Right of the bat, I'll say this about the San Antonio Spurs. The age of this team.....along with a few key injuries.....is the reason why the Dallas Mavericks won the series in five games. I am not taking anything away from the Mavericks but I still think that if Tim Duncan were completely healthy and if Manu Ginobili were in the line up; this series would have been a lot closer and eventually would have ended in the Spurs favor.
The Mavs can count there blessings and thank the basketball gods that Josh Howard played a spectacular brand of bball and also that Erick Dampier finally realized that he is a legit seven footer and should be averaging more than seven rebounds per game. Jose Barea is the little guy that managed to keep Tony Parker occupied on the defensive end but ultimately could not stop him from scoring at will (quite frankly, no one can stop Parker from scoring). Barea was excellent in putting the pressure on the Spurs and I think his play on both sides of the court distracted Parker on numerous occasions from being a play maker but rather made him feel like he needed to score a lot of points.
Kudos to Mavs coach Rick Carlisle for knowing exactly how to use his pieces. He confused the Spurs by starting Barea in games three to five; playing him along side Jason Kidd quite a bit. This move created mismatches and forced the Spurs to try and keep up with the Mavs brand of small ball. Unfortunately the Spurs did not have enough small play makers to keep up with the Mavs. Now this leads me to the my Western Conference predictions. What the heck is Coach Carlisle going to come up with when they face the Denver Nuggets?
WESTERN CONFERENCE
2. Denver vs 6. Dallas
I picked the Hornets to win the series versus the Nuggets. Why? Well, for starte
rs I thought that Coach Byron Scott would actually use his bench in the series. The Nuggets played their ultra athletic bench players and that was a big reason why that series was one sided in Denver's favor. These same bench players are going to have a field day against the Mavericks. It seems like Carlisle will keep Barea in the starting line up because he has simply out play Antoine Wright and can cause match up headaches for most teams on both offense and defense. This means that Jason Terry is the only major threat that the Mavs have coming off the bench. Brandon Bass is no chop liver but he does not do so well on defense against teams that run and spread the court as well as the Nuggets do. The aforementioned Wright will be needed to play above and beyond expectations. I strongly doubt that he will. Dallas will need a stellar performance from Dirk Nowitzki in order to keep this series from looking anything like the Nuggets first round beat down on the Hornets. Chris "Birdman" Andersen and Kenyon Martin will make Dirk work for every basket he gets. Since Josh Howard is not known to be a good defender and so I'll assume that he will not be guarding Carmelo Anthony. Regardless of whom it is that is assigned to guard Melo, I predict high scoring games for him and Chauncey Billups. Speaking of Billups; Mr. Big Shot was very accurate from downtown in the first series. 65% makes him a deadly threat that should continue to kill defenders that slack off him. The deference in this series will be the team that is more prolific offensively. Both teams can score in bunches but there is no team in the playoffs right not that can stretch a ten point lead to twenty or thirty points better than the Denver Nuggets.
My Prediction: Nuggets win series 4-1
1. Los Angeles vs 5. Houston
Get yo
ur popcorn ready folks!!! I am predicting that this series is going to be just as exciting as the Bulls/Celtics match up. How can it not be? It's an epic clashing of two stacked teams! There is a plethora of big men and wing players in this series to satisfy all your basketball playoff needs.
The Rockets are the best defensive team in this years playoffs but they have also surprised most people by finding the perfect medium between playing "big-man" ball and also running the fast paced offense. The addition of journeyman Von Wafer .....(by the way, his real name is Vakeaton Quamar. I understand why he changed his name but....VON WAFER?!?! Actually, I think it would have been better if he had kept his real name. It sounds and resonates much better than VON WAFER???)......the addition of Wafer has been a pleasant surprise. Turns out that he almost beat out Lebron James in the McDonald’s All-America Slam Dunk. From my research, it seems that most people think he should have won but Lebron got it because he was more popular....even back then. Wafer will be coming of the bench to do more of what he did against the Portland Trailblazers. Score at will and infuse energy and athleticism. The Lakers will counter with Shannon Brown. Brown has beaten out Jordan Farmer for
more minutes lately because he is more explosive on the wing but also because he has surprised everyone, including his own teammates by shooting really well. Fifty and sixty seven percent from the field and beyond the arc respectively. Trevor Ariza's job in the starting line up is not to score but he has been shooting really well from downtown also at a clip sixty percent. I am not sure if the hot shooting will continue for these two guys but one thing I can count on is for them to bring the energy needed for them to succeed.
Andrew Bynum will finally get to prove himself in his match up with Yao Ming.
I am not saying that he will succeed in actually outplaying Yao but he will have plenty chances to try. I look for DJ Mbenga to get some playing time so as to give Bynum a breather and prevent him from constantly being in foul trouble. Luis Scola was known to be a better player in Europe than Pau Gasol and I think that he will try to convince the North American fans that he truly is better. They are country men and they both play for their national team and thus I am very certain that they are both looking forward to guarding each other. Scola is way more crafty on offense and very smart on defense. Gasol is hands down a very good offensive play and can hold his own on the other side as long as the play is not too physical. I look for Scola to be as physical as possible in other to get in Pau's head and hopefully throw him off his game. Shane Battier will on occasion be assigned to guard Gasol. I look for Battier to keep up his good shooting.
It has often been said that defense wins championships. The fact behind these two teams is that only one them
plays really good defense. Ron Artest plays for this team and I can imagine that he is anxiously waiting for the games to begin so he can get all up in Kobe Bryant's face. A few days ago, Artest made a comment that Brandon Roy of the Trailblazers is the best player that he has ever guarded. This obviously and in my opinion was a deliberate omission of Kobe. I think this is an attempt by Artest to lure Bryant into playing a lot of one on one ball. If the mind games work, then this series will most likely end in Houstons favor. The Lakers are a much better team when every one is involved in the offense. They are even more lethal when Kobe does his"I'm taking over the game now" thing in the waning moments of a game. The Rockets are a more physical team and that can work in their favor if they don't get in foul trouble. Fouls will be the difference in this series. Artest's history for being a knucklehead will not help when getting the benefit of the doubt type of calls. I am tempted to say that this series will go seven games but I cannot ignore Artest woeful shot selection and Yao's pending foul troubles.
My prediction: Lakers win 4-2
Sportacularly yours,
The Vicarious Athlete
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