Spurs in six Lakers in four Blazers in seven Nuggets in seven
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
Unlike the Eastern playoffs 1st round match-ups, almost every series is worth a look in the West. The more anticipated 1st round match-up would probably be Denver v. OKC and maybe Dallas and Portland to see if there is another Dallas playoff disappointment but I still see Dallas getting in the 2nd round.
-Grizzles in 7. I love San Antonio, but they look really tired and injured down the stretch. It's as though they peaked way too soon in the regular season and Memphis is a better team than most may realize. And so we'll have one of the biggest upsets since the Nuggets took out the Supersonics back some 15 years ago. -Lakers in 5. Without Paul, NO is nothing. Meanwhile, LA will get its groove back after this little rest period to where they were right after the All-Star break, IMO. -Blazers in 6. Like It's False said, you can always count on Dallas falling apart in the playoffs. -Thunder in 7. I keep hearing how dangerous OKC is to deal with and I believe it. It's just that with their minimal playoff experience and with how good Denver has played since they moved from New York in the Carmelo trade, I can see this being the most even-sided and entertaining series played.
1 Spurs over Grizzlies - 5 games 2 Lakers over Hornets - 4 - Lakers want a quick series so they can rest up for the next one... 3 Mavericks over Blazers - 6 - Blazers are everyone's darling pick, but I think the Mavs pull this one out this year. 4 Thunder over Nuggets - 7 - This should be a really fun one. Would love to see the Nuggets go further than the Knicks, but OKC is too strong.
Interesting fact brought to my attention from Bill Simmons' latest podcast....the Lakers and Mavericks have NEVER faced each other in the playoffs during the entire Kobe/Phil/Cuban/Dirk era. Dallas and L.A. last had a playoff series in 1988.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
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See, when I first read that, I didn't realize that he was talking about her EMOTIONAL injuries ... For some reason, I thought Kobe was going to somehow blame the media for the bruises she suffered when he stuck his hey-hey in her hoo-hoo.