Sorry for the lack of posts this week. My real job has been a bit crazy this week and since I am not yet getting paid for my brilliant sports commentary, the blog must take a backseat to the Man at times… Let’s make it up with a Special Saturday smorgasbord on the NBA and NHL playoffs:
· When the NHL had a lockout a few years back and instituted a league-wide revenue sharing system and a salary cap, the powers that be cited the parity the new system would produce. If the first few days of the NHL playoffs is any indication, parity has definitely become the result. Each of the top two seeds in both the Eastern and Western conferences lost their opening round playoff game at home. The Penguins, the defending Stanley Cup champ, likewise lost their opening round game at home. This on the heels of the San Jose Sharks being upset in the first round last year after finishing the regular season with the most points in the NHL.
· The Penguins rebounded nicely to capture game two last night with another world-class effort from their captain, Sidney Crosby. It is sometimes easy for a team and/or a team’s fanbase to panic after one loss, but the Penguins and their fans remembered that they had lost their first two games in both the Washington and Detroit series a year ago only to rebound and win each series. The Pens came through and took care of business in game two. They will now look to carry over this momentum on the road in Ottawa on Sunday.
· The one thing that did worry me from the opening loss was the Pens’ lack of defensive presence. Yes, Marc-Andre Fleury had a bad night, but the relative ease that the Senators were getting to the net with is what worried me most. This playoff edition of the Penguins’ roster does not feature the same lockdown defensemen they had in the playoffs last year. It is important that the puck-moving defensemen the Penguins now feature on their blue line are also responsible in the defensive end. They did a much better job in game two, now the Pens must hope it continues through the rest of the series and playoffs.
· Philadelphia split with the Devils in New Jersey and gave Martin Brodeur and company all they could handle. I still like the Flyers chances at pulling the upset and allowing the inevitable Penguins-Capitals showdown to be delayed until the Eastern Conference Finals. I had to italicize “inevitable” since both the Pens and Caps will need to raise their own level of play immediately or risk falling victim to a first round upset of their own.
· LeBron James is going to win the NBA MVP, and it should be unanimous, but blog favorite Kevin Durant ended up leading the NBA in scoring this year with a 30.1 point per game average, slightly edging out James and his 29.7ppg while he rested for the final few games of the regular season. Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in scoring at just 21 years and 197 days old.
· Cleveland is going to win the NBA title this year, you can write it down now. This will be the first of many championships for James, who is slowly but surely developing that killer instinct that even the greatest players need to get over the championship threshold.
· NBA Eastern Conference Picks: Quarterfinals: Cavs over Bulls in 4, Magic over Bobcats in 5, Hawks over Bucks in 5, Celtics over Heat in 7. Semifinals: Cavs over Celtics in 5, Magic over Hawks in 6. Eastern Finals: Cavs over Magic in 7.
· NBA Western Conference Picks: Quarterfinals: Lakers over Thunder in 7, Spurs over Mavericks in 6, Suns over Blazers in 6, Jazz over Nuggets in 6. Semifinals: Jazz over Lakers in 6, Spurs over Suns in 6. Western Finals: Jazz over Spurs in 7.
· Many of you are probably wondering how I can go against the Lakers in the West. The simple reason is health…Kobe hasn’t looked like himself. Andrew Bynum is banged up, and the Lakers point guards have been terrible. The entire West, actually, is battling the injury bug with every contender having at least one significant injury. The team that wins the chance to get beat by Cleveland in the Finals will probably be the team that can remain the healthiest.
· NBA Finals: Cavaliers over Jazz in six games, LeBron takes home his first NBA Finals MVP.
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I think the Jazz will have a tough time getting past Denver. The Jazz are very banged up with a day to day carlos boozer and they do not have kirlinko in the series. Lakers will struggle on the road all playoffs and teams will take them deep in the series, but like you mentioned everyone is banged up in the west except dallas. - Casey
ReplyDeleteKirilenko was probable to play game one when I wrote my predictions. If he doesn't play in this series or is ineffective if he does, I agree the Jazz are going to have a hard time with the Nuggets since they have noone else who can even attempt to guard Carmelo, as evidenced by his 42 points last night. Injuries are going to be the most important aspect of the Western Conference playoffs, and that's a shame...
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