A Bucks Fan Picks the First Round, Pt. 2

Continued from before, my friend Jon Meerdink picks the Western Conference winners. As before, these picks were all before todays games, I was just stuck at work too long to actually post them before the action took place. Again, my bad. 


-Tom


Western Conference Round 1 Picks

San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies

The Spurs are legendary for saving themselves for the playoffs. They always seem to build for the April-June run through the postseason, which is why it was a bit surprising to me to see them sprint out to such a hot start. For much of the season, there was nobody hotter than the San Antonio Spurs. They were even on pace to win more than 70 games at one point.

They inevitably cooled off but still earned the top seed out in the West, where they’ll match up with the eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies, who have all grown beards so they can match their mascot. I actually think the Spurs are a great matchup for the Grizzlies. San Antonio has a relatively small front line other than Tim Duncan, which will make it hard to match up with Zach Randolph. That said, it’ll probably come down to guard play in the end, which I think favors San Antonio. Experience in the backcourt and the presence of all-time great Tim Duncan on the inside will make the Spurs too much for the Grizzlies, who will put up a fight but eventually fall 4-2.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets

I’m no Laker fan. I respect Kobe Bryant, but I can’t root for the Lakers, no matter what. Having said that, I don’t think there’s any way that New Orleans can hang with the defending champs. Los Angeles is just too talented, too experienced…too everything really. New Orleans just doesn’t have enough to get it done.

I wanted to make each of these picks two full paragraphs, but really, I have nothing left to say. LA gets out their brooms on the way to round two. It’s a 4-0 sweep.

Dallas Mavericks vs. Portland Trailblazers

I have one huge question going into this matchup: how come nobody calls Portland the T-Blazers? I live in Minnesota, so everybody is constantly calling the Timberwolves the T-Wolves. How come that never translates to Portland?

Seriously though, I think these teams are much more evenly matched than their seedings would indicate. Portland is probably the NBA’s best kept secret. I love Andre Miller. I love LaMarcus Aldridge. If it wasn’t for Brandon Roy’s creaky knees, Portland would have the absolute perfect Big Three alignment for a multi-season championship run.

The thing is, Dallas is the higher seed, which means they have home court advantage, and home court advantage is a big plus in a matchup between two evenly matched teams. It showed in Game 1, and I think it’ll probably show throughout the series. Experience plus home court advantage equals first round win for Dallas, but they’ll have to work for it. We’ll be here for seven games, but Dallas wins 4-3.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Denver Nuggets

It’s everybody’s favorite team of nice guys against the feel good story of the NBA season. It’s Kevin Durant, the face of the NBA’s future, versus the team Carmelo Anthony left for dead. It’s OKC and the Mile High City, and it’s my favorite first round matchup.

Why is it my favorite? Because both teams play beautiful basketball. In my idealized world, every basketball game ends on a last second three pointer with both teams scoring more than 120 points. These two teams could give us that. Neither team likes to play slow, although if it comes to that, I think the Thunder has better personnel for that kind of game. This is also probably the first playoff series in history to feature two teams with sky-blue uniforms, but I can’t verify that.

The thing is, even though this is my favorite series, I just have the feeling that it might not be around for too long. They play similar styles, but I think it’s finally Oklahoma City’s time. Denver just doesn’t have the firepower to keep with Durant, Westbrook, and Company. Plus, Kendrick Perkins has teamed up with Serge Ibaka to make the Thunder into a team that actually can play defense, so that will slow down the Nuggets just enough to let Durant and friends run wild. Oklahoma City advances 4-2.