After a fun first round the second round is upon us. Here we will find the true contenders and the teams that will be one step closer to the Finals.
THE EASTERN CONFERENCE:
#1 Atlanta Hawks vs #5 Washington Wizards- The Hawks are coming off of an unexpectedly long series vs the Brooklyn Nets. Atlanta went through stretches where they couldn't get anything going on offense which allowed Brooklyn to play them close in every game except for Game 6. The Hawks now face a Wizards team that have had a lot of rest because of their sweep of the Toronto Raptors. The Wizards were every bit the better team than the Raptors and had a great series from John Wall and Paul Pierce. The Wizards looked like an excellent team in the first round but one has to wonder if that is the great play of the Wizards or the ineptitude of the Raptors. Either way, Wizards coach Randy Whittman has looked like a much better coach in the playoffs. He has given role player Otto Porter more minutes and Porter has come on strong, improving his play from the regular season and playing key minutes for the Wizards. The key for this series will be whether or not the Hawks can control the perimeter play of Wall and Bradley Beal. DeMarre Carroll and Jeff Teague provide a difficult challenge to Wall and Beal so that will be a good match up to watch. Many people are saying the Hawks peaked in the regular season and don't have what it takes to make it to the Finals. This is a veteran team with experience so they will not go down without a fight. But this Wizards team with their stars and veteran players will provide a difficult challenge. This series will come down to late game execution and I think the Hawks make just enough plays to advance to the conference finals. Hawks in 7
#2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #3 Chicago Bulls- This is a series that every basketball fan is looking forward to, with two teams that don't like each other at all. LeBron has had many battles with the Bulls, in a Cleveland Cavalier jersey as well as a Miami Heat jersey. If you are a Bulls fan you have to be tired of seeing LeBron James across you in the playoffs. This must be what fans in the 90's must have thought of Michael Jordan. The Bulls got a lucky break when Kevin Love injured his shoulder in Game 4 vs the Celtics. Love provided floor spacing and 3pt shooting that made the Cavs excellent on offense. Kyrie Irving and LeBron can still carry the load on offense but Love raised the Cavs offense to another gear and made them difficult to guard. Bulls forward Jimmy Butler had a huge series vs the Bucks and will need to come up big on both sides of the ball for the Bulls to win this series. But as past seasons have gone, this team will only go as far as Derrick Rose can take them. He has the ability to exploit Kyrie Irving on offense by getting to the basket. Rose needs to cut down on the 3 point shooting in this series, as he went 3-10 in the last two games vs the Bucks. An advantage for the Bulls is that the Cavs aren't as long on defense as the Bucks were so they should cut down on their turnovers this series. A key battle will be between Tristan Thompson and Chicago's bigs on the glass. Thompson destroyed the undersized Celtics bigs but will undoubtedly have a tougher time vs Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol. Every game in this series will physical and tough which will work to the Bulls advantage if they can slow the pace down and play inside-out. Ultimately the series will come down to whether the Bulls can contain the Cavs explosive offense. If Kyrie and LeBron both have huge games at the same time the Bulls won't be able to win. In addition if role players J.R Smith and Iman Shumpert come up big, it might not matter if the Bulls contain Kyrie or LeBron. This series will be extremely hard fought and this Bulls team is not one to fear a challenge even if it is vs LeBron, but I think the Cavs offense will be just too much as the Cavs move on to the East finals. Cavs in 7
THE WESTERN CONFERENCE:
#1 Golden State Warriors vs #5 Memphis Grizzlies- The Warriors have had a lot of rest thanks to a quick sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans. It was looking like they were going to lose Game 3 with a daunting 17 point deficit in the 4th quarter, but somehow came back and won in overtime thanks to a miracle shot by Stephen Curry. The Warriors looked every bit like the one seed and their home court advantage will be crucial throughout the playoffs. The Grizzlies overpowered an injured Portland Trailblazers team in 5 games, but got dealt a huge blow with an injury to Mike Conley in Game 3. He is their primary ball handler and the Grizzlies have another challenge in a series where they are already the underdogs. Conley is aiming for a Game 2 return and hopefully he can play in this series. It would have been interesting to see Conley matched up against Curry, but Nick Calathes has task of guarding Curry which is a huge disadvantage to the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies can not let Draymond Green get hot on offense, if Green is hitting his 3's Warrior games usually result in blowouts. The thing that makes the Warriors so difficult to beat is that they have an excellent defense and will make scoring difficult for a Grizzlies team that already lacks scoring aside from Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The only way the Grizzlies can win is if they can slow the pace down and exploit the Warriors on the inside. This task would obviously be much easier to do with a healthy Mike Conley. The truth is that the Grizzlies don't have much of a chance without Mike Conley and even if he was healthy it would still be difficult to beat this Warriors team. I think Conley comes back in Game 3 and the Grizzlies put up a fight but in the end it won't be enough. Warriors in 6
#2 Houston Rockets vs #3 Los Angeles Clippers- I'm going to take a moment here to talk about how excellent that Spurs/Clippers series was. Each game was a battle that deserved to be played in the Finals not the first round. Game 7 was a perfect way to cap this series, the game was back and forth the entire time and both teams gave everything they had. It's unfortunate that the Spurs had to go home and if that was Tim Duncan's last game, he put on a show worthy of a finale. Chris Paul injured his hamstring in that brutal Game 7 and his health is questionable for Game 1 vs the Rockets. If he doesn't play it will be nearly impossible for the Clippers to win in Houston and an injured Paul would be disastrous. The Rockets defeated a dysfunctional Mavericks team in the first round in 5 games. The Rockets exploited the Mavs on pick and roll with Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, both who had an excellent series. A match up to watch in this series is between Dwight Howard and Deandre Jordan. Howard is much better offensively while Jordan is a great defender. A key turning point will be who wins the rebounding battle between the two. The X-factor for the Rockets is the play Josh Smith. His play in the first round raised the Rockets from a solid playoff team to a championship contender. Smith is an excellent passer and rebounder and coming off the bench gives him a huge advantage over anyone on a weak Clippers bench. A huge concern for the Clippers is who they are going to match up against James Harden. Chris Paul is probably their best defender on the wing, but even he is undersized against Harden and if his injury is serious he will be over matched. If Harden and Smith both score at will with Howard dominating the glass, the Clippers won't be able to keep up no matter how good their offense is. The Clippers are undoubtedly a tougher team after that Spurs series and showed that they are a true contender. But one has to wonder how banged up they are and if they can put up a fight in what should be a long series. In addition the Clippers don't have home court advantage in this series, something that was huge in Game 7 vs the Spurs. If Chris Paul's injury is serious this may be a short series, regardless I see the Rockets pulling this one out by a slim margin. Rockets in 7
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