I'll go ahead and make an extremely BOLD prediction, I'm doing more than just going out on a limb here. The Boston Celtics defeat The Indiana Pacers (4-3) MARK BLOUNT: Blount has the potential to have a huge series, The Pacer's still don't have a real shutdown center that can contain him. He's a double-double threat every night, and he can cause problems. PAUL PIERCE: Ron Artest is perhaps the defensive player of the year, but he's never had great success against Pierce. We all saw last season how he EMBARRASED Artest in the playoffs. Hell, this season Artest STILL had no answer for Pierce, SO HE PULLED DOWN HIS SHORTS!!! POINT GUARD PLAY: I honestly believe Marcus Banks, who's played great the past few weeks, and Chucky Atkins can pick apart The Pacer's PG rotation. Both of Boston's point guards have been in playoff form lately, and Marcus Banks's defensively can fustrate Indiana's point guards. FINAL NOTE: Boston defeated Indiana last season after be written off, much like they are this year. However I still think Indiana is weak at the point and the center postions and Boston is a team that's capable of capitalizing on that. Do I think it will defintely happen? NO. Do I think there's a chance? YES, and I honestly think it's more likely than any other "upset" in the playoffs. What do you guys believe is the most likely upset in this year's NBA playoffs?
My upset: <u>The Houston Rockets def. the LA Lakers 4-2</u> Reasoning: Our supporting cast will be much stronger than LA's, as well as more consistent. Mo Taylor, Jim Jackson, Kelvin Cato, etc. will all step up their games, and I imagine Karl Malone not being quite as effective due to his injury. Payton has been outplayed by Francis this year, and Mobley has done an admirable job defending Kobe. I think the Rockets' backcourt athleticism and interior defense will be the main points in them defeating LA, while the Yao-Shaq matchup will be (surprisingly enough), more or less even...
My Upset: New York over New Jersey. New York are a better team than 7th, they got Marbury at 14-21. They've gone 25-22 since. Kidd and Kmart are both coming off injuries. Marbury will make life difficult for Kidd, and Kurt Thomas could get into KMart's head. They have the lineup to beat the Knicks, and New York will have no problem getting up for New Jersey. Either way, it'll be a very physical and intense matchup.
The Memphis Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs in (4-2) Season Series (Memphis 3 to 1 EDGE): ============= Memphis won 88-80 Spurs won 67-78 Memphis won 81-80 Memphis won 94-88 ============= The Grizzlies have had the Spurs number this season, and it's going to give them confidence in each game. This match up reminds me a lot of the Spurs vs. Suns match-up last season. The Suns were a young, hungry team last season, who gave the Spurs a scare in the first round. This Grizzlie team has the same type of open style the Suns had, but they are better coached and have a better defense than the Suns team. Depth: The Grizzlies have tremendous depth at every position. They will throw an assortment of players at Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. The key for the Grizzlies is containing Parker in the series. Jason Williams and Earl Watson have both had success against the Spurs in the regular season, and they can exploit Spurs at the PG position when Parker rests. The Grizzlies also have Gasol, Swift, Outlaw, and Wright to switch off on Duncan. If the Grizzlies can control tempo and push a fast pace game, their depth is going to be the difference. Hubie Brown has a lot of different lineups he can use because of the talent on the Grizzlies. He will make the necessary adjustments by the 2nd half of Game 1 to find out how to take advantage of mismatches. The 'X' Factor: Bonzi Wells is going to be the difference maker in the series. Bonzi can flat out play, and the Spurs don't have anyone to match up with him. The best defender for the Spurs at the wing position is Bruce Bowen, but he doesn't have the strength to handle Bonzi in the paint. If Duncan or Rasho step over to help it's going to free up weakside rebounding by Swift, Outlaw, or Gasol. Bonzi has played big in the post season against the Lakers, and I expect him to have a lot of success in the series. *I also like King James X3's upset of the Pacers. Paul Pierce is a gamer come playoff time, and the Celtics have the psychological edge over this team.
No way Grizz beat the Spurs. The Spurs are on fire while the Grizz are kinda backing into the playoffs. The Spurs are great on defense and they are healthy and ready to defend. They have the experience and the confidence that the Grizz will not be able to match. I don't see there being any upsets in the West. Maybe the Mavs over the Kings but even that is unlikely. I also think that the Wolves should be very carefull. They might still suffer from their history of first round exits. Denver could suprise them by winning in Game 7. Theres my upset.
I agree with Shape. Memphis is my wild card, they owned the Spurs in the season series, winning 3 outta 4. Another one I think could upset some teams is New York
I would like to prove some facts for the above few posts Tim Duncan the two time MVP was out in 3 of those 4 meetings. The only time he played.. the Spurs won, Duncan owns Gasol everytime they meet So there is no point in bring season series records into this, It means nothing when Duncan was missing in all the losses. Grizzles are a good bunch of kids but they can't hang with the champions. Spurs should win this series in 5. My upset is Houston over L.A Those Lakers are not playing well heading into the playoffs. They continue to play no defense, they have a hard time beating down shorthanded teams and struggle with a Portland team in double OT who have nothing to play for. Also seems as Karl is hurt AGAIN L.A better hope they turn it on in the playoffs otherwise they will be going home early. However Lakers should win that series, but it is possible the Rockets cause them some problems. Yao has Shaq's number so far this year, but we know the playoffs is a new game.
Tim Duncan has no trouble with Gasol and the Spurs will have it in just 4 games. And we all know how the Lakers play the season and the playoffs are a total different thing. Lakers will not have much trouble with Rockets. Even though im scared of Yao outscoring Shaq. I know almost certain that Yao will outrebound him. Shaq is lazy when it comes to rebounds.
My upset is for my team, but I firmly believe that the Pacers will not have anywhere near the easy steam roll that people expect them to have over Boston. If the Celtics get to Game 7, they win the series.
I agree with the Rockets upsetting the Lakers. The Lakers seems to bring out the best in Yao and the Rockets are like 2-3 players deep each position. There's no way that the Knicks will upset the Nets. Heck, the Nets clobbered the Knicks even without Kidd and KMart.
Haha, the biggest upset for me was the bulls not making it... well i knew that for awhile now hehe. I"m proud that the Kings are once again Pac Divisoion Champs. Thank god!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mydi619:</div><div class="quote_post"> I"m proud that the Kings are once again Pac Divisoion Champs. Thank god!</div> You're joking right? The Kings finished a game behind LA, and are the 4th seed in the West. My upset isn't really an upset unless you look at the seeds. Now that BDiddy is back and Big Cat is continuing to play like a star, I see the Hornets going over the Heat. They've done it before as an even lower seed, and I really like their chances. I think that Houston, New York and Boston have slim chances, but after New Orleans they have the best chance of upsetting a higher seed. As for later in the playoffs, I see the Kings(4 seed) being able to upset any of the three west seeds higher than them.
My VERY bold prediction for an upset is Denver taking out Minnesota. I think, despite the fact Minnesota is coming off a great season, I still think they could be upset. The biggest factor, in my opinion, working against them, is past history in the playoffs. Last year, they got home court against the Lakers and even had a 2-1 series lead, what'd they do, choked, lost 3 straight. Plus, I think the Nuggets are good enough to beat them. They have, in my opinion, the ROY with Melo. He's been absolutely amazing for them. Getting about 22/6/3 for the most part. He will provide a very tough match up for Spree or whoever ends up playing him I think. Plus, the Miller and Cassell match up will be interesting. Each of them are very good point guards and can score and pass, but, Miller is not nearly as much of a scorer. The big factor is if the combination of Camby and Nene can at least slow down Kevin Garnett. If they can do that and be productive on the other end of the court, I think they could pull an upset. Only problem is, now, you can't just worry about KG, you have to worry about Spreewell and Cassell. It'll be tough but, I think this is a very likely upset.
