Most Favorable Matchups for Us in the Playoffs

[Patterns]

First round: Utah

This needs no explanation. We have always owned the Jazz and now that Boozer is gone and Okur has slowed, we should sweep them. I'd hate to face a young, athletic team like the Grizzlies because they have given us trouble. I don't want to play Portland either.

Second Round: Thunder

Even though the Thunder have improved and a year more experienced, I still feel like we have a talent advantage against them. It's better than going up against a healthy Denver and Dallas team, both of which are dangerous.

WCF: Dallas

Please no Spurs. They are simply playing too good this year. If they are healthy, I fear that they might have a slight advantage on us and home court. If we play Dallas, we will have home court and we should be able to beat them 4-1 or 4-2.

Finals: The Boston Celtics

Listen, if I had a choice of facing either Pierce and Allen or Lebron and Wade, I'd be unbelievably stupid if I said Lebron and Wade. I think we match up favorably with the Celtics. Artest can slow Pierce down and even old man Fisher can slow Allen down but we have no chance of slowing Lebron and Wade down. Yes, the Celtics have a lot of bigs but in the playoffs, how many of them get to play? Orlando is too risky for us in my opinion because Nelson can go off on Fisher the entire series and wild cards like Arenas and Richardson are also too risky.

What are your thoughts?

[Slava]

Sounds about right but I'd rather play New Orleans somewhere in the 2nd round if they slip to 5th or 6th. We can play Cp3 well but Westbrook will straight up give us some heart attacks.

[Penberthy]

Rd 1: Portland
Rd 2: Utah
Rd 3: Denver
Finals: Miami

Go look at the C's front court depth then look at the Heat's. Championships aren't won by shooting guards anymore, they are won by superior low post presence.

[zelezeal]

The most favorable matchup would be the Jazz in round one. Simply, like you said, we have owned them as of late. I also agree with you, "we're better off facing the Jazz than some athletic" young team with absolutely nothing to lose. Either way, I think we beat the Grizz, Jazz, Portland, PHX, Houston, or anyone else in that 7th or 8th spot. I just think the Jazz would be the favorable warmup.

I agree with you about the second around as well. Look, this Laker team should beat Den or the Thunder in the second round. In a wierd way, in a nightmare senario, i actually can envision the Thunder coming closer to beating the Lakers than the Nuggets. However, for purely aesthetic purposes, if we do have to face one of these teams in the second round, i hope it's the Thunder. I just cannot stomach Denver's team IQ... it looks more like prison basketball than NBA ball.

On the WCF, I must agree with you again. If we finish with the top spot, I do not mind playing the Spurs. I think we can still beat them. They still do not have an answer for Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and ultimately we would prevail. However, would the favorable matchup be the Mavs?

I think so.

As for the Finals, I think Lebron and Wade would be the hardest for us to match up against. We cannot forget about Bosh. With homecourt advantage, (im bias and would pick lakers in 7) however we would have to play great defense as a team.

Would I rather play Boston or the Magic? Boston is a very good team and depending on what record we finish with, they might have HCA. Either way, I would take my chances of beating Orlando before Boston.

[laduane1]

By the trade deadline. The landscape of the NBA could change. Utah might do something to up there team. Other teams out of it might dump playes. So the playoffs which is to far off still to start thinking about will be a whole different from now to then.

[Imadogg]

I would love to play Utah > OKC > Spurs > Boston.

**** favorable, I wanna see some rivalries (and I like watching OKC)

[DubaLakers]

You're wrong on Boston, if they are healthy they are easily our toughest foe. OP have you watched Lebron in the playoffs the last few years ? Teams play defense in the playoffs. Two great athletes, a rail thin PF, and a bunch of boobs can't beat us in a 7 game series. Other than Wade & LBJ smothering the ball on a trap, there defense is suspect. Boston still plays the best team defense and they aren't even healthy yet.

[LA Forever]

I don't care who we play. I just want the team to win, but playing Boston for the title makes it 10x sweeter if we win.

[crimsonkb24]

Utah and New Orleans in the first two rounds would be pretty easy wins for us. Spurs with homecourt will be difficult, but we match up well with them and 20 points from Parker shouldn't stop us. It will still be very difficult though. Maybe Spurs loose in the first two rounds. With homecourt nobody can stop us in the Western Conference.

Miami and Orlando would both be pretty good in the FInals for us. In My opinion this Magic team isn't better than the one we played in the finals two years ago. Against Miami Kobe's will would succeed vs Wade and Ron would have to step up vs Lebron. Our 3 Bigs could all have 20/10 games vs Miami. And Miami has no big advantage @home, so homecourt for them wouldn't matter that much.

But at this point I really believe that we can't win vs Boston in a 7 game series without homecourt advantage. imo, each team can win one on the road, but that's it. Homecourt wins this series, so we'll have to have a strong 2nd half of the reg. season in order to beat boston.

[Patterns]

Rd 1: Portland
Rd 2: Utah
Rd 3: Denver
Finals: Miami

Go look at the C's front court depth then look at the Heat's. Championships aren't won by shooting guards anymore, they are won by superior low post presence.

What low post presence advantage does Boston have over us? KG isn't better than Pau at this point and Perkins is offensively challenged. Shaq will be limited in clutch situations and Jermaine might not even play.

I really don't think the Celtics have a strong post presence at all. They have a lot of big guys but none of them could break our front line in my opinion.

You're wrong on Boston, if they are healthy they are easily our toughest foe. OP have you watched Lebron in the playoffs the last few years ? Teams play defense in the playoffs. Two great athletes, a rail thin PF, and a bunch of boobs can't beat us in a 7 game series. Other than Wade & LBJ smothering the ball on a trap, there defense is suspect. Boston still plays the best team defense and they aren't even healthy yet.

Lebron in the playoffs have played great. In fact, Lebron put up some monster series. He's even better in the playoffs(stats wise) which scares me. Miami has the #2 defense right now behind Chicago. They play defense alright.

I am just saying that we pretty much have no chance of stopping Lebron and Wade because we don't have the personnel to. Bosh owned us too.

[Imadogg]

I am just saying that we pretty much have no chance of stopping Lebron and Wade because we don't have the personnel to. Bosh owned us too.

Switch Ron to Wade and Kobe to Lebron. Kobe has defended Lebron a looooot better than Ron has while with the Lakers.

And we didn't have Bynum the last time we faced them

[Patterns]

I am just saying that we pretty much have no chance of stopping Lebron and Wade because we don't have the personnel to. Bosh owned us too.

Switch Ron to Wade and Kobe to Lebron. Kobe has defended Lebron a looooot better than Ron has while with the Lakers.

And we didn't have Bynum the last time we faced them

I think that would be suicide. Kobe has never really defended Lebron well or has never defended him a whole game. Lebron is simply too strong for Kobe. Wade is simply too fast for Artest.

That's not going to work at all.

[DubaLakers]

[quote="Patterns"][quote="Penberthy"]Rd 1: Portland
Rd 2: Utah
Rd 3: Denver

Wouldn't that be nice, then

Finals: Charlotte

Lebron has quit the last two years in the playoffs I saw it with my own two eyes.

Down low , don't forget about Perkins he's a tough guard then you got Shaq he'd give it everything he has left he always busted a nut for us in the playoffs, plus for what he's lost, he hasn't lost his size.

Another thing Doc Rivers is a brilliant coach, Spolstra is nearly a noob, in the playoffs you have adjustments from game to game.

No chance we meet MIA unless BOS gets hurt IMO.

[Patterns]

Rd 1: Portland
Rd 2: Utah
Rd 3: Denver

Wouldn't that be nice, then

Finals: Charlotte

Lebron has quit the last two years in the playoffs I saw it with my own two eyes.

Down low , don't forget about Perkins he's a tough guard then you got Shaq he'd give it everything he has left he always busted a nut for us in the playoffs, plus for what he's lost, he hasn't lost his size.

Another thing Doc Rivers is a brilliant coach, Spolstra is nearly a noob, in the playoffs you have adjustments from game to game.

No chance we meet MIA unless BOS gets hurt IMO.

I really don't think Lebron quit... Even if he did, he played great.

[Dr Aki]

rd 1: portland
rd 2: utah
rd 3: denver

finals: new york or atlanta

[Father Time]

[

And we didn't have Bynum the last time we faced them[/quote]
I think that would be suicide. Kobe has never really defended Lebron well or has never defended him a whole game. Lebron is simply too strong for Kobe. Wade is simply too fast for Artest.

That's not going to work at all.[/quote]

Really? A couple of years ago I believe Kobe defended LeBron in both games against the Cavs. I think LeBron was something like 8-25 on Christmas and 5-20 later that year in Cleveland. This was before we had Ron.

[DubaLakers]

That's why we got Barnes & Test. Kobe would guard in spots no reason to blow up Kobe on the d end.

[semi-sentient]

Assuming we get the 2 seed...

Rd 1: Utah (7 seed)
Rd 2: NOH (6 seed, knocks off Dallas in Rd 1)
Rd 3: Denver (8 seed, knocks off S.A. in Rd 2)
Rd 4: Atlanta (who has no shot in hell, but whatever)

Regarding the Heat, I'd much rather face them than a healthy Celtics squad. The Celtics are too damn experienced and have the size/depth up front to deal with our biggest strengths. If we are utilizing our talents properly against the Heat, which means pounding it inside for high percentage shots that shut down their transition opportunities, they are basically screwed. That team can not hang with us running half-court sets, and there is no reason that we can't completely control the tempo given our FC advantage. Unless we play stupid.

Lebron in the playoffs have played great. In fact, Lebron put up some monster series. He's even better in the playoffs(stats wise) which scares me. Miami has the #2 defense right now behind Chicago. They play defense alright.

Against who? Look at the teams he's played over the years. Defensively they have mostly sucked (2006/07/08 Wizards, 2007 Nets, 2009 Pistons, 2009 Hawks, 2010 Bulls), so it's no surprise that his stats look as good as they do. What do you think Kobe's stats would look like if he were playing teams WORSE than Utah, Denver, and Phoenix on a regular basis? That's what you have with LeBron. He had ONE fantastic series against a great defense (the Magic), and outside of that he's torched teams that ranged from mediocre to downright awful. Against good/great defenses in general, he's been pretty average, and at times downright awful (Spurs, Celtics mostly).

I wouldn't take too much out of our Christmas Day game though. We got our asses kicked even worse against Milwaukee and Memphis on our floor, so we were clearly struggling at the time as Bynum was just being worked back into the rotation. Things will slow down in the playoffs and I'm confident that we'll do a much better job of controlling the tempo. We have too much experience and talent for me to seriously worry about the Heat knocking us off in the Finals, should they even get past the Celtics or Bulls, which they won't.

Edit: I should note that I was a little paranoid earlier in the season as well, but after coming to my senses I think the Heat just have to go through the usual growing pains first. This year is not the year I'd be worried about. Next year, when they add more size and get Haslem back, as well as developing more chemistry, is when I'll really start to worry.

[joe.linnen]

SF:Pierce/Daniels
PF:Garnett/Davis/Harangody
C:Perkins/O'Neal/ONeal/Erden
SG:Allen/Robinson/Wafer
PG:Rondo/Bradley/West

or

SF:James/Jones
PF:Bosh/Haslem/Howard
C:Ilgauskas/Anthony/Dampier/Magloire/Pittman
SG:Wade/Miller/House
PG:Chalmers/Arroyo

I'll take on the Heat because of the weak front line. Artest can slow James down, he wont stop him, as for Wade, Bryant will make him work on the both ends of the floor. Gasol, Odom and Bynum will have a field day with Bosh and the others down low.

[Patterns]

Bosh/Big Z/Haslem/Dampier is a VERY solid front line. We've seen Bosh, Big Z, Haslem, and Dampier give our front line problems.