NBA Playoff 04 Predictions

Well the regular season is over and done with now. That means it's playoffs! Yay!

Here's my prediction. San Antonio wins the championship in 5 games to repeat.

(1)Minnesota 									(1)Indiana 
	(1)Minnesota 							(1)Indiana 	
(8)Denver									(8)Boston
		(4)Sacramento 					(1)Indiana 		
(4)Sacramento 									(4)Miami 
	(4)Sacramento 							(5)New Orleans 	
(5)Dallas 									(5)New Orleans 
			(3)San Antonio 			(3)Detroit 			
(3)San Antonio 									(3)Detroit 
	(3)San Antonio 							(3)Detroit 	
(6)Memphis 									(6)Milwaukee 
		(3)San Antonio 					(3)Detroit 		
(2)LA Lakers 									(2)New Jersey 
	(2)LA Lakers 							(2)New Jersey 	
(7)Houston 									(7)New York 

I predict that the SIxers will be in the lottery, and that Iverson will choke his new coach before the All-Star break next year

sheesh IC...you can't even let Denver out of the first round? It has been so long since we even made it in, that we were hoping to atleast stay into the second round.

I'd give them a chance if they were in a higher seed and maybe playing Dallas or Memphis. The rest of the West is just too strong for them.

I'm actually hoping Minnesota goes all the way. Garnett & Spree helped my fantasy team win the title this year! Haven't won one with my buddies in 8 years!

Anyway, here's some more predictions or hopes.

MVP - Kevin Garnett
Coach of the Year - Jerry Sloan
Defensive Player of the Year - Andre Kirelenko
6th Man - Antawn Jamison
Most Improved - Zach Randolph
Rookie of the Year - Lebron James

NUGGETS!!!!!!

go LAKERS!!!!

I can agree with your prediction. Wolves look pretty good, Spurs have been quietly winning and the only team that can beat the Lakers is the Lakers themselves. ( Which may happen )

Carmelo and James should share the ROTY though. Anything less would be a joke.

I've thought a lot about the ROTY and I still go with Lebron. There is no other rookie who has received as much hype as Lebron James. 18 years old or not. Even Jordan, Magic/Bird didn't even come close to the amount of hype Lebron received. He delivered too.. and on a crap team. Denver is stacked with good players and Carmelo was a great fit. But if Carmelo were on the Cavs and Lebron was on the Nuggets, would Carmelo have the same impact as Lebron? I doubt it. I do give Carmelo mad props. He is already a star and we all will see that in the upcoming playoff games with Minnesota.

As for my original prediction, I'm leaning more Minnesota going to the conference finals rather than the Kings. The Kings had a horrible stretch at the end of the season and now that Bobby Jackson won't be seen in the playoffs, their chances aren't looking as great.
Also Miami may beat out New Orleans in the first round since Mashburn is out. But who cares about the East anyway

" I've thought a lot about the ROTY and I still go with Lebron. There is no other rookie who has received as much hype as Lebron James. 18 years old or not. Even Jordan, Magic/Bird didn't even come close to the amount of hype Lebron received. He delivered too.. and on a crap team. Denver is stacked with good players and Carmelo was a great fit. But if Carmelo were on the Cavs and Lebron was on the Nuggets, would Carmelo have the same impact as Lebron? I doubt it. I do give Carmelo mad props. He is already a star and we all will see that in the upcoming playoff games with Minnesota.

As for my original prediction, I'm leaning more Minnesota going to the conference finals rather than the Kings. The Kings had a horrible stretch at the end of the season and now that Bobby Jackson won't be seen in the playoffs, their chances aren't looking as great.
Also Miami may beat out New Orleans in the first round since Mashburn is out. But who cares about the East anyway "


Now you know, I am unbiased and altruistic on this mattter, but with that said; I still stick with a split ROTY. As you say, LaBron was on a less talented team. As such, does that not equate to a more pronounce year, stat-wise, to Carmello, given that he was-not the only guy on the team that was a good player? I would find in favor of Carmello on that alone. The pressure you speak of was media-hype and as such, as we all know, paper-thin. The media could make Shanmo the Killer Whale the sexiest male alive if it so wished.
At the end of the day though, ROTY means about as much as were my cat pooped last, sans the money that Lebron will get from it.
The East this year is pretty good. With Rasheed on the Pistons, that changes things. I still think that the Lakers can only beat themselves.
And on a final note, Dwyane Wade is right up with the other two for ROTY. He doesn't deserve it but he is a guy getting it quietly done, and deserves a mention.

Good points. The thing that impressed me with Lebron was that he carried his team on his back. Coming straight out of high school and having the composure to lead his team was the selling point for me. In the beginning of the year, he was taking on the role of point guard and dishing out mad assists while scoring & rebounding. This is a lot for a 18 year old 6'8 240lb player to handle; who's natural position is shooting guard. Then when they moved some pieces around and finally got him playing shooting guard/small forward, he simply blew up going on 30+ point game runs. All in all though, yes it's all just props anyway. This season the league had an excellent draft. There are many other rookies who should be mentioned including Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh on Toronto, Josh Howard & Marquis Daniels on Dallas, and Kirt Heinrich on Chicago.

The votes on some categories are already in.

Lebron James has won the ROTY with 78 of a possible 118 votes. Carmelo was 2nd with 40 votes.

Ron Artest has won the Defensive Player of the Year.

Antawn Jamision has won the 6th Man Award.

Hubie Brown edges Jerry Sloan by 6 votes to take the Coach of the Year award.

The Lakers baby!!

Bye bye San Antonio. GO LAKERS!!!!

You've told me that you live in the immediate vicenty of where I live.

Now you know what this city does to people who hate the Lakers, And you know even more so how we hate LA based Laker haters!

YOU ARE RISKING YOUR LIFE MAN!!!

I mean, we riot when the Laker's WIN!!?!! What do you think they'll do if the Lakers lose?

Full support is needed if the city is still gonna be standing tomorrow.

Retract this thread, and admit the Laker's superiority, I'd hate to lose you, buddy.

=)
Crow

Haha well if it makes you feel better, I'm a Clipper fan, but there's no hope there. Anyway, my predictions are all objective. I'm happy the Lakers went on. I was screaming when Fisher made that shot in 0.4 seconds. It was awesome!

For the next series, I want to see KG go another round and face the Lakers.. but man, Sac vs Lakers is always a treat.

EDIT:
Oh BTW, I will never bet against the Lakers again. I lost 5K L$ on that series

Wow this is why Kevin Garnett is MVP. Game 7 against the Kings: 32 pts, 21 rbs, 5 blocks, 4 steals, and 1 huge 3 pointer.

Bye bye, Minnesota! GO LAKERS!!!

Oh man I was kicking and screaming from all those fouls in the first half. Boo refs!

Anyway, the finals were already over when the Laker's beat the Spurs. It's pretty much smooth sailing now. I am bummed that 'Sam I Am' Cassell was hurt during this series. Him on the court definitely would have made the series more interesting.

Now, I really hope Detroit makes it to the finals to face the Lakers. The Wallace boys, Rasheed and Ben, will be a sweet matchup against Shaq and Karl Malone. It will be physical and nasty down in the paint.

Lakers in 6.

Woot it's finally the finals.
Game 1 was harsh for Laker fans. Detroit's D was outstanding shutting down everyone except Shaq. The Laker's looked very stagnant and seemed like they were playing a scrimmage game. They did have a week off and lost some of the fire they had in the previous series. This is only game 1 so adjustments will be made for both teams.

Keys to Laker success in the future:
-Better D
-Let Shaq continue dominating the paint
-Devon George and Rick Fox not playing like total garbage.

Game 2 tonight at 5:30 PST

Luuuuuuuke..

That was probably one of the best games I've ever seen in my life. Kobe Bryant. Wow.

Luuuuuke!!!

That was a bumpy ride but a spectacular finish *whew*

I bet some money against the Lakers tonight (Game 2 of the finals) and that's the only reason I was cheering for the Pistons. Man I'm gonna have to pay up tomorrow all because of a lucky shot. . .

What can I say? Lakers suck. Detroit is awesome. Detroit will most likely finish off the finals Tuesday.

Keys to Laker's survival:
-Give the ball to Shaq
-Give the ball to Shaq
-Give the ball to Shaq

Yes, Lakers are on vacation. I mean, it's the Piston's after all. They are a good team but, if you watch sports at all, you see this from time to time. Great for the people of Detroit!
It was pretty funny, that's for-sure.
Give the ball to Shaq and drive to the basket and the series looks a lot different.
Finding comedy in sports is always refreshing. = )