RealGM

1. SEA


v


8. VAN


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4. PHX


v

5. MIN


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2. SAS


v


7. SFH


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3. PDX


v

6. UTA

vote away...

MEM - SEA (4-0 SEA)
PHX - MIN (4-1 MIN)
SAS - SF (4-1 SF)
UTAH - PDX (4-2 PDX)

SEA 4-0
SAS 4-1
PDX 4-2
PHX 4-3

I'm going to do a quick writeup against PDX.

We will run a bit smaller during this series, putting Odom a bit more at PF and Varejao a bit more at C. Allen will shut down Westbrook with ease, as he is the best perimeter defender in the league. Bynum will dominate down low against a 34 year old Gasol (who has only put up 13/9/4 on 44 FG% the past 2 years in the playoffs). They will try and run on us, but we still have the two best players in this series, and both should be able to take control. Odom will help with spacing and ball movement, and will take Deng out of other plays with his threat of a 3PT shot. Varejao is terrific at taking charges, and should be able to slow down Smith, especially with the backcourt putting up so many shots. Manu, nearly 37, should be a very minor factor, and we will actually target him when on offense because of his lack of quickness at his advanced age. Spacing will also hurt them, as only 1 of their starters shoots higher than 32 3PT%, and 2 shoot lower than 28 3PT%.

As for the rankings...

Seattle in 4
San Antonio in 7
Phoenix in 6

SEA
SAS
PDX
PHX

Seattle in 4
San Antonio in 6
Utah in 7

Phoenix vs. Minnesota



PG - Dragic (36) / Evans (12)
SG - Bryant (32) / Evans (16)
SF - Granger (36) / Azubuike (12)
PF - West (32) / Randolph (16)
C - Noah (36) / Amundson (12)

vs.

PG - Rubio
SG - Aflallo
SF - Igoudala
PF - Love
C - Monroe

Dragic, Bryant and Evans will be too much for Minny's back court to handle - with PHX running offensive schemes designed to overpower the smaller Rubio.

Igoudala is a nice piece, but we are comfortable with Granger matching up with him and alos providing Kobe with some scoring help from the wings. He scored 20+ ppg in the reg season.

Love is the best player in Minny's starting five, but West is an underrated 4 with the ability to lay some thick defense on the 20/10 threat. Still, Love will get his - but they won't have any help from their 5 as Noah will be playing lockdown defense against a youngster without much playoff experience.

Sonics have won their match up 4-0 and are moving on to 2nd round
Spurs have won their match up 4-1 and are moving on to 2nd round

Phoenix leads Minny 3-1
Portland leads Utah 3-1

Minny is 7
Portland in 5

Utah over Portland in Game 7.

And here's why - Portland has the talent, hand over fist, and looks great on paper but....

I don't think you can get away with that front court in the playoffs. Smith can get away with playing PF when put next to a legit C, but Gasol (especially at his age) isn't that C. Who contains Bynum? Not Gasol, Smith with the weaksideI help will be nice but he isn't manning up Bynum. I think that Varejo and Bynum control the paint quite easily and make it difficult for Rondo and Westbrook to penetrate and get easy buckets.

Which bring me to my next point - I'm not syaing that a Rondo/Westbrook back court can't work, but it would be challenging to implement with the paint in lockdown and Tony Allen on the perimeter. It feels a little undersized and frankly I think the defense can cheat off of Rondo a bit to focus on really locking down Westbrook.

Suns 4-2
Blazers 4-1

PDX wins 4-1
PHX wins 4-2

1st round = over