NBA Playoffs Part Deux

So the Bulls and the Celtics series has FINALLY ended with the good guys coming out on top!!!  With Boston winning and the Hawks pulling out the “W” over Miami, the door has opened to the glorious second round of the playoffs.  As I love to do, I am going to force feed you all my theories on how these series will play out and then when I am horribly wrong, I will blame it all on you!!!

Orlando vs. Boston

If Kevin Garnett were able bodied (don’t they have cortisone in Boston?) I wouldn’t even waste my massively valuable time writing up this synopsis but since he isn’t, here I GO!!!  After a long series with Chicago we learned a few things about the “new” Celts,  #1 Paul Pierce isn’t as good as he thinks.  Sure he made some big shots but he also effed up a lot, i.e) fouling Noah on a bonehead play that probably cost them the game if not another over time. #2 Boston can get REALLY thin, REALLY fast up front (I am really trying to get a Big Baby joke in here but I am tired) and #3 Brian Scalabrine and Tony Allen are part of an elaborate rouse by Ashton Kutcher to Punk the whole world into thinking these 2 DUDS could actually make and NBA squad.  As for Orlando, I think they are way too big for the Celts but not too deep for them.  If they can get O Town in foul trouble, I think they will be able to pressure their back up players into a big enough hole that they can’t recover but that is a LOOONG stretch….Magic in 6

Atlanta vs. Cleveland

If you skipped the first match up to get to this one you may want to go back to the first sentence and read slowly.  My time is valuable and the Cavaliers time is too.  I mean how is LeBron going to celebrate being MVP at 24 years old when he has to play these damn playoff games.  Cavs = good, Hawks = not good enough. Cavs in 4

Lakers vs. Rockets

I think this is a match up I am anticipating more than most people.  One of 2 of the worlds best players (depending on who you like better) vs. one of the worlds best defenders and piss off artists.  And if you don’t know who I am talking about, its Yao Ming and Sasha Vujacic…..No seriously, earlier in the year Kobe vs. Artest was AWESOME and gave me my favourite clip of the year which I posted on the site here.  I think people are MAJORLY looking past the Big Man and his band of merry men and just thinking LeBron/Kobe finals.  Houston is here for a reason, they have a deep team filled with role players that just come to play basketball.  Sure they don’t have T-Mac but T-Mac doesn’t have knees or a back so he would only slow them down.  What I think this series will come down to is how well Ming can play Gasol and how bad Artest can piss off Kobe.  If Ming gets in foul trouble consistently, Houston loses.  If Artest can piss Kobe off enough to make him shoot 50 times and forget his teammates, I think LA loses.  But…LA in 6

Denver vs. Dallas

I have previously stated my disdain for the Mavericks and their style of play and nothing afforded me more happiness then seeing them get beat on Sunday while I was nursing a WICKED hangover (THANK YOU PACQUIAO).  I think Denver is WAY too deep, too dirty and too well rounded to even get sucked into the Diggler’s one man band act.  Billups is better than Kidd (at this point in their career), anyone is better than JJ Barea, JR Smith is Jason Terry with attitude, Melo and Dirk are  fairly even, Martin is a real thug as opposed to Josh Howard and Nene is a REAL beast as opposed to Ericka Dampier (shout out to the Big Shaqtus).  I can see the Mavs lulling the Nuggets to sleep for a game or two so I will say….Denver in 6

Let me know what you guys think in the comments section….PROVE ME WRONG CELTICS!!!

Peace!

Allen Iverson Done For The Season

Curiously, 2 days after AI announced that he would “rather retire than come off the bench”, President of basketball operations for the Pistons Joe Dumars announced AI was being shut down for the rest of the season with “back pains”.  My 80 year old Great Aunt in England, who wouldn’t know what a basketball was if she broke her hip on one, knows that is basketball speak for “this guys a dick and we’re sick of his whining”.  Ever since the Pistons traded Chauncey for AI it has been a disaster in Detroit.  For the first time in YEARS, the Pistons are actually fighting for a playoff seed rather than fighting for home court advantage and I won’t mince words, its all AI’s fault, well and Joe Dumars for making the trade.  It all started with Iverson taking Rip Hamiltons spot in the starting line up which obviously didn’t sit well with anyone else who had been part of those Pistons playoff runs.  Then Iverson got hurt and Rip came back from an injury and guess what?  The Pistons started to win again, MIRACULOUS!

I have been hearing for years how Iverson is a bad seed and all about himself but I just thought it was because he was on crappy Philly teams and had no one there to really help him and he was sick of carrying a team on his shoulders.  Then he went to the stacked Nuggets a few years ago and I thought “this is where AI will thrive with some weight off his shoulders” and it didn’t happen there then either.  Then he got traded to Detroit which had me shaking my head for weeks and my friend Darkman said it best “That trade was the biggest steal for the Nuggets and the worst for the Pistons, you’ll see”.  Lo and behold, he was right.  The Nuggets got the sturdy team oriented unselfish PG they have needed to get over that hump in the Western conference and the Pistons got…6th to 8th seed in the East? 

Detroit was always a team that got by with their unreal belief in themselves and their team unity.  Obviously either the loss of Chauncey really hurt their pysche in Motown or AI is really that bad a teammate or both.  I still to this day don’t know why Joe pulled the trigger on that trade because even if it was to save cap for next year, why did he do it so early?  That may be something we never know but this is something I do know for sure, he regrets it.  The Pistons have looked flat since the trade and I haven’t seen them mount one of their 4th quarter “lets try now” comebacks in a long while, well actually, since Mr. Clutch left town and it must suck for Piston fans.

With AI out for the season we will now get to see if he was the problem or if the Pistons magic has just ran out with their aging stars finally peaking. One thing we know for sure Iverson won’t have to worry about practice anymore!

Peace!

NBA All Star Reserves Named

Today the NBA announced the reserves for the All Star game and there are definitely some shady choices here…Lets get to it…

WEST

Centres – Pau Gasol (Lakers) Shaquille O’Neal (Suns) – No problems here – Gasol is the C/PF on the best team in the west and come on, he may not be in his prime but does anybody bring more laughs to the All Star festivities then the Big Aristotle.

Forwards – David West (Hornets) and Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks) – Hmmm it gets a little sketchy here for me.  I know last year David West has everyone saying  ”Who the F… is this guy killing my team” and I know he is still putting up decent numbers but what about Al Jefferson?  Sure he plays in ‘Sota and more people watch Slamball then WOLVES games but this guy is a MONSTER!  This season he has had TWENTY, 12+ rebound games and 34, 20+ point games.  I know the Mavs aren’t having the best season but Diggler is the man still.  The big German still gets his buckets and lets be honest if he wasn’t in Dallas they would be MUCH worse (more…)