NBA Playoffs 2007 - Eastern Conference

As many of you know, i'm a basketball nut. I love the NBA and the Boston Celtics especially. This year i decided to make a quick NBA playoff preview with a little insight in each of the series. Lets start out East

Eastern Conference First Round

(1)Detroit Pistons vs. (8) Orlando Magic - Detroit Leads 1-0
~Prediction: Detroit in 4.
Billups and Hamilton are two players Detroit depends upon to win and these players shine the brightest in the playoffs. The experienced Pistons will tool on the Magic with the sweep while Philly fans will be wondering how Chris Webber became 10x better with the Pistons than the Sixers. Orlando also turns the ball over a lot and shoots poorly at the Free Throw line which will be their downfall.

(4) Miami Heat vs. (5) Chicago Bulls - Chicago Leads 1-0
~Prediction: Miami in 7.
The defending champs will have a hard fought series with the young and relentless Bulls but in the end it will come down to if the Bulls can have their outside shots fall consistently over a 7 - game series. The Heat can always pound it inside to Shaq, 'Zo, Antoine, and Haslem while Wade, Kapono, Jones, Posey, and Williams can make shots to free up the post for Shaq to operate on Ben Wallace.

(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (7) Washington Wizards - Series tied 0-0
~Cleveland in 5
The Wizards have been decimated with injuries to their two All - Stars, Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas, but i believe they can steal one game from the Cavs. Antwan Jamison of the Wizards is key if the wizards want to win at least one game, he is a former All - Star and if i'm not mistaken while he was with the Warriors he put up a Kobe-esque two straight games of 50+ points. If that Jamison shows up for a game or more the Wiz will win at least one game. I'm not the biggest LeBron fan in the world but he can win this series but he won't get past the second round.


(3) Toronto Raptors vs. (6) New Jersey Nets - Nets lead 1-0
~New Jersey in 6
Major storyline here is Wince Carter.. oops my bad Vince Carter returning to Toronto for a playoff series after his messy divorce with the Raptors a few years ago. The booing got to him the first game when he shot a dismal 5-19 from the field en route to 16 points. Toronto had a tough time getting adjusted to the playoff atmosphere as Chris Bosh had a horrible game offensively. It also seemed like every time Toronto cut the lead to under five points Bostjan Nachbar would nail a three to extend New Jersey's lead again. Similar to the Detroit series the Nets have plenty of playoff experience compared to Toronto.

Eastern Conference 2nd Round.

(1) Detroit Pistons vs. (4) Miami Heat
~Detroit in 7
Tayshaun Prince will shut down Wade while the Detroit Defense clamps down to slow Miami's Offense down. Miami's defense will shut down Detroit's offense as well. This series will be very defensive oriented. The team with the most depth and firepower will win. Detroit has the best 1-2 guard punch in the NBA and they can throw multiple people at Shaq such as Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell, and Nazr Mohammed. They can "Hack-A-Shaq" to victory. Wade could also receive the "Jordan" treatment which is make sure Wade pays the price for trying to drive every chance he gets buy fouling him cleanly. It will be hard fought series but Miami will fall because this would be their second hard-fought series in the Playoffs while the Pistons owned their cupcake series.

(2) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (6) New Jersey Nets
~New Jersey in 6
Cavs are too inconsistent and the Nets would be on a roll. Kidd-Carter-Jefferson will carry the load offensively for the Nets. Nets play excellent defense and run the fastbreak like no other (well 2nd to the Suns). LeBron will have a tough cover with Richard Jefferson while Jason Kidd can own the Cavs point guards even though he is 34 years old. Mikki Moore and Jason Collins are serviciable enough to put the clamps on Big Z, Varejao and Gooden. If the Nets can stop LBJ which i believe they will they will beat the Cavs and have a tough ECF against the pistons. Plus, Wince Carter won't have anyone booing him as much this series.

Eastern Conference Finals

(1) Detroit Pistons vs. (6)New Jersey Nets
~Detroit in 6
Billups vs Kidd. Carter vs. Prince. Hamilton vs. Jefferson. All three match-ups are are fair and evenly matched. but when you get to the big guys, Wallace vs. Collins, Webber vs. Moore. Direct Advantage to the Pistons. The Pistons are too good to lose now to the Nets. After this off-season the Nets will implode - they can't afford to keep Carter-Kidd-Jefferson while giving more money to Kristic and others. One of them has to go and it will most likely be Carter who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent.

This preview was really lengthy. It is my first such preview. I'll gladly take comments to improve my writing-style. I didn't want to ramble.

Detroit will Represent the east in the NBA Finals

Next Up: Lets Head Out West!