NBA Playoff Confrence Finals Predictions: See, I toldja I loved my girlfriend ...

Lakers-Mavericks sounded like a can't miss proposition to some people, I suppose. I hate the Lakers and my girlfriend loves the Mavs. No-brainer, right?

Yeah, well ... of course we know what I ended up going with for last round's picks, but in my defense, nobody had Dallas. I didn't realize how poorly I'd attempted to articulate my logic until ™ posted a screencap of that pick and my drivel to her own blog, a post which she mercifully made "private" (whatever the hell that is), seeing as the Mavericks absolutely kicked the living shit out of the defending champions. In all honesty, I don't think I've ever seen Los Angeles get that embarrassed—and I'm not just talking about that dirty, thuggish thing Andrew Bynum did, although that certainly added to it.

Anyway, just like the second round of the NHL playoffs, the second round of the NBA postseason saw both my Finals teams being eliminated sooner than expected. The usual standings and screencaps of other experts' picks will be added to this post later, but per this blog's policy to attempt to post predictions before events actually occur (novel concept, I know), and seeing as there was this window of a few hours before the official end to the last round and the beginning of the next, I've conveniently already got my mind made up about how this thing's going to turn out.

Chicago Bulls over Miami Heat in six games

While the Bulls had to go longer with the Hawks than I'd expected and Miami dispatched Boston much easier than I'd expected, my hometown pride's got me finding reasons to believe in the reborn Bulls more than Miami's Big Three. Essentially, this is your NBA Finals—or at least I find it hard to believe there could be a more compelling storyline off the court than this Chicago team that wasn't enough of a destination for the biggest of the free agents taking on the guys that got all the attention and all the hype. The Bulls, of course, are hardly a secret at this point in the year. And many will point out that they took all three games they had with Miami this year. But nearly everyone has been impressed with the dominance the Heat has shown in its first two tests of the playoffs. Of course, there were also many who felt that the level of celebration from Miami's players after merely getting to the conference finals (yeah, you beat Boston ... we get it) leads you to wonder if they started partying before any real accomplishment. I highly doubt the Bulls have lost any of their focus, and while there's certainly questions about who other than Derrick Rose is going to do the scoring, there is absolutely no doubt about the team's defense. Beyond the highlights were sure to get from the MVP, this series is where Tom Thibodeau really proves why he was Coach of the Year. I expect Miami to take one of the first two in Chicago but the Bulls to steal one back right away in Miami before squeaking out the final two.

Dallas Mavericks over Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games

I keep thinking that sooner or later, one of these Mavs with the hot hand is due to get cold. And yet Dirk Nowitzki's making 60 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, Jason Terry's made half his attempts, and both Peja Stojakovic and Jason Kidd have been hitting better than 40 percent. Combine that with how Dallas has been able to spread opposing defenses ever since that collapse in Portland (which led to them going on the six-game winning streak they're currently on, BTW), and Oklahoma City's going to need a better consistency. Make no mistake: The Thunder have the talent to take this series, but their emotion has gotten the better of them (as was evident in, say, the sixth game loss to Memphis last round). I don't expect Oklahoma City to shoot as piss-poorly as L.A. did against the Mavericks, but that might actually work in Dallas' favor if they're not clogging the paint where either Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook have not had many problems getting whistles and going to the line. My expectations in terms of defense in this series are low, but the possible entertainment value in terms of just some likely thrilling conclusions is quite high.
 

Playoff prognostication standings and whatnot forthcoming ...

Thanks to commenter majik for passing along Wilbon's incorrect guess about the Celtics. (ESPN never did post it, and the site currently has no pick for David Thorpe for the Eastern Conference Finals, but we'll get to that later ...) Here's the standings after two rounds:

1. (3) Chris Broussard, ESPN: 9-3 (4)
2. (3) Ken Berger, CBS Sports: 9-3 (3)
2. (1) Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie: 9-3 (3) 
2. (3) David Thorpe, ESPN: 9-3 (3)
5. (8) J.A. Adande, ESPN: 9-3 (2) 
6. (8) Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Sports: 9-3 (1)
7. (1) Marc J. Spears, Yahoo: 8-4 (5)
8. (3) Matt Moore, CBS Sports: 8-4 (4)
8. (11) Royce Young, CBS Sports: 8-4 (4)
10. (11) Chad Ford, ESPN: 8-4 (3)
10. (11) John Hollinger, ESPN: 8-4 (3) 
12. (3) YOURS TRULY: 8-4 (2) 
13. (22) Henry Abbott, ESPN: 8-4 (1)
13. (19) Eric Freeman, Ball Don't Lie: 8-4 (1)
13. (8) Ben Golliver, CBS Sports: 8-4 (1)
13. (22) Johnny Ludden, Yahoo: 8-4 (1)
17. (11) Greg Anthony, Yahoo: 7-5 (4)
18. (11) Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo: 7-5 (3)
19. (11) Sergio Gonzalez, CBS Sports: 7-5 (2)
19. (11) Tim Legler, ESPN: 7-5 (2)
19. (19) Marc Stein, Ball Don't Lie: 7-5 (2)
19. (11) Michael Wilbon, ESPN: 7-5 (2)
23. (19) Dan Devine, Ball Don't Lie: 7-5 (1)
24. (22) Chris Sheridan, Yahoo: 7-5 (0)

The other sites' picks coming after their Mavericks-Thunder picks get posted.

Here's the picks at Yahoo:

Keeping in mind what I said about David Thorpe, here's what the Mother Ship has:

And finally, CBS Sports: