Round 2 of the 2011 NBA Playoffs have come to a close, now it’s time for the real excitement. It’s time for the legit teams to go out and show what they’re made of. Round 3, the Conference Finals will decide who plays for the NBA Championship.
In the Eastern Conference, the top two teams will do battle in what should be a fantastic 7-game series. The Chicago Bulls will have the home court advantage against the Miami Heat, but that shouldn’t matter too much. The Heat are led by Lebron James and Dwane Wade, who both have playoff experience and easily put away the Boston Celtics. The Bulls are led by the NBA MVP, Derrick Rose, and are considered the underdogs in the series.
I have to agree with the premise that the Bulls are the underdogs, because the Heat just seem like a better team. They have Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh! James and Both have to be incredibly hungry for the championship, as this is the best chance they have ever had to win it all.
The Bulls are not just some ordinary team though. Derrick Rose wants to bring a championship to his hometown of Chicago just as bad as Miami’s Big Three do. Rose has averaged almost 30 points a game in the postseason, and his Bulls have lost only two games in the postseason. Carlos Boozer seems to be stepping it up recently too, as he scored 23 points in the last game.
This will be a great series to watch, and will definitely require a full team effort by both sides to win four games. Both teams have players that are more than capable of scoring and taking control of the game. The Bulls and the Heat are two of the league’s best defensive teams; so many experts are predicting low-scoring games. Lebron
James has also said he expects it to be a low-scoring affair, "It's going to be two great defensive teams [that] take pride defensively, [teams that] get more out of getting stops than they do in scoring." There you have it, if James thinks it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen. I’m predicting the Heat win in 7. (Heat won in 5)
The Western Conference Finals match up the Dallas Mavericks against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA's version of the "Red River Rivalry". In the second round, the Mavericks completely man-handled the defending champion Lakers, while the Thunder had to finish off the Grizzlies in seven games. If you would have told me that these two teams would play each other at this point in the postseason, I probably would have laughed at you and never considered your opinion important. These were two teams that have flown completely under the radar all season long, and whoever wins will still be considered an underdog in the next round.
The Dallas Mavericks are headed by Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, and head coach Rick Carlisle (a former Pacers coach); these veterans have never won a NBA Championship before, but believe this is finally time. Dallas focuses heavily on staying mentally tough, which is one reason they are loaded with veterans. They even employ a full time, team psychiatric. The Mavs have looked good all year, but nobody considered them a threat to beat the Lakers or Spurs. Here they are though, four wins away championship series.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are almost the opposite of the Mavs. Their two best players, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, have a combined five years of NBA experience. The Thunder have only two players over the age of 30, the Mavericks have nine! Scott Brown, the youthful head coach, has only coached a NBA team for three seasons. The Thunder were even less likely to make it this far than the Mavericks with such a young team, but they have fought through two tough series and look to make Oklahoma City into the new home of the NBA Championship.
My prediction is that the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games. (Mavericks won in 5)
All statistics gathered from www.espn.com
My prediction is that the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games. (Mavericks won in 5)
All statistics gathered from www.espn.com
While we’re talking predictions, so far in the playoffs I have picked 9 of the 12 series winners correctly. I went 5-3 in the first round, and then picked all four of the winners in the second round.
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