That Just Happened! : Weekend Wrap-Up

Eastern Conference

Florida was hit by Hurricane Legitimate East Teams this weekend, with the Pistons and Bulls finishing off sweeps of the Magic and Heat. The Cavs put the Wizards on the ropes, beating them despite 38 points from Antawn Jamison. Sorry Wizards fans, that's about as good as it's going to get. If you've been watching the Playoffs at all, none of this should be too surprising. From the gate it looked as if all these teams were going to walk away with these series, and getting them done with quickly bodes well for some good match-ups next round.

Meanwhile, I haven't seen momentum swings like the Nets-Raptors series since I dated a schizophrenic in college (attn Psych majors: a clinic for college cheerleaders is a million dollar idea). On Sunday, the Nets gave the Raptors the business, 102-81. Now are they going to stick with the Nets we saw on Sunday and wrap this one up, or are they going to go flat again when they get back to Toronto. If my experience in college holds true they'll probably ignore me until I start talking to another girl, then try to stick their hand down my pants in the middle of a party.

Western Conference

The Nuggets' defense continues to fall apart after a promising start to the series and now that San Antonio seems to have woken up on the defensive end, the Nuggets' look completely out of sync. Things look to be heading in the same direction with the Houston Rockets. In this match-up of big time defenses who guessed that Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams were going to be out pacing McGrady and Yao. If Houston's defense can regain composure they can pull this series together. On the other hand, if the Nuggets don't get a monster game out of Iverson and Anthony in game 4, the Spurs will close them out quick.

With the Suns getting right back on track and out-pacing the Lakers, the only big story out of the West came late on Sunday night.

Being from the New York area, I can only dream (and I mean that literally, there's no chance) of what it would be like to be in the shoes of a Golden State Warriors fan. Just in case you've been watching with the volume down, go over to 100% Injury Rate or Golden State of Mind to understand the absolute insanity going on in the Bay Area right now. It's completely contagious too; I was yelling on the couch, the announcers were screaming to be heard, and everyone on the Warriors was screaming because... well, because a lot of those guys are pretty crazy. With Golden State looking like the only basketball Cinderella story this year (college or pros), I'm just going to put on some quiet shoes and see if I can tiptoe my way onto the bandwagon without anyone noticing I'm late. I mean there's gotta be some way for me to get on, what with the blog name and all.

Eastern Conference First Round Preview

#4 Miami Heat vs. #5 Chicago Bulls

In far and away the best Eastern Conference first round match-up, the Baby Bulls take on the broken down defending champion Heat.

The Heat are broken down. There is no getting around this. Shaq is Shaq, except hes a year older. Pat Riley had a hip replaced in the middle of the season. Dwayne Wayne has a stronger move to his left than Dwayne Wade right now. The rest of the team is compilation of spare parts. Do the Heat have all the experience in this series? Of course. Is experience another way for saying old age? Of course.

The Bulls however, have none of the experience, and all the athleticism. The Bulls have no superstars, save Ben Wallace, who is only a superstar because he was underrated for so long somehow that turned into him being overrated and getting 60 million to do the same thing as Tyson Chandler did last season. And while the Bulls don't have any superstars, here's what the do have; Kirk Hinrich (good), Ben Gordon(good), Luol Deng (good), Andre Nocioni (good), Chris Duhon (good), and Malik Allen (well not good but he went to Villanova, so he should get written about by someone). Plus 12 fouls to throw at Shaq in Ben Wallace and PJ Brown. The play of Luol Deng (18, 7.2, 2) will probably be the key to the series, as Miami has no one to match up with him. In fact '07 Playoffs may be the coming out party for Deng and will justify why the Bulls were unwilling to package him in any deal at the trade deadline.

The other key to the series, and maybe the Eastern Conference playoffs, will be the shoulder of Dwayne Wade. This series, however, is a bad match-up for that shoulder. The Bulls run more pick and rolls than any other team in the East. With Hinrich running the point and the bodies the Bulls have to throw at Wade, the Bulls have the ability to make Wade's shoulder a consistent aggravation at both ends of the floor.

Pick: If you have read this far and dont know the pick, well just keep reading, its the Bulls in 6. (One caveat with this pick, everyone is picking the Bulls, and usually when everyone is picking against the defending champions in the first round of the playoffs, everyone looks stupid a week later).

Eastern Conference First Round Preview

#3 Toronto Raptors vs. #6 New Jersey Nets

As you can see in the attached picture, way back a prophetic Vince Carter told a ten year-old Lebron James that he would see him in the second round of the 2007 playoffs. But even Vince
couldn't have foreseen the grudge match he'd get in the first round. At the end of the Net's final regular season game when this match-up was solidified, Vince was asked about any bad blood
between him and the Toronto Raptors and categorically denied any on his part. However, it looks like Dave D'Alessandro of the Newark Star-Ledger blew up his spot (with some help from Nets 16th man Antoine Wright):

A bunch of guys said yesterday that(the match-up with the Raptors) is precisely what he wants (Antoine: "He's up for it. I don't think there's any doubt about it. He wants it")

Given Vince's supposed knack for turning it on/off, is it any surprise he's registered three triple-doubles since Gilbert Arenas went down and the likelihood of catching the Wizards increased? It would seem that if anyone is going to show up (paging Richard Jefferson), it's going to be Vince.

But even with Jefferson shooting a combined 24 for 69 (.348 !!!!!) over the last five games, the offense won't be the big issue. The loss of Nenad Kristic, their only real interior defensive presence, hit this team HARD on the defensive end. For the 2005-6 regular season they allowed a fairly stingy 92.4ppg . This year, the average is up to 98.3. This could pose a significant problem against a Toronto team that ranked 5th in the East in ppg.



The other problem the Nets face on defense is CB4, or as I refer to him, Chris FUCKING Bosh. This guy is an animal(no Imus) and gets traditional big-man numbers (22.6, 10.7, 1.3 blocks). But he is an athletic, lengthy guy who plays away from the basket as well. Just like the guy who would be guarding him, Kristic. Instead, the Nets with be forced to go with the Twenty-Four Foul Special of Jason Collins, Josh Boone, Mikki Moore, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. And even then, they're looking at a 78% free-throw shooter in Bosh. Ouch.

Pick: Cb4 gives the Nets the sweat from his balls in 7.

Eastern Conference First Round Preview

#2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #7 Washington Wizards

One of a few rematchs of great series from the 2006 playoffs. Who can forget Gilbert Arenas banging home tape measure threes to keep the Wizards alive? Who doesn't remember Lebron James' taunts before Gilbert's crucial free throws in the waning moments of the series? Well hold on tight to those memories, because this series is gonna stink.

Everyone's read about Caron Butler's hope to be ready to go for the second round. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there isn't going to be a second round for the Wizards. Like they say, "don't hit the messenger in the jaw with your heavily tattooed, but brittle, hand." Caron shouldn't feel responsible though, because even if he had been ready for the first round it would have most likely been a long shot that they advanced without Arenas anyway. He's far too integral a piece on this team, averaging 28.4ppg, for them to realistically hope to advance against the Cavs. They're just lucky he hurt himself on Wednesday April 4 rather than Sunday Feb 18th, which will forever be remember as the day Gilbert went between his legs off a trampoline (as well as the day I didn't get out of bed in my Las Vegas hotel room). Otherwise, the Wizards probably wouldn't be here at all.

That said, even with Antawn Jamison at the helm, I think the Wizards could take a game or two from the Cavs. They've got a great home record (mostly due to the fact that Arenas tends to go off at home, but I'm throwing bones here) and the Cavs come in with with 21 of their 32 losses coming on the road. The Verizon Center will definitely be rocking with the Wizards as huge underdogs, and King James seems pretty content this year to let a couple games get away here and there.

Pick: With the Wizards as plucky underdogs and Lebron(and those other clowns) planning to waltz their way to the Conference Finals, the Wizards take two: Cavs in 6.

Eastern Conference First Round Preview

#1 Detroit Pistons vs. #8 Orlando Magic

This one could be ugly. Even putting aside the obvious differences in talent, experience, and coaching; these are two teams headed in opposite directions. Orlando jumped out to a 12-4 start in November on the back of the first of Dwight Howard's 60 double-double's for the season (23 and 24 ?!?!?). But, much like the Kansas City Royals or Milwaukee Brewers or whatever shitty baseball team jumped out to a 6-3 start this season, this magical (hilarious) season couldn't last. Howard's a beast, but without any legitimate shooting guards on the team (Jameer Nelson led all Magic guards with 13.0ppg) he was fighting off double and triple teams all season. This led to an awful 18-23 record in the second half. While they've won six of their last seven, five of these wins came against teams either actively trying to lose or not trying to win. In fact, their only loss during this stretch came at the hands of, you guessed it, the Detroit Pistons.

On the other hand, the Pistons went 29-12 in the second half and made arguably the best pick-up of the season in Chris Webber. Now if I had millions of dollars and Webber's weed habits (I guess I have at least one of these), I would have spent the rest of the season on the couch with a PS3 and a 25 pound bag of gummy bears. But Webber saw this as inspiration to revitalize his game. I would argue it had as much to do with the Piston's system as it did with any sort of revelation on Webber's part. Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince in particular are adept at cutting to the basket and making the most of Webber's passing out of the post, and Billups is always there to provide an option off the dribble to mix things up. Plus, worst-case scenario, if the Pistons are down three with a second to go, Sheed could always do this:


Pick: Unless I missed the news and they moved the Cannabis Cup to Detroit this weekend, Pistons in 4