<div class="quote_poster">Umair Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Mark my words: Dallas will beat them in 5 games.</div>
<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Still can happen.</div> I never said it couldn't.
West: 1. Dallas over GS = 7 Games 2. Lakers over Phoenix = 6 or 7 Games 3. Spurs over Nuggets = 6 Games 4. Houston over Utah = 5 or 6 Games East 1. Pistons over Magic = 5 games 2. Chicago over Miami = 7 Games 3. NJ over Toronto = 6 Games 4. Cleveland over Washington = 6 Games
<div class="quote_poster">Legacy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Can you tell me who just won between the Mvas and Warriors? </div> Looks like Golden State might win this round
<div class="quote_poster">Detroit Madness Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Detroit vs Orlando= Detroit in 5 (Deeeetroit basketball) Chicago vs NJ= Chicago in 6 (Chicago basketball is back) Toronto vs Wash.=Toronto in 5 (No Gilbert, thought I'd be nice and give them 1 game) Miami vs Cleveland=Miami in 7 (I really wanted to pick Cleveland but if I did Miami would win) <u><font color=""Red"">Dallas vs Golden State=Dallas in 4 (anyone got a broom?)</font></u> Phoenix vs L.A.=Phoenix in 5 (kobe will win 1 game by himself) S.A. vs Denver=S.A. in 6 (I look forward to this series) Utah vs Houston= Houston in 7 (t-mac congrats buddy)</div> Very insightful. Nah, I'm just playin. You should have realized GSW could steal 1 or 2.
<div class="quote_poster">Run BJM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"></div> Dallas is taking 4 straight games next. <div class="quote_poster">Rockets rule Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Looks like Golden State might win this round</div> Just because they took one game doesn't mean they can win the series.
Wow, im surprised. I knew GS and Denver will take a game atleast, but not right from the beginning. Should be some GOOD playoffs considering the way we've started.
I'm surprised by the amount of people that think the Lakers can actually put up a fight against Phoenix. The Suns had a really out-of-character bad game yesterday. I'd be surprised if the Lakers can push this series to 6. My list: East: 1st Round (1)Detroit vs. (8)Orlando = Detroit in 5 <font size=""1"">Explanation: This should be a cakewalk for Detroit. They tend to get a bit overconfident so they'll throw away one game. (Remember last year against the Bucks)</font> (2)Cleveland vs. (7)Washington = Cleveland in 4 <font size=""1"">Explanation: The obvious. No Arenas. No Butler. No chance.</font> (3)Toronto vs. (6)New Jersey = New Jersey in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Toronto's too young. Kidd will pick them apart. Sam Mitchell's a good coach and they're a relatively deep team so I think they can steal one or two games from New Jersey.</font> (4)Miami vs. (5)Chicago = Chicago in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Wade isn't 100% and Shaq is just not the same old Shaq. This isn't the same hungry team as last year. Chicago has a legitimate chance of winning this series.</font> Eastern Conference Semifinals (1)Detroit vs. (5)Chicago = Detroit in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Detroit's been in the last three Conference Finals. No doubt in my mind they'll be in it again. As great as Chicago has been against them in the regular season, the playoffs aren't quite the same.</font> (2)Cleveland vs. (3)New Jersey = Cleveland in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: New Jersey lacks depth. They've really only got one guy helping off the bench. That's a killer in a best-of-7 series. They'll run out of gas. May not even reach 7 games.</font> Eastern Conference Finals (1)Detroit vs. (2)Cleveland = Detroit in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Detroit's got homecourt, and Cleveland just doesn't play well as a team. Too much one-on-one play. Detroit murders teams like that. Remember the Lakers in the 2005 Finals?</font> West: 1st Round (1)Dallas vs. (8)Golden State = Dallas in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Golden State has great talented players and definitely match up well with Dallas. But they're unexperienced. They'll fold in Game 7. Plus Dallas has home court.</font> (2)Phoenix vs. (7)Los Angeles = Phoenix in 5 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Phoenix is just hard to match up with for 48 minutes. They'll wear you out. And the Lakers aren't a very good team to begin with. The Zen Master's brilliance can only get them so far. This will not go past 6 games.</font> (3)San Antonio vs. (6)Denver = San Antonio in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Denver showed they could play with the Spurs, but Coach Popovich is a master at adjustments. I wouldn't be surprised if this series ended in 5.</font> (4)Utah vs. (5)Houston = Houston in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Utah's a very complete team from top to bottom. They're probably the Pistons of the West. But AK47 has not played well in quite a while. They'll also have a difficult time containing Yao while keeping Chuck Hayes off the glass. They just don't have the personnel to keep up with Houston. This series may end in 5. Utah can extend the series if they can find a way to keep the game at their tempo and not the slow-down game that favors the Rockets.</font> Western Conference Semifinals (1)Dallas vs. (5)Houston = Houston in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Rematch of the 1st round matchup 2 years ago. Houston has upgraded their roster since then. They have a lot of players they can throw at Dirk now and at Josh Howard. The play of Battier and Chuck Hayes on the defensive end will determine the fate of the Rockets.</font> (2)Phoenix vs. (3)San Antonio = San Antonio in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Who's gonna guard Duncan? How will they keep Tony Parker out of the lane? The Spurs have too many weapons. I say Spurs in 6 because I think the Spurs would rather not play a 7th game in Phoenix. They'll make sure this ends in 6.</font> Western Conference Finals (3)San Antonio vs. (5)Houston = San Antonio in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: The Spurs are the veterans at this. They've got the experience. This Houston team has never gotten out of the first round. Duncan will cause a whole lot of problems in the paint.</font> Finals Detroit vs. San Antonio = Detroit in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: This is kind of just a gut feeling for me. Could really go either way</font>
<div class="quote_poster">Kensaku Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Go Warriors! Screw it, I have nothing to lose...Warriors will sweep the Mavs! </div>
<div class="quote_poster">Clear It Out Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm surprised by the amount of people that think the Lakers can actually put up a fight against Phoenix. The Suns had a really out-of-character bad game yesterday. I'd be surprised if the Lakers can push this series to 6.</div> Yeah, I was looking at some team stats the other day and noticed that the Suns as a TEAM shoots nearly 50%. I think the actual stat is a bit higher than 49%. That is just insane. They'll probably have a lot of trouble losing in the playoffs if they shoot like that (it's actually 49.4%). The Lakers with the 6th best shooting percentage in the league shoots 46.6% which isn't that bad, but quite different from 49.4%. I'll never count out the Lakers with Kobe and Phil, but the Suns just seem like an extremely tough team this year, especially right now. I am happy the Lakers beat the Warriors up in the regular season now, because Warriors/Mavericks is better for my team the Warriors than Warriors/Suns. Phoenix shoots 2% better than the second most efficient shooting team in the NBA. That's a lot considering 2% points below the second best shooting team is the 20th best shooting team, the Detroit Pistons. And defensively it's not like the Suns let the other teams shoot a high FG percentage either. They allow the 12th lowest FG% from their opponents. Basically the Suns are dangerous and I wouldn't want to face them in the playoffs if given a choice.
The Suns' defense has been misconstrued all season long. Just because a team allows a lot of points, doesn't mean they play bad defense (or no defense). It means that they play an uptempo style, the total amount of shots is high, and the number of possessions is high. And as hard it is to believe, their offense IS their defense. They bait their opponents into taking quick shots early in the shot clock, which plays right into the hands of the Suns. I don't know if anyone noticed but Phoenix had the 2nd highest victory margin this season.
<div class="quote_poster">Clear It Out Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Finals Detroit vs. San Antonio = Detroit in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: This is kind of just a gut feeling for me. Could really go either way</font></div> Yay for another low ratings slugfest mess. jk, but I don't see the Spurs making it too far this year. It doesn't feel like a Spurs year to me. Could be wrong though.
Let's face it though. The East sucks. Only Detroit or Chicago can really come out of the East and win more than 1 game against the West. But the Spurs and Pistons play a lot more uptempo now than they used to. So, it won't be the same boring Finals as it was two years ago.
"Since the 1989-90 season, there have been 21 first-round playoff matchups in which a team had a regular-season sweep of its opponent. The team that swept the regular-season series won 20 of the 21 playoff series." Go Warriors.
West Dallas over Golden State Pheonix over L.A Denver over San Antonio Houston over Utah (Sweep) <--------Houston for the championship baby East Detroit over Orlando (Sweep) Cleveland over Washington (Sweep) New Jersey over Toronto Chicago over Miami
<div class="quote_poster">Clear It Out Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm surprised by the amount of people that think the Lakers can actually put up a fight against Phoenix. The Suns had a really out-of-character bad game yesterday. I'd be surprised if the Lakers can push this series to 6. My list: East: 1st Round (1)Detroit vs. (8)Orlando = Detroit in 5 <font size=""1"">Explanation: This should be a cakewalk for Detroit. They tend to get a bit overconfident so they'll throw away one game. (Remember last year against the Bucks)</font> (2)Cleveland vs. (7)Washington = Cleveland in 4 <font size=""1"">Explanation: The obvious. No Arenas. No Butler. No chance.</font> (3)Toronto vs. (6)New Jersey = New Jersey in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Toronto's too young. Kidd will pick them apart. Sam Mitchell's a good coach and they're a relatively deep team so I think they can steal one or two games from New Jersey.</font> (4)Miami vs. (5)Chicago = Chicago in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Wade isn't 100% and Shaq is just not the same old Shaq. This isn't the same hungry team as last year. Chicago has a legitimate chance of winning this series.</font> Eastern Conference Semifinals (1)Detroit vs. (5)Chicago = Detroit in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Detroit's been in the last three Conference Finals. No doubt in my mind they'll be in it again. As great as Chicago has been against them in the regular season, the playoffs aren't quite the same.</font> (2)Cleveland vs. (3)New Jersey = Cleveland in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: New Jersey lacks depth. They've really only got one guy helping off the bench. That's a killer in a best-of-7 series. They'll run out of gas. May not even reach 7 games.</font> Eastern Conference Finals (1)Detroit vs. (2)Cleveland = Detroit in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Detroit's got homecourt, and Cleveland just doesn't play well as a team. Too much one-on-one play. Detroit murders teams like that. Remember the Lakers in the 2005 Finals?</font> West: 1st Round (1)Dallas vs. (8)Golden State = Dallas in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Golden State has great talented players and definitely match up well with Dallas. But they're unexperienced. They'll fold in Game 7. Plus Dallas has home court.</font> (2)Phoenix vs. (7)Los Angeles = Phoenix in 5 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Phoenix is just hard to match up with for 48 minutes. They'll wear you out. And the Lakers aren't a very good team to begin with. The Zen Master's brilliance can only get them so far. This will not go past 6 games.</font> (3)San Antonio vs. (6)Denver = San Antonio in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Denver showed they could play with the Spurs, but Coach Popovich is a master at adjustments. I wouldn't be surprised if this series ended in 5.</font> (4)Utah vs. (5)Houston = Houston in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Utah's a very complete team from top to bottom. They're probably the Pistons of the West. But AK47 has not played well in quite a while. They'll also have a difficult time containing Yao while keeping Chuck Hayes off the glass. They just don't have the personnel to keep up with Houston. This series may end in 5. Utah can extend the series if they can find a way to keep the game at their tempo and not the slow-down game that favors the Rockets.</font> Western Conference Semifinals (1)Dallas vs. (5)Houston = Houston in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Rematch of the 1st round matchup 2 years ago. Houston has upgraded their roster since then. They have a lot of players they can throw at Dirk now and at Josh Howard. The play of Battier and Chuck Hayes on the defensive end will determine the fate of the Rockets.</font> (2)Phoenix vs. (3)San Antonio = San Antonio in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: Who's gonna guard Duncan? How will they keep Tony Parker out of the lane? The Spurs have too many weapons. I say Spurs in 6 because I think the Spurs would rather not play a 7th game in Phoenix. They'll make sure this ends in 6.</font> Western Conference Finals (3)San Antonio vs. (5)Houston = San Antonio in 7 <font size=""1"">Explanation: The Spurs are the veterans at this. They've got the experience. This Houston team has never gotten out of the first round. Duncan will cause a whole lot of problems in the paint.</font> Finals Detroit vs. San Antonio = Detroit in 6 <font size=""1"">Explanation: This is kind of just a gut feeling for me. Could really go either way</font></div> that is a pretty good prediction, but i see some safe picks in there its detroit vs houston baby houston FTW
<div class="quote_poster">Umair Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Dallas is taking 4 straight games next. </div> WHAT!?????? So whats your next prediction? Warriors lead series 2-1
Warriors have a great chance of winning this series. They completely demolished the Mavericks tonight.
After seeing that crowd, I think its impossible for the Warriors to lose at home during this series. So as long as they keep home court advantage they could take it in six.
