WEST1. Utah Jazz2. San Antonio Spurs3. Houston Rockets4. Los Angelos Lakers5. Dallas Mavericks6. Denver Nuggetts7. Sacramento Kings8. New Orleans Hornets OR Golden State WarriorsEAST1. Orlando Magic2. Detroit Pistons3. Cleveland Cavaliers4. New Jersey Nets (5-7)5. Indiana Pacers6. Atlanta Hawks (5-6)7. Miami Heat (5-8)8. Philadelpha 76'ers OR Boston Celtics (both are 5-8)Which first round matchup do you think would be the closest, and who do you think would win out of that series?Dont just state the closest series and the winner, but go in to depth.Also, forget about injuries and assume that everyone is healthy....Ill post mine later.
I think the Pistons and Heat series would probaly be the closest, usually you woulden't think of it as a first round series because usally the Heat and pistons are the top two teams in the east, but I think the heat and pistons would be the closest because if shaq was healthy I think the pistons would have a hard time guarding shaq, and I think Wade would basically do to the pistons what he did last year, and with these two teams meeting in the last two eastern Conf. Finals, I think they would both put up a big fight in this series, but I do think the Heat would come out the winners.
Heat and Pistons easily. It's always a tight series when we play them. Even without Ben this year, I could still see it being a close one. Other than that, I don't really see many good matchups.
COUGHhttp://www.bball-world.net/forum/index.php...topic=16987&hl=I know it's a bit different but still. Anyways, all the first round matchups are pretty easy. But if Shaq was healthy the Pistons-Heat Series would be pretty intense. (I think) Lakers would win it all!!!
Looking at the east, the pistons and heat series is the only one that looks respectable...I will give yall that. But once you look at the west, I think there are a couple that would be GREAT series'.The best first round matchup in the west to me would be the Mavericks and Lakers matchup. I absolutley love the way the Lakers are playing this year and I think that they could take the Mavericks to a 7 game series. And I will give you a couple reasons why. The Mavericks would have no answer for Lamar Odom. If you put Josh Howard on Odom, he would simply post up down low or take him to the basket EVERY time. Last year agaisnt Phoenix, Odom absolutley dominated Marion whenever he wanted to. I could see that happenning in this series as well. If they put Dirk on Odom, he would get to the basket all day and he would have alot of 3 point looks as well.Kobe would be simply unstoppable like always. He has proven time and time again that there is nobody in the league that can guard him. In my mind, they dont have a perimeter defender that could contain him from getting 40+ anytime he wanted to. Kobes the best player in basketball...period.I think at the center position, you have to give the edge to LA. Bynum, Brown, and Mihm (if healthy) would make LA VERY deep at the center position. Also, they have Turiaf who has shown that he is very capable to play. Although Dallas has two decent centers, LA has more depth and I dont think Dallas could keep up with it.Luke Walton would be guarding Josh Howard and Luke Walton is a pretty good defender. I know Josh Howard is better than Walton easily, but Luke has really progressed this season and I think if Walton held Howard to his average or a couple points below it, then it would be a great success.The Lakers could throw out alot of players at Dirk to slow him down. I never said that they could stop him, but they would be one of the best teams out there in slowing him down. They could guard him with Odom who is one player in the league that can go out on the perimeter, and if he posted him up, he would only have a couple of inches on him and Odoms arms are very long. IMO, Jason Terry would have to absolutley dominate the PG spot in order for the Mavericks to win this series. I take this in to account that it is very possible that he would have his way with Smush Parker, but I am hoping come playoff time, Jackson will have gotten it in his head that he has to play on both ends of the floor.Although if I had to bet 100 bucks on this series, I would go with Dallas, I think that the Lakers have a VERY good chance of beating them if they somehow meet in the first round. They almost beat a very talented Suns team last year and the Lakers have drastically improved from last year.Looking at the east, the pistons and heat series is the only one that looks respectable...I will give yall that. But once you look at the west, I think there are a couple that would be GREAT series'.The best first round matchup in the west to me would be the Mavericks and Lakers matchup. I absolutley love the way the Lakers are playing this year and I think that they could take the Mavericks to a 7 game series. And I will give you a couple reasons why. The Mavericks would have no answer for Lamar Odom. If you put Josh Howard on Odom, he would simply post up down low or take him to the basket EVERY time. Last year agaisnt Phoenix, Odom absolutley dominated Marion whenever he wanted to. I could see that happenning in this series as well. If they put Dirk on Odom, he would get to the basket all day and he would have alot of 3 point looks as well.Kobe would be simply unstoppable like always. He has proven time and time again that there is nobody in the league that can guard him. In my mind, they dont have a perimeter defender that could contain him from getting 40+ anytime he wanted to. Kobes the best player in basketball...period.I think at the center position, you have to give the edge to LA. Bynum, Brown, and Mihm (if healthy) would make LA VERY deep at the center position. Also, they have Turiaf who has shown that he is very capable to play. Although Dallas has two decent centers, LA has more depth and I dont think Dallas could keep up with it.Luke Walton would be guarding Josh Howard and Luke Walton is a pretty good defender. I know Josh Howard is better than Walton easily, but Luke has really progressed this season and I think if Walton held Howard to his average or a couple points below it, then it would be a great success.The Lakers could throw out alot of players at Dirk to slow him down. I never said that they could stop him, but they would be one of the best teams out there in slowing him down. They could guard him with Odom who is one player in the league that can go out on the perimeter, and if he posted him up, he would only have a couple of inches on him and Odoms arms are very long. IMO, Jason Terry would have to absolutley dominate the PG spot in order for the Mavericks to win this series. I take this in to account that it is very possible that he would have his way with Smush Parker, but I am hoping come playoff time, Jackson will have gotten it in his head that he has to play on both ends of the floor.Although if I had to bet 100 bucks on this series, I would go with Dallas, I think that the Lakers have a VERY good chance of beating them if they somehow meet in the first round. They almost beat a very talented Suns team last year and the Lakers have drastically improved from last year.
Lakers wouldn't get Mavs to 7. They are a much better, and deeper, team than Phoenix of 2005/2006, and in that series the Lakers were playing better than they are now. I just can't see Mavs knocking off the Lakers in any more than 5 games.As for me, personally I'd love to see the Rockets and Nuggets, although that's a bit of a homer pick. Complete opposites, it'd be very interesting to see.Another great, GREAT series would be Jazz vs the Warriors. I don't think it'd last more than 5-6 games, but it'd be entertaining as hell.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Nov 26 2006, 09:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Lakers wouldn't get Mavs to 7. They are a much better, and deeper, team than Phoenix of 2005/2006, and in that series the Lakers were playing better than they are now. I just can't see Mavs knocking off the Lakers in any more than 5 games.As for me, personally I'd love to see the Rockets and Nuggets, although that's a bit of a homer pick. Complete opposites, it'd be very interesting to see.Another great, GREAT series would be Jazz vs the Warriors. I don't think it'd last more than 5-6 games, but it'd be entertaining as hell.</div>They are not deeper than the Phoenix team last year what so ever. The Mavs will have about 10 players that will play in a playoff game and ALOT of them are guys that wont have a big impact...like austin croschere or Anthony Johnson. Sure, they arent bad but the Mavs would be playing their starters more minutes. The Lakers have a very deep team too this year and their team is ALOT better this year than last year. If you would watch them play, you would know what I am talking about.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Nov 26 2006, 08:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They are not deeper than the Phoenix team last year what so ever. The Mavs will have about 10 players that will play in a playoff game and ALOT of them are guys that wont have a big impact...like austin croschere or Anthony Johnson. Sure, they arent bad but the Mavs would be playing their starters more minutes. The Lakers have a very deep team too this year and their team is ALOT better this year than last year. If you would watch them play, you would know what I am talking about.</div>Terry/Harris/Howard/Stack/Dirk/George/Diop/Dampier/AJ/Croshier is a very deep and talented team. I've seen about 5-6 games from LA this year....they are not better than they were for the last 1/4 of the season last year or the first 4 games against the Suns last year. The Mavs are not nearly as inconsistent as the Suns, they are much better defensively, and IMO just a better overall team. They won't let the role players go off like the Lakers did vs the Suns last year, and they will live with Kobe going for a big series as Lakers won't beat a team like the Mavs most of the time with Kobe going for 40PPG.
Marion/Nash/Diaw/Bell/Barbosa/House/Kurt Thomas/Jones/Tim Thomas is a very deep and talented team.When the Lakers played the Jazz this season, Kobe put up alot of shot attempts threw the first 3 quarters and they were winning. When Kobe stopped shooting in the 4th quarter for some odd reason, the Lakers started to lose their lead and they ended up losing the game. The Jazz are the best team in basketball right now and the Lakers were beating them with Kobe being the Kobe of last year, AND with other players being more involved.And how do you say the Lakers havent improved? Luke Walton's numbers are up from last year, Andrew Bynum is contributing, they picked up a solid back up PG in the draft, and Lamar Odom improved even more.Also, who is to say that they wont let the Lakers role players go off like the Suns did? Those "role players" are proving themselves this year in the regular season and they are helping their team attain a pretty dang good record which is winning their division.
Ballerman, Eddie House and James Jones are not guys you include that say your team has great depth. If your going to say Croshere and Johnson are guys that will not impact Dallas, why are you listing those two? Because right now Johnson is making an impact, he's the backup pg and provides another view in matchups, he's more halfcourt and changes the pace of the game. Also, his hard nosed defense has paid dividends so far. He will make an impact on this team come playoffs. In fact the guys we brought in for our depth are playoff tested veterans brought in for that purpose. Playoffs. A guy Nitro did not mention whose basically taking up the Griffin role is Greg Buckner. But really if were going to go by depth, you shouldn't be listing starters. You take out Diaw, Nash, Marion and Bell. Your basically left with Barbosa, House, and both Thomas'. That to me is not great depth. To say that's better then AJ, Stackhouse, Buckner, Diop, George, Croshere makes no sense to me. And I'm not being a homer.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Nov 26 2006, 09:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Marion/Nash/Diaw/Bell/Barbosa/House/Kurt Thomas/Jones/Tim Thomas is a very deep and talented team.When the Lakers played the Jazz this season, Kobe put up alot of shot attempts threw the first 3 quarters and they were winning. When Kobe stopped shooting in the 4th quarter for some odd reason, the Lakers started to lose their lead and they ended up losing the game. The Jazz are the best team in basketball right now and the Lakers were beating them with Kobe being the Kobe of last year, AND with other players being more involved.And how do you say the Lakers havent improved? Luke Walton's numbers are up from last year, Andrew Bynum is contributing, they picked up a solid back up PG in the draft, and Lamar Odom improved even more.Also, who is to say that they wont let the Lakers role players go off like the Suns did? Those "role players" are proving themselves this year in the regular season and they are helping their team attain a pretty dang good record which is winning their division.</div>They didn't have Kurt Thomas against the Lakers, which leaves absolutely no inside presence, offensively or defensively. This made the Suns grossly inconsistent and weak against the Lakers. It showed, with Kwame and others having a big series vs the Suns.He took 18 shots total....9 less than what he put up last year per game. Lakers for the first 3/4 of last year were an extremely stagnant team with no ball movement and just Kobe going off every night. What made them so good in playoffs was the ball movement and Kobe going off only when need be (game 6). They also caught a Suns team who was scoring far less than they were accustomed to for the first few games of the series. They have gotten more talent, and their depth is much better, but the execution isn't what it was at end of last season. Lamar still is inconsistent, and they don't have a 3rd option offensively. Against a team like the Mavs, I don't see the Mavs letting the role players of the Lakers to go off like they did vs the Suns last year, which will leave Kobe to have a HUGE series to make it go 7 games. Suns had absolutely no inside presence, were very inconsistent, Marion/House had a bad series, etc... Mavs have a more dangerous team defensively, and offensively are more consistent than the Suns. I don't see the Lakers surviving as long against the Mavs as the Spurs or Suns did.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rok @ Nov 26 2006, 10:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Ballerman, Eddie House and James Jones are not guys you include that say your team has great depth. If your going to say Croshere and Johnson are guys that will not impact Dallas, why are you listing those two? Because right now Johnson is making an impact, he's the backup pg and provides another view in matchups, he's more halfcourt and changes the pace of the game. Also, his hard nosed defense has paid dividends so far. He will make an impact on this team come playoffs. In fact the guys we brought in for our depth are playoff tested veterans brought in for that purpose. Playoffs. A guy Nitro did not mention whose basically taking up the Griffin role is Greg Buckner. But really if were going to go by depth, you shouldn't be listing starters. You take out Diaw, Nash, Marion and Bell. Your basically left with Barbosa, House, and both Thomas'. That to me is not great depth. To say that's better then AJ, Stackhouse, Buckner, Diop, George, Croshere makes no sense to me. And I'm not being a homer.</div>Why wouldnt I be able to list guys like James Jones and Eddie House? They each provided offensive scoring for the Suns inside and outside of the playoffs last season. If starters on the suns went down with injuries, they would be very capable of filling in for them. This was actually proven last season when James Jones had to start some games due to injury, and he did VERY well. Anthony Johnson isn't bad but he isnt going to get that many minutes come playoff time. In my opinion, when they want to give JET a rest, they will move Harris over to the PG spot and have Stack or others play at the SG. Anthony Johnson is a decent defender but is a liability shooting the ball as of right now. He is shooting 36% from the field which is awful. Austin Croschere is going to be absoltuley worthless come playoff time. Last season, Keith Van Horn was better than Croschere and Van Horn barley got any playing time in the playoffs. He didnt even play in some of the games in the Spurs series....Croschere's suppossed niche in the NBA is his shooting ability but he is shooting 31% from the field this season. That is absolutley horendous. You will see come playoff time for Dallas, then playing about 8-9 guys a game which is about what Phoenix used last season.The two Thomas' and Barbosa are better then anybody on Dallas' bench anyways....The ONLY guy that might be as good as them is Stackhouse. Diop is a liability on offense and gets in to foul trouble way to easy. George is rarley ever healthy, and I have already talked about the others...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Anthony Johnson isn't bad but he isnt going to get that many minutes come playoff time. In my opinion, when they want to give JET a rest, they will move Harris over to the PG spot and have Stack or others play at the SG. Anthony Johnson is a decent defender but is a liability shooting the ball as of right now. He is shooting 36% from the field which is awful.</div> I disagree, you can't expect Harris to simply move to the pg spot when he's manning it from the start right now. Terry is basically a 2 guard this year. Johnson is the first substitute off the bench for Harris, not Terry. Avery likes to play the small 2 pg lineup and keep its with Johnson off the bench. Especially this year, oppposed to Darrell last year. Johnson has size and can d as well as Harris. But hearing you talk about House and Jones stepping in to start. Can't the same be said for Johnson? With Howard's injury, George got the start until his injury which led to Stackhouse starting. Showing off Dallas' depth. If a injury happened to Terry or Harris, Anthony could come right in like he did for Indiana. About AJ's shooting, he wasn't brought in to shoot the ball, he was brought in to defend bigger pgs and pass the ball. He's doing both imo and that's all he needs to do. Are you telling me James Jones and Eddie House don't have faults? You shouldn't really be comparing Van Horn to Croshere. Van Horn didn't play because he played like crap and didn't deserve minutes. Until I see Croshere croak in the playoffs I will wait, also Devean George has been used as Dirk's main backup. Until his injury(George), Croshere has been brought back into the rotation. All of this is only showing off the Mavericks depth. It's not because Croshere played bad by the way, it was because Avery liked George better with his athleticism and how he matched up with other players. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The two Thomas' and Barbosa are better then anybody on Dallas' bench anyways....The ONLY guy that might be as good as them is Stackhouse. Diop is a liability on offense and gets in to foul trouble way to easy. George is rarley ever healthy, and I have already talked about the others...</div> Three guys don't make a team deep. They could be better then Dallas' bench(Tim Thomas is a spot up shooter same as Croshere imo, not a good defender nor rebounder, you talk about rarely healthy, how about Kurt Thomas last year?, Barbosa was inconsistent last year) but it's not like Dallas has slackers. They have guys who have started on other teams and could step in case of injury as already shown by this season. That's depth. That's why I favor there's over Phoenix.
Boston would be the eighth seed due to a better record within the division. and we'd actually have a shot out of the first round. whoa..
