Some Surprising Turn-Outs

4/29 Some Surprising Turn-Outs

 

            Overall, each series in this year’s NBA playoffs have pretty much gone as expected. The Western Conference Playoff series’ have been right on schedule with the Spurs, Hornets, and Lakers all winning their first round match ups in at least five games.  The Jazz are in a dog fight with the Rockets just as expected.  The Eastern Conference, however, has been very surprising.  The Magic is the only team in the Eastern Playoffs who has won a series the way it was projected.  They were predicted to win, which they did, in five games.  The other three match ups are a much different story however.

            (4)Cavaliers vs. (5)Wizards- This was the most anticipated series for the Eastern Conference Playoffs.  Everyone was talking about this match up and there was even some “smack talk” between the two teams before the series started.  All the analysts have been split between the Cavaliers and the Wizards as to who would win the series.  The Cavaliers have played the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs for the past two years, this year being the third.  The Cavaliers have beaten the Wizards in both instances.  This year was supposed to have a change in scenery as the series between the teams was supposed to go seven games.  It still can, except the Cavaliers are winning three games to one!  I don’t know what happened to the Wizards, they just were flat this whole series.  The Wizards need to step their game up to avoid being eliminated and quite frankly embarrassed.  Especially since they were the ones “smack talking” and calling LeBron overrated.  So much for that theory as LeBron has been as strong as ever this series.

(2)Pistons vs. (7)76ers- The scenario for this series is different than above.  This time something just went terribly wrong for the favored Pistons.  The Pistons are always there in the playoffs year in and year out.  It is just a fact that this team knows how to win.  The Pistons have veteran players as four guys in their starting line up have all won an NBA title together.  The players know each other well on the court and really function as one unit.  Now that description fits the normal Pistons, the typical Pistons.  Let me tell you, they have not been normal at all in this series.  They dropped the first and third games to the 76ers.  The first game was just another case of coming out flat and not being ready to play. Again, not your ordinary Pistons.  The third game however was just a massacre.  The 76ers beat them by twenty points which is absurd for a playoff game.  No team should be losing by twenty points in the playoffs, even if you are the eighth seed.  To give the Pistons some credit, they were able to finally get it together and are now leading the series three games to two. However, they better watch out in game six because this series is not over yet.

(1)Celtics vs. (8)Hawks- Alright, this is the one. The big unorthodox “kahuna” of this year’s NBA Playoffs.  As a Boston fan, it hurts me to even write that the Celtics are knotted up with the Hawks at two games a piece.  Yes, these are the same Celtics who beat the Hawks in every game in the regular season, had the best regular season record in the NBA, and have the benefit of the Defensive Player of the Year in Kevin Garnett.  The Celtics blew out the Hawks in the first two games of the series, which were home games.  They then lost the next two games as they were on the road in Atlanta.  This is a déjà vu for me as last year, the eighth seed Warriors knocked out the one seed Mavericks in a thrilling series.  However, there is no way that will happen this year.  The series is back in Beantown for two more games before it shifts back to Atlanta.  The Celtics will regroup and win both home games in front of the home crowd to win the series.  The Celtics just have too many weapons and the Hawks are just not a strong enough team to go seven games against the best team in the East.  The Celtics will prove this as game five is tonight in Boston.