I see two scenario's playing out....

1) Manu Ginobli takes over and the Spurs surprise the West and make it to the finals where the meet and beat the Atlanta Hawks in 6 games. Hawks have so many weapons and depth I think they really are going to surprise some teams in the playoffs. Sadly the one team that the Spurs match up the worst against is the damn Mav's so if they can get by them I see them in the finals.

2) Slightly more conservative approach, Cavs will dominate the East with only the hawks putting up much of a fight (sorry Orlando not retaining Turq = no finals for you). Phoenix Suns will ride the Nash & Stoudimire train to the finals and provide us some very exciting basketball along the way. Cav's will take it in 5 behind Lebron's out of body playoff performance but the games will all be close.

Lakers...fuck off your going down unless you start Luke Walton! 1st round upset sends Phil Jackson into retirement and tears the team apart.

Utah....jerry sloan I'd love to see you get a title just for your loyalty to the team but williams + boozer isn't going to be enough.

Denver....cocky jackasses are playing without a bounce to there step and don't have the maturity/mental toughness to win a tough 7 game series this year. Had they peaked at the right time I would actually give them a shot but they are on a pretty bad downward spiral. Poor Coach Karl...


Portland, Oklahoma....thanks for stopping by?

Rest of east other then Atlanta or Cleveland....thanks for stopping by?

You cant seriously be completely discounting the Magic?

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Cavs in the finals with average performances by Lebron but multiple season-high performances by Jamison & Ilgaukas (sp?). Suns into the finals.

Cavs in 5 great games.

Suns in finals? You can't be serious. Like all good Suns teams, they have no defense. Their style of play (as fun as it is to watch) does not win championships these days.

Lakers vs Cavs for the NBA championship. They need Kobe v Lebron before Lebron moves off to greener pastures.

My pick is Mavs-Cavs final with the Cavs finishing them in 6.

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Ditto, although I'll say it goes 7 games.

I may try to go to some Hawks games in the 1st round against Milwaukee. I think Jamal Crawford for the Hawks is going to be the X factor. He's been the best 6th man in the country this year, but the big story about him is his lack of ever going to the playoffs in something like 600+ games. Will he choke? Will he use the opportunity and be an emotional leader? Who knows.. the Hawks have been just a step behind the elite teams, so if he IS the X factor, it may be enough to help them get far.

Suns are playing a lot better defense the 2nd half of the season and have beefed up their defensive efforts. They aren't a defense power house but have improved enough to give them a shot. Stoudimire is an animal on defense since the trade deadline as well. It will be ironic if Suns make it the damn year that I move from Phoenix. If Suns play Spurs in the playoffs I might have to fly out there...fuck you STL for not having a basketball team.

West is so damn stacked though, i'd take 6 of the 8 teams in the west and put money on them over any team in the east outside of Cav's. Hawks and Orlando might give abit of challenge.

I'll laugh my ass off if Durant shows up Koby in the first round....would be a bigger upset then the sonics losing back in the day with Kemp as the first seed (was to Denver wasn't it?)

Finals MVP...MANU!!!! Hopefully Coach Pop utilizes Blair to his full capability, guy is just amazing considering his size. Shit he went 20/20+ against the mav's last game of the season if I recall.

Man Dirk is a freaking beast, he was damn near unstoppable. He must also give one hell of a blow job because the damn ref's called a foul every time he touched the ball. Yet when Manu or Tim were deep inside getting raped it was just considered "playoff" basketball.

Freethrows....spurs 14, Mavs 34 so its not just my damn imagination (4 of those were hack-a-center though).

Fucking Jefferson is so worthless. Oh well game 2 baby.

No teams look dominating this year what so ever, I watched every game so far and no one has really controlled a game start to finish. I guess its a testiment to the improvements alot of teams have made over the last few years.

Suns looked sad in the final few min against the Blazers that were doing everything they could to lose that game.

When the Spurs were on their championship runs they got every single call - with "Flops" Ginobili and "I was fouled" Duncan being the beneficiary of most of the calls. Just call it karma...

I pick the NBA playoffs to go on way longer than I care about.

Seriously, cut the number of teams that make it in half. Why have a six month season if you also have two months of playoffs?

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How bout those Spurs!! Fuck you Cuban! I was scared shitless the entire series because mav's are so much better on paper but you can't forget about HEART!!!

Some one different almost every game stepped up...couldn't be prouder of my spurs!

Suns & Spurs...god damnit I might have to try to fly in to phoenix for a game.

No team looks dominating this year its really going to be anyones championship.

I really don't care because the Mavericks aren't a very good team, but I think you're confusing "heart" with "acting." This is exactly why the NBA is terrible, because officials have roughly as much to do with the game as basketball does.

The Spurs still would have won if everyone was calling their own fouls, but the free throw disparity throughout the series was ridiculous.

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avs simply got out coached. Coach Pop made Carslile look like a total fool.

Why was Dirk still in in game 5 when it was over?
Why did it take until game 5 to realize that Haywood is a much better option at center?
Why did Bubois only get time when the games were "over", when he showed that he had more energy and game than just about any other option?
Why did the defensive stopper Stevenson not get on the court at all?
Why was J.J. eating up all those min with Butler on the pine?
Why the hell was Terry even on the floor?

Total misuse of personnel.

I am pretty sure Terry was on the floor because they saw a play that worked decently where Dirk would go down low get double teamed while Terry sat at the 3pt line all alone awaiting the pass. The problem was they needed to be more aggressive and draw fouls so I agree they should have pulled Terry in that game.

Or, you know, they should have pulled him because he couldn't make a single shot.

It worked pretty well in Game 3 at the end and I guess the coach was hoping that would keep working. Looking at the stats though he barely made more points then Kidd.

I am a Spurs fan though so I look forward to another common rival for them which is the Suns. I will say the Spurs vs Mavs was a pretty good series though.

I think what made Suns v Spurs more entertaining for me though was Skycrasher's retarded comments.