April is my favorite sports month of the year. I know a lot of people say fall is their favorite sports season, but to me April is the best time to be a sports fan. Maybe it's because I'm such a big NBA fan. And maybe it's because I love baseball. But to me, nothing beats the spring season. Not with Opening Day, 40 games in 40 nights, or even the Masters (and the NFL draft for you football fans).
So what headlines this great sports season for me? The NBA playoffs of course. I did not offer a playoff preview for y'all, so I'll give you a quick run-down of my predictions (before the playoffs started, I promise):
Cleveland over Chicago in 5
Boston over Miami in 7
Orlando over Charlotte in 6
Atlanta over Milwaukee in 5
LA Lakers over Oklahoma City in 6
Denver over Utah in 7
Dallas over San Antonio in 6
Phoenix over Portland in 5
Cleveland over Boston in 5
Orlando over Atlanta in 6
LA Lakers over Denver in 6
Dallas over Phoenix in 7
Cleveland over Orlando in 6
LA Lakers over Dallas in 7
Cleveland over LA Lakers in 6
Sorry for no analysis, but I'm already late, so I'll just give you analysis of what I've seen so far.
I'll start with the last game of the weekend: Portland shocking Phoenix in Game 1 without Brandon Roy. This team has had so many injuries, and when Roy went down I didn't think twice before counting them out. But Andre Miller came up big tonight, much like he's done all season. I'm really impressed by the resiliency of this Blazers team and how they have responded throughout the season with all the injuries. I like to look big picture, so my prediction doesn't change and I still think Phoenix wins this series. But I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on this Blazers team.
Elsewhere in the West: Dirk Nowitzki showed me why I wanted to pick Dallas to make the Finals, but resisted so I wouldn't look like I was copying Bill Simmons' picks. Durant disappointed in his Playoff debut, but the Thunder played well enough to keep it close. And the Utah-Denver series, which was the one I was most excited to watch, seems to be decimated by injury and Denver will win by default.
Out East there were no big surprises, but KG's suspension could make way for a Miami upset. I wanted to pick them, I really did, but thought that Boston was too deep and too experienced to lose. They didn't impress me much and I am now leaning towards a Heat upset. They have the best player in the series and I'm not convinced that the best "team" in the series is really the Celtics.
I expected the Bobcats to make the Magic work in the series, and they did in the second half. Despite a really good performance from Derrick Rose, the Cavaliers still trumped an inferior Bulls team. And even though Milwaukee might outwork Atlanta, the Hawks just have too much talent. But Brandon Jennings sure reminded me of another rookie point guard that made his playoff debut last season...
We must remember that only one game has been played in each series. Coaches will meet and adjustments will be made, and most likely, the better teams will prevail. I'm excited to see how things shake out out West, where in some cases seeds don't really matter. I'm still going to take Cleveland over LA, a changing of the guard of sorts, as my NBA Finals pick. LeBron will ascend to mega-dega-trega-star status, and a bunch of Cavs will get overpaid. What I'm really looking forward to (especially as a Bulls fan) is the off-season, in which several big name could change teams. This playoffs could influence a lot of what happens this summer, so stay tuned...
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