As tense and well-played the NBA playoffs can be, there are rarely any surprises or upsets. In the end western conference champion will either be the Warriors or Spurs and in the East it'll more than likely be the Cavs

Every series 2-0 right now where the only thing that is remotely surprising is the Wizards being up 2 as the road dogs...not much of an upset for the 4/5 slot though. I think that the Spurs bounce back tonight giving us at least 1 series that will be 1-1 heading into Game 3.

NBA could have a big decision on their hands next week if we get a lot of sweeps. Do they go dark for a while, or move up the 2nd round?

I think they have to go dark. I believe they have an earliest date the 2nd round can start. I know for a fact that the finals game days are already set in June.

Round 1 so far is looking very un-interesting in terms of series so far.... but hey, you never know till the lower seed gets their home games going.

The first round is always terrible. That's why I can't stand that they lengthened the series from 5 to 7 games. I understand the TV but it's almost unwatchable. The 2nd round will definitely have more excitement.

Warriors first to advance.
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Honestly, I have found none of the Easter Conference first round series remotely interesting.

While the West has some cool story lines going, I haven't been able to get into the games as of yet.

Well, after a bunch of first round duds (excluding Spurs/Clips of course), all the road teams have stolen home court in the second round. Having watched a little bit of all the games thus far, I really wouldnt' be surprised at any potential Conferene Finals outcome.

If I had to guess, I'd lean towards Atlanta beating Washington in 6...It breaks my heart, but it sounds like Wall's injury is serious and that he might miss Game 3 and potentially Game 4. There is next to no chance the Wizards can win 3/5 without him. Despite the swag that Pierce brings and the emergence of Otto as a tremendous 3/D threat, the Wizards just can't hold for 48 minutes with a Temple/Beal/Sessions combo.

I'm leaning Cleveland in 7. You can just tell Rose is having trouble with Irving and might be hurt to some extent. I love Chicago's depth, but Cleveland still has the best player in the world and he'll take over when it needs to.

I got Golden State in 6 but I'm not too confident. What Memphis did in Oakland the other day was remarkable, but I don't think they sustain that type of play the whole series (which is what they'd need to win).

I got the Clips in 6. If they can roll with Houston sans Paul, I think they'll beat them if/when Paul returns. Not in love with Houston, never was during the season.

All four semi series are now 1-1. Going to be some great basketball this weekend including Golden State at Memphis game #3 in which I'm thrilled to be attending.

East Conf Finals:

vs

West Conf Finals:

vs /

For today:

vs.

Tipping off any minute.

Houston, we have No problems. Rockets beat the Clippers (can someone get them new uniforms and logos next season instead of the high school stuff they've been wearing for 30 years?) to advance to face the Warriors. 9th NBA team to come back from a 1-3 deficit in a seven game series (and only the second NBA franchise to accomplish that twice in NBA history (Celtics are the other one)).


So here we go:

East Conf Finals:

vs

West Conf Finals:

vs

not only that but Kevin McHale is now the only person to come back from a 3-1 deficit both as a player and a coach.

(05-18-2015 09:31 AM)stever20 Wrote:  not only that but Kevin McHale is now the only person to come back from a 3-1 deficit both as a player and a coach.

Good point. I wouldn't get too cocky if I were the Warriors. But I met Steve Kerr once at a college practice a long time ago, and he's got a terrific temperament for coaching under pressure.

the thing I worry about with the Rockets is how they beat the Clippers would just fall right into the Warriors hands. They gave the Clippers 28 3 pt attempts yesterday. Clippers only made 7 of those. Game 6- Clippers 7-30 from 3 point range. Game 5- 9-35. So last 3 games Clippers went 23-93 from 3 point range. If the Rockets give the Warriors 31 3 point attempts per game- it's going to be a quick series. To put in context- Warriors regular season averaged 27 3 point attempts- making 10.8 of them per game. In playoffs- 29.9 per game- making 11.5.

(05-18-2015 09:21 AM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Houston, we have No problems. Rockets beat the Clippers (can someone get them new uniforms and logos next season instead of the high school stuff they've been wearing for 30 years?) to advance to face the Warriors. 9th NBA team to come back from a 1-3 deficit in a seven game series (and only the second NBA franchise to accomplish that twice in NBA history (Celtics are the other one)).


So here we go:

East Conf Finals:

vs

West Conf Finals:

vs

With all the injuries to the Cavs, the Hawks might have a chance to win this series.

I think the fact the Cavs got 6 days off between series is huge for them.

Also, how Blatt managed LeBron this year coming back to help out major now. He's played a lot fewer minutes now than he did before.

(05-18-2015 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  I think the fact the Cavs got 6 days off between series is huge for them.

Also, how Blatt managed LeBron this year coming back to help out major now. He's played a lot fewer minutes now than he did before.

The time off will definitely help, but Kyrie's ankle won't be better than serviceable. Both the Wiz and Nets had players that were able to lock up Krover and still chase Teague around the court. I don't think the Cavs have that kind of flexibility.

(05-18-2015 10:58 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(05-18-2015 10:53 AM)stever20 Wrote:  I think the fact the Cavs got 6 days off between series is huge for them.

Also, how Blatt managed LeBron this year coming back to help out major now. He's played a lot fewer minutes now than he did before.

The time off will definitely help, but Kyrie's ankle won't be better than serviceable. Both the Wiz and Nets had players that were able to lock up Krover and still chase Teague around the court. I don't think the Cavs have that kind of flexibility.

I'll just say that against the Wizards, the Hawks came out flat as the Wiz had the rest and the Hawks were taken to the mat with trying to handle the Nets before they put them away. This time, Atlanta will have had a few days off as well, so while the rest definitely helped Cleveland, I don't think that factor will be as big as it was against the Wizards.

The Hawks were 3-1 against the Cavs regular season. Yes, it's the playoffs, so you can kind of throw that out, but then again, I do think they match up better against the Cavs. The bigger psychological hump for the Hawks in my mind was getting over the second round hump as they had never done it in Atlanta, and starting off losing home-court right away, there was a feeling of "here we go again." Now it's kinda all gravy. So hopefully they can be a bit looser and have more fun.

I'd like to see ATL and GS in the finals as they were the two best regular-season teams, and nowadays we don't get that in sports much with all the expanded playoffs everywhere (ahem...Giants and Marlins). Should be good series to follow on both sides. The most interest I've found in the NBA in a long, long time. But that probably speaks to how pathetic and mediocre the Hawks have been more than anything else.