It’s the best time of the year when basketball finally starts getting real again! After a long NBA season, the playoffs have begun!
We are roughly a week into the playoffs and there are some worrying signs for some heavy weights of the league.
The number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference (the Boston Celtics) are in a 2 game hole against the 8th seeded Bulls. This Bulls team is no typical 8 seed though. They horrifically under achieved this season and almost missed the playoffs. Are they good enough though to finish this off and give D Wade one last shot at his good mate LeBron in the East Finals?
It’s time we get the Crystal Ball out and start making some predictions after what we’ve seen so far.
The crystal ball predicts the Spurs and Warriors facing off in the Western Conference Finals. No shock here, they both cruise through both rounds and face each other in what is sure to be one hell of a crazy series. Our crystal ball predicts the series going to 7 with the Warriors only just running out victorious due to late Kevin Durant heroics.
As mentioned before, the Celtics are in a hole. They are getting out of this hole and winning in 7 games. Stevens is way too good a coach not to figure this current mess out. As much as we’d love to see otherwise, the Cavs are going to the East finals and will win the East.
I was lucky enough to be in the crowd for the “Game of the year” Boston v Cleveland at the TD Garden a few weeks back. LeBron made us all wait, until he wanted to hear his own boos and run out on his own. He was a man on a mission that night, and played like the old school King James making Kyrie play off the ball and simply dominated.
They lost the 1 seed but they don’t care, they don’t need it. Home Court advantage with veteran teams means zero. They’ve been there and done that and once again for the 3rd straight year we will have in the NBA Finals a Golden State Cleveland match up.
Let’s face it. They are the best two teams in the league. San Antonio will give Golden State all they’ve got in the West Finals. Cleveland should stroll through. Cleveland’s defence will be its down fall in the finals. Not that Golden State’s defence is outstanding, but the Cavs is literally pedestrian.
We saw this in Friday’s match up against Indiana giving up 74 points in the first half. Indiana imploded in the 2nd half playing appalling basketball. Cleveland won the game on the back of LeBron’s brilliance, but Indiana simply stopped playing and it hurt to watch.
Would love to know everyone’s thoughts and playoff predictions!
Dave Bauk