I don’t know if the East is truly weaker than the West-Detroit is as legit a title contender as anyone-but it’s certainly thinner. So the first-round matchups are pretty lame. I’m not getting paid by the word here, but I’ll prove it to you:
(1) Detroit Pistons vs. (8) Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons are the clear favorite in the East, which they will win. The Bucks, meanwhile, didn’t even have a winning season (40-42). We can talk about matchups, or I can just tell you: Sweep, Detroit.
(2) Miami Heat vs. (7) Chicago Bulls. Miami has struggled against elite teams; fortunately for them, Chicago is not in that category. This is getting ridiculous. I’ll give Chicago a game; Heat 4-1.
(3) New Jersey Nets vs. (6) Indiana Pacers. Say what you want about T.O., because I’ve said plenty, but I find him much easier to root for than Vince Carter. While Owens is selfish and impossible to reason with, at least he always plays his heart out, even on those rare occasions when he feels underpaid. Carter, on the other hand, tanked it to get traded even with a maxed-out and fully-guaranteed contract.
Indiana has been ground zero for turmoil the last few years, thanks to Ron Artest, who was finally traded. His replacement, Peja Stojakovic, was in top form, replacing all of the scoring and none of the defense.
Talent-wise, I may give Indiana the edge, especially since New Jersey has no bench. But the Pacers, like Dallas, have been shuffling lineups all season long. So I’ll give New Jersey the edge on their consistency, but I think the Pacers could take at least six games to bow out.
(Can someone remind me again why the league switched to a best-of-seven first round a few years back? Oh, right, the league finally had a chance to do the Lakers a favor. Might have been a good idea at the time, but now we have to watch teams like these two duke it out for a month and a half just to find out which will lose to Miami. Oh, joy. Remember, class: just because a series is close doesn’t mean it’s good.)
(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) Washington Wizards. Now this might actually be an interesting series. We’ve got the playoff debut of HPS NBA MVP LeBron James, which ought to be exciting. Forget what you’ve heard about Steve Nash: James makes some of the most exciting passes I’ve ever seen.
Washington is spearheaded by a trio of Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler. I thought Caron was worthy of a much higher pick a few years ago, and I’m glad his hard work has vindicated me in retrospect. It’s also instructive that each of these starring players were very productive in major college programs; perhaps the draft isn’t as risky as we think.
Also, and I hesitate to bring this up, but it’s pretty clear the Nuggets made a huge blunder when they went with Andre Miller instead of Gilbert Arenas a few years back. Arenas averaged 29.3 points per game this year; Miller scored that many points in any single game just once.
So I’m hesitant to slam Kiki now, because the move made sense to me at the time considering the money Arenas wanted. Then again, I wasn’t employed by the NBA and hadn’t seen Arenas play much. This, to me, underscores that Vandeweghe has done an average job at best. Compared to past Denver GMs, that makes him look like a genius, but he hasn’t made very many moves that turned out right. Actually, that’s unfair-the Antonio McDyess for Marcus Camby and Nene move was an absolute heist. Then again, if you can’t beat the Knicks in a trade, then….well, there’s no way to finish that statement, because the Knicks never get the better of anyone.
Anyway, we can talk about the Nuggets in tomorrow’s post. Point is, this should be a really exciting series, hopefully with no defense whatsoever. Cavs in seven.
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