Brooklyn tanked to avoid the Bulls and face the Raptors, which won't be a walk in the park. They also face Miami in the next round if they win the series.
PLAYOFFS!!!... Eastern Conference - It MUST Be Said; Brooklyn Flat Out TANKED the Final Game of the Season, to Get What they Think is a More Favorable Matchup w/Toronto, as Opposed to Chicago...This Could Have a RIPPLING Effect in the 2nd Round of the East Playoffs... 1st Round... 1. Indiana vs. 8. Atlanta - Indy's Struggles are REAL & Atl has Talent in Teague, Milsap, Korver & Others...If Al Horford were Healthy, that Might Be Enough to Upset the Indy Applecart, but he Isn't...As Is, it'll Be a CLOSER Series than Indy Likes, but they'll Eek it Out... Indy in 6 2. Miami vs. 7. Charlotte - Bron & Melo EACH Dropped 60 on Charlotte...Nuff Said...Kemba Walker is Capable of Big Games & Al Jefferson WILL Give Miami PROBLEMS in the Paint, but Ultimately, Charlotte's HAPPY as Pharrell, just to Be In the Playoffs & They're OVERMATCHED... Heat in 5... 3. Toronto vs. 6. Brooklyn - SMART Move by Jason Kidd, Avoiding What Would've Been a GRUELING 1st Round Matchup w/Chicago...Toronto's Fresh Legged & Athletic but LACK Experience...There WON'T Be A lot of Fast Breaks & Highlight Reel Dunk Opportunities For Them...It Probably WON'T Come This Series, but Sometime Sooooon, Kidd's Gonna have to Decide btwn Kevin Garnett (Who's Given Brooklyn NATHAN All Season) & Mason Plumlee... Brooklyn in 6... 4. Chicago vs. 5. Washington - In a Season or 2, John Wall & Bradley Beal Could Be THE Best Backcourt in Basketball...They're Going to have to PLAY Like it to Get Past the Bulls...Joakim Noah vs. Marcin Gortat Will Be an Interesting Battle in the Post...REED WANTS Washington to Win, but Tom Thibodeaux Keeps Chicago RELEVANT Somehow & It Seems DESTINED that Indy/Miami Have to Go Through Chicago/Broolyn in the East... Chicago in 7... Conference Semi-Finals... Indy vs. Chicago - If Roy Hibbert DOESN'T Put his Big Boy Pants Back On, This Could Be an INTRIGUING Series...Hibbert HAS to Equal or Surpass Noah, in the Post...If he Doesn't, he Trickle Down Effect Could Be Dramatic...Paul George Will Be the Best TALENT on the Floor & He'll Have to PERFORM Accordingly, as Well...If Indy Comes CORRECT, they Could End this Relatively Early & Rest Up for the Conference Finals... Indy in 6... Miami vs. Brooklyn - Miami Should Be OFFENDED a Team Intentionally Positioned Themselves to Meet Them...Yeah, Yeah, Brooklyn SWEPT the Heat This Year, but They'll Have Miami's FULL Attention in the 2nd Round...This is the Series where the Big 3 REMINDS the Basketball Wooooorld Who they Are...It Won't Be Easy, but Miami Will Prevail... Heat in 6... Eastern Conference Finals... Indy vs. Miami - Eventually, We'll GET the Matchup we All Anticipated, but How Much Will Dwade Have Left???...Can his Body Hold Up the Grind of the Brooklyn Series???...Yes...Miami will STEAL Game 1 & the Infighting that PLAGUED Indy in the 2nd Half of the Regular Season, Will Resurface...Miami Breaks Their Hearts, AGAIN, Leading to an Interesting Off-Season for the Pacers... Miami in 6... REED:hammert:
Western Conference - In More than 30 Years of ATTENTIVELY Watching Professional Basketball, REED Can't Recall a More COMPETITIVE Situation than What the West Gives Us, This Post-Season...You Could Make a LEGITIMATE Case for Every Team in Every Series & as Many as 4 Different Squads Could REALISTICALLY Represent the West in the NBA Finals... 1st Round... 1. San Antonio vs. 8. Dallas - Historically, the Mavs Have Matched Up Well w/the Spurs, but Not Sooooo Much This Season...Still, Dirk is Dirk & Monta Ellis had an UNDERRATED Season...Tony Parker will NEED Fresh Legs to Stay w/Ellis All Series...X-Factor Guys like Vince Carter, Jose Calderon & Shawn Marion Could Pay Dividends, but the SAFE Pick is Obviously the Spurs... Spurs in 6... 2. OKC vs. 7. Memphis - Quiet as it's Kept, NOBODY Wanted to See Memphis in the 1st Round, Not Even the Spurs...You Think the Perpetually FIERY Russell Westbrook Will be AMPED to Play the Team that Eliminated his Squad After he Got Hurt???...Athletically, OKC is a CLEAR Favorite, but the Defensive Post Presence of Perkins/Adams/Collison Will be CRUCIAL...Zach Randolph's Been KILLING It the Last Couple Weeks...If OKC's Bigs CAN'T Get Him Out of his Current Groove, Shit Could get Interesting... OKC in 6... 3. Los Angeles vs. 6. Golden State - 2 of REED's Absolute FAVORITE Teams to Watch...Sucks that 1 of them will Suffer an EARLY Playoff Exit & Sadly, it's Gonna Be the Warriors...Even @ Full Strength, they'd Be Facing Somewhat of an Uphill Task, but w/No Andrew Bogut Manning the Middle, Blake Griffin & DeAndre Jordan will Have a Field Day...Steph Curry will Be Spectacular, but the Clippers are the Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeepest Squad in the League.. Clippers in 5... 4. Houston vs. 5. Portland - WOW!!!..Arguably THE Best Series of the Entire Playoffs, in Terms of Sheer Competitiveness...To REED, it Boils Down to Houston Having More of an "It' Factor...The Stars will Be STARS, But What Will Wesley Matthews & Nick Batum Bring, for Portland???...Good Regular Season Stats, but Can they ELEVATE Their Games if Necessary???...Ditto for Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Patrick Beverley...Today, REED Likes the Duo of Harden-Howard a BIT More than he Does Aldridge-Lillard...Lillard's Gonna have to RAISE his Game Another Notch (w/Well Timed, CLUTCH Plays, Specifically) for Portland to Advance... Houston in 7... Western Conference Semi-Finals... San Antonio vs. Houston - Dwight Howard Will Have to Be @ or Near his BEST Days in Orlando, for Houston to Prevail...Popovich will Make Harden Slightly LESS of a Factor, Which'll Impact the Role Players Negatively...Howard's Gonna have to DOMINATE the Low Block on Both Ends...REED Can't Say he TRUSTS Howard to Do That... Spurs in 6... OKC vs. Clippers - DOUBLE WOW!!!...This is a "Pull Up your Chair, Sit Back & ENJOY" Type of Series...Loooong Series, Close Games Throughout, Great Individual Performances, & Enough "Ooooh & Aaaah" Moments to Fill the Catalogues of Several Players, from Both Squads...@ the End of the Day, Kevin Durant will Be THE BEST Guy on the Court...Paul & Westbrook Could OFFSET Each Other, Griffin & Jordan will have to EARN it in the Paint, but Durant's the 1 Guy that Can't Be Equaled or Deterred, This Series...Wouldn't Surprise REED @ All if Dude AVERAGED 35-40 for the Series... OKC in 7... Western Conference Finals San Antonio vs. OKC - How HEALTHY will Westbrook Be, By this Point???...That Question will Literally Make or Break this Series...w/Westbrook, OKC's the Better Team....Sans Westbrook, OKC's a Relatively EASY Out for the Spurs...REED's Banking on the Determination & Defiance of Westbrook... OKC in 7... REED:hammert:
I don't feel like predicting every round. All I'll say is that I pick the Thunder over the Spurs in 6, and the Heat over the Pacers in 6. And the Thunder will beat the Heat in 6 to win the title.
I think the Clips are a bigger threat to OKC than the Spurs. I could see the Clips possibly beating OKC. But I don't see the old ass Spurs doing it. Basketball relies more of individual performance than any other team sport. Because of that, I see KD being so good this year that he elevates OKC to a ring. CP3 will never be an epic playoff performer.
i think Paul will have more success this year in the post season if Griffin's improvement from the regular season carries over. I am still skeptical if that will be the case against the tougher defensive teams but it should against GS. with Rivers they are actually running legit sets and Paul wont be as worn down from having to create everything himself I have OKC getting bounced by Memphis
The Thunder SHOULD beat the Heat but Miami seems to have a psychological edge on them for some reason.
Can you BLAME him???... He was Only Traded Because Him & Isiah DIDN'T get Along & Isiah was "Besties" w/his Chicago Homey, Mark Aguirre...Karma's a BITCH Though, Which Resulted in Isiah Being Left OFF the Inaugural "Dream Team", Because Jordan DIDN'T Want him There... Haven't Seen the Documentary, but will Definitely Check it Out Eventually... REED:hammert:
dantley was traded because they improved the team at that point. aguirre was younger by 3 years and a better player at that point in time. also a better fit as he didnt hold the ball as much as AD.
It's playoff time!! I've set up an NBA Bracket Challenge for Fightbeat members only. Free to sign up, free to play. If we can get 10+ contestants, I'll throw in a 50.00 Visa PrePaid gift card or a Money Order to the winner. Signup: Go to nbabracketology.com to set up your bracket. Scoring: In the first round, you get 10 points for picking the series winner, with an additional 5 point bonus for correctly picking the number of games the series will last. This doubles in each round all the way through the NBA Finals. (80 pts for the winner, 40 pts bonus) I've set one up for us... Group ID: FIGHTBEAT ​Password: cinco Only ONE bracket entry per member. Also, the deadline to enter your bracket online is before Game 1 of the Nets vs. Brooklyn tipoff at 12:30 PM EST this Saturday. Yeah I probably should have done this sooner, but been busy. Try to use your same username for your bracket. If it's different, let me know so I'll know who's who.
disagREED... NEITHER Man Played Terribly Well for the Team they were Traded To...Aguirre was a Perennial All-Star Caliber Forward w/the Mavs & NEVER Approached that Level w/the Pistons...Dantley was @ his BEST in Utah, but Still Gave Detroit Some Good Years...He Gave the Mavericks NATHAN, However... If Isiah & Dantley DIDN'T Clash, Dantley WOULDN'T have Been Traded When he Was...That's OBVIOUS, Neil... Isiah was a GREAT Player, but he had BITCH Tendencies... REED:hammert:
dantley being traded helped the pistons become a better team. he held the ball too much and aguirre was a bigger, younger guy and a better fit.
BOTH Guys were @ the END of their Careers, so the Age Difference was NEGLIBLE... Along w/Magic Johnson, Aguirre was Zeke's BEST FRIEND, Zeke HATED Adrian Dantley & THAT'S Why the Move was Made... REED:hammert:
Correct REED if he's Wrong, but Didn't they Lose to the the Lakers in the Finals WITH Dantley???...That Laker Team was AGING & Ripe for the Taking by Detroit, Whether Aguirre was Traded for or Not...Aguirre was Acquired as a BUDDY Move, & Because Isiah HATED Dantley... That's COMMON KNOWLEDGE, Neil... REED:hammert:
whether or not the friendship of thomas and aguirre helped facilitate the move (which mcCloskey denied in the doc) the move was an upgrade basketball wise. thats all Im saying. watch the doc. they were playing like shit because of the turmoil with dantley and once the deal went through they dominated the league the rest of the year. maybe if they had won the rightful title the prior year it wouldve been different, who knows? the problem wouldnt have been the lakers at that point it was getting passed chicago. with dantley i doubt they wouldve beat the bulls in 89, certainly not in 90
