2009/2010 NBA Thread

[Red Devil-Taker316]

Cavs def Bulls in 4

Lebron James is just too sick. Seriously. Bulls steal one maybe if Derrick Rose has a sick game somewhere.

Magic def Bobcats in 5

Dwight Howard has too much size for the Cats, although Stephen Jackson is a good playoff performer and matching up with Carter could be a good advantage for the Cats.

Hawks def Bucks in 6

John Salmons is a good scorer and Jennings could play well enough to steal a game as well. The Hawks are just too deep.

Heat def Celtics in 6

This just isn't the same Celtics as even last year. Garnett is a shell of his former self, Pierce has to be exhausted at this point. Ray Allen could win this series himself, and Rondo is their best player, which I'm not a fan of. The Heat are on a role, and I don't see anyone on that Celtic team stopping Wade. Boston isn't even much of a home team anymore.

Lakers def Thunder in 6

Durant will make it a series and have a good first playoff series. Gasol will make the difference here, who on OKC can guard him?

Mavericks def Spurs in 5

This Mavericks team is stacked. Stacked. The Spurs look good now because Ginobili is playing well. If the Spurs, who are a bit better than they were last year couldn't beat Dallas then, why would they beat a much better Dallas team now?

Suns def Blazers in 5

Too bad Roy is out.

Jazz def Nuggets in 7

Deron Williams is playing out of his mind. Loss of AK and Boozer injuries hurt Utah, but Denver just seems to be a mess with the sad George Karl situation.

[wrathofcarnage]

I hope Bulls get at least one... considering getting playoff tix for them..

[naiwf]

Cavs in 5. There's not a chance in hell the Bulls will get any calls in tight games. Their poor free throw shooting will cost 'em one game though.

Heat in 6. Boston got old this year. Wade will steal one in Boston and close it out in 6.

Hawks in 5. The Bucks would have had a chance if Bogut's elbow injury hadn't happened. Now they'll be lucky to get one.

Magic in 6. Orlando is the type of team to sleepwalk through a game and probably should win in 5, but will let one slip away.

Lakers in 5. See my Cavs assessment and swap Thunder for Bulls.

Nuggets in 5. AK-47 is out, Boozer is hurt and Denver is hungry.

Suns in 4. Portland is a mediocre team without Roy, and Phoenix is in the right place at the right time.

Mavs in 6. Like Boston, San Antonio got old. Parker's not 100% and Dallas has too much depth for the Spurs. RJ has turned out to be a bust and unless Manu and Duncan hit the hot tub time machine and dial it back about 5 years they don't have enough to run with Dallas.

All in all this first round will have very little drama.

Edited April 17, 2010 by naiwf

[sahyder1]

NBA going to 7 game series in the first round is one of the dumbest things they've ever done. Takes all the drama out of it. I hate these first round series that go on for two weeks

[wrathofcarnage]

Hate to say it but naiwf is right. Wish the Bulls coule pull of a miracle but I'll just assume they get a better coach and Bosh this offseason and then get read to DOMINATE! Agree that Magic and Mavs have the toughest series because they're lazy as shit. LBJ with Jamison and wingman will be tough to overcome this season. OKC might be the toughest series the Lakers have during the playoffs. I'll go "boring, no upsets" and say Lakers-Cavs final.

[JStarr]

Cavs over Bulls in 4...maybe 5 if Mike Brown screws up the rotation trying to reintroduce Shaq to the lineup.

Celtics over Heat in 6...Wade will strap Miami to his back as best he can, but if he wasn't on that team, Miami would be front-and-center in the John Wall sweepstakes. Even the old Celtics have enough talent to survive this one...before they get seal-clubbed by Cleveland in Round 2.

Hawks over Bucks in 5...If Redd and Bogut were actually active, this would be the best series of the first round. Without Bogut, though, it's a lot more pressure on Brandon Jennings, and if he has a trip-dub along the line, one of the doubles will be 10 turnovers. He'll take Milwaukee right off the rails this year. Future seasons, he'll be dangerous, but I wouldn't trust him right now. Salmons/Johnson may be the best individual matchup of the first round.

Magic over Bobcats in 6...Bobcats are the best scoring defense team in the league, and second against the 3. If the Magic get reliant on the 3, as they occasionally do, this series will get very interesting. I won't be surprised if it goes 7, and if pressed, this would be the potential upset special.

Lakers over Thunder in 6...if the refs don't take Phil Jackson's bait and call fouls when they're committed, Durant will average 35. I do agree with RDT that Gasol will be the difference, but it'll be more interesting than most expect.

Jazz over Nuggets in 7...I point to J.R. Smith being an idiot last week and trying to score a basket over the laid-out-for-five minutes Melo. That kind of idiocy doesn't happen if Karl's on the bench. If Dantley doesn't get a hold of things, Sloan will have Utah playing circles around a better team. More hesitant to pick Utah with no AK in lineup, but I'll stay with it.

Suns over Blazers in 5...Nate's my Coach of the Year for keeping that MASH unit winning games, but without Roy, can they outscore the Suns? Not likely.

Mavs over Spurs in 5...Dallas legit goes 10 deep. They should run the Spurs right off the court anytime they like.

[gunnar hendershow]

Some Round 1 predictions.

Cleveland over Chicago: 4-1

Orlando over Charlotte: 4-1

Atlanta over Milwaukee: 4-2

Boston over Miami: 4-3

Los Angeles def. Oklahoma City: 4-2

Dallas def. San Antonio 4-3

Phoenix def. Portland: 4-0

Denver def. Utah: 4-2

Agreed that the 7-game first round sucks, it really ruins the momentum of the playoffs. Especially when nearly all the name teams finish their series in 4 or 5 games. Nobody wants to watch a Game 7 between, say, Atlanta and Milwaukee.

[naiwf]

It figures that the one series I predicted a sweep in is the only one that the underdog/road team stole the opener in this entire weekend.

[ROZAY]

It figures that the one series I predicted a sweep in is the only one that the underdog/road team stole the opener in this entire weekend.

The Blazers were lucky to even get the win after practically giving the Suns every opportunity to tie the game and force overtime. Didn't expect a Blazers win in game 1 on the road without Roy though.

Anyway, for some late first round predictions:

East

Cavs def. Bulls in 5 - Bulls will pull one out, most likely game 3, but I don't see them rising to the occasion like they did with the Celtics last year.

Magic def. Bobcats in 6 - I like the Bobcats, and I can see them winning a couple games here, but the Magic will easily close them out when they need to.

Hawks def. Bucks in 6 - What a turn around the Bucks have had this season. Hawks, like others have mentioned, are just too deep for them.

Celtics def. Heat in 7 - I'll probably regret going with the Celts, but I see their experience just barely edging out the Heat in this one. Miami should get over the first round hump next year though when D-Wade gets the help he needs.

West

Lakers over Thunder in 5 - Durant's gonna shine in this series, but I just don't see OKC beating a focused Lakers team in more then one game.

Mavs over Spurs in 5 - Spurs are too old, Mavs are too deep, nothing new to see here.

Suns over Blazers in 6 - Blazers stole game 1, and will probably get another one at home, but I don't see them being too much of a problem for the Suns.

Nuggets over Jazz in 5 - Nuggets sure fucked themselves over by slipping to what's looking to be a second round match-up with the Lakers. However, with key injuries to the Jazz players and Melo seeming determined to get them as far as they can go, I don't see this being much of a series as I was expecting it to be.

[thuganomic]

After a mediocre day 1, yesterday was a great day of playoff basketball.

Loved seeing Durant challenged by Artest and co. Something tells me he'll be back with a vengeance game 2. Yes the Lakers defense was good, but there's no way Jordan Farmar caused him to airball two shots. Count it as first playoff game anxiety. The fact that the Thunder were so close even with Durant's off game has to be encouraging for OKC.

Orlando-Charlotte was also a great game to watch. The Bobcats have a ton of heart and you could feel the Orlando crowd getting worried in the 2nd half. They completely took Howard out of the game with foul trouble. Vince Carter disappeared as expected. This is gonna be another excellent series.

Portland/Phoenix was all about the old guys. Camby was THE best mid-season pickup this year. Watching Portland just made me sad for those fans, because if they had Oden, Roy, Joel, they would be as good as any team in the West.

[naiwf]

Scott Brooks is stupid. The Thunder needed to play for OT with Fisher out. Attempting a contested three to take the lead was just a poor choice when there would still have been about 8 or 9 seconds for LA to come back and win it at the end.

[thuganomic]

See, I disagree. That rejuvenated Lakers crowd behind a red-hot Kobe would've been tough to beat in overtime. Might as well give it up to the leading scorer. You live and die with that shot.

[JStarr]

Yeah, those with faith in Miami got egged last night. 29-point pounding to a team with no Garnett? That doesn't bode well.

Chuck Barkley wasn't far off with his "Dwyane Wade and a bunch of Tito Jacksons" assessment.

[naiwf]

See, I disagree. That rejuvenated Lakers crowd behind a red-hot Kobe would've been tough to beat in overtime. Might as well give it up to the leading scorer. You live and die with that shot.

They needed a double screen, or back pick if they were going to go for the win. The play was poorly designed. The choice to go for the win wasn't terrible, but you've got to come up with something better than that with that much time on the clock.

[thuganomic]

See, I disagree. That rejuvenated Lakers crowd behind a red-hot Kobe would've been tough to beat in overtime. Might as well give it up to the leading scorer. You live and die with that shot.

They needed a double screen, or back pick if they were going to go for the win. The play was poorly designed. The choice to go for the win wasn't terrible, but you've got to come up with something better than that with that much time on the clock.

How dare you question the COACH OF THE YEAR?

HUMPH

>_>

[Red Devil-Taker316]

That was an absolute dagger by Pierce last night.

[naiwf]

In case you're not watching, Brandon Roy is back and has played 6 minutes while scoring 4 points and grabbing a rebound so far. He looks really good for a guy who had knee surgery 8 days ago.

Aside from Boston pummeling Miami, the only thing that's really surprised me so far in the playoffs is that Utah has been handling Denver fairly easily despite all of their injuries.

[DMN in the House]

God, if Denver goes away, that would be awesome for LA.

[naiwf]

God, if Denver goes away, that would be awesome for LA.

The Lakers need to focus on OKC first. Now that the Thunder have actually played well in the 1st Quarter of a game this series could be tied up at 2 in a couple of hours. I think it's safe to say that the nerves are gone and with Artest not shooting well and Pau Gasol playing like a soft Euro (again) against an undersized team this series could get pretty sticky soon.

[Red Devil-Taker316]

I cannot recall a time an 8th seeded team trashed a 1st seeded team like this with the exception of Golden State-Dallas, which Golden State won anyway.

That Oklahoma City crowd is great.

Being a Nash fan, I'm not happy Brandon Roy is back.