Well, the NBA playoffs are finally upon us. Many questions will be answered in the coming weeks. Will Shaq be healthy enough to lead the Miami Heat to the Finals? Will the Detroit Pistons repeat as NBA Champions? Will Reggie Miller's last playoff run bear any fruit? Will Dallas finally make some serious noise in the postseason? Is Phoenix for real? Can a crippled Sacramento Kings team make it out of the first round?
I can't at the present time answer all these questions. But I can offer my predictions...
EAST
Miami -1
vs
NJ - 8
Miami is already up 1-0. But Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, and Brian Scalabrine (yes, Brian Scalabrine) intend on making this a long series. Shaq, Wade, and Damon Jones have other ideas. MIAMI IN FIVE
Detroit - 2
vs
Philly - 7
This series is basically AI and Chris Webber against the same starting five the defending champs won a title with last season. And the smart money is on the champs. Detroit took Game One, in a blowout, after falling behind by double-digits early. Dalembert is proving himself to be a fine young player, but the key word there is young. And youth loses to experience nine times out of ten. PISTONS IN FIVE
Boston - 3
vs
Indiana - 6
I'm not terribly impressed with Boston, but then again they almost always exceed my expectations. Indiana is playing without their defensive star Ron Artest (as they have been since very early in the season). If Artest had been allowed to come back for the playoffs, I'd have to go with the Pacers. But he wasn't. So I will predict a long series (even though Boston won Game One easily), and grudgingly go with the Celtics. BOSTON IN SEVEN
Chicago - 4
vs
Washington - 5
This one is easy. Chicago has home-court advantage. They won Game One. They were on fire in the second-half of the regular season, while the Wiz were sputtering. Washington is doomed. BULLS IN FIVE
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Uh - yeah late. Small Claims Court baby. You'll be hearing from my NBA playoff's attorney.
2 - RJ
Yao Ming just put in an incredible performance, and the Rockets are (shockingly) up 2-0 on Dallas...
3 - Temple Stark
I predicted Rockets win series 4-3
Yesterday I was atrociously bad on my picks - coming away only with a Suns win. My theory was the good teams would start off slow. It was a decent theory Saturday. it was a terrible theory Sunday.
4 - RJ
Pistons up 2-0 over Philly...
14 more wins until they repeat! ;-)
5 - RJ
UPDATE:
Pistons win in 5!
Miami won in 4...
Phoenix won in 4...
San Antonio up 3-1...
Seattle up 3-1...
Dallas up 3-2...
Chicago and Washington tied 2-2...
Indy up 3-2 on the Celtics...
6 - RJ
Damn.
So I was right on Miami, the Suns, Detroit, and the Spurs.
And I was wrong on the Seattle-Sacramento series.
And I COULD be wrong on the Washington-Chicago series, the Dallas-Houston series, and the Boston-Indiana series...
Not a good way to start off my NBA playoffs predictions...
7 - Temple Stark
I'm 5-5 so far.
Seattle - cabbage patch cabbage patch :-)
Predicted Houston, Chicago and Boston, so we'll see. Don't care about Houston, Chicago - want Boston to win, even though Pacers got punked by the league.
People at BC don't seem to like NBA. Ah well, maybe we'll just take it to our various blogs. Link to my posts so I can go back and forth easily. I'll do the same for you.
8 - RJ
Just looking over an old post, I was right about only 5 of 8...ouch!