Well it’s that time of year again. On April 17th the NBA playoffs begin. This year we have many teams with very good regular season records. I’m sure the fans and ABC want to see LeBron and Kobe match up in the finals, but I’m not sure that is going to happen. Well if the league let them play I don’t think it will happen. If the league let the worst officials in all of sports have an impact on the playoffs, then we will get LeBron vs. Kobe in the NBA finals.
In the West the Lakers will come out, but there is just something about the Lakers this year that doesn’t feel right. Lakers defense has been very inconsistent for most of the regular season. I think with a day off between games the Lakers are still the best team in the West.
Dallas and San Antonio can give the Lakers some problems. I like what Dallas did in the second half of the season. They are deep and they play hard with a team full of veterans.
Phoenix is probably the hottest team in the west right now, but I don’t think they can open up the court enough to beat the Lakers. Phoenix plays defense better, but not good enough to advance to the NBA finals.
Oklahoma City will when a couple of 1rst round games against the Lakers, but that is where it ends. Oklahoma City will be in a NBA Championship in the next couple of years.
Lakers vs. Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, Lakers will win in 6 games.
In the Eastern Conference, for some reason everybody think it’s a lock that Cleveland will come out the winner. I like the way LeBron is telling the media if we don’t win a NBA championship this season is a failure. I don’t hear anyone else saying that. I actually heard Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic say the season wouldn’t be a failure if they didn’t win a NBA Championship. I disagree with Dwight. I like the way LeBron is handling the playoffs. There are only 3 teams in the east that can make the NBA Finals (Cleveland, Orlando, and Atlanta).
I know this is going to shock a lot of people. Cleveland will not make the NBA Finals. LeBron need space to operate, in the playoffs teams will take that away. He will have to pass to Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Anderson Varejao, etc. I will take my chances. Cleveland does make to Conference finals.
Orlando has the shooters to beat any team. They got the defenders (Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus) to guard LeBron. Orlando is a very good team.
Atlanta is good. Nobody talks about Atlanta. They got seasoned veterans at Point Guard and Shooting Guard. They got one of the best Power Forwards in the league (Josh Smith). Atlanta wants to win. Joe Johnson is going to punish somebody for not being selected to the upcoming Olympic team. Can they beat Orlando or Cleveland in a 7 game series? They got the talent to win. If they could get around Orlando, they can beat Cleveland. I’m not so sure they can get around Orlando.
Cleveland vs. Orlando in the Eastern Conference finals, Orlando wins in 7 games. Yes they will win that game 7 in Cleveland.
Lakers vs. Magic in the NBA Finals, It will be just another repeat of last year. Lakers win series again, this time in 7 games.
