It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!!! Part I
Versus network: it was good to know ya….
Don Cherry and Coach’s Corner: I might stop by and see ya before next October…..possibly.
Hello Ernie, Kenny, and Charles on TNT! Hello ABC and ESPN! I’ll be spending virtually every night with the tv on those channels from here til the first day of summer. And thanks to the most stacked octet of teams ever to qualify for a conference postseason I can forget about sleeping till the O’Brien Trophy is held aloft.
That’s right baby, the NBA Playoffs are set to arrive and with it comes the opportunity to watch the True American Game at its highest level. Thus, it’s time to give out my semi accurate and semi informed predictions about the postseason of the greatest game ever invented.
EASTERN CONFERENCE(JV DIVISION)
(1) Boston(66-16) vs. (8) Atlanta(37-45)
In the offseason, Celtics GM Danny Ainge took the bold step of bringing in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen via trades to assist a club that had finished last in the Eastern Conference. The end result? A fourty two game improvement (greatest in NBA history) and best record in the NBA. In Atlanta they find a club whose fans must be celebrating like its 1999, since that was the last time the Hawks made the postseason.
Atlanta ya done good, and it’s so nice to see you back in postseason form. You’ve also got a pretty good backcourt in Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby and some nice youngsters in Al Horford and Josh Smith underneath. But seriously make your appearance, wave to the crowd, and exit stage right. Quickly.
Pick:Celtics in 5
(2)Detroit (59-23) vs. (7)Philadelphia (40-42)
Defense! Defense! Defense! That’s how the Pistons have done in recent years in making runs to the conference finals for the past five seasons and they brought the core of that success back again this season Billups, Hamilton, ‘Sheed, McDyess, and Prince are eyeing a third trip to the finals in a five year span.
They’ll be facing a surprising Philadelphia team that played well in the month of March to get into the playoff hunt before losing steam at season’s end and comes into this series on a four game slump. Who knew that the Sixers would go just one season out of the playoffs after the Iverson trade to Denver last season. Yet make it they did with a leading scorer initialed AI to boot.
No, Andre Iguodala isn’t going to remind anyone of the old AI but with Andre Miller playing point and Samuel Delambert patrolling the inside I believe they could be a tough out if Detroit doesn’t put the points on the scorebord.
Pick:Detroit in 6
(3)Orlando (52-30) vs. (6)Toronto (41-41)
Dwight Howard/Chris Bosh! Dwight Howard/Chris Bosh! Dwight Howard/Chris Bosh!
This has to be one of the more intrguing mano y mano matchups of the first round and quite possibly the only reason to pay much attention to it. That and I’m starting to hate all things TO with this Bills/Dolphins crap.(On a side note: I did plunk down for season tickets this year.) Anyhow, I cant figure out how the Raps stand much of a chance against the Magic. Killer middle man in Howard, great frontcourt players in Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu…..and Toronto has a two headed point guard in TJ Ford an Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani(find him in the dictionary under: slump, sophomore) , a Tony Parker impersonator, and what…..3pt champ Jason Kapono???
Of course, this means I probably just jinxed the Magic. Therefore:
Pick:Raptors in 6
(4)Cleveland (45-37) vs. (5) Washington (43-39)
Going to be the bestest and most intriguing first round series in the East, and given the option I may actually bail on staying up for a Western Confernce game to pay attention to this one. It’s the third consecutive season that these two clubs have met in the first round with Cleveland winning both of them. Last season was an easy sweep for the Cavs over a depleted Wizards club missing Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas. Now both are back(though Arenas is still not quite up to speed with a bum knee) and we should see the type of series that these two clubs put on back in ‘06 that ended with LeBron James’ drive to the hoop in overtime of Game 6.
(See! I bet that’s the deepest that anyone has ever gone into a Cavs-related tidbit without mentioning LeBron James. Will someone put me through Guiness to see if that’s some sort of world record??)
The trash talking has gotten underway already, with Charles Barkley calling out the Wizards for describing LeBron James as “over rated” and he called them “the stupidest team in the NBA” for doing so.(Note to hockey fans/hoops haters: Watching Barkley on TNT in studio is the most entertaining schtick in sports outside of Don Cherry. Don’t be afraid, it’s ok to watch….)
Wizard Dujuan Stephenson fired back telling Barkley to “chill….do we really want to listen to someone who said that Yao Ming would never be an All-Star?”
It’s on, folks. I’d like to see the Cavs move on to round two and face Garnett and Co. in Boston, but beating the same team three years in a row??? Ain’t happenin’
Pick:Wizards in 5
Coming up next….the West(Varsity Division)
Jon Splett Says:April 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I was with you on all your picks (well, I say Celts in 4 but that’s nitpicky) except for the Cleveland series.
Without Agent 00 at 100%, I just don’t see the Wiz taking the series let alone them taking it in 5. LeBron is going to be way too much for Washington to handle and aside from my Celts, I’d take the Cavs as the class of the conference
Peter Farrell Says:April 19th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Your part about LeBron was accurate today. Thank you Bullets!
For me, I think the Cavs are a fluke. They made it out of the East last year in a conference that was far weaker than this season beating on a useless Wizards team, a mediocre Nets team and got lucky against Detroit thanks to Boobie Gibson getting hot late in the series. It was no surprise that the Spurs did what they did to them.
Plus I don’t believe this team got better from the Wallace deal, has any player’s stock fallen further than his post Piston career??
If Cleveland gets by the Wizards and gets Detroit…the Pistons annilihate them.