NBA Playoffs!

[cant]

Well, if the Rockets were involved, NY would get shut down. True story

[H.O.V.A.]

luckiest 3 pointer ever wowwwww

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

Anybody thinking that any team out there is beating the Heat 4 times out of 7 is delusional. They have home court advantage through the Finals. Not that they even need it as I don't see them playing any Game 7.

Gotta say that the Clippers/Grizzlies & Nuggets/Warriors series have been my favorites so far. Heat/Bucks, Spurs/Lakers, Thunder/Rockets, Pacers/Hawks, Knicks/Celtics, Nets/Bulls have all been pretty boring.

[H.O.V.A.]

man I swear if OKC loses this series imma be so pissed lol. Durant been ballin' but everyone else has been sooooo bad on offense. Thabo bad. K-Mart bad. Ibaka can't even post up James Harden. And defensively ohh gawwd we're even worse on defense. just letting James Harden walk the ball up to take a 3. So lazy! Durant has been great (even though he was scoreless in the 4th quarter his 3rd quarter was awesome. He's been inconsistent on defense but he's alright, he's never been a great defender) but loooord if everyone else doesn't pick up their slack I seriously think Houston has a shot at making history by coming back from a 0-3 deficit. UGH.

[brad]

Im pushing for the Thunder, then pulling for Golden state or the bulls.

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

Warriors!!!!!!!

Good for Mark Jackson, Steph Curry & company. They have a solid young group. Can they upset the Spurs too?

[brad]

I know right Steph Curry is probably the best shooter in the game besides Durannt!

[H.O.V.A.]

I doubt the Warriors can upset the Spurs. Although Denver lost what they exposed about Golden State is that they can't effectively close out game. Also apparently the Warriors haven't won in the Spurs' arena in 16 years so there's that.

But hey, the Thunder were in this exact same boat last year. youthful team which made it to the finals (although OKC had more playoff experience than Golden State). Some crazy stuff has been going on in this first round alone so I'm just about ready for anything.

Steph Curry tho >>>>> jump shot is money

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

So we have....

(1) Thunder vs (5) Grizzlies
(2) Spurs vs (6) Warriors
(2) Knicks vs (3) Pacers
(1) Heat vs ???

It's funny that the Heat were the first done with their series and now are the last to know their next opponent. Who's taking that game in Brooklyn?

[H.O.V.A.]

I think Brooklyn's gonna take it. As much as I'd love to see Chicago vs. Miami, the team's too banged up right now.

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

So the next round is set.....

(1) Miami Heat vs. (5) Chicago Bulls / (1) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. (5) Memphis Grizzlies
(2) New York Knicks vs. (3) Indiana Pacers / (2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Golden State Warriors

Predictions?

Heat in 5. (I don't like predicting sweeps. )
Thunder in 7. (Tough choice here being that Westbrook isn't there. Otherwise it'd probably be Thunder in 5. Only reason I don't choose the Grizz is because there is NO ANSWER for KD. The others should do enough.)
Pacers in 6. (I'm still not buying the Knicks hype. They almost coughed up a 3-0 series lead against a heavily depleted Boston team.)
Spurs in 5. (I'll give the Warriors a game. If Manu is balling like he has been, it should be a short series. I hope it goes longer though.)

[H.O.V.A.]

Man Chicago proves me wrong yet again haha. Loved the amount of heart and effort put on the court. As for predictions...

Miami in 7 - I think Chicago will put up a good fight, no other team in the Heat's road to the finals are gonna play them as physically as the Bulls so I'm hoping for a very long series haha. Gonna be the most entertaining of the semi-conference finals for sure.

Pacers in 6 - I don't know much about this matchup tho to be honest. I think either team could challenge Miami but if Carmelo shoots as terribly as he did in the last couple of games then it'll be a quick series haha. Go Indiana!

Spurs in 5 - Like I said before this matchup basically the experienced vs. unexperienced. Expecting this one to be quick and painless.

Grizz in 7 - Oklahoma City doesn't have any lowpost players, something that Memphis has in Gasol and Zbo. OKC winning this series won't depend on how Durant plays (cuz we all know he can drop 30+), but how the roleplayers play. Ibaka and K-Mart are gonna have to score big, Perkins is gonna have to play the bigs physically, and Collison may have to play more minutes. There's a correlation between how well the team plays with Collison on the floor and when Perkins is on the floor (hint hint, they play better when Nick is there).

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

Miami in 7 - I think Chicago will put up a good fight, no other team in the Heat's road to the finals are gonna play them as physically as the Bulls so I'm hoping for a very long series haha. Gonna be the most entertaining of the semi-conference finals for sure.

Grizz in 7 - Oklahoma City doesn't have any lowpost players, something that Memphis has in Gasol and Zbo. OKC winning this series won't depend on how Durant plays (cuz we all know he can drop 30+), but how the roleplayers play. Ibaka and K-Mart are gonna have to score big, Perkins is gonna have to play the bigs physically, and Collison may have to play more minutes. There's a correlation between how well the team plays with Collison on the floor and when Perkins is on the floor (hint hint, they play better when Nick is there).

The Heat beat the Bulls at full strength 2 years ago in 5 games. You think this beat down sick team is going to take them to the brink? Some might point to last year's Celtics series going to 7 games but let's be honest, Bosh was out the prior series (I think he came back game 2 in this series) and Wade was nowhere near full strength (getting that knee drained in the prior series). The Heat are pretty much at full strength (on top of having a better supporting cast with Allen, Lewis, Birdman), the shit that happened in the regular season means absolutely nothing. As proven 2 years ago when I believe the Bulls swept the season series and then were taken out in 5 games in the ECF.

As for Grizz/Thunder, have some faith in your team man!! Lol, j/k. If the role players can put together decent performances, they should be able to to pull it off. The Perkins/Gasol, Ibaka/Zbo match-ups should be fun to watch. I honestly think that this series is the one that exposes how big of a loss Rudy Gay is to the Grizzlies (would've been great to see a shootout between Gay & Durant). Shit, even not having OJ Mayo on the bench is quite a hit. Not sure they can count on Bayless to fill those shoes. But with that said, Zbo, Gasol, Conley should put together some good offense and when you have Tony Allen on defense, shouldn't be too much to be worried about.

[deatharoundthacorner7]

I hope the Heat sweep the Knicks

[H.O.V.A.]

The Heat beat the Bulls at full strength 2 years ago in 5 games. You think this beat down sick team is going to take them to the brink? Some might point to last year's Celtics series going to 7 games but let's be honest, Bosh was out the prior series (I think he came back game 2 in this series) and Wade was nowhere near full strength (getting that knee drained in the prior series). The Heat are pretty much at full strength (on top of having a better supporting cast with Allen, Lewis, Birdman), the shit that happened in the regular season means absolutely nothing. As proven 2 years ago when I believe the Bulls swept the season series and then were taken out in 5 games in the ECF.

As for Grizz/Thunder, have some faith in your team man!! Lol, j/k. If the role players can put together decent performances, they should be able to to pull it off. The Perkins/Gasol, Ibaka/Zbo match-ups should be fun to watch. I honestly think that this series is the one that exposes how big of a loss Rudy Gay is to the Grizzlies (would've been great to see a shootout between Gay & Durant). Shit, even not having OJ Mayo on the bench is quite a hit. Not sure they can count on Bayless to fill those shoes. But with that said, Zbo, Gasol, Conley should put together some good offense and when you have Tony Allen on defense, shouldn't be too much to be worried about.

haha maybe you're right, as soon as I feel like the Grizz got a chance Durant pulls up for the win :P

I dunno why I feel this team can push it to 7. Obviously they are worse than they were 2 years ago because they don't have D. Rose, but if I recall Boozer wasn't playing well either. He's been decent this year, and Noah played great throughout the series even though he was injured. Miami got better this year too, with Birdman and Ray Allen.

It's really hard for me to explain... this team is worse than it was 2 years ago, but you can't count the Bulls out. I really didn't have much confidence in the Bulls vs. Brooklyn vs. game 1, but the games after they showed way more effort and grind (though I believe Barkley commented on TNT about how the Nets were a team with talent and no heart, that's mainly the reason why Brooklyn lost). The Bulls are probably gonna drop game 1 because they don't have Deng and because of the fact that they're playing so soon after game 7, but Chicago won't go down without fighting.

I didn't watch the Oklahoma City game because I've been on the road for most of the day, can't really comment on matchups and all that.