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To the surprise of very few people, we have ended up with a rematch of last year's NBA Finals. Cleveland was expected before the year even began to come out of the East and Golden State has been the assumed favorite to repeat after a regular season campaign that saw the team win a record 73 games.
I remember how when Oklahoma City met Miami in the Finals a few years I speculated that the series could mark the beginning of a rivalry that could last several years. Instead, it was the only time the two teams met in the Finals.
Dare I say the same thing now about the Cavs and the Dubs? By having a second meeting, the series is already one more than the Heat-Thunder matchup. What we do know is that there's no shortage of compelling interests in this Finals matchup.
While I initially thought that most people would be pulling for the long-deprived city of Cleveland in this series, sentiments expressed on sports radio and have proven that there is still no shortage of hate for LeBron James. I found that somewhat shocking, although I really shouldn't be surprised if a number of people now identify themselves as Warriors fans.
Getting both games right last round brought me to 11-3 in these playoffs. Unlike the playoffs in the NHL, there are very rarely surprises in the NBA Playoffs. That said, the last round marked another increase in my personal viewing as the Western Conference Finals largely proved to be the most must-see stuff we've gotten in these playoffs. I'm guessing that I'll be making it a point to try and take in most of the remaining games in this basketball season.
Guess I can't blame any injuries on my incorrect guesses last round, as I only got two of the four series right. That brings me to 9-3 thus far in the playoffs with four of the series predicted in the right number of games.
I did watch more of the second round than I did the first, and it seems likely that I'll probably find reason to watch even more in the conference finals. Well, in the West, at least.
While the first round was something of a formality with a few competitive (but still pretty bad) series sprinkled in, the second round finally gave us the first compelling series with the otherwise favored Spurs being knocked off by the much more dangerous Thunder. We'll get what could possibly be another close series in the Western Conference, but the year indeed seems to be shaping up to live up to the subtitle of my pre-season NBA predictions post.
Maybe we'll get some surprises this round, but my guess is that the best will not come until the last series of the year. And maybe that's exactly as it should be, seeing as I (and many others) had been thinking that a Golden State-San Antonio series this round (which obviously isn't happening) should have been the Finals.
Well, I've gotten all five of the series completed thus far from the last round correct, but I'm not too optimistic about getting all eight right again this year. Injuries have essentially decimated the Clippers (that and the Steph Curry injury being the inspiration for the subtitle here, which was used three years ago) and the Heat are currently one game away from elimination. And Toronto will always be Toronto, so all bets are off there. This is what I get for playing the favorites though.
All of that said, there's little reason not to continue playing the favorites. I've caught occasional moments of the NBA Playoffs thus far, as the first round was deemed as rarely being worth my time. Things are bound to get more competitive now (in some of the series in this round).
The second round will begin this weekend although only two of the four series have been determined. So much like my recent NHL picks, I'm going to have to update my picks later. In one series, I'm going to have to wait until we know any of the four possible participants.
Again, I really don't see myself taking in a full basketball game until the Western Conference Finals, but the Spurs-Thunder series certainly has potential to be the first really great one of these playoffs.
My NBA pre-season predictions were once again more accurate than my NHL ones, as I got 11 of the 30 teams in their correct final spots in the standings for the second straight year. I also correctly identified 11 of the 16 playoff teams (five in the East and six in the West). My predicted Finals is still alive, and I'm feeling pretty confident that I was right about which four teams in the Western Conference will be advancing in this round.
As is what always seems to be the case with the NBA Playoffs predictions, I see no point in not playing it safe as there is usually very little in the way of surprises in basketball. Hell, after a 73-9 season, I've seen only one observer thus far who isn't picking the Warriors to repeat as champions in June.
Like many others, I clearly overestimated the Bulls this year—but I'm fairly relieved that I will not have to endure any further embarrassing displays from that garbage fire this season, In all likelihood, there's maybe two suspenseful series in this round (involving four teams in the Eastern Conference that all finished with the same record).
Last year was the first year I can remember ever going a perfect eight for eight in opening round predictions (NBA or NHL), and I kind of like my chances of doing that again this year. However, my pick of the Clippers over the Spurs last season was something of an upset that came to pass and I'm not really about to pick anything outside of popular opinion this time around.
We've arrived at my third set of pre-season predictions, and (if 2014 was any indication) presumably my last post of 2015. In looking over picks elsewhere on the web, I've noticed two things:
- Most sites are limiting predictions just to which two teams will be playing in the NBA Finals this June (maybe I should really start considering that); and
- Every single person has the Cavaliers winning the Eastern Conference.
I'm not going to be one to argue with that last belief, seeing as LeBron managed to carry the team to the Finals last season even after Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving fell to injuries. There's not much reason to believe that won't happen again this year.
The West, however, is once again wide open with possibilities. A person could pick any one of four or five teams and have a reasonable argument as to why that team will win a title.
I guess NBA fans could probably use the basketball starting, what with the recent near-death experience of Lamar Odom and now the unfortunate passing of Flip Saunders. I really didn't have time to do up any special graphic for these picks, so I instead offer that softened photo of a man everybody generally seemed to regard as a good guy.
