NBA Playoffs Thread

[homonger]

The series money lines below suggest the oddsmakers agree with the Big E here. I haven't seen money lines for Det/Ind or Phx/Dal yet, but my guess is that Ind will be a underdog also in the +750 range, and that Dallas will be an underdog in the +400-500 range.

Sonics +750
Spurs -975

Wizards +1050
Heat -1450

I agree with MLAM. I wouldn't have believed it after the first two games, but the Mavs impressed me in their series against the Rockets, and I would bet them to upset the Suns if I got the right price.

 

[the_big_E]

The Mavericks played better when they went with a smaller lineup, and with Van Horn still out that will more than likely continue as it won them the series. That will be an up-tempo series as well and if its just firing shots back and forth, Dallas wont outscore Phoenix...

 

[slowandeasy]

Phoenix in 6 games.

To all you Steve Nash haters.... well... don't hate him.. he is a class act...

 

[Breeze]

...Suns will be stopped by Spurs. Suns have no answer for Duncan, Suns will wilt when facing true playoff defense, Nash will be exposed as he was every year in Dallas by a younger, quicker point guard (in this case, Tony Parker...and guess what...it will get no better when he guards Manu Ginobili)

Actually...Suns might go out against Dallas now that Avery Johnson has them playing defense and showing some heart.

Yup, the Spurs will shut down the Suns and I wouldnt be surprised if they dominated the series.

 

[homonger]

Money lines for Ind/Det and Dal/Pho have been posted, and while I was right about the Pacers being a serious dog, it seems the oddsmakers have the Mavs at less of an underdog as I would have thought.

Pacers +750
Pistons -975

Mavs +250
Suns -290

I am tempted, but +250 is not enough to get me to bet on the Mavs. If it were +350, +400, I definitely would do it.

 

[slowandeasy]

Yup, the Spurs will shut down the Suns and I wouldnt be surprised if they dominated the series.

There are a number of reasons why the Spurs may shut down the Suns other than Tony Parker will make life tough on Steve Nash..

Manu Ginobilli is awesome... He is one of my favorite players other than Nash, Chris Bosh, Grant Hill, Shaq, and a few others... Manu has the heart that Vince Carter lacks.

The match ups are really tough, and the Suns really do not have someone who can slow down Tim Duncan.....

Factor in that the Suns have almost no play off experience, and the Spurs have alot of it, and you have a mismatch..

Personally, I would consider it an extremely successful year for the Suns if they got by Dallas in the second round, and even that is no gimme...

For the second round matchups:

Heat vs. Wizards... Heat in 5 if it's not a sweep
Pistons vs. Pacers: Pistons in 6 games. 4 brawls in the series, and
one game called off due to a riot in Detroit

Mavs vs. Suns ... Suns in 6. This should be a great series to watch
Spurs vs Sonics... Sonics are not so super... Spurs in 5.

3rd Round
Heat vs. Pistons... Heat in 6 games... This should be a hell of a series, and
could prove whether the Pistons are an elite team
just got lucky last year by breezing through a weak Eastern
conference to meet up with a Lakers team that was falling
apart..

Spurs vs. Suns... If I had to put money on it, Spurs in 6.
But the Suns might just surprise everybody...
again, this will give some indication of the mettle of the
young Phoenix Suns. I am terribly curious to see how
Nash plays against Tony Parker, and how they Suns
defend Tim Duncan.

 

[slowandeasy]

... Nash will be exposed as he was every year in Dallas by a younger, quicker point guard (in this case, Tony Parker...and guess what...it will get no better when he guards Manu Ginobili)

Actually...Suns might go out against Dallas now that Avery Johnson has them playing defense and showing some heart.

Don't know what games you were watching over the past few years..but in Dallas, it was not necessarily Nash that was exposed, but Nowitzki and the complete lack of an inside game, or a tough low post defender.

Watching the first game of the Suns/Mavs game... I do not see a glaring weakness in Steve Nash's defence... He is not a great defender, but he is not terrible. Jason Terry is making some baskets, but they are not really that important.

What I do worry about for the Suns is that they have a couple of amazing low post power players in Marion and Stoudemire, but yet they seem to rely on finesse plays too much. I believe that they should slow the tempo down at times, and dump the ball into Stoudemire, and allow him to bang inside....

 

[ice_dog]

In game 1 against Dallas, Stoudemire had 40 points and 16 rebounds while Nash had 11 ponts and 13 assists.

They are going to go down NBA history as one of the best duos.

 

[ice_dog]

Assuming Spurs will meet the Suns in the next round

I agree that the Suns is a younger tream or the Spurs players are more seasoned, but I don't think the Suns will go down in six games. I don't think anybody should be surprised if the Suns come out to be the winner.

On a separate note, I think Stoudemire will be the most dominant centre in the league in 3 years . I don't think Yao Ming will ever catch up with him.

There are a number of reasons why the Spurs may shut down the Suns other than Tony Parker will make life tough on Steve Nash..

Manu Ginobilli is awesome... He is one of my favorite players other than Nash, Chris Bosh, Grant Hill, Shaq, and a few others... Manu has the heart that Vince Carter lacks.

The match ups are really tough, and the Suns really do not have someone who can slow down Tim Duncan.....

Factor in that the Suns have almost no play off experience, and the Spurs have alot of it, and you have a mismatch..

Personally, I would consider it an extremely successful year for the Suns if they got by Dallas in the second round, and even that is no gimme...

For the second round matchups:

Heat vs. Wizards... Heat in 5 if it's not a sweep
Pistons vs. Pacers: Pistons in 6 games. 4 brawls in the series, and
one game called off due to a riot in Detroit

Mavs vs. Suns ... Suns in 6. This should be a great series to watch
Spurs vs Sonics... Sonics are not so super... Spurs in 5.

3rd Round
Heat vs. Pistons... Heat in 6 games... This should be a hell of a series, and
could prove whether the Pistons are an elite team
just got lucky last year by breezing through a weak Eastern
conference to meet up with a Lakers team that was falling
apart..

Spurs vs. Suns... If I had to put money on it, Spurs in 6.
But the Suns might just surprise everybody...
again, this will give some indication of the mettle of the
young Phoenix Suns. I am terribly curious to see how
Nash plays against Tony Parker, and how they Suns
defend Tim Duncan.

 

[ice_dog]

Stoudemire is basically a power forward, he is only 6'10" 245 lbs

Only 6'10"' , eh ? ...lol I think this is debatable.

Technically, Stoudemire is listed as Forward-Centre. The other forward-centre on this teram is 7-footer Steven Hunter who averaged less than 14 minutes during regular season. The only player listed as center is 6'11' Jake Voskuhl who played less than 10 minutes per game

So, who spend the most minutes playing the centre positon for this team ?

I think Soudemire is kinda like Antonio Davis

 

[the_big_E]

Well the Suns lost last night and dont know how long Joe Johnson is gone for...I still think Phoenix wins the series but it will go down to the wire...

And hugely surprised by the Pacers win last night...

 

[ice_dog]

I like the Suns when Nash is running the show, but the Mavericks are no push-over. This series could go right down to the wire.

 

[matrix2004]

Well, the Suns beat Dallas and Indy beat Detroit last night. Phoenix winning was not surprising, but Indy pretty much dominated the Pistons for 3 and a half quarters- which was VERY surprising. I have to say that this Pacer team is grittier than anybody expected. After all that they've gone thru- from the massive suspensions and long period injuries to their best players, it was quite an accomplishment just to get IN the playoffs. Then they beat the Atlantic div champs. And now they're threatening to do the same to the defending world champs. They now are the underdog that everyone likes to cheer for, not to mention sentimental favourite because of Reggie's swan song.

Even if they do get by Detroit, I don't think they could beat Miami, but then again...I didn't even think they would get this far, so who knows.

 

[homonger]

I watched the Heat barely beat the Wizards tonight, and I wasn't really impressed. Of course, they were missing Shaq, but if Shaq continues to be hampered by injuries, I think the Heat are very beatable. Wade is very impressive, no doubt about it. But the rest of the team is just average, imo. Mourning can't seem to catch the ball anymore. He reminded me of Dikembe Mutombo that way. Haslem is a zero offensively. Damon Jones is a deadly 3 point shooter, but he takes bad shots and can't create his own shot. And what happened to Eddie Jones? He used to be a great player, and now I think he is kind of a stiff. Dooling, Butler, Doleac, Laettner, off the bench. Not so great.

I think the Pistons rebound and beat the Pacers in that other series, and then I think they knock off the Heat. I think the Pistons are a better team, top to bottom.

 

[slowandeasy]

I watched the Heat barely beat the Wizards tonight, and I wasn't really impressed. Of course, they were missing Shaq, but if Shaq continues to be hampered by injuries, I think the Heat are very beatable. Wade is very impressive, no doubt about it. But the rest of the team is just average, imo. Mourning can't seem to catch the ball anymore. He reminded me of Dikembe Mutombo that way. Haslem is a zero offensively. Damon Jones is a deadly 3 point shooter, but he takes bad shots and can't create his own shot. And what happened to Eddie Jones? He used to be a great player, and now I think he is kind of a stiff. Dooling, Butler, Doleac, Laettner, off the bench. Not so great.

I think the Pistons rebound and beat the Pacers in that other series, and then I think they knock off the Heat. I think the Pistons are a better team, top to bottom.

This is what the playoffs are all about... Coach Van Gundy should have been preparing his team instead of talking about the MVP voting... When your whole offense is based on the premise of what the other teams will do when Shaq is in the game, you are going to suffer if Shaq is not in the game... The whole team looked really stiff except Wade... If Van Gundy is smart, he will be preparing for the next round as if Shaq is not going to be playing... This just shows you how valuable of a player Shaq is to any team...
Wades performance in this series was outstanding.. for those who believed that Wade is only average without Shaq, this should be your proof that the guy is one of the best guards in the league...

I think that Shaq will be back.. .and even a Shaq at 60% is going to take this Heat team to the Final...

The Pistons will rebound. Indiana is had a very good season inspite of the problems, and they have played outstanding team ball in the playoffs. If JO'Neal does not start showing why he deserves the big bucks, it's over for the Pacers. The Pistons are such a good team on both ends of the court.

The Pistons Vs. Heat... This will be an amazing matchup to see how the Pistons D holds up, and how healthy Shaq will be. I really like the way that Miami moves the ball around when Shaq is in the game.

Shaq has so much motivation this year: 1) Rub it in Kobe/Lakers management face for the debacle in LA. 2) Not winning the league MVP

I had predicted that if the Suns meet up with San Antonio, SA will win, but now I am not so sure. Watching the Spurs, I think that the Suns will cause them as much match-up problems as SA will cause the Suns. That will also be a great series.

It has been years since I have been excited about the NBA playoffs. Probably since the Magic/Bird era. But this year seems really interesting to me for some reason..

 

[ice_dog]

I won't say that Phoenix's winning game 3 was ' not surprising', their bench is weak plus Joe Johnson is out of the line up. I don't think Stoudemire is too small to be a center, but Shawn Marion at 6'7' and 220 is definitely too small to play power forward.

Indians leading the series vs Detroit by 2-1 is a surprise to me.

Well, the Suns beat Dallas and Indy beat Detroit last night. Phoenix winning was not surprising, but Indy pretty much dominated the Pistons for 3 and a half quarters- which was VERY surprising. I have to say that this Pacer team is grittier than anybody expected. After all that they've gone thru- from the massive suspensions and long period injuries to their best players, it was quite an accomplishment just to get IN the playoffs. Then they beat the Atlantic div champs. And now they're threatening to do the same to the defending world champs. They now are the underdog that everyone likes to cheer for, not to mention sentimental favourite because of Reggie's swan song.

Even if they do get by Detroit, I don't think they could beat Miami, but then again...I didn't even think they would get this far, so who knows.

 

[the_big_E]

Round 2 over...I actually picked every series correctly with the same amount of games, thats a first.....

so....

Phoneix vs San Antonio - Suns in 6
Miami vs Detroit - Heat in 7

 

[ice_dog]

A great win by the Suns. A great series. I just noticed that Shawn Marion has very long arms, and plays like a 6'8" or 6'9". Nash is definitely the best point guard in recent years. I can also see why Stoudemire beat Yao for rookie of the year honor.

And just to illustrate my point on Nash, check this out

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...--?slug=sk-playoffs052005&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

[slowandeasy]

A great win by the Suns. A great series. I just noticed that Shawn Marion has very long arms, and plays like a 6'8" or 6'9". Nash is definitely the best point guard in recent years. I can also see why Stoudemire beat Yao for rookie of the year honor.

Nash was just incredible in this series. The Mavs decided that they would try to shut down Stoudemire et al, and make Nash beat them, and he did... Alot of people shit on Nash because he averaged just 15+ points/game indicating that he was not such a big factor. This just proves that he could score at will if he wanted to, but would rather play a team game..

That was a great series to watch, and Nash's play was amazing..

 

[homonger]

Since winning Game 1, I have lost money on every Suns/Mavericks game until tonight (I neglected to bet on Game 3). I saw only the first half, and the Mavericks looked good. The Suns must have made a nice comeback.

Conference Finals...

I think the Spurs will be favored. I would take Suns at the right price, but I think the Spurs win in 6.

I know the Heat will be favored. And I would also take the Pistons at the right price, but I think the Heat win in 7.