The first round of the NBA Playoffs concluded Friday night as the eight seed Memphis Grizzlies knocked the number one seed San Antonio Spurs (my pick to win the championship) out of the playoffs. The Grizzlies looked really impressive and shocked everybody in the league as only the second, eight- seeded team to defeat a number one seed. Memphis was lead by power forward Zach Randolph, who the Spurs had no answer for. Randolph was the leading scorer for both teams in three of the games, and the leading rebounder in two. The Grizzlies reward for beating San Antonio is the Thunder, led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
-The Memphis Grizzlies defeated their second round opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday, 114-101.
The Indiana Pacers, unfortunately, lost handedly to the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 to be knocked out from the playoffs, but they should be back next season. The Pacers played the Bulls tough in the first four games of the series, getting a win in Game 4, but in Game 5 the Bulls looked like they came to play, and to win. The Pacers have a lot to be happy about heading into the off season though. Tyler Hansbrough and rookie Paul George played exceptionally well in their first playoff experience (it was actually the first playoffs for many of the Pacers). The Chicago Bulls will take on the Atlanta Hawks, who pretty much shredded the Orlando Magic, and probably ended Dwight Howard’s tenure in Orlando.
The other Eastern Conference semi -final matches up the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Apparently this was a much-anticipated match up, I don’t know why though. I can see the Heat sweeping this series. They have two of the best players in the league, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James, one of which is incredibly hungry for his first NBA Championship. The Celtics though are an aging team that have already had success, and I don’t see them wanting to win as much as the Heat.
-The Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics Sunday, 99-90.
The perennially successful Los Angeles Lakers made their series with the New Orleans Hornets interesting, but ultimately won it in six games and will take on the Dallas Mavericks. I don’t expect this series to be too exciting either. The Lakers have way too much talent for Dallas, and are too experienced to lose this early in the playoffs.
My predictions for Round 2
Bulls over Hawks in 5 games (Bulls win 4-2)*
Heat over Celtics in 6 games (Heat win 4-1)*
Thunder over Grizzlies in 5 games (Thunder lead 3-2)*
Lakers over Mavericks in 5 games (Mavs win 4-0)*
*-picked winner correctly
Not too shabby, picked all the winners correctly so far, and have been only one game off in each series.
*-picked winner correctly
Not too shabby, picked all the winners correctly so far, and have been only one game off in each series.
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