact that the Spurs are about to literally drop dead on the court in the Playoffs, but I do think they will have some trouble with the Grizzlies (I never thought I would say that sentence). In fact, I am boldly predicting the Grizzlies to win Game 1, with Manu Ginobili out. I think that the media will have a field day and everyone will say that the Spurs are done. Then, the Spurs will go to work.
Tony Parker will absolutely torch Mike Conley Jr. and Manu will come back and give the Spurs that added dimension of scoring and crazy finishes at the basket. But, I don't think the Grizzlies will go quietly. I say they win one more at home before the Spurs take the series. The only reason why I am not picking the Griz to win this thing is because you can't bet against the Spurs. On paper they are a million years old and it doesn't even make sense how they are winning games. The reason is the crazy old white man pictured below:
Gregg Popovich is consistently one, if not the best coach in the league. He is the reason why the Spurs will school the young Memphis Grizzlies despite all of their talent.
The 2 vs. 7 matchup is the defending Champions the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the New Orleans Hornets. Personally, I think that the Lakers are still the top team in the Western Conference and have the skill to win it all again. But, they will be challenged every step of the way, including this series. Now usually I would count out the Hornets a long time ago, but there is a reason why they pose problems for the Lakers: Chris Paul. One of the best, if not the best Point Guard in the league, Chris Paul will have his way with the Laker point guards.
Chances are, they put Kobe's foul mouth on him (full story here: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90045130?Kobe%20apologizes%3B%20GLAAD%2C%20Lakers%20unite%20against%20gay%20slurs) and that will help contain Paul a bit. But the Hornets have themselves a solid roster, with talent at every position. Unfortunately, their leading scorer David West is out for the season.
Even if West was on the Hornets I would not have picked them to win the series, but they may have won one more game. I think that Chris Paul will pose too many problems for the Lakers to sweep, and the Hornets will get one, maybe even two games. Unfortunately for the Hornets, the Lakers are just too good and deep at every position.
The 3 vs. 6 match-up where things get really interesting. The Dallas Mavericks have to play a team that got exponentially better after the trade-deadline by picking up Gerald Wallace for peanuts. This adds a whole dimension of toughness to their roster and makes them a legitimate contender. Though former All-Star Brandon Roy has been struggling with injuries all season, the Trail Blazers have added enough guys to make up for the lack of Roy. Roy was so busy carrying the entire team for the past few years, its no wonder he broke down, and there is even talk of his career being over: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/611837-brandon-roys-injury-leaves-career-in-jeopardy
Guys like Wesley Matthews and Rudy Fernandez can pick up the slack. And Andre Miller always goes off in the playoffs. He could really pose a problem for the Mavericks. Meanwhile, LaMarcus Aldridge, possibly the most under-rated player in the NBA will dominate the Mavs inside, especially with Camby on the other side.
I think that this is the year that the Trail Blazers finally make it through. The Mavericks are essentially the exact same team, except without a Shooting Guard. If Caron Butler were healthy, this series would be a different story, but the Mavs got bad luck in the match-up against the Trail Blazers. I think this series will go to seven and the Trail Blazers will pull it out in the end. The Gerald Wallace deal truly made them a tough contender, and I think they can compete at a high level.
The final series is going to be the most fun to watch: the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets. Denver has gotten so much better after the 'Melo trade and guys like Kenyon Martin are excelling without Carmelo's 40 shots a night. The Nuggets are so deep and all of them seem to be able to play well together.
Unfortunately, the Thunder seem to have their number. They beat them twice in the last two weeks of the season. Even Coach George Karl said he would rather play the Mavericks:
"If we had to pick and choose on it, we would probably say 55 percent Dallas, 45 percent Oklahoma City, only because Oklahoma City is athletic like we are and they have two great players," Karl said. "They have two All-Stars that I think are really in their prime and never won on the playoff stage.
"I just think right now our speed might have more effect against Dallas than it will have on Oklahoma City."
Really George Karl? You are gonna say you don't want to play the team that you will probably end up playing in the playoffs? But everything he said is true. Russell Westbrook will take advantage of the smaller Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton. Kevin Durant can score on anyone and they added some toughness with Kendrick Perkins (even if I think Jeff Green is a better player).
Though I really want to say that the Nuggets will win this series due to their great depth and team game, I think that Westbrook and Durant may be too much for them. When it comes down to it, I don't think the Nuggets will have someone to get the ball to down the stretch. Danilo Gallinari is not a prime-time player and in the end, I think this series will go to seven, with Westbrook knocking down the game winner in game seven.
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