Yesterday marked the second day of the NBA playoffs. Considering that 3 out of a possible 4 upsets happened the previous day, I was expecting more of the same action. At the end of the night I found myself pretty dissapointed. There is still a lot of basketball to be played, and there is guarenteed that something memorable about this postseason that will rise to the front.
The first game of the day was the only one I was not able to watch. It was the LA Lakers and the Utah Jazz. From the highlights, I would have to put this down as the decent game. The final margin was 13, and it seemed that tha Lakers were in control of the game almost the entire second half. The main highlight from this game would have to be the play of the young Trevor Ariza. His 21 points on 8-10 shooting (3-4 from deep) is his career playoff high. His previous high, set last year was only 6 points.
The second game was without a doubt the best game of the day. I've chosen the 76'ers to upset the Magic in the first round of the playoffs this year. It seems to me that in the Eastern Conference, it is the only one that truly has a chance to happen. (No offense to what D. Rose and the Bulls did on Sat, but they really cannot play any better, and you can't count of Ray Allen and Pierce to play that badly all series.) Looked like I would have to eat my words late in the third quarter when the Magic built an 18 point margin. A 6-0 run to end the quarter along with a hot start to the 4th made it a game again. After a 3 point basket from bench player Donyell Marshall tied it with just over a minute left, we were primed for a great ending. Andre Igudola, an emerging superstar got the ball with 12.5 seconds left. Despite great defense, he pulled up and made a killer 18 foot jumper for the win.
The last two games were highly dissapointing, even though I won money on both of them. My roommate wanted to bet me that the Heat would beat the Hawks, I was wary of the bet, until they showed a shot of Phillips Arena in Atlanta minutes before tip-off. When I saw the excitement of the players and fans, I took the sucker's bet. Boy did that pay off, the Hawks cruised to a 30 point win and made Dwayne Wade have a season-high in turnovers. The game was kept somewhat interesting with Josh Smith's acrobatic dunks throughout the game. The second game was more of the same with the Nuggets going on a 21-0 run in the third quarter to cruise to an easy 30 point win over CP3 and the Hornets. The game was highlighted by the unbelievable play of Chauncey "Mr. Big Shot" Billups. He finished with 36 points, and went 8-9 from beyond the arc.
My predictions for the first round.
Cavs over Pistons in 5
Lakers over Jazz in 4
Mavs over Spurs in 6
Boston over Bulls in 6
Denver over N.O. in 6 (going to be a brutal series, but the experience of Billups will be the deciding factor.)
76'ers over Magic in 6
Portland over Houston in 7
Hawks over Heat in 7
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