NBA Playoff Time!

April 20, 2007 on 4:53 pm | In General

Following the excitement of the WEBBA Division 3 Playoffs, what could possibly hope to top Nailsea’s glorious achievement of winning the league and the playoffs in the team’s inaugural year?

Well, there’s the NBA Playoffs starting this weekend, they’re pretty exciting. So I thought I’d give you a little run down of what’s going on. I’ll do the East today, and the West tomorrow (mainly because i’ve just spent about an hour writing the following, and I want to leave work now!).

So, here are the matchups in the first round, and a little about what I think (hope) will happen:

Eastern Conference: 1st Seed Detroit Pistons vs. 8th Seed Orlando Magic – The 2004 Champion and playoff-tested Pistons, still with much the same team minus Ben Wallace, match up with the young, inexperienced Magic. The Magic are my team, I love some of their players, and I would dearly love to see them play past the first round. Alas, I suspect that the boys from Motown will dispense with the upstarts on this occasion. Orlando has the matchup advantage at centre, but Detroit owns the advantage in all four other positions. I don’t think the Magic will get swept (although they did through the regular season), but I do think they’ll be leaving the playoff party pretty early on. My prediction is Detroit in six games, including one Orlando win where Dwight has a career night, and another where Grant Hill scores a game winning buzzer beater…

2nd Seed Cleveland Cavs vs. 7th Seed Washington Wizards – The LeBron James show starts a new playoff season with what could be a cakewalk in the Wizards. Unlucky Washington has been decimated by injuries in the last few weeks, losing both it’s all-star players for the duration of the playoffs. Short of Antawn Jamison becoming Wilt Chamberlain overnight this series should be mercifully short; Cavs in five.

3rd Seed Toronto Raptors vs. 6th Seed New Jersey Nets – Toronto is the first team in NBA history to go from having the top pick in the draft one year, to winning it’s division title the next. They’re rolling, all their key players are healthy, Chris Bosh is a monster and to top it off they have home court advantage. The Nets aren’t likely to lie down easily though, their “Big Three” have been playing well over the last month, and Vince Carter is likely to be spurred on by the hostile Toronto fans, who have booed him ever since he demanded a trade from the Raptors four years ago. This one will go the distance, and owing to the Nets greater experience I predict New Jersey in seven.

4th Seed Miami Heat vs. 5th Seed Chicago Bulls – Another tough series, last year’s champions the Heat have a collection of quality veterans, emerging young role players, and superstars Shaq and Dwyane Wade. Wade is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder that forced him to miss 23 games near the end of the regular season though, and isn’t his usual explosive, game-changing self just yet. Nevertheless this is a team that can win games, and won’t be backing down from anyone. Chicago’s post-Jordan renaissance continues, they are a young team with a veteran leader in center Ben Wallace (who has a habit of frustrating Shaq…) and a real defensive mindset instilled in them by coach Scott Skiles. My money (if I had any) would be on the Heat, but you can’t count the Bulls out of this one. Miami in seven.

There you have it, NBA predictions from someone with absolutely no formal background in the game, more tomorrow as we delve into the Western Conference.

Lewis