Second Round NBA Playoff Predictions

Next round NBA playoff predictions (and in the picking contest, I'm up 75-50 on the Truth, with both of us going 1-3 in the West in the first round...):

Cleveland vs. Atlanta: Cavs in five. This was going to be Cavs in six originally, but when you add in the fatigue factor, along with how banged up both of these teams have become, it just got easier for the LeBrons. Like they needed the help. The Truth Picks Cleveland in four.

Boston vs. Orlando: Celtics in seven. What, you think the Drama Boys aren't going to go the distance again? Just like in the first round, the visitors have more talent, and will win one of the first two games on the road. They also won't finish, mostly because Dwight Howard is turnover and foul-prone, and the Magic don't shoot free throws well enough, either. Prepare for another 2 weeks of the Bad Tooth obsessing over his team. Don't worry, it won't go any farther than this. The Truth Picks Boston in seven.

Los Angeles vs. Houston: Lakers in six. If this was baseball, I'd like the Rockets; when it comes to putting together a roster with spare parts, glue and a sabermetric eye for talent, they can't be beat. This isn't baseball, the Rockets don't have a point guard that can exploit the Lakers, and Pau Gasol will be much better than Yao Ming. Also, eventually, Kobe Bryant will overcome Ron Artest and Shane Battier. Expect the close on the road to get more than a little ugly; I have high hopes for the end of Good Testy's year. The Truth picks LA in five.

Denver vs. Dallas: Denver in seven. The Nuggets were 4-0 against the Mavs this year, for two simple reasons: Carmelo Anthony is better than Josh Howard, and Kenyon Martin is the prototype defender to drive Dirk Nowitzki to distraction. I also think that Chauncey Billups is going to eventually own Jason Kidd, but that it will take a while, and that the Nugs will show us the knucklehead ways that will doom them to a fast exist in the next round. The Truth picks Dallas in six.

End of the road

Tonight in San Antonio, the Mavericks finished what international basketball and Father Time had started with a three-point aided kill shot over the Spurs. Your final score was 106-93, and while Spurs Fan can bemoan the loss of Manu Ginobili all he wants, expecting the Argentinian to actually play at this point is not exactly building your house on stone. Nor, for that matter, is trotting out the supremely old Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley, the supremely physically limited Matt Bonner and Kurt Thomas, or the supremely not ready for prime time George Hill and Roger Mason. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker just weren't enough, not for their lack of trying, especially with Dirk Nowitzki finally having a decent game.

Note, also, that this was the first time in *eleven* first-rounds that the Spurs lost with Duncan on the floor. But it's not like Dallas doesn't hold peculiar match-up wins with the Spurs -- Josh Howard, in particular, seems to relish seeing this laundry -- and when you lose 4 games to 1, with a 6-point difference per game...

Well, it's not like the Spurs are going to do something crazy, not with Duncan still pretty great and the economics of the NBA being what they are. But at least they are in better shape than most to add talent.

As for Dallas, the Nuggets await in the second round once they finally sweep aside the sad people wearing Hornet jerseys, which should happen any minute now, really. They aren't going to enjoy the step up in athleticism, or the fact that the Nugs actually have bench players who could play for other rotations in the NBA; on the other hand, getting away from Parker has got to make Jason Kidd less of a liability on the defensive side of the ball.

Oh, and this also means we get at least two more weeks of Mark Cuban. Just because the Association is great, folks, doesn't mean it doesn't come without a cost.

But we have time to talk about all of that later. For now, let's mark the end of the Spurs, a team that casual NBA fans loathed, but real NBA fans respected. They never beat themselves, they never gave anything less than complete effort, and if your own laundry behaved this way, you could not ask for anything more. But man alive, do they need some more talent. (And if you really want to be bitter about it, bring up Luis Scola to Spurs Fan. Sometimes, acquiring talent, even if it doesn't have an obvious role, is good, if only because it keeps you from looking at Drew Gooden later.)