Pridict WCFinals/ECFinals and NBA Finals for 09

[shobe_81]

Assuming teams stay healthy come playoffs time and through, who do you think will be in the WCF/ECF and then the Finals?

For me:
WCF: Rockets vs. Lakers
ECF: Celtics vs. Pistons

NBA Finals: Lakers vs. Pistons

WCF
Rockets (provided stay healthy) will beat out other top teams and face the Lakers because they have the offensive power (T-Mac, Artest, and Yao) and a great defensive power (Artest, Battier, Mutombo). Despite the inexperience of the playoffs, I think they've got the right pieces in place. And they also won 55 games with their star players hurt throughout last season.

Lakers on the other hand get to the WCF because of the experience they retained from last season. And they've added Bynum to the mix, with a full season under their belt with Kobe/Pau/Bynum, I think they will be experienced enough to find their way to the WCFinals. They only test I see for them is the Suns because of Suns front-court.

Lakers win against Rockets which will be a very close battle because I believe Shane Battier is the best defender to put on Kobe given a 1 on 1 situation. And I think their team defense is good enough to gear towards Kobe. But with the addition of Bynum, the Lakers have enough to take advantage. And I think the PF spot will really give Rockets problems having Scola guarding Gasol. The Rockets remind me of the Celtics a bit, they have great defense and they have a very good player coming off the bench in Battier (such as a Posey). Lakers duel it out and win in a very close series against Rockets because I think the pressure and inexperience will catch up to the Rockets.

ECF:
Obviously the East is pretty weak with only 3 contenders (if you count the Cavs in) despite a championship team from the East. So, I think the Boston Celtics will face the Pistons in the ECF.

Both teams are experienced and have a good team to get to the ECFinals and I still don't think Cavs nor Magic, or Raptors for that matter could give much trouble to these teams, although I could see the Cavs and Sixers giving a little trouble to either teams because of the abilities of LBJ and the Cavs defense, and the addition of Brand to Sixers makes them much tougher as they showed flashes in last season.

The Pistons win against the Celtics IMO. Yes the Celtics are coming off a championship year and have 3 very good players but I think their hunger has slowed down as they've accomplished their goal. And lets not forget the Pistons are also championship experienced. Stukey showed some flashes in previous season and I think they'll be in the Finals. And with the addition of Kwame Freaking Brown (yes I said it), he might not be able to handle a ball but he can sure play decent/good defense. I think he'll be able to keep Perkins in Check because of his body strength while Wallace goes to work on KG. On the other hand Boston lost 2 key pieces of their Championship run (Posey and PJ Brown) both veteran experienced players coming off the bench. Rando will improve but I don't think it'll be enough because of the loss of Posey and PJ (they brought defense, hustle, 3pt shooting, and the open 10-15 foot jumper that I don't see being replaced by any of their key bench players). I think they were key pieces Boston couldn't afford to lose coming into this season although PJ was older.

So there are my reasons as to why I think Lakers and Pistons will be in the Finals in 09 season. And if Lakers beat a healthy Rockets in the WCF, I think they're in good position because they would have to go through a very good defense (especially with Battier/Artest guarding kobe) which will give them a taste of the Finals.

[fivas14]

WCF - Jazz Lakers
ECF - Boston Orlando
NBA finals - Jazz Boston

[shobe_81]

Bump, damn I thought this would get a little more excitement.

[GMF]

Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz

Boston Celtics vs. Raptors

Predicting something I'm guessing most others won't.

[Don Draper]

Rockets vs Lakers
Celtics vs Cavs

Rockets vs Celtics

[ChargerMan]

WCF

Spurs vs Rockets

Spurs eek out a game 7 victory

ECF

Celtics vs Cavaliers

Lebron gets to the finals again

Finals

Spurs vs Cavaliers

James puts up a better fight this time but still loses 4-2

[Bulls_Dynasty6]

WCF:
Spurs vs. Lakers

Spurs in 7

ECF:
Celtics vs. Pistons

Celtics in 6

NBA Finals:

Spurs in win in 7 in a thrilling series highlighted by Robert Horry clutch performances.

[Twuan89]

Suns vs Lakers: Suns win 4-3

76ers vs Celtics: Celtics win 4-2

Suns vs Celtics: Suns win 4-2

[thebossman]

I dont think Detroit gets to the east finals this year, there team has regressed over the past few years, although the result was the same (east final), it was very evident from there play that there game has some new holes in it. Stuckeys development might be hindered by Chauncy, which cant be good.

If Cavs play Celtics before the east final like they did this year, than i can see the raptors and detroit having a real nice battle in the semi's to take the final spot. ofcourse Jermaine has to be fully healthy.

[bstein14]

I dont think Detroit gets to the east finals this year, there team has regressed over the past few years, although the result was the same (east final), it was very evident from there play that there game has some new holes in it. Stuckeys development might be hindered by Chauncy, which cant be good.

If Cavs play Celtics before the east final like they did this year, than i can see the raptors and detroit having a real nice battle in the semi's to take the final spot. ofcourse Jermaine has to be fully healthy.

They won 59 games last year.

They played the Celtics better than the Lakers did in the playoffs.

Stuckey-Max-Amir-Affalo will all be better... Prince and RIP will stay the course... Dice, Sheed, and Billups may decline some.

Honestly if Boston didn't pull off their huge trades I don't see why Detroit wouldn't have been the 2008 NBA champions.

[KB20]

WCF

Lakers vs. Spurs

For the second straight year, the Spurs play superhuman Kobe who sinks them in 6 games.

ECF

Celtics vs. Pistons

Curry instills a new sense of passion in Detroit and the Pistons come back fighting winning in Boston in 7 games.

Finals

Lakers vs. Pistons

Kobe remains superhuman and puts up 31/7/8/50% FG. Lakers win in 6.

[britblazerdude]

Blazers repeat their overachieving status from 1977 with a bunch of young fellows.
Greg Oden playing Bill Walton
Aldridge playing Maurice Lucas
Brandon Roy playing Bob Gross

[legacyinthemakin89c]

The Celtics are better yes and this isn't an excuse at all, but I would say that series would have gone 7 had Chauncey not been injured prior to it, because he was playing amazing up until he sat out against Orlando.

And we hear it every year, the Pistons will decline, but it still hasn't happened, we won 59 games, were the 2nd best team in the league and Billups won't regress that much at all. What is going to get worse, shooting? passing? his ability to create off the dribble? none of these things get worse with age, usually they get better, so Billups really won't get worse. Sheed will continue to go downhill, but if Johnson and Maxiell improve and Brown can provide us with 10 minutes of solid interior defense, theres no reason we aren't in the same place we were last year.

[JordansBulls]

WCF - Houston vs San Antonio

ECF - Boston vs Orlando

NBA Finals - Houston vs Boston