With The top 2 teams in the east deadlocked

[TheKingNbooby]

With 2 sub .500 east teams, does this mean we have underated the lower tier teams. We all know Detroit and Boston are great teams, so how come it has to be them choking it away, instead of it being a top team versus a vastly underated team.Although the West has all the regular seaosns wins, the east is playing competetive

[5DOM]

1. we have underrated the lower tier teams
2. we have overrated the upper tier teams.

a little bit of both i think

[Last Guardian]

The lower tier teams of the east happen to be extremely athletic, physical teams...and those can be challenging in the playoffs.

[JordansBulls]

With 2 sub .500 east teams, does this mean we have underated the lower tier teams. We all know Detroit and Boston are great teams, so how come it has to be them choking it away, instead of it being a top team versus a vastly underated team.Although the West has all the regular seaosns wins, the east is playing competetive

The lower teams have nothing to lose. Kinda like the Bulls in 06 tied Miami 2-2 in round 1 and everyone said they were overrated but yet won the title.
That just woke them up.

[arrogancy]

1) Look at the second half of the season stats. For instance, Philly started horribly, but has been playing like a mid seed for the second half of the season.

2) Basketball is more about matchups than anything, and only people that don't know anything about the sport look ONLY at numbers.

3) Young teams can get athletic/hot against older teams in the playoffs and pull out momentum based wins

[TAI8]

I must say I am impressed.

[Basileus777]

It means that teams like Phoenix and Dallas need to learn how to play with energy and fire like Philly and Atlanta.

[Dtown84]

I think we definitely underrated Atlanta. Philly not so much, plenty of people had the sixers/pistons series at least going six, and many Piston fans (including myself) were hoping Toronto had fallen to seventh instead. That said they were still underrated just no where near as much as the Hawks.

[triplet1984]

Its a style clash too, these teams are doing well by running and exploiting younger legs.

[bstein14]

I think you see this a lot with teams and players who have never been to the playoffs.

You see a fire in them, just like GS last season.

These lower seeds with lots of young talented (from years of lottery picks) teams can really get out and play well, especially when in front of their home crowds.

[T-Mac for MVP]

One thing people seem to forget during the playoffs is that there is time to make adjustments. Between each game you can make adjustments which you can't do in the regular season.

[Manocad]

With 2 sub .500 east teams, does this mean we have underated the lower tier teams. We all know Detroit and Boston are great teams, so how come it has to be them choking it away, instead of it being a top team versus a vastly underated team.Although the West has all the regular seaosns wins, the east is playing competetive

Answer?
Half the West teams look like playoff jokes. The West is nowhere near as competitive as the records would have you believe.

2-2 with HCA is "choking it away"?

Which West team are you a fan of?

[Gordon Bombay]

-= original quote snipped =-


Answer?
Half the West teams look like playoff jokes. The West is nowhere near as competitive as the records would have you believe.

2-2 with HCA is "choking it away"?

Which West team are you a fan of?

its not choking it away, its just making it a lot harder on themselves.

[MagicNolesFSU]

West playoffs are turning out to be a joke.

[Manocad]

its not choking it away, its just making it a lot harder on themselves.

A "lot" harder? You can't expect to sweep any series in the NBA; history has proved that.

[legacyinthemakin89c]

Its all got to do with matchups. They're are both older, slower teams and don't match up will against athletic teams. Luckily for both teams though, these are the last two teams in the east that we have to worry about their athleticism.