Lakers-Heat would be the ESPN dream, but I'm rooting for the winner of the Denver/OKC series and Chicago.
The freaking Cavs were the "best" team in the league the last 2 seasons..... AGAIN, the rest and matchups only benefit the Celtics and Magic more.
you can't say you are the freaking best team in the east, when you are 3-8 against the other 3 best teams. playoffs are different, and it only favors the Celtics/Magic more. So yes, the Heat will be even less good in the playoffs against Boston. Boston in 6, no questions asked.
Yeah, this is probably true, but Lakers-Celtics and Lakers-Bulls also have compelling story line. The constant in here is Lakers. If you don't believe me, let's see if there is any iffy behavior in the WCF.
I think the exact opposite is true. The Heat and the Bulls are the two best teams in the East over the Celts and the Magic. The Celtics are old and falling apart and show no sign of turning it around. As I said before they go as Rondo goes and Rondo has not played well. The Magic do not belong in the same calibre as the othre three teams. I think the Heat are going to beat the Bulls in the Eastern finals simply because they have two superstars while the Bulls only have one. They do need their role players like Chris Bosh and Mike Bibby to step up.
I think the Heat will come out of the East too, but don't discount the Celtics because they are old and playing poorly, since they did the exact same thing last year. They never faced a team as good as the Heat though.
The Magic will beat the Bulls The Celtics will beat the Heat wanna side bet? We can let DD hold the money :grin:
I vote Heat simply for the fact that in the playoffs, they will tighten their rotation and play the Big 3 virtually the entire time. Their only weakness is their lack of depth which is masked in the playoffs. You can say all you want about their performance in the clutch but they wouldn't have had to make those last second baskets had the scrubs held on to the lead earlier in the game.
but i don't expect them to have big leads against the good teams in the playoffs... so the unclutch will prlly continue?
Agreed. This is why teams with really good depth are (eg, the old Kings teams, the recent Mavs teams) are almost invariably outperformed by teams with a couple of "superstars". Well, that and star treatment (which is even worse in the playoffs). Also, Bibby has been a big upgrade for the Heat, as teams have to pay attention to him unlike Arroyo/Chalmers. And it looks like JJ is finally back in the regular rotation.
My heart's with Chicago, but I like Miami to reach the Finals, as well. But, fatigue will surely factor in to the equation with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh playing very heavy minutes (more so than other prominent players due to their lack of depth). That trio would be absolutely spent in a long, grind-it-out 7-game series with Boston or Chicago, especially with the way Wade and Lebron attack the basket/take a beating in the paint. Wade can occasionally get quite reckless with his body when he's slashing to the cup, and Jermaine and Shaq O'Neal are notorious for laying down the law in the paint come playoff time.
I disagree with that, because the playoffs are ridiculously long (like two months) and allow players to get a lot of rest (too much rest, it's absurd). Remember, Wade carried a team to a championship including two grueling series a few years back, and he and LBJ are probably the two most conditioned athletes in the league. They should be able to play 40+ MPG no problem. The bigger concern is that if any of the big three gets injured, they are toast.
sorry, but i thought the teams that busted their ass for home advantage should get the benefit of the doubt here, the nuggets didn't even get home court and they don't have a super star, name one championship team that's without a super star........ don't give me 04-05 pistons because Billups is a perennial all star.....
