NBA 1st Round Recap and Previewing the Conference Semifinals

The 1st Round of the NBA Playoffs is officially in the books, and the Conference Semifinals are under way, so it’s time to review the last week and a half as well as look ahead. There weren’t a lot of 1st Round surprises, unless you want to refer to Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin’s injuries and the bearing they had on their teams’ respective series. The 2 biggest shockers probably shouldn’t have been all that shocking in hindsight. 1st off, as great a regular season as Denver had, we should have enough evidence by now that starless NBA teams that advance deep into the postseason are few and far between. And even with a far less talented roster and missing their 2nd best player (David Lee), the Warriors showed they do indeed have a star in Steph Curry. 2nd, the Nets’ roster consists of coach-killing dogs. Comparatively, despite losing player after player to injury and illness the Bulls’ roster is filled with fighters. The fact that Chicago would somehow find a way to will their way past Brooklyn should have been obvious from the outset. One other observation…

Following the Heat’s ho-hum, very businesslike sweep of the Bucks, the biggest news coming out of Miami right now is the state of Dwyane Wade’s knees, and LeBron James missing being the unanimous MVP winner by 1 vote. Gary Washburn explained his reasoning behind voting LeBron behind Carmelo Anthony by opining that Melo was more valuable to the Knicks than LeBron was to the Heat, that the award is about team value (not an outstanding player award), and that New York would have been far worse without Melo this year than Miami would have been sans James. 1st of all, I think we all know by now that LeBron is the most valuable player to any team. The Cavs had the league’s best record in James’ last season there, and were picking 1st overall in the draft the year after he left town. 2nd, since Washburn throws around value so much, I could argue that while Anthony is far and away the Knicks’ best player, Raymond Felton (because of his ability to break defenses down, get in the paint, and kick the ball out to shooters) and Tyson Chandler (because he is the best rim-protector in the league and allows the Knicks to play the smaller and defensively challenged Melo at the 4) actually are more important to New York’s team success. Finally, while the award is termed the Most Valuable Player, the award was and always has been a Most Outstanding Player award for all intents and purposes, and James’ season ranks as 1 of the all-time bests by any metric. With all that being said, a unanimous vote doesn’t really matter at all. James still gets the trophy, and he likely will win enough of these by the end of his career that we will all be longing to give it to someone, anyone, else in the years to come.

And I fully support anyone’s right to argue against him winning it this year…it’s just fun to point out why they are wrong.

Now, I know 2 of the Semifinals series have already started, but how ‘bout some Round 2 predictions?

New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers (Pacers in 6)…Call me a liar if you want, but this would have been my upset pick even prior to New York’s Game 1 home loss. As I said a couple weeks ago, Indy is built for the playoffs, and New York continues to be a live-by-the-3, die-by-the-3 team…and if their cold shooting continues they are going to die by it. Also, New York’s roster was specifically built to get past Miami in the postseason. Indy is a bruising, physical, defensive team that isn't going to change their style of play to match New York’s small-ball lineups. You want to play Melo at power forward? Fine…well then, have fun dealing with David West on the other end of the floor. The only way to combat this is for the Knicks’ jumpers to start falling again…because don’t count on Melo and JR Smith to stop chucking even though they shot a combined 12 for 37 in Game 1.

Oklahoma City vs. Memphis Grizzlies (Thunder in 7)…Has the makings of a fascinating matchup if you ask me. Without Westbrook, I actually think the Griz are the better team, but we may see Kevin Durant unleash the full spectrum of his powers in this series, as he showed with last night’s 35 point, 15 rebound, 6 assist, 2 block line. That includes 2 critical jumpers in the final minute while OKC was still trailing.

Seriously, if LeBron wasn’t going to be the unanimous MVP choice, how could the other 1st place vote(s) go to anyone but KD?

Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls (Heat in 5)…Given the heart the Bulls play with, it’s tough to pick them to go out in so few games. And while Heat in 5 sounds like a blowout, I think 3 of those Miami wins will be the type of games that they will have to fight to the final possession. Still, you have to wonder if the Bulls have enough bodies and the ability to score enough points to deal with the Heat’s firepower.

San Antonio Spurs vs. Golden State Warriors (Spurs in 5)…Steph Curry will be the best player in this series as well, but I just think the Spurs will be too good for him to overcome. San Antonio operates like a machine, and they should have their full complement of players in this series as well. If the Warriors are able to steal 1 of the 1st 2 games, the Game 3 and Game 4 crowds in Oakland could be bonkers though. For Golden State fans, that’s probably the best you can ask for.