2003 NBA Playoffs- Breakdown and Discussion

Great matchups in the first round, now lengthened to 7 games- stern is really gonna milk this with 40 games in 40 nights on the turner networks.

To the East:

1 Detroit v 8 Orlando- Detroit, with head coach rick carlisle getting the most out of his balanced roster, will face ace tracy mcgrady- NBA scoring champ w/ over 30ppg- and the magic in a matchup that is hard to predict. with ben wallace, corliss williamson and rookie zeb rebraca, the magic will have a tough time contending with the pistons on the boards. rip hamilton and cliff robinson alongside john barry and chucky atkins and chauncey billups bring matchup problems, as all can stroke the long ball and penetrate. i see the pistons taking this series in 7.

2 New Jersey v 7 Milwaukee- payton, cassell, thomas, redd: 3 point bombers. the nets, with kenyon martin, jason kidd and a re-emerging dikembe mutombo should win this series based on talent across the board. however, i'm not going to underestimate payton, cassell and george karl- nets in 6.

3 Indiana v Boston- boston sucks. they are inconsistent, lack a center, and paul pierce hasnt played to the same level he did last year. i dont know if its chemistry or what, but the c's have got their asses spanked more than once this year. the pacers, after starting red-hot were mediocre the rest of the season. i like the pacers in this series- jermaine o'neal is really emerging as a star in the league. pacers in 5.

4 Philadelphia v 5 New Orleans Hornets- damn, what a great matchup! the buggs will come to philly winners of 5 straight and playing their best basketball of the season. baron davis, a good 15 pounds lighter than midseason, will return and play an instrumental role in aiding jamal mashburns already great play this season. with a lineup of magloire, pj brown, mash, wesley and davis- the hornets match pretty well with the sixers. derrick coleman will face his old buddies, but the key matchup is going to be allen iverson-david wesley. with robert pack and kenny anderson as backups for the buggs, wesley CAN afford to play more physical with AI. aaron mckie presents another matchup problem, but the addition of courtney alexander can hopefully offset this. I got the buggs in 6.
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The West:

1 San Antonio v 8 Phoenix- i do not see the likes of stephon marbury, amare stoudemire, and shawn marion stealing more than one game from the spurs. tim duncan is the mvp of the league, IMO, once again. his presence has allowed players such as bruce bowen to lead the league in 3pt %, even though bowen isnt a great 3 pt shooter. duncan brings spacing to the floor that hasnt been seen in years. his ability to put the ball on the floor against 4's and 5's, back to the basket, and vast array of post moves is too much for the suns- jake tskalidis and bo outlaw- to handle. david robinson is going away after this season, and i'm sure tony parker, danny ferry, steve smith, and malik rose will support this squad to the fullest. spurs in 4.

2 Sacramento v 7 Utah- ahh, how times change. it just seemed that a few years ago, utah was the david and sacramento was the goliath- my how times have changed. malone is still malone, stockton is still stockton, but the improvement of andre kirelenko and matt harpring have made the jazz more athletic and dynamic. the kings just have too much talent though- webber, divac, christie, bibby, turkoglu, stojacovich, keon clark, gerrald wallace, bobby jackson, scott pollard could all start for teams in the nba right now. Kings in 6.

3 Dallas v 6 Blazers- this series should be good. damn good players, and great offenses. the question for the blazers is- can they avoid self-destructing? the blazers have talent, always have. mo cheeks has his hands full, but the talent is there- rasheed wallace, dale davis, scottie pippen and ruben patterson, and derrick anderson all present matchup problems for the mediocre-defense of dallas. however, dallas is fucking loaded. nash, nowitzki, finley, lafrentz, van exel, bradley, najara, and abdul-wahad are ballers. this series should be good. mavs in 6.

4 Timberwolves v 5 Lakers- damn, garnett gets homecourt and he has to play the lake show in the first round?? thats fucked up. i'd love to see the wolves win, to give credence to outstanding 63-game double double mark by KG. szcerbiak, nesterovic need to take control and play aggressive. the lakeshow has shaq and kobe though. nuff said. lake show in 6.

 

it just doesn't matter it just doesn't matter it just doesn't matter.

 

oh it will matter my friend when suspect indian wanders into your restaurant before a game at the new arena. aye?

 

Sav's Synopsis



1 Detroit v 8 Orlando- I haven't seen the Pistons play much this season but from what I've seen, they are a hard nosed defensive team with Ben Wallace at the helm. You have a good shooting back court with Hamilton and Billups. The key factor in this game is Gooden and McGrady. They have to step it up big. MVP candidate will have to have the best performance of the season to eek this one out. It'll be a tough series but I see Detroit winning 4-1


2 New Jersey v 7 Milwaukee- Defending Eastern champs will have an easy road this series. Do Bucks ever play defense? Never! Unless they get rid of Karl. Jersey skunks the Bucks 4-0


3 Indiana v Boston- Tough series here. Indy can be the next rough and tough team but they don't have their heads in the game. Can they stop the duo of Pierce and Walker? I dont' think so. Boston wins this series 4-2


4 Philadelphia v 5 New Orleans Hornets - The Hornets have been so up and down this season but maybe b/c of BD. The Hornets won the series but let's see how they do against Iverson in the playoffs. Iverson is streaky at times but when the games on the line, he has the ball...and makes plays. NO on the other hand have the likes of Mash, BD, and Wesley to contend with. I like Philly winning this 4-2. Too much Iverson.

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no more writing for me...

The West:

1 San Antonio v 8 Phoenix - Spurs win this series 4-1


2 Sacramento v 7 Utah - Kings win series 4-0


3 Dallas v 6 Blazers - Mavs win this in the 7th game.


4 Timberwolves v 5 Lakers - Lakers win 4-0 and Garnett goes home crying....AGAIN.

 

Maybe this will mean something when our new team starts to play. But I know I didn't watch over 5 games this year. 4 of them were the Wizards and another was the Mavs-Kings.

I can't think of a team that played this year that I actually would pull for. I used to pull for the Hornets before their last few years here. Other than that is was the Bulls with MJ, and the Celtics during the Bird days.

 

I continue my NBA Boycott through this season... it will continue until there is a Charlotte team on the floor.

 

Quickly...

West
SA vs. Phoenix - Even before yesterday's game I thought the Suns would cause trouble for the Spurs. Duncan can't do it all.
Suns in 7

SAC vs Utah - Kings are just too good and fast for the Jazz.
Kings in 5

Mavs vs POR - Should be a good series. Both teams have good depth but Dirk causes a match-up problem for the Blazers.
Mavs in 6

Wolves vs Lakers - Should be another good long series but 2 great stars beat 1.
Lakers in 7

East
Pistons vs. Magic - McGrady will carry the Magic to the first round upset.
Magic in 6

Nets vs. Bucks - Bucks could challenge defending East champs but the Nets will prevail.
Nets in 5

Pacers vs. Celtics - Celtics are my personal favorite so i'm going against logic and saying...
Celts in 6

Hornets vs. Sixers - Another good series but Sixers have been hot lately so...
Sixers in 7


Western Conference Finals - Kings over Suns (no typo)
Eastern Conference Finals - Nets over Sixers
Finals - Kings over Nets in 7

 

ditto

 

Could care less about the NBA....Nothing But Adolescents.

 

Yeah, Karl Malone is an adolescent.