I'll admit it, I'm a basketball junkie. With the Sonics season over, I have moved into watching the teams still remaining and will continue to do so through the playoffs. I suspect some or many of you do somewhat the same. So with that, this thread serves as an outlet for whatever is happening on the court around the NBA.
My first thought is that GSW should have been closing out Dallas last night instead of only going up 3-1. Had Baron Davis not short circuited, I think they would've won Game 2 as well. Nellie really knows Dallas, and deserves a lot of credit, but it seems to be the perfect storm for Dallas. Everything has come together at exactly the right moment for GSW. The interesting thing to watch will be can GSW close this out. They've been playing like they have nothing to loose, but now that is no longer the case. Dallas is also backed into a corner, how will they react? If GSW wins, it will be the first 8 seed to defeat a 1 seed since the NBA has moved that round to a 7 game format.
Count me among those who are not surprised the Bulls beat up on Miami. Chicago is young, healthy and fresh, everything Miami is not. I expected the margins to be closer and perhaps a long series, but felt Chicago was set to take the Heat out for the year. Luol Deng is playing like a man possessed.
Utah vs. Houston has been a very interesting match up. Not a single game with a close ending, yet tied 2-2. I expected this to be a brutal slugfest, and at times it has been. But each team has found ways to open up leads and close games out. I would not be surprised to see this one go the distance. Carlos Boozer has been nearly unstoppable, even with Yao there as a distraction.
Antawn Jamison vs. the Cav's has really show only 2 things - 1) The Wiz are dead in the water without a solid second option, or in their case an all league first option and 2) The Cav's are playing really balanced ball right now. Lebron is certainly getting his, but the rest of the team seems to be playing their supporting roles very well.
Spurs got an early wake up call from Denver in this series, but I expect the Spurs to prevail still in 5. I think Denver would've been a bigger matchup headache for a number of other teams, but the Spurs have the right mix to endure the 1-2 punch of Iverson and Anthony.
Suns vs. Kobe - The Suns are on a roll. I was surprised the Lakers won a single game, and do not expect it to happen again. What is interesting is that the Lakers have kept the Suns under a 100 points twice in this series. I would've bet they couldn't do that once in a 7 game series. Perhaps a blueprint for at least slowing the Suns down?
Detroit vs. Orlando looked like an unbalanced sibling fight where the older brother only does enough to keep the younger brother at arms length. The only thing of real interest to me here was Grant Hill has mentioned he's considering retirement, and that perhaps plays some roll in how much they would be willing to offer towards Rashard IF they wanted to go that route. I don't think they do, but it is an added dynamic.
I haven't seen anything but highlights of Toronto vs. New Jersey so I don't have much to say there.