NBA Playoff Wishes and Predictions

The NBA Playoffs tip-off today and we are potentially setting up for the best two months of playoff basketball in my lifetime. Eight different teams, in my opinion anyway, have a chance to win the whole thing if they get the right match-ups and get hot at the right time. Realistically, however, there are five teams with “anything less than the title would be a disappointment” aspirations. Those five are the Lakers and Spurs out West and the Bulls, Heat and Celtics in the East. The three darkhorses are the Mavericks, Magic and Thunder…although the Mavericks have really limped to the finish line. I have three wishes for these playoffs:

1. The top four seeds in each conference win their opening round series setting up the best conference semifinals of all-time.

2. We get to see a Chicago-Miami Eastern Conference Final. This series could have the potential to be an instant classic with the defensive-minded, crazily intense Bulls going head to head with LeBron and D-Wade. Not to mention a Boston-Chicago series could take basketball back to the early 90s slugfests that turned so many off from professional basketball.

3. The Lakers make it to the Finals from the West. It really doesn’t matter who comes out of the East as Boston, Chicago or Miami would make for an unbelievable Finals as long as Kobe, Pau, Phil and Company are there trying for a 3-peat. Of course a LeBron versus Kobe Finals is what we have all been begging to happen for a few years now but Lakers-Bulls or Lakers-Celtics wouldn’t be bad consolation prizes.

If those three wishes come true, even if you are not a NBA fan, believe me when I tell you that you’ll want to be watching. The league has never been so full of stars and when you start talking about a second round featuring at least 18 future or potential Hall of Famers spread across the eight teams we are in for a real treat. (Kobe, Gasol, Duncan, Ginobli, Dirk, Kidd, LeBron, Wade, Howard, Garnett, Allen and Pierce are locks for the HOF and Durant, Westbrook, Rose, Bosh, Parker and Rondo are all well on their way.)

As for my Finals predictions, I’m taking Miami to outlast Chicago in the Eastern Conference Finals proving why LeBron, and not Derrick Rose, is the best player in the NBA and should have won this year’s NBA MVP. I know it’s a foregone conclusion that Rose is going to win it this year, he’s the best story and was the best offensive player on the league’s best team, but that’s only because most people (in this case the media members with award votes) only understand what they can see. They don’t understand that the Bulls were far and away the best defensive team in basketball and that is the biggest reason why their wins took a dramatic uptick. It is true that LeBron had Wade there to help him and the Bulls have nobody else on his level, but the Bulls prominently feature Noah, Boozer, Deng and the best frontcourt defensive tandem in basketball coming off the bench. The Heat would die for any of these players, spent the year trying to figure out their identity, Bosh underachieving, and quite possibly the worst point guard and center play in the league yet still won 58 games, the third most in the NBA mostly because LeBron is the league's best player.

I hated what LeBron did this summer. I wanted to stop liking him as a player, which I couldn’t. I agree that Derrick Rose is a great story and has taken his game to a whole new level. He is right there now with Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the league’s best point guard debate. None of that, however, changes the fact that James is far and away the NBA’s best and Most Valuable Player this year, and for the foreseeable future.

On to the predictions:

Eastern Conference

Bulls over Pacers in four.
Heat over 76ers in five.
Celtics over Knicks in five.
Magic over Hawks in five.

Bulls over Magic in seven.
Heat over Celtics in six.

Heat over Bulls in six.

Western Conference

Spurs over Grizzlies in six.
Lakers over Hornets in four.
Mavericks over Trailblazers in seven.
Thunder over Nuggets in six.

Thunder over Spurs in six.
Lakers over Mavericks in five.

Lakers over Thunder in seven.

NBA Finals

Yes, I am going with our dream match-up to come true. Could you imagine the hype around this series? Kobe going for his sixth ring to tie Jordan. Phil Jackson going for his fourth 3-peat as coach. LeBron going for his first title, Wade going for his second and Chris Bosh tagging along. Ratings would be through the roof, the Heat Index might explode on ESPN and we would all be sick of Sportscenter previews before the Series even began. So…who will win? I honestly can’t give a prediction without second guessing myself. I don’t know how the Heat could handle Gasol, Bynum and Odom inside. I don’t know how the Lakers could handle Wade and LeBron in transition. All I do know is that I hope this series happens. I am taking the easy way out and predicting the Heat in seven since they have home court but the real winners would be us, the fans.