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Chicago beats Philly in 4
Miami beats NY in 5
Indy beats Orlando in 5
Boston beats Atlanta in 6

Spurs beat Jazz in 5
OKC beats Dallas in 7
Nuggets beat Lakers in 6
Memphis beats Clippers in 6

Chicago beats Boston in 6
Miami beats Indy in 5

Spurs beat Memphis in 7
OKC beats Denver in 5

Miami beats Chicago in 6
OKC beats Spurs in 6

Miami beats OKC in 6



WHO YA GOT?

4/27/2012 9:52:58 AM

Oh...and Heat/Thunder. Heat in 6.

4/27/2012 10:10:12 AM

yeaaaaaaaaa buddy

will post picks later

4/27/2012 10:14:31 AM

this is all the nba basketball i care about!

4/27/2012 10:20:45 AM

Bulls over 76ers in 5
Heat over Knicks in 5
Pacers over Magic in 4
Celtics over Hawks in 7

Spurs over Jazz in 5
Thunder over Mavericks in 5
Lakers over Nuggets in 6
Grizzlies over Clippers in 6


Bulls over Celtics in 6
Heat over Pacers in 5

Grizzlies over Spurs in 6
Thunder over Lakers in 6



Heat over Bulls in 6

Thunder over Memphis in 7



Heat over Thunder in 6

[Edited on April 27, 2012 at 10:49 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on April 27, 2012 at 10:50 AM. Reason : ..]

4/27/2012 10:48:21 AM

Chicago beats Philly in 5
Miami beats NY in 7
Indy beats Orlando in 5
Atlanta beats Boston in 7

Spurs beat Jazz in 4
OKC beats Dallas in 5
Lakers beat Nuggets in 6
Memphis beats Clippers in 7

Chicago beats Atlanta in 5
Miami beats Indy in 5
Memphis beats Spurs in 7
Lakers beat OKC in 7

Chicago beats Miami in 7
Memphis beats Lakers in 7

Chicago beats Memphis in 7 (The two deepest, most balanced teams)

Most intriguing series: LA Clippers vs Memphis= so much fun
Not so fast: Knicks vs Heat

The knicks matchup great with Miami and have a ton of talent. Don't be mislead by the regular season series. Those were not the same Knick teams. The Knicks have a more talented roster, more depth and they have players who can limit the big 3 and shut down the others.

Its going to be interesting to see how this series develops. I expect both teams to go small and only play 1 big with lebron/melo at the 4 position. This makes Miami more deadly but leaves them with absolutely no depth.

Chandler- IMHO the mvp of last year's finals. He was the reason the heat lost. The heat lack scoring from this position and ifhe plays with a small lineup he will be able to shut down bosh. With a big lineup he will shutdown the entire paint. The rest of the team will be motivated on defense thanks to chandler. Same thing happened with Dallas. They were always known as the team that played no d but with chandler, came out of nowhere to win it all.

Melo/Lebron- Cancel each other's awesomeness out. Lebron will create more consistent offense throughout the game but Melo will dominate 4th quarter clutch scoring much more efficiently. If one can get the other in foul trouble, that will be the difference.

Wade- Will have to carry the load but the Knicks have several great defenders they can throw at him. I expect him to get completely worn down in a long series but he has the history of carrying teams for several games against great defenders so I'm not betting against him having another series for the ages. Shumpert, fields, smith will all take turns guarding him but scoring against great d is what makes him wade

JR Smith- Has the potential to outright explode. He's playing the best basketball of his career and if he continues where he's at right now with his all star caliber play, then the knicks will make noise in this series. He's home and I think that has a lot to do with his play. He has always had random games where he is Jordan but he has finally put it together consistently for a few weeks. He's the reason this will be a long series and not a short series.

Amare- He is the big x factor. He has been shit most of the year but if he can somehow gel with Melo and have a 20and 10type series, then the knicks will take this series. A Melo, Smith, Amare scoring trio at their best would be too much for lebron and wade to outdo. The only thing that could overrule that is if some random guy on Miami has a big series. Miller? Jones? chalmers? These scrubs are not talented and the same can be said about any team having scrubs go off in a series.
Smith and Amare however are not scrubs, they are proven to be elite talent.

Knicks bench will dominate by providing replaceable parts big time offense and big time defense. This is why they won't get blown out of any games.

4/27/2012 10:50:24 AM

Chicago def Philly in 7 in a really tight series (Philly is +900, you should be rushing to your computer to take this and hedge later)

Miami def nyk in 6. I wanted to say 5, but Miami has a penchant for taking off a game here and there.

Indy def Orlando in 5. Wanted to say 4, this series is as lopsided as it gets but maybe Orlando wins one on hot shooting.

Boston def Atlanta in 7. Tough series, could go either way Boston has a lot of injuries but Rondo is just so good.

Sas def Utah in 4. Sorry Utah, no effing way.

Okc def Dallas in 5. Reasonably Close series, could go 7 just as easily

Denver def la lakers in 6. George Karl will try his damndest to eff this up but I just think Denver is the superior team. (And they are +170 , quick find a computer!)

Clippers def grizz in 7. Prob the most evenly matched series but I'm not picking against CP3 and deandre Jordan .




Round 2 (subject to change)

Chi def Boston in 7. Very tough but Boston can't rebound and stiemsa and Allen injuries worry me. If they're okay ill prob take Boston instead.

Miami def indy in 5. Duh.

Clippers def Sas in 7. Tough one, but again I can't go against CP3 and deandre Jordan. They'll need help from griffin and one of their 10 Shitty SG needs to do something. But Sas is a much worse postseason roster than regular season one.

Okc def Denver in 5. Harden, durant, and ibaka oh my!


Round 3

Miami def chi in 6. Chi same old holes, Miami much improved.

Okc def Lac in 7. Just too good.


Finals. Okc def Miami 6. They're biggest concern is Westbrook, he could singlehandedly derail them again. Also concern with how bad Perkins is again this year and the injury to harden. But I can't pick against them as of now.

4/27/2012 9:01:08 PM

If any of you are in Vegas today, here are some great suggestions

Quote :

" 76ERS SERIES +900 (76ERS SERIES vrs BULLS SERIES) 100/900 NUGGETS SERIES +170 (NUGGETS SERIES vrs LAKERS SERIES) 100/170 CLIPPERS SERIES +175 (CLIPPERS SERIES vrs GRIZZLIES SERIES) 100/175 TOTAL o5½+105 (76ERS SERIES vrs BULLS SERIES) 50/52 76ERS SERIES +2½+140 (76ERS SERIES vrs BULLS SERIES) 50/70 TOTAL u5½-125 (KNICKS SERIES vrs HEAT SERIES) 32/25 TOTAL u5½-105 (MAGIC SERIES vrs PACERS SERIES) 53/50 NUGGETS SERIES +1½-150 (NUGGETS SERIES vrs LAKERS SERIES) 75/50 CLIPPERS SERIES +1½-145 (CLIPPERS SERIES vrs GRIZZLIES SERIES) 37/25 PHI 76ERS VS CHI BULLS - EXACT SERIES RESULT 76ERS WIN 4-1 +10000 5/500 PHI 76ERS VS CHI BULLS - EXACT SERIES RESULT 76ERS WIN 4-2 +3000 5/150 PHI 76ERS VS CHI BULLS - EXACT SERIES RESULT 76ERS WIN 4-3 +5000 5/250 ORL MAGIC VS IND PACERS - EXACT SERIES RESULT PACERS WIN 4-0 +500 5/25"

4/28/2012 8:21:39 AM

Face, I guess you haven't realized that Rip has come into form? Same ole holes? Rip is a legit scoring option now and Deng is much better than he was last year. They have an entire starting lineup of all stars or former all stars and one of the best defensive anchors in the league. Followed by a bench that can legitimately replace all five of those guys without missing a beat. They are the deepest team in nba history. Last year they didn't know what to do when rose was shut down. This year they were one of the best teams in the league with rose in a suit. Huge difference.

Miami has three players. Granted two of those three are the best of the best they will need to be the best of the best to win games against teams like new york and chicago.

Westbrook HAS to be the man because OKC is in the same situation as Miami against good teams. Westbrook will have toscore a lot and that is why he will lose them some games at some point. Memphis almost did it last year without their best player. This year, they are ready.

Denver aint shit. btw

4/28/2012 9:31:46 AM

face just hates the bulls. don't know what it is, specifically.

anyway my prediction is

bulls in 4
bulls in 4
bulls in 4
bulls in 4

bittersweet that they won't clinch anything at home

4/28/2012 9:40:38 AM

^^ Rip is a huge negative for the Bulls because he takes minutes away from significantly better players like Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver. I've definitely factored in Rip's "contribution". He makes them worse.

Deng is actually not as good this year as he was last year (though he's still good).

Their bench is terrific. The problem is that in the postseason your bench matters less than it does in the regular season. That's another reason to downgrade the Bulls in the postseason.

Quote :

"Last year they didn't know what to do when rose was shut down. This year they were one of the best teams in the league with rose in a suit. Huge difference. "

No it's not. Rose is just THAT overrated. Don't get me wrong he is a very good player, it's just that he's one of the worst MVP's in league history. The Bulls win a ton of games because they are loaded with talent, not because Rose carries them.

Quote :

"Miami has three players."

Bosh is not very good this year. Miami's supporting cast is much stronger this year with a healthy Haslem & Miller, Battier, an improved Chalmers, and hopefully they play Turiaf too.

Also Chandler may miss game 1 with the flu which is just terrible for them. The Knicks figure to be slightly worse now that Amare is back because they are better with Carmelo or Novak playing PF. Also, they may actually play baron davis which is just a huge disaster in a playoff series.

Quote :

"Westbrook HAS to be the man because OKC is in the same situation as Miami against good teams. Westbrook will have toscore a lot and that is why he will lose them some games at some point. Memphis almost did it last year without their best player."

If you honestly think Rudy Gay is their best player you are nuts. He is clearly not better than Gasol, Allen, Conley, or Randolph. Memphis lost nothing with Gay out last year. (eh, did check the numbers for the last 2 months and it seems Gasol is playing kinda eh like he did last year in the regular season. So we'll have to see if he turns it up for the playoffs again or if last year was just a fluke)

Westbrook needs to stop shooting and turning the ball over. James Harden is the best scorer in the league. Only two guys in the entire league had a 65% true shooting percentage (with a min # of attempts). Harden and Tyson Chandler. Let him takeover and let Westbrook focus on defense and transition buckets. They will go down in flames again if he starts launching bricks every play in the halfcourt.

Quote :

"Denver aint shit. "

Well that's not true. George Karl is a bad coach and there is a chance he submarines them by benching Faried and/or playing Al Harrington a lot. But Lawson should eat LAL, Gallinari has to hit a shot eventually, and Denver has some size and a solid 2guard Afflalo that may outplay Kobe.

Quote :

"face just hates the bulls"

Wrong, they just got weaker by adding Hamilton and they need to be playing Taj Gibson more than they currently do. Top that off with Rose not being healthy, the Bulls limitations offensively, and the reduced contributions of their bench in the playoffs vs regular season and they are overrated. Now if Thibs comes to his senses and sits Rip Hamilton, they've got a shot again.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 10:17 AM. Reason : a]

4/28/2012 9:58:55 AM

There are some giant questions about each team's rotations so we will know a lot more after the first few games of the postseason when we find out how coaches make their adjustments.

The Spurs get significantly weaker if they bench guys like Leonard, Splitter, and Green for veterans like Diaw and Jackson. It's hard to know what Popp is going to do.

On the flip side if Matt Barnes is healthy enough to play huge minutes, the Lakers might be slightly better without Artest in round 1.

The Clippers could be great if they'll just keep Nick Young and Caron Butler off the floor and use Reggie Evans instead of Kenyon Martin.

The nuggets need the Birdman/Koufos and Faried and need to ditch Mozgov, Harrington, and wilson chandler to reach their full potential.

Miami needs Chalmers shooting hand to be okay so that he regains his shooting touch and Joel Anthony to keep up his recent solid play.

The Celtics need Stiemsma's body to hold up as he's been a huge key to their recent success. They don't have any other post options.

The coaches are going to have a big impact this postseason as there are several "deep" teams which could prevent some coaches from playing their best players for the bulk of the minutes.

4/28/2012 10:33:48 AM

Quote :

"Westbrook needs to stop shooting and turning the ball over. James Harden is the best scorer in the league. Only two guys in the entire league had a 65% true shooting percentage (with a min # of attempts). Harden and Tyson Chandler. Let him takeover and let Westbrook focus on defense and transition buckets. They will go down in flames again if he starts launching bricks every play in the halfcourt. "

Do you really not stop to think maybe just maybe his fg% is so high because everybody focuses on two of the actual best scorers in the league who happen to play on his team. Do you really not think a great but not elite scorer being the 3rd option makes it super easy for him to get good shots. Do you really think he would get the same shots without a player as fast and aggressive as westbrook? Westbrook not being aggressive would essentially neuter his game. His aggressiveness is what makes him great and you will have to just live with poor shooting or risk losing his total value.

This is the fundamental weakness of your basketball analysis ability. You think games are played on paper and that statistics exist in a vacuum. Therefore, you believe all of the "front line" type players that draw the most attention and therefor take more shots, commit more turnovers are actually bad and you think all of the complimentary players, who benefit from the former type of player and end up open all night long are somehow the best players in the league. Games are not played in a vacuum.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 11:01 AM. Reason : okc would barely be a playoff team without westbrook. ]

4/28/2012 11:01:08 AM

Quote :

"Do you really not stop to think maybe just maybe his fg% is so high because everybody focuses on two of the actual best scorers in the league who happen to play on his team. "

No, I think his FG% is so high because the shots he takes tend to go in the basket.

Quote :

"Do you really not think a great but not elite scorer being the 3rd option makes it super easy for him to get good shots"

If there was any evidence of this I'd believe it. But since the evidence points out that it makes very little difference, then no.

Quote :

"Do you really think he would get the same shots without a player as fast and aggressive as westbrook? "

Now you're just getting ridiculous. James Harden creates his own shots. He usually has the ball in his hands on the perimeter as a de facto PG and takes the ball to the basket or shoots 3's off screens. Westbrook stands in the corner when Harden is in the game.

Quote :

" His aggressiveness is what makes him great and you will have to just live with poor shooting or risk losing his total value. "

"Who cares if he misses a ton of shots ultimately destroying most of his value" ?!?! Is that really where you want to go with this? Why can't he just shoot less and still do the other things he does well like create possessions with steals and rebounds?

Quote :

"okc would barely be a playoff team without westbrook."

Unequivocally false. People said the same thing about the Nuggets without Carmelo, the Bulls without Rose, etc. And they are always incorrect. Westbrook is nothing special, at all. He's a human highlight film but his actual contributions are muted because he's not a good passer, turns it over constantly, has a poor shot selection, etc. He's got the potential to be a great scorer one day if he ever reigns in his shot selection, that much we can agree on.

Quote :

"This is the fundamental weakness of your basketball analysis ability. You think games are played on paper and that statistics exist in a vacuum. Therefore, you believe all of the "front line" type players that draw the most attention and therefor take more shots, commit more turnovers are actually bad and you think all of the complimentary players, who benefit from the former type of player and end up open all night long are somehow the best players in the league."

Ah yes the old "creating shots" argument thinly veiled as something else. The value in "creating shots" in the NBA has been proven time and time again to be worth very little. It's not difficult to find a player capable of "creating a shot".

Perhaps if these superstar players who are capable of "creating" shots were to just punt the ball out of bounds everytime they miss a shot you'd understand how much less valuable they are than you think.





[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 11:39 AM. Reason : a]

4/28/2012 11:36:46 AM

are things always this tense between shaq and sir charles?

4/28/2012 2:13:33 PM

^^

So, then, tell me why the emphasis of CJL to be more of 3? Why can't he be a power slam guy like griffin? Why does he have to learn how to play like a 3?

4/28/2012 4:00:20 PM

I think any post comparing CJ Leslie to Blake Griffin should be your swan song in Sports Talk. Any one with a shred of self respect would leave the premises immediately.

4/28/2012 4:03:28 PM

Quote :

"Now you're just getting ridiculous. James Harden creates his own shots. He usually has the ball in his hands on the perimeter as a de facto PG and takes the ball to the basket or shoots 3's off screens. Westbrook stands in the corner when Harden is in the game."

There is a huge difference between a #1 #2 defender and the dropoff to the #3 defender on the average nba team. Harden is doing a lot of scoring against the #3 defender on the court or #2 and this is likely a shooting specialist. The defensive specialist and fastest guy on the opposite team is on westbrook so it makes sense that he would clear them out.

Quote :

"Why can't he just shoot less and still do the other things he does well like create possessions with steals and rebounds?"

Thats just not the player he is. You can't take an iverson and make them into a kidd. He knows one speed: FAST



CHANGE OF PACE


Face's Melo has shown up tonight but Davis' playoff experience is keeping the knicks in the game. This is like worse case scenario right now and the knicks just need to stay in the game until melo remembers who he is.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 4:07 PM. Reason : wtf was rose even in the game at that point. he will either retire or become a tmac, grant hill type]

4/28/2012 4:06:59 PM

Bulls in 6
Heat in 5
Pacers in 6
Celtics in 5

Spurs in 5
Thunder in 5
Lakers in 7
Clippers in 6

Celtics in 6
Heat in 5

Spurs in 5
Lakers in 7

Celtics in 7
Spurs in 7

Spurs in 7

4/28/2012 4:08:14 PM

Miami sure does get to the line a lot.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 4:30 PM. Reason : Also fuck Battier and his exobrain]

4/28/2012 4:23:35 PM

lol celtics

4/28/2012 4:30:57 PM

Wow that D.Rose injury could be huge. The fan in me hopes its not serious but with the $ I have on philly and the way they got abused on the glass today i hope he's out for the series

Now I know you're going to say "but i thought d.rose wasn't good". i never said that. I said he's overrated. And CJ Watson has struggled this year. It's a pretty big dropoff.

4/28/2012 4:37:55 PM

Knicks getting the old fuck job today..

4/28/2012 4:40:17 PM

I remember Lebron setting a pretty hard pick a week or so ago where the much smaller guy wasn't expecting it

not even a foul on Lebron though

4/28/2012 4:41:30 PM

Wade has done a good job teaching his antics to the whole team. The heat have mastered the art of flopping and the art of dishing it out then taking it back to draw attention. Pretending to be hurt, drawing phantom fouls and the whole thing. Its not all on the refs but the heat are just disgusting. THIS IS NOT BASKETBALL. This is a shame to the game.

4/28/2012 4:43:08 PM

Oh well back to hockey today.

^^ he leaned in like Chandler did too

4/28/2012 4:45:33 PM

NO SIR, a shame to the game is having metta world artest and bynum beat people up.

go heat go!

4/28/2012 4:46:21 PM

Now the knicks won't guard him because they know they will get flagrant fouls for attempting to.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 4:51 PM. Reason : NBA needs to man up and start to suspend and fine people for flopping. ]

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 4:52 PM. Reason : blackberry]

4/28/2012 4:46:28 PM

I'm not seeing it. All the calls seem legit. NYK just keeps bowling over them on the way to the basket.

Smith fouled lebron on that out of bounds play.

That pick was forearms to the back of the neck. He might have vertebrae damage.


The knicks have 14 turnovers in the first half. They've had problems fouling on defense all season. They're just not in the heat's class.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:04 PM. Reason : a]

4/28/2012 5:02:24 PM

He got up and scored 9 points in 2 minutes right after damaging his vertebrae?

Smith nor Novak had any contact on their plays. Lebron actually pushed smith before flopping out of bounds. One angle revealed smith simply lifted his hands but Lebron picked an opportune time to flop with the right timing to look like he was artested by Smith.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:06 PM. Reason : OH LOOK ANOTEHR FLOP]

4/28/2012 5:05:18 PM

in the playoffs you'd expect a superstar like Tyson Chandler to get the benefit of a call on a close play

4/28/2012 5:06:42 PM

i hope somebody compiles all the flop clips from lebron today.

4/28/2012 5:11:05 PM

whether it should have been foul or not is a legit discussion, but i wouldnt say it's inconsistent with how the games are normally called. And yes lebron will get the call much more often than a non superstar would.

But they were scrambling for a loose ball and lebron beat him to it and then JR made contact, its not an outrageous call.

All the charges were legit. JVG isn't exactly impartial and he likes sloppy basketball and hates refs making the game clean.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:11 PM. Reason : a]

4/28/2012 5:11:13 PM

Are you talking about the charges on drives in the paint? Those were all legit. Nobody is talking about those. We are all talking about the 15 flops lebron made in other situations.

4/28/2012 5:13:08 PM

Rose out for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn MCL and ACL

wow

4/28/2012 5:21:58 PM

Ok, this just looks like a severe mismatch to me.

Carmelo shooting a bunch of jumpers because he's not capable of getting good shots against Lebron.

The Knicks need Lin back.

4/28/2012 5:23:52 PM

^^ that sucks. At least the bulls have a lot of experience playing without him but they'll have trouble even reaching Miami without Rose.


Shumpert hurt, that wont help the knicks he's a solid defender that they can use situationally at PG and to guard d.wade

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:30 PM. Reason : a]

4/28/2012 5:25:28 PM

^^if carmelo does anything physical to catch the ball, lebron will flail and he will foul out. The referees have given the knicks a harsh message not to do anything remotely physical and the knicks have. Meanwhile, melo gets his headband knocked off and its a no-call.

As a player, theres no way you could try to give effort after these things take place.

4/28/2012 5:30:09 PM

ACL fuck me... Didn't look that bad initially

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:39 PM. Reason : U]

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 5:40 PM. Reason : C]

4/28/2012 5:34:36 PM

Look the Knicks are going to need to score more than 60 points to beat the Heat.

This wasn't a fair match-up to begin with, the Knicks have to play lights out to hang with the Heat. I was being nice when I said Heat in 6, and that's only because they lose focus sometimes. But I put the $ on heat in less than 5.5 games for a reason. They're a pretty good team.

4/28/2012 5:36:06 PM

theres a reason I said Heat in 5

and Celtics over Bulls in 6 should be much easier with no Rose

4/28/2012 5:38:10 PM

It was like 30-29 when the first major flop occurred then it was like 48-31 game over.

4/28/2012 5:40:50 PM

Look, even a well timed Rock & Jock 25 point basket couldn't draw the Knicks back into contention today.

And Oliver Miller ain't walking thru that door.

4/28/2012 5:45:39 PM

Stern should suspend Chandler for 5 games for his hard screen

4/28/2012 5:58:58 PM

There's usually one postseason series every year that I can't get into watching.

But I don't recall ever seeing one quite this bad.

I mean not only does neither team have a chance in hell at advancing past Miami, but there's not even a marketable player on either active roster. (George is a budding star and Hibbert was very good this year, but I'm not going out of my way to watch either.)

Orlando without Howard is probably the worst playoff roster of our lifetimes...

4/28/2012 7:47:14 PM

This is like Indianas first time on espn all year.

4/28/2012 7:52:03 PM

What in the world is Indiana doing tonight?

35% FG and 59% FT against a team without Dwight Howard?

This game should be over. If you lose at home as a #3 seed to this team and can't break 80 points thats a joke.

4/28/2012 9:31:06 PM

i can't believe the statistics model isn't holding up, it just doesn't make sense, how could this be happening, there must be a better metric that can account for these unknown variables

4/28/2012 9:35:39 PM

yeah teams choke from time to time. I wouldnt say it's not holding up, they played terribly and still had the game in hand.

4/28/2012 9:44:25 PM

on their home court, against the worst playoff roster of our lifetimes

just face it face, Orlando isn't as bad as you made them out to be

Turkoglu is still the star player that singlehandedly shut down Lebron and would've swept Cleveland had he not hit a miracle fadeaway three pointer, the only big shot he's hit in his career

4/28/2012 9:45:14 PM