SEMIFINAL ROUND PREDICTIONS!

It's been a busy week, so I'm gonna make this quick. Sorry for those who want a more in-depth post. I'll get to it as soon as I can.

EAST

Cavs vs. Hawks. Prediction: Cavs 4-1. Cavs are just too strong. Unlike the Heat, the Cavs have Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West and Anderson Varejao to complement LBJ.

Celtics vs. Magic. Prediction: Magic 4-3. The Magic proved to be mentally frail but so did the Celtics. Dwight Howard is going to be the difference in this series.

WEST

Lakers vs. Rockets. Prediction: Rockets 4-3. This is the new Bulls-Celtics classic series. Im going to go out on a limb here and predict that Yao, Artest, Battier, Scola, Brooks and Landry are going to be too much for Kobe. Especially after Artest got motivated with the Kobe elbow.

Nuggets vs Mavs. Prediction: Nuggets 4-2. Okay, okay. After an entire season of underestimating the Nuggets, I'll finally get on their bandwagon. Billups has been phenomenal and deserves a mini-MVP award.

WHO MADE ME LOOK GOOD, WHO MADE ME LOOK STUPID

MADE ME LOOK GOOD

Cavs vs Pistons (4-0) I picked the Pistons to win at least a game before succumbing to the obviously superior Cavs but the Pistons seemed more focused on an early vacation than on anything else. The last two games, the Pistons bench actually outplayed the starters. So much for the AI experiment. Cavs are looking championship worthy.

Lakers vs Jazz (3-1) Im still tight on track on my 4-2 prediction but I think Kobe might not give the Jazz another chance. Either way, Lakers seem destined to meet Cavs in Finals.

Celtic vs Bulls (2-2) The best series so far, the Celtics against the Bulls have already given us buzzerbeaters, double overtimes and tons of highlight reels. As the series head back to Boston, I see Boston finall asserting their will on the Bulls to move on to the second round (of course, this wouldn't even be a close series if Garnett was playing. But he isn't is he?)

Hawks vs Miami (2-2) The games the Hawks won, it was a team effort. The game the Heat won, it was D-Wade taking over (either early in the game or in crunch time) with a little help from his friends (O'Neal, Cook and Beasley come to mind). Hawks had better regain their mental toughness if they want to pull this out of the fire.

MADE ME LOOK BAD

Sixers vs Magic (2-2). The only sweep in my mind, the Sixers have surprised everybody by winning Games 1 and 3 in dramatic fashion. Magic sorely miss Jameer Nelson and now seem extremely vulnerable if ever they meet the Cavs or Celtics.

Blazers vs Rockets (1-3) I expected so much more from the Blazers but it just doesn't seem to be happening. Blazers are suffering from youth and inexperience and I doubt if they can win 2 in a row against the suddenly efficient Rockets.

Nuggets vs Hornets (2-1) I don't know if the Nuggets hate my guts or the Hornets hate my guts but, unless the Nuggets suddenly become and ABA team and lose the next 3 games in a row, I have seriously misjudged them.

Spurs vs Mavs (1-3) I picked the Spurs to be tougher than this. I thought they'd be seesawing back and forth with the Mavs until it became apparent that the loss of Manu was like losing your hand (your shooting hand, nonetheless). Spurs may be following the path of the Pistons to an early vacation.

QUICK HITS AFTER GAME 2, ROUND 1!

EAST

Cavs vs Pistons (2-0). As expected. The Pistons have gone from perennial championship contenders to rebuilding, all with one trade. The Pistons should have enough pride to win at the Palace but the Cavs moving on to the second round is all but inevitable. 

Celtics vs Bulls (1-1). The real Celtics finally showed up. Even with KG gone (and key reserve Leon Powe joining him) the Celtics finally won one when the Ray Allen finally morphed into the “Baby Faced Assassin” and nailed a killer three over Joakim Noah. 

Magic vs Sixers (1-1). An unexpectedly tight series, Andre Miller nearly caused another gigantic upset in Game 2. Weird thing is the Magic are not playing bad. The Sixers are just playing way above their heads, considering they were on a 6 game losing streak right before the playoffs started. 

Hawks vs Heat (1-1). You knew Wade was going to take over at least one game. And there he was, taking over Game 2 with 33 points. Good thing Daequan Cook showed up with 20pts too. Hawks played ok, which paved the way for a Wade takeover.

WEST

Lakers vs Jazz (2-0). Not sure what else the Jazz can do. Aside from get Mehmet Okur back. And get the 2008 version of Carlos Boozer back. And get the Euro Championship MVP Andrei Kirilenko back.

Nuggets vs Hornets (2-0) Unbelievable. That sums up this series pretty nicely. Unbelievable is Chauncey Billups going ballistic on Chris Paul and Rasual Butler, Chris Andersen, Nene and Kenyon Martin looking like defensive juggernauts and Chris Paul coming up small in Game 2.

Blazers vs Rockets (1-1). Brandon Roy is something else. His 42 points and LaMarcus Aldrige’s 27 resurrected Blazer-mania and gave the Portland faithful something to cheer about. My question is: why did Yao have just 6 shot attempts? It’s not like he’s an unskilled big man, you know.

Spurs vs. Mavs. (1-1). It took a great game from Tony Parker for the Spurs to finally win one. Still don’t like their chances but you can never count TD, Parker and Pop out. Expect Nowitzki to get some back in Game 3.

QUICK HITS AFTER GAME 2, ROUND 1!

EASTCavs vs Pistons (2-0). As expected. The Pistons have gone from perennial championship contenders to rebuilding, all with one trade. The Pistons should have enough pride to win at the Palace but the Cavs moving on to the second round is all but inevitable. 

Celtics vs Bulls (1-1). The real Celtics finally showed up. Even with KG gone (and key reserve Leon Powe joining him) the Celtics finally won one when the Ray Allen finally morphed into the “Baby Faced Assassin” and nailed a killer three over Joakim Noah. 

Magic vs Sixers (1-1). An unexpectedly tight series, Andre Miller nearly caused another gigantic upset in Game 2. Weird thing is the Magic are not playing bad. The Sixers are just playing way above their heads, considering they were on a 6 game losing streak right before the playoffs started. 

Hawks vs Heat (1-1). You knew Wade was going to take over at least one game. And there he was, taking over Game 2 with 33 points. Good thing Daequan Cook showed up with 20pts too. Hawks played ok, which paved the way for a Wade takeover.

WEST

Lakers vs Jazz (2-0). Not sure what else the Jazz can do. Aside from get Mehmet Okur back. And get the 2008 version of Carlos Boozer back. And get the Euro Championship MVP Andrei Kirilenko back.

Nuggets vs Hornets (2-0) Unbelievable. That sums up this series pretty nicely. Unbelievable is Chauncey Billups going ballistic on Chris Paul and Rasual Butler, Chris Andersen, Nene and Kenyon Martin looking like defensive juggernauts and Chris Paul coming up small in Game 2.

Blazers vs Rockets (1-1). Brandon Roy is something else. His 42 points and LaMarcus Aldrige’s 27 resurrected Blazer-mania and gave the Portland faithful something to cheer about. My question is: why did Yao have just 6 shot attempts? It’s not like he’s an unskilled big man, you know.

Spurs vs. Mavs. (1-1). It took a great game from Tony Parker for the Spurs to finally win one. Still don’t like their chances but you can never count TD, Parker and Pop out. Expect Nowitzki to get some back in Game 3.

RETRO LBJ!

This is your Celeveland Cavaliers...circa 1975!

AFTER GAME 1, ROUND 1!

A gigantic upset, couple of very big upsets, a couple of expected upsets and the rest, well, it's what we expected.

A GIGANTIC UPSET

Sixers over Magic 100-98. Hero: Andre Iguodala had 20pts, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and the game winning jumper with 2 secs left. Unbelievable. Zero: Entire Magic team. How do you relax in a playoff game with a just 16 point lead and half the game still to be played?

VERY BIG UPSETS

Nuggets over Hornets 113-84. Hero: Chauncey Billups, who scored 38 points on 10-15 shooting. He shot a tremendous 8-9 from three and a perfect 8-8 from the freethrow line. Zero: David West, 4-16 shooting for 12pts and a mere 6 rebounds.

Bulls over Celtics 105-103. Hero: Super-rookie Derrick Rose, who scored 36 points (including 13 inthe pivotal third quarter) and had 11 assists to boot. Zero: Ray Allen shot 1-12 for 4 points and PaulPierce missed a game winning freethrow to send the game to overtime, where the Bulls gobbled up the Celtics.

NOT-QUITE UPSETS

Rockets over Blazers 108-81. Hero: Yao Ming with 24 pts in a perfect game (going 9-9 from the field and 6-6 from the line). Zero: LaMarcus Aldridge with 7pts on 3-12 shooting.

Mavs over Spurs 105-97. Hero Dirk Nowitzki with 19 points and 8 rebounds plus a couple of tough, MVP-like shots down the stretch. Zero: Spurs bench contributed practically nothing to the Spurs cause.

AS EXPECTED

Lakers over Jazz 113-100. Hero: Kobe was a facilitator early and a scorer late in the game. Prop to Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown for stepping up. Zero: Andrei Kirilenko had 8 points on 3-10 shooting. Was never effective on Kobe. Should have stuck with Matt Harpring.

Cavs over Pistons 102-84. LBJ is looking like an MVP with 38 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Zero: Tayshaun prince went 2-7 for 4 points. Failed to stop Lebron too.

Hawks over Heat 90-64. Hero: Josh Smith with 23 points on 9-14 shooting and 10 rebounds. Zero: Jermaine O'Neal had 5 pts, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. So much for the former Pacers franchise player.