Eastern Conference NBA Playoff Preview

Okay, much like yesterday, I will give predictions on the Eastern Conference.  So here it goes:

Chicago Bulls (62-20) vs. Indiana Pacers (37-45) - This one might be a sweep.  Indiana may get one game, but this one is a no brainer.  The Bulls are hot right now and have the potential league MVP on the team.  Their frontcourt is second to none with Boozer and Noah (and Gibson coming off the bench).  Their run will depend on Luol Deng who has played well this season.  I'll say Bulls in a sweep.

Orlando Magic (52-30) vs. Atlanta Hawks (44-38) - I'm torn on this one being a Hawks fan.  There is not a  more frustrated fan base right now than Hawks nation due to the inconsistent play.  They did take the season series 3-1 from Orlando.  I am not sure which Hawks team will show up.  Let's see how Game 1 turns out.  The Hawks problems are more mental than anything else.  If they lose game one, it may determine the series.  Since Game 1 is in Orlando, I am going with Orlando in 6.  I hate to say it, but that's my gut.  I hope I'm wrong.

more after the jump

NBA Western Conference Playoff Matchups and Predictions

The playoffs start this Saturday, this is one of my favorite times of the year.  Every now and then you get some excellent matchups in the playoffs (like the Bulls and Celtics a few year's back).  This year there is one first round matchup I am looking forward to and it happens to be in the Western Conference:

San Antonio Spurs (61-21) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (46-36) - One versus eight matchups should be a slam dunk.  This one won't be any different.  The Grizz will give the Spurs fits (especially down low with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph), other than that though it should be a five game series.  It may get interesting if Manu is out for any length of time.  I say Spurs in 5 all the way.

 

Los Angeles Lakers (57-25) vs. New Orleans Hornets (46-36) - Not much to write about here.  Bynum will play, so this should be a sweep.  The Hornets minus David West and with Chris Paul not playing his best ball lately don't really have a shot.  The Hornets will give effort, but I think the Lakers will be too much here.

 

Dallas Mavericks (57-25) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (48-34) - This is my upset pick.  I have lost faith in Dallas in the playoffs.  As far as the Blazers go, have you seen LaMarcus Aldridge lately.  They appear to be healthy now (minus Greg Oden) and they now have Gerald Wallace.  I see Portland winning in 6 games and will go on to face the Lakers in the second round.

 

Oklahoma City Thunder (55-27) vs. Denver Nuggets (50-32) - This is the first round matchup I am most looking forward to.  The Nuggets have been a much improved ball club since trading Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups (who would of thought that).  The Nuggets GM should get GM of the Year for how he has constructed this team.  With that being said the OK City Thunder have a lot of talent (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, James Harden) and they are big time players in the West.  I think this will be a seven game series with OK City winning due to homecourt advantage.  They will go on to face the Spurs.

 

I will do a break down of the second round once we get there.  However, as of now I believe the West will come down to OKC vs. the Lakers.  I will go out on a limb and say OKC to the finals in an upset of the Lakers.  This of course will depend on Andrew Bynum.  Tomorrow, I will break down the Eastern conference first round tomorrow.

I'm Back and Sad News

Well I am back now and I apologize for not leaving a post.  I was still in the stage of figuring out what type of blog I wanted to do.  I think now that I can settle on this one and just write what's on my mind.  Hopefully you can enjoy the reading.

Now that that is out of the way, I wanted to express my sadness at what happened last night.  I was watching Monday Night Raw when I heard Edge had a major announcement, he was retiring due to issues from a broken neck sustained eight years ago.  I immediately got online to see if it was real or a work.  It turned out to be very real.

I am not going to sit here and act like I was a big Edgehead.  I did, however, enjoy the guys work, especially as a heel because you wanted him to get what was coming to him.  As he stated in his retirement speech, he was first a loner wearing sunglasses, then a sudo Vampire in the Brood Stable, then a comedic heel with Christian in their classic tag team pairing which saw them win seven World Tag Team Titles.  They were instrumental in the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs classics that revolutionized the business and made them famous along with team 3D and the Hardy Boyz.

more after the jump

Top 5 Tuesday

I am going to try to do this every week.  My top 5 this week is in honor of D'Angelo Hall winning ProBowl MVP.  Give me your top 5 DB's of all time (corners and safeties).  Here is my top 5:

1)  Deion Sanders - He invented the term shut down corner, 'nuff said.
2)  Ronnie Lott - One of the toughest guys to ever play the game and a staple of that 49er's D that won all those championships.
3)  Troy Polamalu - I think this guy means more to the Steelers than Big Ben, seriously.
4)  Rod Woodson - This guy has the stats to back up his ranking on my list (NFL record for int return yards and int returned for TD) and has a ring.
5)  Ed Reed - This guy is a ball hawk.  This past year he missed the first 6 games and still led the league in INT's by the end of the year.  The lack of a ring kept him from being hire.

As a Redskin fan, an honorable mention is Darrell Green who was Mr. Consistency for 20 years and has 3 rings.

Pro Bowl

First off as a Redskins fan I was happy with the NFC's defense being led by three Redskins players in total tackles, D'Angelo Hall, Brian Orakpo, London Fletcher.  That then makes me wonder how in the world were we 31st in defense.  Maybe they were the only good players we had (well Laron Landry was hurt too).

Anyway, seriously though, the Pro Bowl is hard to watch.  I haven't watched it in a long time.  Just seems boring to me.  Usually football games are exciting when it is two good teams (like the SuperBowl coming up) or my favorite team playing.  So where does the ProBowl fit?  Maybe that's why I don't watch.  Sound off, let me know what you think about the ProBowl yesterday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap;_ylt=AgxLuAv0swNrX7KHpDL3vVs5nYcB?gid=20110130032

Jay Cutler

I know we are a week removed from this incident and it has been beat up to death to this point, but my and my e-mail buddies have yet to sound off on Jay Cutler.  Here is an article written last week on it.

http://www.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/01/jay-cutler-under-attack-for-leaving-bears-loss-with-knee-injury/1

My thoughts on this is the only reason this is an issue is b/c it is Jay Cutler.  The same thing happened to Donovan McNabb against the Panthers in the NFC title game.  If I remember correctly Tom Brady was hurt in the 2001 AFC Title Game and Drew Bledsoe had to come in.  Neither guy met this kind of criticism.  LaDanian Tomlinson was out in the AFC Title game a few years ago as well with a knee injury.

Did Cutler look disengaged?  Maybe he was disappointed.  Did he try to help his teammates?  I saw him talking to Caleb Hanie on the sidelines.  I think it's sad how he is being attacked like this.  I am not a Bears or a Jay Cutler fan.  Just my thoughts thought.  Sound off people.