NBA Playoffs

[King Glorious]

East
Detroit vs. Orlando
Detroit has had no answer for Dwight Howard (20.8 pts, 13.5 reb, 54% fg) this season but Orlando has had no answer for the Detroit backcourt of Richard Hamilton (18.8) and Chauncey Billups (26.0). Orlando's weakness is that they aren't good at sharing the ball and turn it over way too much. That plays right into Detroit's strength. On paper, this should be a good matchup and with Orlando playing well late and being a good home team, I wouldn't be totally surprised to see it go to six games. The Pistons won all four regular season games but three of them were by five or less. I'm expecting Detroit in five though. They've been the dominant Eastern team since the Chris Webber trade.

Cleveland vs. Washington
With no Gilbert Arenas or Caron Butler, this is no contest. LeBron James and the Cavs in four.

Toronto vs. New Jersey
Toronto was the surprise team of the league this season. New Jersey, with all of the injuries was one of the disappointments. But as the season came to an end, it was NJ looking like the better team coming into the playoffs. Having Richard Jefferson back is huge for them. It gives them another scoring option and a guy they can look for when they need a basket. I still don't think Toronto has that go-to guy, despite Chris Bosh's outstanding numbers. Against NJ this season in three games, he's only averaged 17 and 6.7 rebounds. The teams split four games in the regular season, each team winning their home games. Ironically, Toronto beat NJ in the game Bosh missed. NJ lost both games that Jefferson missed. TJ Ford will look to push the tempo but NJ really likes to play at a fast tempo so that advantage might not be there for Toronto. NJ struggles in the slowdown game not uptempo. Marcus Williams can come in and give Kidd minutes and keep the flow going. NJ takes this in six games.

Miami vs. Chicago
What a matchup this is. Either of these teams has the ability to make it to the finals in my opinion. Last year, they played a very tight series that could have gone either way. One thing we know is that Chicago won't be intimidated by the Heat. The Heat has the experience though and that little bit of extra confidence since they won the series last year. D-Wade has been slowed by a knee problem since coming back and so u wonder how much he can give them. He'll need to be close to 100% to keep up with Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. That's as good a backcourt as their is in the league. Tyrus Thomas is very active inside as is Ben Wallace and that could hurt Miami on the offensive glass. The key to this series though, as is usually the case when he plays, is Shaq. If he can stay out of fout trouble, the Heat can win. If he can't, they will lose in the first round. My prediction is that Chicago has a little too much athleticsm and depth and will take out the defending champs in seven games. Having home-court advantage will prove to be huge. Loul Deng will be the difference maker. Miami has no answer for him.

West
Dallas vs. Golden State
It's my position that the Warriors, not the Suns, are the scariest offensive team in the league. They've gone 120+ in four of their last five games. They've averaged 116.7 points in the month of April. They have guys that can score at every position. What they do is use a small lineup with Al Harrington at center and force u to match up with them. Dallas may have to use a small lineup also and take Erick Dampier and Dsagana Diop out of the mix. That helps Golden State cause then the Mavs have no real interior defender. Of course, on the other end, GS has nobody that can match up with Dirk Nowitzki. They do have enough athleticsm to harrass him though. In the end, Dirk is going to get his 24 a game but he'll need a lot of help from Josh Howard, Jason Terry, and Jerry Stackhouse to take the pressure off of him. I'm scared by this series. The Mavs were my pick to win the title but the Warriors flat out scare me. I'm taking the Mavs still because they are nearly as good offensively and much better defensively than the Warriors. I think all of the games will be close though and free throw shooting is the Mavs' specialty. Also, the Warriors have so many options that they don't really have a go-to guy. That will end up hurting them. Mavs in six.

Phoenix vs. Los Angeles
Everyone is thinking that this is going to be a good series because of what we saw last year. Wrong. Last year, these were two different teams. Last year, Phoenix didn't have Amare Stoudamire and Kurt Thomas. The Lakers were able to dominate inside and that opened up the outside. Not the case this year. Stoudamire will put Brown into foul trouble early and that will put the load on Andrew Bynum. That's not in the Lakers' favor. Last year, Leandro Barbosa wasn't playing nearly as well as he has played this year. He and Steve Nash will be matched up against Smush Parker and Jordan Farmar. Seriously. Parker has fallen off so bad that Farmar has taken his starting spot. The same Farmar that the Lakers were sending down to the D-League this month. Lamar Odom will be a tough matchup for the Suns but I think Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw will be better prepared for him defensively this year because they can concentrate more on that end since they won't be needed for as much offense as last year with Barbosa and Stoudamire handling that. Obviously, nobody can stop Kobe Bryant. But Raja Bell will make him work hard. Last year's share the ball offense is long gone. The Lakers of this year simply can't win unless Kobe is scoring 45+ points a game. Even when he does, they are barely beating mediocre teams. This series will be an easy one for the Suns. Kobe's brilliance may get the Lakers a game but that's it. Suns in five.

San Antonio vs. Denver
The Spurs were really good in the second half of the season. Denver has been a disappointing 25-20 since Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony started playing together. However, there have been flashes of what everyone has expected. They went 8-3 in one stretch where they beat the Lakers and Phoenix. They dominated at Cleveland. They played a defensive match and beat Dallas. They finished the season winning 10 of 11, including two wins against the Lakers, one on the road, winning at the Clippers and at Utah. Everyone knows what u will get from Iverson and Anthony. The keys are Marcus Camby and Linus Kleiza. Camby has become a defensive monster, dominating the boards and blocking shots. Kleiza is finding his niche as a guy that buries open shots. Steve Blake can handle the ball so that frees up Iverson to roam a little more and that makes it harder to key on him. This is a dangerous team. The Spurs are too. They have everything u want. Experience, depth, and most importantly, talent. I don't think Denver is a good matchup for them though. Tony Parker will have to get into the lane often and try to get the Denver big men in foul trouble. That will open things up for Tim Duncan. We all know Duncan comes up big in the playoffs but Camby will make him work because he's so active then Nene Hilario will come in with a change of pace. In an upset, I'm taking the Nuggets in seven, feeling that the pressure of having to win game seven at home to avoid an upset is going to cause SA to crack. Iverson's been there and that's huge in how he'll help Denver.

Utah vs. Houston
Yet another intriguing matchup. Houston has the home court advantage even though Utah is the higher seed. The combination of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady is formidable. Utah doesn't have an answer for either of them. On the other hand, Houston doesn't have much answer for Carlos Boozer. Utah has a lot of depth though and that will give Houston problems. Houston is an excellent defensive team and will cover all of Utah's shooters without having to double team anyone. Utah will have to double team both of Houston's stars and that will open up the floor for timely shots by Rafer Alston and Shane Battier. Houston's stars will end up being more than Utah's depth though. Houston in six.