With the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs beginning today, I will give my take on their outcome. First, as always, I will lay bare my first round predictions for praise or ridicule. I feel I did better with these than my Western conference predictions.
RESULT MY PICK
CLE/DET Cavs in 4 Cavs in 6
I gave Detroit too much respect, as they are my favorite team. I should have known they’d get swept.
BOS/CHI Celtics in 7 Celtics in 5
The loss of Garnett effected them more in this series than I thought, and lets all just be thankful we got to see this series. It was incredible.
ORL/PHIL Magic in 6 Magic in 5
The Magic are my sleeper team in this playoff. I was really impressed with the way they played without Howard in game 6.
ATL/MIA Hawks in 7 Heat in 7
I predicted a seven game series. I was right, I just had the wrong team winning. I don’t feel too bad.
SECOND ROUND
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks
top players LeBron James Joe Johnson
Mo Williams Mike Bibby
season series 3 1
This is a series where both teams strength is in the backcourt. Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby will have to play the series of their lives for this to be competitive. LeBron and the Cavs were almost unstoppable in round one, but was that mainly because of the lack of effort from Detroit. We will see. Atlanta will be hoping for a big effort from Marvin Williams, but if Ilgauskas plays well this series will be put to bed early.
Cavaliers in 5
#2 Boston Celtics vs. #3 Orlando Magic
TP Paul Pierce Dwight Howard
Ray Allen Rashard Lewis
season 2 2
Not having Kevin Garnett was a huge loss for the Celtics in the first round, and it will be even bigger in this round. Without Garnett, Kendrick Perkins will be alone in having to stop Howard. I just don’t see that happening. In Lewis and Turkoglu, Orlando has two players that can do what Ray Allen does. I was big on the impact of Courtney Lee coming into this series. His absence is the only thing that makes this series close.
Magic in 6
Comments on Facebook