The first round of this year’s NBA playoffs were memorable, to say the least. Five out of the eight series’ went to all seven games. Both eight seeds pushed their opponent, the one seed, to the brink, but fell in the seventh game. With only eight teams remaining to compete for the title, the second round looks to be even better than the first.
East
Miami Heat vs. Brooklyn Nets. The most interesting thing going into this series is that the Nets own the Heat this season. Brooklyn went 4-0 against the Heat this season, even though the Heat did not have as great a year as they did in the previous three seasons. It is now the playoffs and regular season records don’t matter, but it does show that the Nets can beat the Big Three and their supporting cast. The Heat took care of the Bobcats, soon to be Charlotte Hornets, with a four-game sweep. The Nets had some trouble with the Toronto Raptors, but they played a solid game seven in Toronto and came out on top, thanks to Paul Pierce blocking Kyle Lowry’s shot in the final seconds. The Heat should win this series, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Nets steal a game or two along the way.
Washington Wizards vs. Indiana Pacers. Here we have another very interesting matchup. The Wizards looked fantastic in the first round, as they disposed of the Chicago Bulls in only five games. On the other hand, the Pacers did not look so good. They were taken to game seven by the Atlanta Hawks, a team that did not even win 40 games this season. The Pacers have had trouble scoring for the past few months and the Wizards are a solid defensive team. The Wizards backcourt may be the best in the playoffs (now that the Golden State Warriors have been eliminated), composed of John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Pacers need more offense from players like Roy Hibbert, David West, and George Hill. If these guys get going, the Pacers could win the series. But, if the Wizards play as good defensively as they did against Chicago, they could win this series easily.
West
San Antonio Spurs vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Next to the Wizards, the Trail Blazers may be the biggest surprise of this year’s playoffs. Many analysts had the Rockets defeating them in the first round, but the Blazers shut up their critics by beating James Harden and the boys in six games. The Spurs needed seven games to defeat the Dallas Mavericks, but this does not mean that the Spurs are still not a solid team. This matchup is difficult to predict, seeing that the Spurs are the #1 seed in the West, but the Blazers seem to be getting hot at the right moment. Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge owned the Rockets in the first round. He may not be able to score as much in this series, due to the Spurs being slightly better on defense than the Rockets. Point guard Damian Lillard also should be a factor for the Blazers in this series. Tony Parker may have to play intensely hard in order to shut the Weber State alum down. This series will most likely go six or seven games and the winner is a toss-up prediction. The Spurs have the experience and great coaching, but the Blazers have many young players who play the game effectively.
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
These are the only two teams playing each other in the second round that both won their series in seven games. The Clippers, possibly motivated by the Donald Sterling controversy, took care of the Warriors in game seven on Saturday night, as did the Thunder with the Memphis Grizzlies. This series is surely to have a lot of offense in it, as both of these teams are known to put the ball in the basket plentifully. After the Grizzlies won game 5, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, was noted as “Mr. Unreliable” by The Oklahoman, an Oklahoma City newspaper. He used these comments as motivation to lead his team from a 3-2 deficit and defeat the Grizzlies in the seventh game. This series is also hard to judge because both teams play so good offensively that it’s not easy to say which team has the better offense. Whichever team plays better defensively may have the upper hand in this series. Due to the stress on offense by both teams, we may see a second consecutive seven-game series played by these two.
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