The NBA regular season is over and part two of the NBA season starts tomorrow. Both the eastern and western conference have good first round matchups but there are eight teams in particular I’m going to talk about.
In each conference I have picked out two teams you want to play and two teams you don’t want to play. In the western conference you want to be playing the Hornets and Mavericks, luckily for the Lakers and Blazers will be the lucky opponents of those teams.
The Hornets were never serious championship contenders even in the beginning of the season when they were one of the best teams in the NBA. Slumping down during the season their chances of making it to the season round took a bigger hit than fellow New Orleans superstar Reggie Bush took. All star David West torn his ACL in his knee and will be out for months.
The Lakers have no real first round threat in the Hornets due to that West is out and the Hornets really lack that strong wing scorer, which all NBA championship contenders have.
The Mavericks on the other hand did lose Caron Butler earlier in the season to a similar injury as West but it was his PCL and not his ACL which changes the time for his return to possibly the second round of the playoffs.
Too bad for him and the Mavericks there won’t be a second round for them. The Mavericks are one of the oldest teams in the playoffs and despite having one of the deeper rosters in the NBA there is no true number two option behind Dirk Nowitzki. The Mavericks would have been a much great threat to win the NBA title if they traded some of their role players (Terry, Marion, Stevenson, draft picks) for a scoring wing player who was available for a trade like Danny Granger or even Carmelo Anthony.
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| How nice would it have been if the Mavericks had what the Knicks have, two superstars who can each score 30 points a game. |
Those two teams you want to play as bad as you want this #winning trend to be your tweet.
Now the two teams you don’t want to play, these two teams I believe will be in the western conference finals, the Lakers and the Thunder. The Lakers for the clear cut reason, they are the defending champs and have the best team in the NBA. The Thunder are the up and coming team who won’t be able to beat the Lakers this year but next year the Thunder will be in the NBA finals, you heard it here first ladies and gentlemen.
The Lakers have a great team with a lot of talent and depth but there only real problem is there arrogance. They think they can turn it on at any point they want, they CAN’T! Yes they are the best team in the NBA and my favorite to win the title again this year beating the Heat in the NBA finals.
Now to the eastern conference which is the weaker conference by far. Basically it is so weak that the Eastern Conference champ will be the Heat, Celtics, or Bulls. The rest of the conference might as well book with Priceline Negotiator and get a hotel for a vacation spot in June cause none of them have a shot to play in the NBA finals.
But the two teams in the East you don’t want to play the most is the clearly the three mentioned above but in the first round there is a matchup that everyone needs to watch very close. The Celtics-Heat series; the series will go seven games and the Celtics will win because of their overall talent depth and their experience in the playoffs but the Knicks put up a hell of a fight due to their scoring ability and big shot making ability by Anthony and Chauncey Billups. If the Knicks could have gotten their grove together sooner and gotten the five seed in the east and got to play the Magic then they could be in the second round of the playoffs. A dangerous team next year assuming they bring back Mike D'antoni and add a defensive minded center in free agency, maybe Marcus Camby? We will see.
The other team in the East you don’t want to play the most is the Bulls, Derrick Rose is the clear cut MVP and Tom Thibodeau is most likely coach of the year. The Bulls have one real weakness though. They don’t have the wing scorer needed in the playoffs.
Now granted Rose is the best scoring point guard we have ever seen in the NBA but if he is double teamed late in games who can be the consistent number two scorer? Luol Deng is probably a solid number two scoring option from the perimeter but not a great option.
The Bulls still have the second best shot to make the NBA finals in the east behind the Heat and I only say that because the Heat have so much to prove including that they can beat the Bulls (0-4 during the regular season) and if they play their style of game, there is no one who can stop them in the eastern conference.
Now the two teams in the eastern conference who you want to play are playing each other in the first round. The Magic and the Hawks are both overrated teams who have one superstar and two great B players but nothing more. Now you’re asking me would I rather play the Hawks or Magic in the first round instead of the 76ers or Pacers? Yes I would because both the 76ers and Pacers are high flying and lock down defense young teams with all the energy in the world but not brains how to use it in the playoffs yet.
Bottom line is that the NBA championship will be won by a handful of teams and the others are just there to make the NBA money before the lockout DOES HAPPEN!
