Hello,
Yesterday was the second day of the NBA playoffs, it was nowhere near as exciting as Day 1. The first three games of the day were all yawners. The day started off with the yawner between Utah and San Antonio. I expected the Spurs to win by about 15 points and that's what they did. Gregg Popovich got his big three players out of the game with about 3 minutes left to play. That's a good idea Coach Pop. I wonder why all coaches don't use that same strategy.
Next was the yawner between the Nuggets and LA Kobes. I give the Nuggets about 5% chance to win this series. The yawner games continued with Boston vs. Atlanta. There aren't too many things more boring to watch than a low scoring, Eastern Conference playoff slugfest. Day 2's night cap was the humongous collapse by the Memphis Grizzilies, they completely melted down in losing to the Clippers. I was quite surprised when I woke up and found out the Clippers had won
Here are my real NBA Eastern Conference rankings and my reason/ reasons for that.
1) Miami Heat: They are clearly the class of the East. I really don't see another Eastern Conference team challenging them. I'd love to see Miami throttle the Knicks for a second time tonight. If LeBron James comes out with the Jordanesque killer instinct, who can stop him? He's so big, strong and fluid. James needs to stop that getting his teammates involved in the game bs. Please! Why try to get Marijuana Mario Chalmers involved when you can get yourself involved? I also love Dwayne Wade. He's a clutch shooter, extremely athletic and so much fun to watch. He's the heart and the true leader of the team.
Honestly there's a big gap between Miami and Chicago. As I think about it, this Eastern Conference playoffs could lack excitement.
2) Chicago Bulls: The only reason the Bulls are this high is because the rest of the Eastern Conference is less than inspiring. Chicago through the 76ers have several glaring weaknesses. Obviously the biggest question for the Bulls is what are they going to do without Derrick Rose? I know Chicago had a decent regular season record without him, but that's the regular season. I thought it was instance that I'm Coach Tibs still had Rose in the game when he blew out his ACL. I'm glad that so called NBA experts say that Coach Tibs should have had Derrick Rose out of the game when he tore his ACL. Of course now it's mute. But who's going to be their go to guy? Without Rose this Bulls team has so many weaknesses exposed.
3) Atlanta Hawks: They were able to protect home court and win the first game in this series. Rajon Rondo will likely be suspended at least one game for his bumping a ref. I love all the apologists coming out in defense of Rondo, his bumping the ref looked pretty intentional to me. When's the last time the Hawks really scared someone?
4) Boston Celtics: Although they lost their first playoff game, I expect this team to bounce back. They'll miss Rondo, but I wouldn't be surprised if Boston wins this series. I could see Boston getting past the Bulls in the second round. They could send out their Big 3 with a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
5) Orlando Magic: I don't think the Magic are a great team, with or without Hack A Howard. But they played just well enough to steal the first game in this series. They took full advantage of the Pacers collapse. I still expect the Pacers to win this series, but it won't matter. Either team will be destroyed by the Heat in the second round of the playoffs.
6) Indiana Pacers: Their meltdown Saturday night wasn't a thing of beauty. In the final four minutes of the game, the Pacers didn't score a point. The Pacers didn't seem to know how to step up in the clutch. Even the team's star, Danny Granger, missed two big free throws down the stretch. It will be interesting to see how the Magic-Pacers Game 2 ends tonight.
7) The New York Knicks lost by 33 points. Do I need to write anything else? Okay they also lost Iman Shumpert for the rest of the season. (With Caron Butler out for the season, that's three players that have been knocked out for the season for the playoffs. That doesn't include players like Dwight Howard and Earl Watson who were out for the season before the playoffs even started.) Shumpert is one of the Knick's best defenders. Jeremy Lin says that he might be back by Game 4 of the series, but at that point will it matter? I look for the Heat to take a dominating 2-0 lead tonight. Then for the Knicks to win the series, they'd have to win 4 of the final 5 games. Chances of that happening: very small, slightly better than me marrying Jennifer Aniston.
8) Philly 76ers: With or without Rose I don't see the 76ers beating the Bulls. Chicago is too deep for the 76ers. I expect the series to be more competitive now, but overall I don't expect that to make much of a difference. Bulls in 5.
Tomorrow the Western Conference's "Real" Top 8.
themusicaddict
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