Well the playoffs are nearly upon us and I don't see a thread where we can talk about it.... so I'm gonna ramble about the playoffs here. I'll start with the West because it's going to be the powerhouse conference (though the East has pretty good series, up until the Finals). The Wolves should lock up #1, it would take a T'Wolves lose (@ Memphis) and a Spurs win (vs Denver) for the Spurs to get #1. #2 is either the Kings or Lakers, I really really hope the Lakers win the Pacific, because it means they will face Houston, and Houston/Yao has had the Lakers'/Shaq's number this season. I don't think the Rockets will win the series, but this will be great to watch as well as be the NBA's wetdream match-up, Yao VS Shaq. So by default the Spurs will be 3rd and Kings 4th... so the Kings get Dallas and the Spurs take on Memphis. Assuming no upsets happen it'll be T'Wolves VS Kings and Lakers VS Spurs in the 2nd round matchups. You take your picks after that, but that would be a great bracket from 1st round (mainly the LA/Houston series). ------------- #1 T'Wolves #8 Nuggets ------------- #4 Kings #5 Mavs ------------- #2 Lakers #7 Rockets ------------- #3 Spurs #6 Grizzlies ------------- The East usually provides good series between each other because the teams are close to each other in talent (though it seems the Pacers and Pistons are ahead of the class) -- so depending how the last games of the season go, the East can end up in many different situations, but we KNOW the Pacers face the Celtics... after that it's anybody's guess. Though as we're in a topic about the playoffs I'll post what I think would be a good bracket. I'd like to see New York lose or New Orleans win so that New York is the 7th seed which means they face New Jersey in the first round, Kidd VS Marbury, New York VS New Jersey -- pretty good series, again the NBA would love this!! I don't particularly want to see any matchup of the remaining 4, so I'll pick Miami to face Detroit just because both teams play pretty ugly and have low scoring games. So here's the matchups... ------------- #1 Pacers #8 Celtics ------------- #4 Bucks #5 Hornets ------------- #2 Nets #7 Knicks ------------- #3 Pistons #6 Heat ------------- None of these is what I think will happen, or what I hope happens, kind of just what would be entertaining. I'm not sure about some of the tie-breakers so some of these matchups might not even be possible (i.e. I'm not sure who holds the tie-breaker between the Heat and Hornets, according to this it's the Hornets seeing as Miami is up 1 game with 1 left)
