Tag Archives: playoffs

Football

2017 NFL Divisional Round Predictions

2-2 last week (17-9 all-time). That’s what I get for believing in some Giants miracle and not believing in Aaron Rodgers.

Seattle Seahawks (11-5-1) @ Atlanta Falcons (11-5)

At first I was all ready to take the Seahawks under my “Matt Ryan has always been subpar in the playoffs” + “Seattle has the experience factor in their favor”. But I had to change my mind here for a few reasons.

One, I have to give Matt Ryan his due. He finally played like the quarterback everyone has said he’s been over the past few years. He, Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman, and Tevin Coleman have run an incredible offense here. If this were the Seahawks of a few years ago I’d say their defense could take Atlanta down…but this isn’t the same defense. I also don’t completely buy the Seahawks at this point. Yeah, them beating a banged up Lions team is no surprise, but the Falcons are a different story. Then again Seattle did down New England on the road back in November, so I might be underselling them.

You know what kind of teams Seattle reminds me of though? Those dynasty teams that are in their last few years where they are considered a threat by name, but they are probably losing to the hot new team. My favorite examples are the 97 Cowboys who dropped a Divisional Round game to the 2nd year Carolina Panthers and the 98 49ers, who lost to the Chris Chandler-Jamal Anderson Falcons. Their runs were just over. Just like Seattle’s probably is.

Plus maybe it was all Mike Smith’s fault.

Falcons 28, Seahawks 24

Houston Texans (10-7) @ New England Patriots (14-2)

What is there to say really? You know that the Patriots beat the Texans 27-0 with Jacoby Brissett at Quarterback, right?

Patriots 40, Texans 7

Green Bay Packers (11-6) @ Dallas Cowboys (13-3)

I’m ready to pick against Rodgers again! There’s a little too much of “omg we underrated Aaron Rodgers he’s gonna tear through the players” and we forget the Giants were a bit shaky all year. Plus, Dallas has the best weapon possible against Rodgers: Ezekiel Elliott moving the chains and creating long, time killing drives. Aaron Rodgers can’t beat you when he’s on the bench. Do we really think this Packer defense is slowing down Elliott?

Cowboys 20, Packers 13

Pittsburgh Steelers (12-5) @ Kansas City Chiefs (12-4)

Andy Reid sure knows how to put together great regular seasons. I just can’t bring myself to believe in the Chiefs. Weather it’s the coach (Reid), the playoff history (so many disappointing Chiefs losses, many of them when they had a first round bye), the QB (Alex Smith is good and all, but never going to scare you) I just can’t do it. I correctly predicted three years ago that Andrew Luck would beat them and he did. I like this Steelers team a lot. They’re on fire. They took care of business last week. They have good DVOA ratings. They seem superior in every way. I just think they’re better. Only thing that can stop Big Ben and co. is the weather. Even then, is that going to do Kansas City any favors?

Steelers 24, Chiefs 17

 

 

Basketball

2016 NBA Playoff Predictions: Round 2!

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