Phil Fortuna
Goodbye regular season, hello playoffs! The NBA playoffs start off this Saturday starting with the Cavs taking on the Bulls at 3 P.M on ABC. All season long teams such as the Lakers, Cavs, Mavs, Magic and Nuggets have been talked about as championship teams. However, there can only be one so which one of these sixteen teams will bring home Larry O’Brien? Here’s a look at the first round matchups for the Eastern conference. The Western conference will be up later on.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Chicago Bulls
Okay, this is the series that you can almost guarantee Cleveland sweeping. This is the series where the underdog should settle on being happy to make the playoffs. This is the series where Cleveland will dominate! If any of those above statements is what you’re thinking than shame on you. Let’s take a look back at the regular season series matchup; both teams tied each other with two wins each. The most recent win was by the Bulls but the Cavs were resting LeBron James. Sounds like with James the Cavs win by blowout. Not quite, 3 out of the 4 games were decided by 7 or less points including a Bulls loss without Derrick Rose playing. I’m not saying the Bulls are going to shock the world by upsetting the Cavs in a 7 games series. Although you have to remember this is an upstart Bulls team that took a dominant Celtics team to 7 games in the first round last year, granted Boston didn’t have Garnett. Kirk Hinrich always steps up in the playoffs and Derrick Rose last year proved he was capable as a rookie to take over in the first round. Throw in the presence of Joakim Noah on the defensive end and on the boards along with the high energy rookie Taj Gibson, the Bulls could possibly be a potential nightmare. The X-fact for Chicago is swingman Luol Deng, he is averaging nearly 18 points and 8 boards a game, however he has a tendency to be inconsistent. If Deng doesn’t bring his A game all series it will be a struggle for the Bulls to compete. We all know King James will get his numbers, that he will take over but the main key for the Cavs is getting Chicago’s big men in foul trouble. Shaq will be back on Saturday giving the Cavs the best front court in the playoffs. You have Shaq, Big Z, Vareajo, J.J Hickson and Leon Powe to throw around down low. The big men Chicago has are Noah, Gibson and Brad Miller, if they can get 2 of those 3 guys in foul trouble it will force Chicago to play small ball allowing Cleveland’s size to be the difference maker.
Prediction: Cavs in 6
2. Orlando Magic
7. Charlotte Bobcats
Last year’s Eastern Conference champs against a team participating in their first postseason in franchise history. Orlando won the season series 3 games to 1 with Dwight Howard being dominating and aggressive. The Bobcats were a pleasant surprise this season led by legendary coach Larry Brown and the rise of star player Gerald Wallace. The Bobcats don’t have a go to scorer like the 2004 Pistons championship team which is a positive but a negative. On the positive side they have guys like Wallace, Captain Jack, Ray Felton and D.J Augustine who have proven they are capable of scoring 20 plus points anytime. On the negative side when the game is on line and believe me there will be several situations they don’t have a guy that will say “give me the ball and get out of my way”. Despite replacing Hedo Turkey, a key guy for their finals run a year ago with a nearly washed up Vince Carter they managed to win 59 games. The key for Orlando will be ball movement which they are masters at. Vince Carter needs a good series in the worst way, not many are convinced he’s the perfect fit so he needs to start doing what Stan Van has been saying all season. DRIVE THE BALL‼! Vince quit settling for jumpers and get to the basket. Nobody is saying you have to go up for a dunk or a layup, by driving to the hole the inside defense will focus on you leaving Howard slightly guarded. Either score for yourself or get D12 the easy dunk and possible 3 point play. Next, Mickael Pietrus prepare yourself for a difficult time against the Bobcats. SVG will have you switching between guarding Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson. Both guys are aggressive at getting their shots off anywhere on the floor. The Bobcats need to capitalize on their backcourt, Jackson, Felton and Augustine. If the Bobcats want any shot of winning the series those 3 guys need to outplay Orlando’s Carter, Jameer Nelson, J.J Redick and Jason Williams. The backcourt in terms of talent favors the Bobcats but the experience factor is greatly in Orlando’s favor. The thing that’s going to hurt the Bobcats more than anything is the injury status of Tyson Chandler after getting hurt last night. He’s the only guy on the team that can somewhat play Dwight Howard, if Tyson doesn’t play then Charlotte will be force to rotate between Nazr Mohammed and the old guy Theo Ratliff.
Prediction: Orlando in 5
3. Atlanta Hawks
6. Milwaukee Bucks
NO ANDREW BOGUT‼ Atlanta if you realize that then exploit it as much humanly possible. Control no wait excuse me DESTROY the Bucks rebounding the ball on both ends of the court, feel more comfortable going to the basket, give Al Horford a few more shots and Josh Smith move to the inside move versus drifting on the perimeter, you have a better shot now but your still no 3 point shooter. I mean face it minus Bogurt the Bucks have Kurt Thomas, Dan Gadzuric, Primoz Brezec and Ersan Ilyasova. Those guys will come out aggressive for Milwaukee but they are not quick or athletic and aren’t offensive players. I loved Mikwaukee all year but c’mon Jennings as good as he is still way to inconsistent, their only offensive threat is John Salmons who averaged about 30 points a game against Atlanta this season. The Hawks are too talented, too quick and too athletic for the Bucks. Plus Atlanta has stat stuffer Joe Johnson and the high scoring 6th man Jamal Crawford. Add on Josh Smith and high shot blocking volume the sky isn’t sunny for the Bucks.
Prediction: Atlanta in 4
4. Boston Celtics
5. Miami Heat
This is the toughest series in the East to get a grasp on and predict. Boston is no longer a force and the Big 3 hasn't been aging like wine. Miami has superstar Dwayne Flash Wade, who has been carrying this Heat team alone for some time now. The Big 3 has Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins to back them up. Perkins an excellent inside presence defensively has an improved offensive game. Rondo has been the best player on the Boston Celtics team all season. Remember the playoffs last year nearly averaging a triple double. Wade has Michael Beasley, he was suppose to be Wade’s sidekick somebody who takes a lot of pressure away from him. So far that hasn’t been the case as Beasley has been too inconsistent and looks like he doesn’t care. One game he’ll have 24 points and 10 rebounds then next game he has 8 points and 4 rebounds. Miami has nobody else to rely on offensively and if Beasley can’t get it together then Wade will be a one man show. When Wade has to go off on a scoring run there’s nobody on the team who can create from themselves and when Flash takes over, the player’s individual confidence goes down.
Prediction: Boston in 7
No comments:
Post a Comment