First Round NBA Picks

Eastern Conference

(8) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (1) Detroit Pistons
Do I really have to say much about this? The Bucks don’t even have a winning record. They have some talented guys like TJ Ford, Magloire, and Redd but together they don’t make much of a team, especially not one that can compete with the team that has refined that word. TNT might be better off showing Gigli instead, yes it’s gonna be that bad…

Detroit in four.

(7) Chicago Bulls vs. (2) Miami Heat
See, the nice thing about Eastern Conference picks is that they’re really easy. Before, when Jordan was still on the Bulls, you’d just choose the Bulls and you’d have an 85% chance of being right. Now that he’s gone and the Bulls are just another team good enough to make it in a bad conference. Miami hasn’t been playing that great lately, but Wade won’t let them down.

Heat in five.

(6) Indiana Pacers vs. (3) New Jersey Nets
While this is one is a bit tougher than the first two, I keep in mind the fact that this is the NBA and not March Madness in college. When was the last time you had something like George Mason happening? Really, the reason to watch this series will be to see if Peja Stojakovic will absolutely disappear in the postseason with a new team. Jermaine O’Neal is a great player, but who else is around him? Jeff Foster? Anthony Johnson? I might as well named people in an office in Any City, USA. Kidd, Jefferson and Carter have been playing out of their minds, and there’s no reason to think they’ll stop. They don’t have much depth beyond their starting five, but then again no one is going to drown swimming in Indiana’s bench.

Nets in six.

(5) Washington Wizards vs. (4) Cleveland Cavaliers
This is the one to watch, possibly out of both conferences. If I were to draw an analogy to summer movie releases, this isn’t like that one summer where you had Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones and Minority Report come out, it’s more like Jurassic Park III, AI and Final Fantasy. In other words, terrible. However, this is one series that looks great on paper. Lebron and Arenas are two of the leagues most potent scorers. You have Hughes up against the team that he abandoned. Butler will be excited to get back into the playoffs after suffering that year in LA with Kobe. It’s really hard to call this one, the two teams match up quite well. Gooden might not be at Jamison’s level, but Thomas and Haywood aren’t Z either. You have some depth on both teams with guys like Daniels and Murray (both ex-Sonics strangely enough) coming off the benches. It’s hard to call, but I think Lebron is going to be hungry enough to get past at least the first round.

Cavs in seven.

Western Conference

(8) Sacramento Kings vs. (1) San Antonio Spurs
How does it feel Shareef? Let’s not take away from his moment by saying he wasn’t a major part of this run. If that was you on the bench, you know you’d be giddy with excitement. Anyway, Artest has brought a degree of toughness and confidence to this team that looked tired at the beginning of the season. Now Artest claims that the Kings are the favorites in this series. Here’s something that isn’t news, RON ARTEST IS CRAZY. They got a decent starting lineup, a couple of decent guys on the bench, but they are also facing the Spurs. TP (does any one call him this? Or is it too much like toilet paper?) and TD will be ready for the Kings (and the rest of that team too, like Horry, Finley, Ginobili… do I need to go on?)

Spurs in six.

(7) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (2) Phoenix Suns
MVP! MVP! MVP! You have Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, two legit MVP contenders dueling to advance in the playoffs. Let’s think about something for a second though. Kobe as MVP. Certainly without him, the team would be absolutely awful and dwelling in the basement. The thing is though, as much as we talk about the 81 points he scored, he only had 2 assists. You think a guy who’s drawing an entire team of defenders could afford to pass the ball more than twice. He might make the team better, but not the players. On the flip side, you have Nash who is making Boris Diaw look like he never played in Atlanta. That’s at least equivalent to a 70-point game or something. Throw in the fact that they’ve only won like seven games less than they did last year without Amare should count for the rest. On a side note, Jim Jackson will suit up against his old squad. Who was afraid for a minute that he wouldn’t have a new jersey this season like he usually does? He must have the unintentionally largest basketball jersey collection.

Suns in six.

(6) Los Angeles Clippers vs. (3) Denver Nuggets
As I looked at the matchups on Yahoo! Sports I notice a link to ‘Playoff History’ for the Clippers and laughed. No, it’s actually not a blank page, but out of 6 appearances, 3 were in the 70’s. Anyway, it’s another decent matchup. Cassell, Cat Mobley, Brand, Maggette and Vin Baker (yes, they picked him up) will face Carmelo and Company. Brand will probably step up, while Maggette will look not to get his foot stepped on. It will be interesting to watch. Kenyon Martin is still hobbling about, nowhere near top form, so how he does against Brand will be important. The Nuggets are probably better defensively with Camby and Patterson, but the Clips got some great backcourt shooters in Cat and Cassell. It’s probably going to be a slugfest, and poor Ruben has a bad history in those.

Clippers in seven.

(5) Memphis Grizzlies vs. (4) Dallas Mavericks
By nature, this is supposed to be the most even matchup. In reality, it might be one of the more lopsided ones in the West. Gasol is a great player, unfortunately Nowitizki is a MVP candidate. Beyond that, the Grizz have stars like Chucky Atkins as their starting point man. Jason Terry might not be a superstar, but he’s a decent shooter, whereas Atkins looks like he’s more apt at construction some nights. Mike Miller could be Sixth man of the year, but Dallas has at least 8th or 9th men coming in.

Mavs in six.