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Playoffs Predictions
2007 NBA Playoffs Predictions
With the month of March being
dominated by college hoops, it’s easy to lose sight of
what’s going on in the big leagues of basketball. With
roughly two weeks remaining in the NBA regular season four
Eastern Conference teams and five Western Conference teams
have clinched playoff spots.
The Central division shaped up to be the strongest in the
east with Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago all securing
spots early in the postseason. The Raptors are the other
team out east to clinch in the very weak Atlantic
division.
Out west, the Southwest Division remains the strongest
with all three Texas teams making the postseason. Dallas
has a nine-game lead on second place San Antonio and a
14.5-game lead on third place Houston. Other teams making
noise out west are the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz who
are the only teams to have clinched division titles
already.
I could talk about the teams remaining who will be
fighting for those final spots in each conference, but I
think I’ll save my breath as none of those teams have a
chance with the exception of Miami, and that is contingent
upon Dwayne Wade’s health and performance.
Let’s cut straight to the chase. When you last paid
attention to the NBA, it was Phoenix and Dallas in the
west and the east was probably still wide open. You may
have penciled in Detroit who owns the best record in the
Eastern Conference by a slim margin and has tons of
playoff experience. Not a lot has changed, but San Antonio
and Houston have played as well as any team in the second
half making themselves viable NBA Finals contenders. The
most dominant team in the NBA this decade decided to kick
it into gear in the second half and Yao Ming’s return has
greatly benefited the Rockets as expected-much to the
dismay of basketball know-it-alls who said Houston was
better off without him. I know Dallas and Phoenix have
garnered much of the attention, but don’t count either of
the other Texas teams out in the west, especially San
Antonio who plays the best defense in the league and has
an experienced nucleus of stars. Health is really the
Spurs biggest obstacle in my opinion, even bigger than the
Mavs.
The east is still up for grabs in every sense of the
phrase. Any team which happens to click when the playoffs
begin is just as likely to catch fire and get to the NBA
Finals as any other team. Because the east is so weak, I
think you have to make the experienced teams like the
Pistons and the Heat your favorites. The Chicago Bulls
have the third best record in the Central Division but the
best record against Central Division teams at 11-4 this
season. Detroit is just 7-6 against the Central which is
just one-game better than the lowly Pacers in the loss
column. However, the Bulls are too reliant on perimeter
scoring and haven’t shown consistent enough play on the
road to have us believe they could get to the Finals.
Cleveland also has a better record that Detroit within the
division at 9-5. They won a playoff series last season,
and they have an interior scorer in Ilgauskas. However,
the Cavs won their first playoff series in recent memory
against one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA in
Washington, and James just had a visit from the injury bug
with knee tendonitis flaring up. The Pistons are a great
defensive team with balance and depth who have been there
and done that. Miami also has unmatched experience and the
Eastern Conference’s most dominant player. And I’m talking
about Shaq. If Shaq wasn’t injured for much of the first
half of the season Washington would be left in the dust by
the Heat right now. More injuries will be the only thing
from keeping the Heat away from another date with the
Piston’s in the Conference Finals.
There’s your rundown. The same things we thought heading
into the season have held up throughout it. It’s Dallas,
San Antonio, and Phoenix in the west and Miami and Detroit
in the east. As compelling as sports reporters try to make
stories like the Warriors’ late push, I’m just not that
interested. It’s about these teams at the top. One of them
will have a chance to win the title while one of the other
will make an early exit.
We now have all of the first round
games broken down series by series:
Updated April 19th, 2007
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