The holiday spirit will be in the world of sport tomorrow as the NBA tips off it's long awaited lockout shortened season. It has been a arduous wait for this season's greetings and pro basketball fans are excited to see five marquee games wrapped up for them under their tree tomorrow at noon. So without any further delay, let us see how the playoffs are going to run down in the 2011-2012 NBA season.
Easter Conference Western Conference
1: Miami Heat 1: Dallas Mavericks
2: Chicago Bulls 2: Oklahoma City Thunder
3: New York Knicks 3: Memphis Grizzlies
4: Orlando Magic 4: Los Angeles Lakers
5: Boston Celtics 5: Portland Trail Blazers
6: Philadelphia 76ers 6: San Antonio Spurs
7: Atlanta Hawks 7: Los Angeles Clippers
8: Indiana Pacers 8: Denver Nuggets
First Round Breakdown: Eastern Conference
1 Miami Heat over 8 Indiana Pacers in 6 games- The Miami Heat had some difficulties with the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of last year's postseason; only winning one game by more than ten points. The Sixers were young, athletic, and played very good defense. Indiana presents some similar problems for the Heat in terms of their defensive play and unlike the Sixers, they have advantages at the Center and point guard positions. It will be a knock down, grind it out series, but Lebron James will show up at some point to close the door in Indiana's face. It will be a fun series to watch though, so be sure to tune in.
2 Chicago Bulls over 7 Atlanta Hawks in 4 games- This Atlanta Hawks team is now a shadow of the team that beat the Orlando Magic in the postseason a year ago. Josh Smith might still be able to negate Carlos Boozer and Joe Johnson will get his points, but the Bulls will provide too much Derrick Rose and Rip Hamilton will average 18 points per game in the sweep.
3 New York Knicks over 6 Philadelphia 76ers in 7 games- The Knicks have a very good front court made up of Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler that will bully the 76ers down low. That being said, Philly plays a good amount of defense and does have the athletes to frustrate the Knicks on offense. The Sixers could even pull off the upset if they had a more dominant scorer than Andre Iguodala. But the Sixers do not have enough offensive punch to push past NYC in Madison Square Garden, and Tyson Chandler will help the Knicks play just enough defense to get past the first round.
4 Orlando Magic over 5 Boston Celtics in 5 games- The Celtics will be gasping for air at this point in the season and the Orlando Magic will be enough to push the big three and company under for good. The Celtics did not have anybody to stop Dwight Howard before the season began, and nobody on a worn down team will want to see Howard in late April. The Magic and Celtics will both have their collective windows slam shut on them at the end of this season, but Orlando will force theirs open for one round longer.
Western Conference First Round.
1 Dallas Mavericks over 8 Denver Nuggets in 4- The probability that the Nuggets will retain enough of their overseas free agents to make this series competitive is highly unlikely. The Mavericks are too experienced, too good offensively, and too determined to loose in the first round. Dirk Nowitzki will go off this series and Nuggets will do their best to avoid the door hitting them on the way out.
2 Oklahoma City Thunder over 7 Los Angeles Clippers in 5- In what could be the most hyped first round playoff series this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder will have a fairly easy time dispatching of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin's team. The Thunder are deeper, far superior offensively, and will play just good enough defense to get the job done in LA. Griffin will have about five highlight plays per game against the Thunder, but the Clips do not have anyone who can stop Kevin Durant from scoring 30 plus every game.
3 Memphis Grizzlies over 6 San Antonio Spurs in 7 games- Well look at what we have here, a rematch of the epic first round series from a year ago. The Grizzlies put themselves on the map by winning against the number one seeded Spurs in seven games, and should be even better next season. The Spurs postseason experience and will of Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich will make the Spurs final hurrah last seven games. But in the end, Memphis will make San Antonio play their game and make the alamo an afterthought on their way to western conference glory.
5 Portland Trail Blazers over 4 Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games- The Los Angeles Lakers will loose in the first round of the postseason this year because their opponent is a better, younger, deeper team. Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge will exert his dominance on Pau Gasol, Jamal Crawford will provide the same key postseason performances he was known for in Atlanta, and Raymond Felton is better that whoever the Lakers trot out at point guard. Kobe Bryant will get his without question, but his injuries will catch up to him and hinder his performance enough for the Blazers to move on.
Eastern Conference Semi Finals
1 Miami Heat over 4 Orlando Magic in 5 games- The Heat play far better defense than the Magic and that will be the key to their advancement. It is true that the Heat do not have anybody that can stop Dwight Howard, but Miami can just let Dwight get his points and shut down the three point shooters to cripple the Magic. And you can say what you want about Lebron in the fourth quarter of games, but Dwight Howard also has a tendency to vanish when the spotlight is at its brightest. The Heat still have Dwayne Wade to take care of business when the pressure is on and Chris Bosh did make a game winning basket against the Mavericks in the NBA Finals a year ago. Orlando will fade into the off season with a loss to their south beach rivals.
2 Chicago Bulls over 3 New York Knicks in 6 games- The Knicks have a very good front line, but their suspect back court does not compare to the Bulls 1-2 punch of Derrick Rose and Rip Hamilton. And let us not forget the Bulls match up fairly well in the front court as well, with the Knicks biggest addition Chandler canceled out by Joakim Noah at the five spot. Too much Rose and Hamilton will be the downfall of the Knicks this season and will have NYC looking for a point guard in the off season.
Western Conference Semi Finals
1 Dallas Mavericks over 5 Portland Trail Blazers in 7 games- The defending NBA champs will be given all that they can handle against a young Portland team that took the Mavs to six games a year ago. Dallas is worse this year then they were last year, and if Brandon Roy did not have a career ending injury, it would be very tempting to pick the upset. Sadly for the team from the city of roses, Roy is gone and Dirk Nowitzki is still on the opposing team. This series will be fun, but the NBA champs will enjoy their run for another round longer.
2 Oklahoma City Thunder over 3 Memphis Grizzlies in 7 games- Get used to seeing these two teams playing each other in either this round or the Conference Finals on a yearly basis. These two teams are both young, hungry, deep, have good front courts, and can make the other team play their style of game. The best reason to pick the Thunder is because they pulled out the win in seven against the Grizzlies a year ago. If Memphis got anybody else in this round they would most likely win with their big time front court, good wing players, and overall complete team. That being said, the Thunder-Grizzlies series will become a common occurrence in the NBA over the next four to five years; and every one of those series will be fun to watch.
Eastern Conference Finals.
2 Chicago Bulls over 1 Miami Heat in 7 games- The Miami Heat put an end to the Bulls playoff run a year ago because the Heat shut down Derrick Rose. But here are two things to keep in mind from last season that fans might not remember. The first thing is that Carlos Boozer had two games when he averaged 20-10 against the vaunted Heat front court; and with more attention on Rose and Hamilton, Boozer should be able to put up those kind of numbers again. The second thing is that Rip Hamilton, a proven playoff veteran, was not a part of the Bulls loss to the Heat a year ago. Hamilton can provide the scoring punch that was not always present against the south beach trio. On top of it all, the Bulls play excellent defense and will be able to slow down Wade and Bosh enough and let the fourth quarter slow down LeBron James. The Bulls are better this year than they were last season, and although they might not have a ton of depth, the Heat are not as deep as Chicago. It will be a hard fought seven game series which will leave the beach boys on the outside looking in.
Western Conference Finals
2 Oklahoma City Thunder over 1 Dallas Mavericks in 6 games- The Mavericks will be gassed at this point in the season after a seven game series against Portland and the total accumulation of 66 games in a compressed schedule. Oklahoma City is a young, deep team that will be able to keep it's players fresh for the sped up season. Yes the Mavericks beat the Thunder a year ago, but this Mavericks team is not as good as last year's squad that won it all. Oklahoma City also should solve the chemistry problems between Westbrook and Durant because they will have had a whole off season to sort everything out. In a regular season, the Thunder's youth would hurt them, but in a compressed schedule, the older Mavericks, who's youngest starter is 32, will eventually burn out at season's end.
NBA FINALS
Oklahoma City Thunder over Chicago Bulls in 7 games- How great would this finals matchup be? Two of the game's up and coming stars Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant go head to head to compete for an NBA title. Rose and Durant will both leave their hearts on the court in every game this series, so the keys lie in the role players. The Bulls will have the edge in the low block because Boozer is a better scorer at this point in his career than Ibaka and Noah can out rebound Kendrick Perkins effectively. Durant will dominate whoever he is matched up against at small forward and Westbrook and Rose will both put up points against each other. But the Thunder have two key advantages that work in their favor. The first being depth. James Harden and the rest of the Thunder bench outclass the Bulls bench and will provide enough bench points to win games. The second is Thabo Sefolosha against Rip Hamilton. The Thunder are the one team in the NBA who will be able to take away Rip Hamilton from the Bulls because Sefolosha is a defensive minded two guard who can shut down a team's best off the ball scorer. If Hamilton does not get his points, that will put more pressure on Rose and Boozer to do all of the scoring.
So that will do it for the NBA preview extravaganza, hope everyone enjoys the slate of games that will be lying under the tree tomorrow. Happy Holidays to all.
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