Saturday, May 26, 2012

2012 NBA Playoff Predictions - Conference Finals

#1- San Antonio Spurs vs #2- Oklahoma City Thunder - Not too often does it happen this way, but the Conference Finals in the West gives us the match-up that we were all hoping for. The Spurs and the Thunder both blew by their competition in the first two rounds as the Spurs made the Jazz and Clippers look like jokes while the Thunder impressively snuck past the defending champ Mavs and the perennial contending Lakers. The Thunder and the Spurs have a combined one loss in the playoffs, the Spurs being the undefeated team, so this should be quite interesting series. Personally, I hope the Thunder will win this series, but right now I have a serious problem with going against the Spurs. They have now won 18 straight and 29 out of their last 31 games, only losing twice when they rested their big three. Two things that are key in the playoffs are momentum and experience and with this huge winning streak they certainly have the momentum and we all know that this Spurs team is experienced. Now the Thunder have some good momentum and are gaining more playoff experience that will help them in the future, but I really think that this is the Spurs' year. The Spurs have defeated the Thunder twice out of three times already this year and while I don't see a third straight sweep, a quick finish to the series wouldn't surprise me. I think all the games will be close and hard fought, but the Spurs will be clutch enough to wind out on top. Prediction: Spurs 4-1

#2- Miami Heat vs #4- Boston Celtics - First off I want to give a well deserved shout out to the Sixers. No one expected them to do much in these playoffs, but they certainly had a spectacular run that started by knocking off a beaten up Bulls team and ended by giving the Celtics a run for their money by taking them to seven games before finally getting outrun. Doug Collins has certainly done wonders with that team. But onto the Celtics and Heat. The Eastern Conference has been the conference that has given us the most drama and competition this season and I see that continuing in the Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics owned the Heat in the regular season going 3-1, but I see quite the dog fight happening in this series rather than a one sided battle. Miami is still beat up with Bosh being out, but James and Wade have certainly been on fire as they won three straight to knock out the Pacers in six after the whole country wrote them off when they went down 2-1. I think that momentum will carry into this series and they will start out strong. I also see the Celtics starting out strong after the clutch win against the Sixers in game seven. Some might say a brutal seven game series agains the Sixers will make them a bit worn out to start with, but I don't see that. The Celtics big three know how to win and on top of that Rajon Rondo has been a beast. So like I said, this will be a tough, hard fought series and I wouldn't be surprised to see either team wind out on top, but I will give the slight nod to the Heat in this one. Prediction: Heat 4-3

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