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R2 predictions!

Cleveland vs. Atlanta (4-1)
I was going with the sweep, but I think the Hawks will steal one at home. Hopefully Marvin Williams and Al Holford can get healthy for the Hawks.

Boston vs. Orlando (2-4)
Rashard Lewis will be key in this series. Glen Davis can't keep up with him on offense, but Davis can post up Lewis anytime he wants. Problem is, Howard will be waiting for him under the basket. Only Perkins can matchup with Howard, so if Perkins gets in foul trouble (most probably will) Howard will have a field day. However, Ray Allen should be able to easily get by J.J. Redick, hopefully Lee will come back soon.

LA Lakers vs. Houston (4-1)
To be honest I wasn't sure the number of games this series could go. I think the Lakers will win, mostly because I think the Rockets can't score enough points. I know Artest and Battier are really good defenders, but if Roy can get 40 points on them then so can Kobe. Bynum also has to step up against the Yao, which would help Gasol immensely since he can just shoot over Scola (like he did against Boozer). This one will be very insteresting IMO.

Dever vs. Dallas (4-1)
I think this will be pretty much the same for Denver when they faced the Hornets. The Nuggets are just tougher and much more deep (their bench played extremely well today).

Yeah I think this will be a pretty quick 2nd round. I will be watching the Rockets...they have the potential to take the Lakers to 7 games.
 
My picks are the same and Mizuno's and NightFalcon, except I think Dallas will put up more of a fight, getting 2 wins.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics lose in 5 (punishment for knocking out my Bulls), but I think it will be 6 games.
 
Cleveland vs. Atlanta (4-1)
This series might be closer if Josh Smith had a brain and someone not named "Mike Woodson" coached the Hawks. Atlanta has the long bodies and athleticism to bother the King but the Cavs are ultimately just too disciplined, too focused, too tough on D.

Boston vs. Orlando (4-2)
Boston just doesn't have the bodies to hang with Orlando, especially not after that incredible 7-gamer with the Bulls. I mean you can't really expect the Perk/Mikki Moore combo to stop Dwight inside. Then on the perimeter, you have the Rashard/Big Baby mismatch as Mizuno pointed out plus Paul Pierce trying to man Hedo Turkoglu. Pierce can handle Turk normally but he seems a bit old and tired this postseason (see: getting outrun by Joakim Noah) and the effort he spends on the defensive end will hurt the offensive production that Boston desperately needs. That said, Boston should still hang tough provided Rondo abuses the shit out of Rafer like he should.

LA Lakers vs. Houston (4-3)
Now this, this is a series. You get the feeling LA kinda coasted through that Utah series but make no mistake they will be ready for Houston. The big matchup will of course be Kobe against both Battier and Artest. However, Houston needs its guards to drastically outplay LA's infamous Fisher/Shannon Brown/Farmar trio if they want to win. Brooks, Wafer and Lowry have to really step up and provide consistent points for the Rockets. The main problem for the Rockets this season has been that they just can't score enough points. Those guards are gonna need to step up cause you can only hope to contain, not stop, that incredible LA offense.

Denver vs. Dallas (4-1)
Denver just has too many advantages at key positions. Billups isn't quite the terror that Tony Parker is but Jason Kidd can't stay in front of anyone at this stage of his career. Denver also has Dahntay Jones to throw at either Terry/Barea depending on who has the hot hand. Down low, the Nuggets have tough, physical bodies to throw at Dirk to just wear him down and make life miserable for him. Then at SF, Josh Howard is a very good defender but he's gonna have his hands full with Melo. Howard really can't afford to expend too much energy on D either because he needs to score for the Mavs to have a shot. Plus JR Smith is due at least one 7-8 trey explosion game that Dallas will have no shot in.
 
Well, I did "ok" for last round picks, let's see about this round:

Cavaliers > Hawks: Yeah, bye bye Hawks. Lebron and co. are gonna sweep easily I think.

Magic > Celtics: Bulls almost pull the upset, I think Orlando has the potential to stop em here too. Though they're gonna need to up their game now also.

Rockets > Lakers: I hate Texas (the state), but I hate Lakers (the team) just a bit more this time. Come on, you can do it Rockets!

Nuggets > Mavericks: BOO DALLAS! You did your job of knocking out the Spurs, now it's time for you to go home also.
 
Virtuoso said:
Being a Celtics fan, that win over the Bulls proved one thing to me:

We have no chance at beating the Magic or Cavs.

I guess I can look forward to a good match-up with Magic vs. Cavs Eastern Conference Finals.

I would really like to see the Magic win it all. But I doubt they would get past the Lakers..
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I disagree. The magic had trouble with a very poor 76ers team that was much worse then chicago. Expect Brian Scalabrine to be used alot more in this series, for he actually can slow down lewis with his defense. Before you make fun of him, he really can play solid defense, just wait and see before you say anything. Yes if perk gets in foul trouble we are in trouble from howard, but ray allen should absolutely destroy JJ reddick, and celtics ball movement will confuse orlando alot. To me the biggest keys of this series will be how much howard dominates, and how much rondo controls the game. Ray will definitely get his points, shard will get his too, turk/pierce will likely be a wash, so i pick those 2 for the game deciders. If rondo plays like he did the first 5 games vs. the bulls cutting into the lane and finding layups/open players i dont see us losing this series.

Celtics in 7.
 
Cleveland vs. Atlanta [4-0]
I think that the Cavs should breeze through this round. The Cavs are well rested and if Atlanta thought D-Wade was gonna be hard to stop, try stopping league MVP Lebron James. The Cav's have way more options on offense than the Heat did, and coupled with the best defense in the league, iirc, they should dismantle the Hawks.

Boston vs. Orlando [4-2]
I am gonna contradict myself here and say that the C's could possibly win this. I do not know who will win this series, but it will happen in 6. Who ever can abuse the mismatches on offense/defense the most will win this series. The X-factor here is Dwight Howard, the Celtics only have one man to guard this guy, and unfortunately that man is always in foul trouble. Once Perkins is out the C's will have a hard time stopping Howard. Hopefully Rondo and Allen make the most of their matchups and light the Magic up.

LA Lakers vs. Houston [4-1]
I don't think this is gonna be as big as everyone thinks. The Rockets have played horrible against the Lakers all season and I don't see it stopping now. Kobe will drop 40 on Artest and Fisher will be straight clutchin' it all series.

Denver vs. Dallas [4-2]
Don't really care too much for this series. Don't like either team that much. But I give it to Denver, I wanna see Billups smile into the camera and wave at Detroit.

Like Mizuno said, this should be a fairly short round.
 
Surprised that Orlando took the first game, Dwights mad about the lead being let go, and I think they need to pass it to him more.
 
Great game for the Rockets, they played extremely well.

And Ray Allen struggles again in the first game of a series =/
 
NBA.com said:
The Magic had a cold spell of their own in the fourth quarter, going just 5 of 20 from the field to lose most of a once-dominating lead that had the Boston fans booing their team off the court at halftime.
Click to expand...

Awesome, wish I had seen that.
 
I can't believe how terrible Pierce, Rondo and Allen were in the first 3 quarters. If the Celtics can play as terrible as they did and still have a very legit shot at winning the match, they can't be feeling too bad. They were down by 28 in the 3rd quarter and only lost by 5. Van Gundy must be shaking in his boots right now, lol
 
I have to say my favorite part of the Rockets v Lakers game was when Brooks was on the court and he was so quick he just went under and over the dudes to the basket.
 
Wow.
I must say that I am hella surprised that the Rockets took Game 1. I guess I underestimated them. I might pay a little more attention to this series.

so much for kobe dropping 40
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eh, 32 in game 1 ain't bad. Just give it time, lol.
 
I like how Artest played Kobe, made him take alot of shot to have a chance. So much for a quick series.
Click to expand...
That was more Battier than Artest, really. The Kobe vs. Battier battle alone should make this fairly interesting.

eh, 32 in game 1 ain't bad. Just give it time, lol.
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Eh, If he needs 50 possessions to get those 40, then I'm perfectly fine with that. Just as he needed like 35 shots to get his 32.
 
Rockets over Lakers (4-1).

This series will NOT be close. Kobe is a great player. However, Battier has owned him for the past two seasons, up to last night.


The Lakers continue to fold late, and against tough and physical teams. Bynum can't do a thing to Yao. Gasol will struggle against Artest. Battier will force Kobe to shoot too much to get his points (expect 12-27, 10-24, 11-28 games the rest of the way). The Lakers match up so badly against the Rockets at nearly every position it's not funny. The Rockets eat soft finesse forwards for lunch. Lakers will be lucky to take it to 6, and they may even get swept.

Celtics over Magic (4-3)

The Celtics were down 4 with a minute to go, in a game when the Celtics' three best players played like absolute garbage for most of the game. Orlando is another soft team that can get ruined by physicality. Perkins matches up well with Howard, and they really have nobody that can handle the bigger Pierce, or stay in front of Rondo.

Cavaliers over Hawks (4-2) Atlanta is big and athletic enough to give "The King" problems, but again, they're too undisciplined, and their coaching is too bad.

Nuggets over Mavericks (4-2) - Billups will own Kidd, they have nothing for Smith and Melo, and they're a lot more physical than the Mavericks. Could go 7 though.
 
Yeah Nene was a monster in last night's game! I'm looking forward to Magic vs Celtics tonight.

Edit: 800th post.
 
Anyone who follows ESPN and Simmons will notice he is stirring up the pot to try and become the Timberwolves GM. If you follow his last ~10 twitter entries it links you to several articles and a podcast about what he has been doing today.

http://twitter.com/sportsguy33 for his posts today

http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs...qa-espncoms-bill-simmons-your-next-wolves-gm/ Q+A about why he should be a GM

As a Minnesota Timberwolves fan I find this fascinating - I know the TWolves won't do it in a million years (they are the team who kept Kevin McHale on 4 years too long to continue his incompetance as an NBA GM), but it is fun to follow and think about the possibilities. Just some stuff to check out if you are bored watching a game tonight

(Go Celtics)
 
I haven't been this pissed at a team since the late 1990s and we battled the Jazz repeatedly back then - Kobe and the refs need to be punched in the face.
 
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