Haha. One thing for sure -- there's gonna be signs everywhere at the ACC, and half of them will have Chuck Swirsky sayings.

It will be an exciting, heated series. Vince Carter may even play hard.

Analysts and talking heads are already saying that if there's a likely upset in the first round, it would be New Jersey over Toronto. They go on to talk about the Raptors' inexperience, and how much experience New Jersey has.

I don't really buy it. A good team's a good team. And the Raptors are a good team.

Give me a good, young team that plays hard and executes over an experienced team that thinks it can turn it on or off whenever they want. Anyday.


Here are my predictions for Round 1:




EAST

Detroit (1) vs. Orlando (8): Detroit in 4
Miami (4) vs. Chicago (5): Miami in 7

Cleveland (2) vs. Washington (7): Cleveland in 5
Toronto (3) vs. New Jersey (6): Toronto in 6


WEST

Dallas (1) vs. Golden State (8): Dallas in 6
Utah (4) vs. Houston (5): Houston in 7

Phoenix (2) vs. LA Lakers (7): Phoenix in 6
San Antonio (3) vs. Denver (6): San Antonio in 7

I'm leaning towards an upset in the Detroit/Orlando series. Rasheed tends to get in to technical foul territory in a hurry, and I haven't heard much about Billups these days. And of course, without Big Ben, they don't nearly have that important defensive support that they used to have.

As for the Raptors? They're inexperience counts for nothing. Bosh is already an outstanding team leader, their entire team works hard until the bitter end, and they do have some veteran know-how (Mo Pete and Martin) on the bench, ready to support the team when it needs it the most. The key veteran players that come to mind for the Nets are Carter and Kidd. As I said earlier, Carter will end up injuring himself and limit his playing time, and as for Kidd? Age is a factor for his performance. He'll have to work extremely hard against the quick and energetic point guards, Calderon and Ford, just to keep up. In this case, I think that the young, energetic Raptor squad will take the Nets totally by surprise.

And Timerwolf, you need to do something unique so we can spot your Raptor-cheering ass in the crowd. :p

Man, if I were the Bulls or a Bulls fan, I'd be hella pissed off. All they had to do to lock up the #2 seed was beat a sub .500 New Jersey Nets team. But, they came out and laid an egg. Now, instead of having a much more favorable road to the East Finals, they'll probably have to go through both the Heat and Pistons JUST to get there. Nice job! The Cavs should send them a fruit basket or something for that pitiful effort.

Wow, Golden State.

Mark Cuban looked maaaaaad.

Hah, I agree. I predicted that the series would last 6 games, and just about all my friends and family called me crazy. After the game was over I performed my "Happy Dance". They seriously like to think that they know more about sports than me.

Just about every single series this year is just about evenly matched. Even Orlando and (to lesser extent) Washington made it tough for the Pistons and Cavs late in the game. Finally, I can watch all the series without being bored. It's never been like this ever.

Serves Dallas right in my opinion. I have no idea why Avery Johnson rested his lineup on the Warriors game rather than their last game. They wanted the Warriors and so they got them. It was a really great game. That team is fun to watch when it's clicking. Whatever happens, I hope this series goes to 7. I want the Warriors in the Playoffs for as long as possible.


***


I wish everything turned out well as I hoped, but my Lakers blew a chance to go up on the Suns. Leandro Barbossa absolutely killed us. Stoudamire and Nash got their numbers, but they didn't mean anything until Leandro blew through our guards. At one time, the boy scored 13 straight points. You can't win against that.

What's more upsetting is that the Lakers played their game plan and actually held Phoenix to mediocre offensive categories. They couldn't hit their shots today. And unfortunately, this will not happen again. The Suns will shoot a higher percentage, and the Lakers will have to play even better than today to stand a chance this series. It doesn't look good.

There were bright spots though. Lamar Odom's turning up the heat in the playoffs just like last year. And Jordan Farmar actually did a good job in the game. Last year, Luc Walton emerged as a good player in the Playoffs. Here's hoping Farmar is the next one.


***


The Spurs look sluggish to me. I had them winning in seven games, but I'm thinking of switching that to Nuggets in 7. As good as Tim Duncan is, they don't let him defend at all. The Spurs are too scared to get him in foul trouble. The Parker/Iverson matchup is a wash, but Carmelo makes the difference here. Bruce Bowen can't defend Carmelo, and even if he did get the assignment, it won't work when Iverson can equally be that scoring presence.

Then add the rebounding presence of the Nuggets, and you have a recipe for trouble. If the Spurs want to win this series, they better grind it out and stall. They're not going to win if Parker and Ginobilli take quick shots.


***


New teams are fun to watch in the playoffs. I'm hoping for upsets around the league.

Gargh, don't even get me started on how upsetting that game was... Lakers played a decent first half but the last half game this Sunday made me CRY. It was lame as hell~. Just wished the Lakers held off a better defense, then we might have had a chance, but nooooooooooo, some where down the middle it was "ok" to give up just because homeboy Barbossa scored a few points to tie us. :mad: :mad: :mad: Honestly, I miss the Laker team from like half a decade ago. Anybody with me on this?

I'm with you on that one man. Consider that Shaq has been gone for 3 years now. Had he stayed on the team, we'd be contending even now.

But this is the team we have, so we have to pull through it. Here's hoping someone steps up besides Kobe.

Hopefully in the offseason, Bynum improves his footspeed and muscle. I heard he and Dwight Howard were making plans to train together in the summer. Maybe Kareem and Dwight's training will pay off for us next year or so.

I actually like how the Bulls played this weekend, they played not too bad of a game. (I'm not a person to follow favorite teams, but I'm all for watching a good game, regardless of what team is playing.)

Game 2 between the Raptors-Nets was SO good.

Not only was I attending my first Playoff game, it was also the first time I was there to root for the Raptors. All the other games I went to in the past, I was there to see the visiting team (Penny, KG, MJ, Iverson).

So this was new. I even wore red.

I'll try to upload some of my photos for y'all tomorrow. I just gotta say, it was a lot of fun, being part of the crowd, cheering for the Raptors and booing Vince. I'm very glad the Raptors came away with the win.


And I came home with an Anthony Parker jersey.

The Warriors should have won at least one of those games in Utah, and could have been two, but missed free throws and mistakes down the stretch of both games were too much to get over the hump. Maybe a change a scenery will get them back in gear.

The Suns-Spurs series could go either way. I'm rooting for the Suns as well. I just enjoy watching their offense.

The East title is definitely there for the Piston's taking. I don't think any of the other teams left have what it takes to challenge them. A Suns-Pistons matchup in the Finals would be interesting scenario.

Nice vids, naz. They definitely bring back memories.

The Warriors have a style of play that's very entertaining to watch. However, because of that type of reckless, all-or-nothing play, it came come back and bite them in the ass at times. In the Dallas series, that aspect never reared it's head, but it has in the Utah series. They've had a nice run but I think it comes to an end in Game 5.

So the Spurs/Suns game was absolutely amazing last night.

And now we get to see if the NBA cares more about basketball or about ridiculous rules that punish people who didn't end up doing anything wrong. I mean, do they really want to ruin the series, hand it to the Spurs, by suspending Stoudemire?

I finally found my way back...

I didn't even know GFF was back, until I checked one of my lesser used email accounts and saw Miles' notice.

And then I couldn't find The Back Pages...



Well, good to be back at last.


http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...-SPIDERMAN.jpg

Ridiculous rules that punish people it is!

Robert Horry has been suspended for two games. Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw will just be sidelined for Game 5. It really sucks that the NBA still live in archaic times when it comes to their rules and regulations. This had been an excellent series so far too.

The baby Bulls have a little hop in their step tonight. They are playing very well and are up by 11 as I type this post. Entertaining game thus far.

Man, this is not good for basketball.

Welcome back, T-Wolf. Glad you found your way. :)

Dirk Diggler was formally announced today as the MVP. Gotta be a bittersweet occasion for him and his team. They had such promise, then ran into a brick wall, also known as the Golden State Warriors. Congrats to him, nontheless.

If the Suns lose game 5, I'm pretty much done with the NBA. Before it was the lockout, which was greed, but a lack of ability to put out a good basketball product is completely unforgivable.