Bump.

East

Heat (1) vs Bucks (8)
Knicks (2) vs Celtics (7)
Pacers (3) vs Hawks (6)
Nets (4) vs Bulls (5)

West

Thunder (1) vs Rockets (8)
Spurs (2) vs Satan (7)
Nuggets (3) vs Warriors (6)
Toe Clippers (4) vs Grizzlies (5)

Predict away!

RowdierBob

Australia12800 Posts

April 18 2013 05:57 GMT

#44

For me:

Heat 4-0
Knicks 4-1
Pacers 4-1
Nets 4-2

Thunder 4-0
Spurs 4-2
Nuggets 4-3
Clips 4-3

East is pretty blah, but outside the Thunder v Houston series I think you could make a decent enough case for an upset for the other West series.

Jerubaal

United States7684 Posts

April 18 2013 06:04 GMT

#45

Somebody hates LA.

Assuming LA isn't a gigantic matchup problem for SA, OKC might actually have the harder path. They'll have to face Memphis or the Clippers while the Spurs would have a Gallo-less and possibly less than healthy Faried Nuggets.

RowdierBob

Australia12800 Posts

April 18 2013 06:06 GMT

#46

Nuggets have the best offence in the league though and easily the deepest roster. I wouldn't write the Dubs off either (homerism)--the regular season games were all very close and GSW is stronger defensively with Bogues back.

Zidane

United States1684 Posts

April 18 2013 06:20 GMT

#47

WARRIORS LETS GET IT

Kvz

United States463 Posts

April 18 2013 06:24 GMT

#48

warriors vs nuggets i think should be a good one. i'm a lakers fan so i'm hoping they can beat SA 4-2 !

DystopiaX

United States16236 Posts

April 18 2013 07:51 GMT

#49

On April 18 2013 15:06 RowdierBob wrote:
Nuggets have the best offence in the league though and easily the deepest roster. I wouldn't write the Dubs off either (homerism)--the regular season games were all very close and GSW is stronger defensively with Bogues back.

Nuggets best offense relies on fast break points and opponents turnovers though, both things that go down in the playoffs as teams take care of the ball more and play tighter defensively. Halfcourt offense is far more important than fast break points and the Nuggs are still relatively weak in that aspect; remember last season they were 1 in PPG as well and got bounced first round. I think they're better this year ofc but I don't think that they're really in positions to be contenders, even to make it out of the division.

XaI)CyRiC

United States4471 Posts

April 18 2013 08:41 GMT

#50

It's really unfortunate that Gallo got hurt again because he is a great option for them when the game slows down for spacing the floor and being another player who can create offense. They're probably appreciating having Iggy even more now because he's really stepped up in Gallo's absence and even more so when Lawson was out too.

LiLSighKoh

United States588 Posts

April 18 2013 08:44 GMT

#51

Lakers could potentially make it into the WCF in tight series along the way. Me being biased..
I give them 4-3 over the spurs, and then another 4-3 against Denver(Who I think will win decisively over GSW 4-1, sorry Steph Curry, you can only do so much for your team) and then the Lakers will lose 1-4 to OKC in the WCF. OKC will be too much for the lakers. That's how i see things going down for the West. I'm not going to talk about the East, obviously the Heat are going to the finals, so I predict a rematch of OKC vs. Heat finals.
I could see the Spurs going through if they beat the lakers though.

DystopiaX

United States16236 Posts

April 18 2013 08:46 GMT

#52

Yeah. It's less the 3pt shooting, although that was big, but that other than Lawson, who might not be 100%, Gallo was their next best ballhandler. And that's hella important, especially on a team with a struggling halfcourt offense. Not to mention how good Gallo was on defense. Don't know how much they'll play in the playoffs but Corey Brewer and Anthony Randolph's defense is terrible. If Javale keeps getting his 20mpg they can't afford to have another player who doesn't understand defensive schemes.

One thing I've learned is to never count out the Spurs, no matter how bad they look on paper. They always find some way to succeed and although their circumstances look particularly dire this year I'm sure they'll surprise me.

I don't see the Lakers making it that far. Assuming they make it past the Spurs (big if) I think that defensively they can't deal with the Nuggets, especially since they're kinda old and the Nuggets like to run. Keep in mind if both make it the Nuggs have homecourt advantage too and they've only lost like 3 times at home this season. The Lakers needed Steve Blake to score 20+ points and 2 consecutive triple doubles from Pau just to make it to the playoffs, and I don't see either of those things happening in the playoffs. Pau might be good but not triple double good, and there's no way Blake can keep up his level of output. There are just too many defensive liabilities on the Lakers for them to succeed any, even if Dwight keeps stepping it up on that side of the floor. Their wing defenders are all shit and that's a huge liability against a Denver team with Iggy/Wilson Chandler/Lawson . The Lakers have 2 D-League level guards playing heavy minutes and I don't think anyone can expect them to match up to 2 borderline all-star guards in Lawson/Iggy. The bigs match up well but I don't know if that's going to hold up if the Nuggs go small with Chandler at the 4 and have Pau running around everywhere on D.

XaI)CyRiC

United States4471 Posts

April 18 2013 09:08 GMT

#53

I think the Lakers are significant underdogs vs the Spurs because the Spurs are so good at punishing teams that aren't disciplined on defense. With a team like the Lakers who rely so much on only a few players to anchor their whole defense, a team like the Spurs who have so many different guys who can capitalize on mistakes is especially dangerous. I don't think Dwight will be able to consistently score against Duncan, despite his success against him in their most recent game. The Spurs will also help intelligently, which is very viable because of how many weak links the Lakers have on their roster.

However, the Lakers do have a dominant frontcourt, which is one of the Spurs' weaknesses. Also, Parker doesn't appear to have returned to form yet, and they're still without Manu. Those things leave the door open a bit to an upset, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers make it difficult for the Spurs or even get past them.

As for the next round matchup, they would struggle against the Nuggets because of how they run and the Lakers' inability to defend in transition or avoid giving up transition opportunities. The Nuggets have their own injury concerns, but their style of play is really a terrible one for the Lakers to handle. Also, they have a capable frontline who can at least make things hard for Dwight and Pau, or at least run enough to tire both guys out. If it ends up being the Warriors, then I would give the Lakers a pretty even shot at making it past them.

In the end, all I'm hoping for in the postseason from the Lakers is a good showing and something to build on for next year. It'd be great if we could see Dwight continue to get closer to his peak form, and hopefully see Nash on the floor and showing what he can do with this roster. Getting past any rounds is just gravy.

DystopiaX

United States16236 Posts

April 18 2013 09:14 GMT

#54

I do wonder if Dwight really will stay, when so many other teams can offer him a better roster to accompany him. The Rockets, for example. The Harden-Howard or Lin-Howard PnR game would be amazing. Don't quite know how Asik fits in there, although Morey has shown that he's willing to trade any and all pieces if need be...the only thing that the Lakers can offer him is more money but at this point I wonder if he thinks it's worth it if he has a better chance elsewhere, and doesn't have to deal with the media pressure and an (alleged) bad relationship with Kobe.

Kazeyonoma

United States2912 Posts

April 18 2013 12:26 GMT

#55

watching the lakers pull out these big wins without kobe and securing avoiding OKC in the playoffs until the WCF has been amazing as a laker fan. I"m happy, and i'm hoping this motivates dwight to re-sign with LAL. lets go Lakeshow, time for the gound and pound game to make a comeback to this guard oriented league. i see 4-3 over SAS, 4-3 over Den, and then 1-4 or 2-4 to OKC, but that'll be an amazingly salvaged season riddled with injury, losing kobe, and undering going a coaching change, and turmoil. I'd be happy with that.

Devil Trigger

United States107 Posts

April 18 2013 12:29 GMT

#56

The Spurs' weakness isn't their frontcourt. Leonard, Splitter, and Duncan can easily hold their own against Metta, Gasol, and Howard. Lakers may have a slight edge here, but that slight edge could be a non-factor if Howard can't hit his free throws.

The problem I see coming into the playoffs is backcourt and defensive rebounding. During this stretch of horrible play, the guards been getting beat(badly) constantly on the dribble, and not securing defensive rebounds which led to a lot of second and third chances for the other team. You can say the Spurs would've won few of those loss games if they defensive rebounded the ball better because they've played solid defense, but couldn't cap it off by securing the rebound.

icystorage

Jollibee19343 Posts

April 18 2013 12:31 GMT

#57

Spur's bench will burn the lakers.

also Pop > D'Antoni.

CTStalker

Canada9720 Posts

April 18 2013 14:27 GMT

#58

denver plays at around the highest pace in the league, and they have the best home record in the league. IF the lakers made it by SA -- which would only happen to due to SA being injured imo -- they will get demolished by denver. 4-1 at best.

Really excited for the WC though.

N1k0

Uruguay1075 Posts

April 18 2013 15:35 GMT

#59

On April 18 2013 21:31 icystorage wrote:
Spur's bench will burn the lakers.

also Pop > D'Antoni.

To be honest, every coach on the nba is playing checkers and pop is playing 3 dimensional chess, oh and D'Antoni is the retarded fat kid in the background wearing a helmet and eating sand.

Kazeyonoma

United States2912 Posts

April 18 2013 17:08 GMT

#60

i agree with the Pop > D'Antoni

I'm picturing it's the SAS vs PHX playoffs all over again, dantoni gonna get smoked. sigh