East: Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls
Vegas Odds: Chicago -130
MY PREDICTION: Heat in 6
 |
| Taj Gibson making Wade look silly. |
Let's remember one important point. The Bulls were playing at home. They were the favorite to win this game, and they came out and didn't disappoint. The reaction they received, however, was unbelievable. It's as if people had given them no hope to beat the Heat, and all of a sudden they are just jumping aboard the Chicago bandwagon. In polls shortly after, all of a sudden Rose was being viewed as the best player left in the playoffs by a huge margin. This was especially ironic due to all the hate he was receiving during the other two series.
The Heat however, are simply too good to just fall back and surrender. They lost a tough game on the road, and now they are 0-4 against Chicago this year. However, let's remember that they had lost the season series against Boston as well, only to come into the playoffs and demolish the Celtics. I think the Heat have the firepower to beat the Bulls as well, but they need to stop celebrating their win against the Celtics and begin to focus on the Bulls.
Lebron had probably figured that the Lakers were gone, and the Celtics were finally beaten, so now nobody could challenge them for the championship. However, Game 1 was a wakeup call to him and the rest of the team as well. With that said, the Heat did not play as badly as the score indicated. They shot the ball 47%. Had they remember how to rebound, chances are the game could have went their way.
This isn't a shot at Derrick Rose by any means. He is a great player, and easily the MVP of the league. However, the rest of his team simply cannot match up against the Heat. He could single handedly propel them against the likes of the Pacers and the Hawks, but he's going to need the rest of his team to play out of their minds against the Heat. Boozer cannot walk around his house without injuring himself, how is he supposed to outmatch Bosh? And in the long run, who is going to go toe to toe with Lebron? About the only fair matchup I can see between the Bulls and the Big 3 is Wade vs Rose.
I realize the Bulls are leading the series. However, just because they won the first battle this does not necessarily mean they will win the war. The Heat are built for a title run, while the Bulls are built to stand around and watch Rose go crazy. As long as Miami can steal a win away from Chicago in the Windy City, they should be able to close out the series in Game 6.
Then again, I thought the Lakers were going to win the war as well, and look how that turned out!
West: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Dallas Mavericks
Vegas Odds: Mavericks -250
MY PREDICTION: Mavericks in 4
During the Grizzlies Thunder series, the only thing I could think of was how much I hated the way the Thunder played. The Grizzlies would pass the ball around and get good shots and they were fun to watch. The Thunder on the other hand, would alternate between having Westbrook and Durant shooting. During long stretches, Westbrook would grow delusional and assume he was the MVP of the team, and absolutely forget about the actual scoring champ standing a few feet away from him.
I remember during the 3OT game, where Durant was visibly frustrated with the way things were going. He complained to an assistant coach after the last 10 minutes of the game featured Westbrook dribbling the ball up, keeping the ball, dribbling around some more, and then forcing up a stupid shot. Ultimately the Thunder won the game, but anyone who does not live in Oklahoma could tell there was a chemistry issue with the 2 stars.
Now that the Thunder barely edged out the Grizz in 7 games, people seem to think Westbrook and Durant are a superstar combo that will pose serious problems to the Mavericks. My question is, what kind of superstar combo involves the point guard taking more shots than the 2x scoring champ? I do not think everything is well inside that locker room. Durant is a very humble and respectable individual, but I'm sure even he gets pissed off when he doesn't touch the ball for long spans during the game.
With the Mavericks, everything is very simple. During crunch time, Dirk Nowitzki is the man who gets the ball. Jason Kidd is the point guard who gets everything going, and who will occasionally go crazy from the 3 point line. The rest of the team fits in a specific role, and this has worked very well for them. With the Thunder, nothing is really certain. Westbrook often takes of his Robin cape and tries to play Batman, only to fail miserably. Durant then sits around and wonders why his point guard has 3 assists and approximately 30 field goal attempts.
The Dallas Mavericks were able to sweep the defending champions. I do not think the Thunder present anything the Lakers didn't, except maybe Durant if he gets hot. However, the problem with Durant is that in addition to being deathly afraid of the weight room, he can be easily stopped. It has been shown numerous times that he can be taken out of his game if tight enough defense is played. The Mavericks were able to stifle not only Gasol, Bynum, and Odom, but one of the greatest scorers ever in Kobe Bryant. If they can stop Durant, then all they have to worry about is a disillusioned point guard who believes he's Kobe Bryant if he doesn't take his medication in the morning.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All in all, I think the Mavs will meet the Heat in the finals. If I recall correctly, the two teams have some history.
0 comments:
Post a Comment