So long Houston, LA, Memphis, Dallas, Detroit, Indiana, Charlotte and Boston. Boston and LA just had a rough deal with injuries. Dallas just doesn’t have enough talent and their best player is just about at the end. It’s too early for Detroit. Indiana had the series in the palm of their hand, but lineups without Paul George were just too awful for Indiana to survive with. George is like the poor man’s LeBron, which really isn’t intended as an insult. Memphis gets some credit for getting to the playoffs with all of their injuries, but this is a team that’s window has closed and is on its way down. Houston of course, is an embarrassment this year and that only continued with their poor playoff showing. Anyway, series wise we went 5-3 last round. Let’s see how we do here.
Western Conference
#1 Golden State Warriors (73-9) vs. #5 Portland Trail Blazers (44-38)
Portland got a huge gift in the first round with both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin went down. In fact, they became the 2nd team ever to come back down 0-2 when they lost both of those games by 20+ points. But you gotta win them however you can.
The Stephen Curry injury might allow Portland to sneak one, and of course I always want to give Damian Lillard a game where he goes off (like he did against the Warriors during the regular season). Take a bow Portland, you’ve gotten a lot farther than anyone gave you credit for.
Warriors in 6
#2 San Antonio Spurs (67-15) vs. #3 Oklahoma City Thunder (55-27)
Too bad I can’t change the amount of games right now after the Game 1 beat down San Antonio put on OKC.
I think Gregg Popovich figured out the Thunder years ago to be honest (while Billy Donovan’s still in his rookie year, remember). They need to find a way to cover LeMarcus Aldridge from mid range and hope Kawhi Leonard can’t cover Westbrook and/or Durant. Unfortunately as Game 1 told, Leonard absolutely can shut down Westbrook. Spurs are too deep and too good and it needs to be remembered that they were a historical team too this year.
Spurs in 6
Eastern Conference
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers (57-25) vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks (48-34)
Ever think that LeBron gets bored of beating these Eastern Conference teams? He’s 8-0 against the Hawks in his playoff career, and last year he basically won 4 in a row by himself. The Cavs are better this year while the Hawks clearly aren’t. Only storyline here is if the Cavs can convince me they can win the title this year.
Cavs in 4
#2 Toronto Raptors (56-26) vs. #3 Miami Heat (48-34)
Yeah still don’t believe in the Raptors at all. They barely survived a one man Paul George team. Miami beat Charlotte just as I thought they would, in 7 because one of their guys made big shots (Wade in Game 6). I think this goes 7 though, but Miami steals it in Toronto.
Heat in 7