NBA Play Offs - an overview until now.

[tzijlstra 11]

A couple of weeks ago the first round of the NBA Play Offs started. In previous years the East was well behind the West, but this year the Play Offs in the East are contested by teams with a higher win-percentage in the regular season than those in the West.

 

Except of course for the Golden State Warriors with the brilliant Steph Curry and the San Antonio Spurs with the grandad three: Parker, Ginobili and Duncan.

 

There is little excitement in the West, the final is pre-determined due to the strength of GSW and SAS, the Spurs demolished hopefuls Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of the second round and few can see OKC bouncing back, whilst the GSW are facing off against a surprisingly solid Portland, but still should win quite easily in the best of seven contest. The Western Conference Final is bound to be enthralling, but the winner will be a favourite to win it all based on performances in the past season.

 

In the meantime the East is far from concluded. Miami just nicked a close series against Charlotte and later tonight my Indiana Pacers are looking to beat the Toronto Raptors away, something they can do if they are focussed enough. The Cleveland Cavaliers, with Irving, Love and LeBron James look set for a reasonably comfortable ride to the conference final but Atlanta are no pushovers and will be keen to prove their mettle.

 

The winner of Toronto-Indiana will face a Heat team that is again missing its key player (Chris Bosh), but veteran Dwayne Wade looks to have hit form and willed the Heat across the line versus Charlotte. That series is no where near easy to predict though, both the Raptors and Pacers have demonstrated they are able to beat the Heat, even with Bosh. Perhaps winning that series will boost them through the challenge of the Cavs who have been lacklustre at times during regular season and, more significantly, have a very inexperienced coach in charge as opposed to both the pretenders for the East.

 

Still, in the end my money is on whoever wins the GSW-Spurs series. Despite the East finally climbing out of a decade long inferiority complex both those teams have too much quality to not be considered major contenders. Exciting times for basketball fans - and if you are casually interested in the game, make sure to follow it closely. There are plenty of sources online to watch games/clips and follow discussions amongst fans on the topic. RealGM is a good place to check regularly for news for example.

[AgentDRL 10]

Yes, I go on the RealGM forums myself.

 

I think it will be another Cleveland / Golden State NBA finals, but I did tip San Antonio to win it all at the start of the season.

 

Oklahoma City have a 3-2 lead on San Antonio, and I think they will beat the Spurs in game 6 to go on to meet Golden State in the Conference Finals.

[tzijlstra 11]

The OKC-Spurs series is blowing my mind, I keep thinking of OKC as a two man team, but they are clearly made of sterner stuff as demonstrated in this series. I think they might scare GSW, although Curry coming back from his injury is a big boost to them.

 

Cleveland are just steam-rolling through, two 4-0 series... too easy really. Toronto will probably go through against Miami but that might be yet another 7 series (just like the Indiana series, which incidentally broke my heart) and they are beginning to lose players now with Valanciunas gone and now DeMarre Carroll looking iffy as well...

 

So that means, theoretically, the Cavs could meet GSW after 12 games, whereas GSW are on 10 already and are set a very tricky series no matter what the outcome in San Antonio - still interesting!

 

---------- Post added 13-05-2016 at 10:13 ----------

 

Well - OKC blew the Spurs out last night, so it is GSW-OKC coming up, OKC will be feeling confident after knocking the Spurs out in 6, a very good result for them, so they might make it hard for GSW, even more interesting

[art1225 10]

I predict another sweep for Cavs this time against Raptors.

[AgentDRL 10]

Series might be already over after that blowout in Game 1, but every game is different I suppose.

 

I don't think the Raptors match up well to the Cavs, coupled with the fact that the Raptors are banged up a bit.

 

I'm predicting it'll be over, at most, in five games. I think the Raptors will win one of their games on their floor, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Cavs sweep them 4-0 to be honest....

[tzijlstra 11]

Well, we are all being proven wrong by these Raptors, great effort pulling it back to 2-2 and the West isn't over by a long shot either... More interesting by the day!

[art1225 10]

Well I underestimated the Raptors. Still Cavs in 6 or 7. lol

[shieldfield 10]

The Raptors are giving their best, but the Thunder isn't holding back either.

[tzijlstra 11]

The Raptors are giving their best, but the Thunder isn't holding back either.

 

GSW clawed one back, this series is insane!

[art1225 10]

It's Cavs-Warriors Finals rematch.

[AgentDRL 10]

Yep. Not sure which way this will go to be honest. Some folk on the RealGM Forum are saying GSW in 5 ! Personally I don't see that, but that's their opinion I suppose...

 

Although it's a team sport, I wouldn't want LeBron James to lose in a 5th NBA Finals. You know what we're getting from LeBron and Kyrie Irving, but for me, the x factor is Kevin Love and JR Smith. All Smith needs to do is play at the level he's been playing at throughout the playoffs (which has been very good), and the same with Love. He had a couple of quiet games against the Raptors, but on the whole he's been solid.

 

GSW can be beaten as I don't think they're as good defensively as they were in the 2014/2015 season, but their firepower from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson is what's scary (even when their shots are contested).

 

I'm going to go with GSW in 6 or 7 games, but would like to be wrong.

[tzijlstra 11]

Wow, I seriously did not expect this outcome! This has been a magnificent finals, I can't remember one where both Conference Finals and the NBA Finals were this exciting. I totally did not foresee Golden State giving away game 5 (which would have made them win the title) in the way they did, but Curry was slowed down enough by the Cavs and the GSW didn't manage to unlock the puzzle in the end. The final game was nailbiting until the end. That LeBron block actually makes me feel like he deserves it, for the first time in years...

 

Ah NBA, now I have to wait for five months until you come back