NBA Playoff Predictions

This month’s version of The Truth lets start with the NBA and playoff predictions I see this as the year the East really has a chance in the NBA Finals. The Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers both have the athleticism, defense and coaching to give any team that comes out the West a true run for it’s money!

In the East lets look a the brackets (as of 4/5/04) a see who’s going to beat who I see (1) Indiana defeating (8) Boston in a five games series, (2) New Jersey losing (7) New York in a six games, (3) Detroit beating (6) New Orleans in five games, and (4) Miami defeating (5) Milwaukee in six games. This will set up the second round match ups as follows: (1) Indiana versus (7) New York, (3) Detroit versus (4) Miami. I see Indiana defeating New York in an entertaining six games series as Reggie Miller will do his thing at Madison Square Garden and Ron Artest will enjoy being back home in New York. Stephon Marbury will do well versus the Pacers because of their lack of a consistent point guard but in the end Jermaine O’Neal will be too much. Detroit will be too much for a Miami team that has a lot of youth and energy but little experience in the playoffs. The Pistons defense will be stifling to Dwayne Wade and company and send them home in five games. I see the Eastern Conference Finals being Detroit’s in six games.

In the West, if things stay the same, I see (1) Sacramento defeating (8) Utah in five games, (2) Minnesota beating (7) Houston in seven games, (3) L.A. Lakers defeating (6) Dallas in a sweep of four games, and (4) San Antonio defeating (5) Memphis in a grueling six games. In the second round I see (1) Sacramento beating (4) San Antonio in seven games, and (3) LA defeating (2) Minnesota in seven games. The Kings will benefit from their defeat of Utah early in the first round calendar and The Spurs troubles with Memphis. The three-man assembly of Brad Miller, Chris Webber and Vlade Divac will be important and Rasho Nesterovic won’t be David Robinson. The Lakers will win versus Minnesota but not before having it’s back against the ropes. In the end Minnesota won't have enough presence in the middle to stop Shaquille O' Neal and Karl Malone. I see the Western Conference Finals as Kings in Seven.

This will set up Detroit versus Sacramento in the NBA Finals where the Pistons and Larry Brown will get the rings but playing great defense, executing on offense and using their big men to spoil Chris Webber’s homecoming to Detroit. In a battle of long time bridesmaids it will be Brown that will get his first ring.

The Flyers Have Questions, But Do They Have Answers?

Entering the playoffs the Flyers seem to have the same problems not enough scoring and big questions at goalie.

No doubt Robert Esche has struggled but he should also start entering the playoffs. Let’s not make Sean Burke more than he has shown to be: a quality back up! He was brought here to help the younger Esche and I don’t think the team is going to go further by giving up on the supposed future goalie in Esche. The Flyers need to show the same confidence they showed Brian Boucher a couple of years ago in the playoffs and let him sink or swim.

They need better production from the power play people and the defense can’t let team consistently break in on the blue line so easy. The team has shown a penchant to let teams inside with the puck and score on odd man breaks.

What is point of stopping so many shots if you let the opposing team score on simple mistakes?

They also need to make sure their returning players like Jeremy Roenick, Keith Primeau, and Eric Desjardins get their legs back and mesh well with what has happened since they got injured. If they can they can they can go deep into the playoffs if not it will be the same exit they have seen the last couple years: a couple rounds and finito! I do like how this team has stayed afloat despite the injuries and you’ll see how much in the next segment of the Truth below!

NHL Playoff Predictions
In the first round Eastern Conference match ups I see (1) Tampa Bay upset by (8) New York Islanders in six games, (2) Boston defeating (7) Montreal in five games, (3) Philadelphia defeating (6) New Jersey in six games and (5) Toronto defeating (4) Ottawa in seven games.

That will set the second round match ups (2) Boston versus (8) New York, and (3) Philadelphia versus (5) Toronto.

I see Boston defeating New York in five games and Philly defeating Toronto in six games. In both series home ice will actually play a huge favor. In the Eastern Finals I see Philly beating Boston in seven games.

In the West first round I see (1) Detroit disposing of (8) Edmonton in five games, (2) San Jose defeating (7) St. Louis in five games, (3) Vancouver losing to (6) Calgary in six games and (4) Colorado defeating (5) Dallas in seven games.

That sets up the second round match ups: (1) Detroit versus (6) Calgary, and (2) San Jose versus (4) Colorado. I see Detroit defeating Calgary in five and Colorado in six. Both team have great goaltending and a lot of depth. I see it being a huge factor in both series.

In the Western Finals I see Colorado defeating Detroit in seven games.
In the Stanley Cup Finals, I see Philly losing to Colorado in six games.

UConn Did Their Thing At The Right Time

After being favored to win all season and periods of doubt, the men of UConn thoroughly dismantled an obviously outmatched Georgia Tech team in the NCAA Men’s National Title game and won their second title in the last five years (1999 was the other one) and proving they can handle the pressure of being preseason number one.

Jim Calhoun is official one of the college game’s great coaches as her join coaches like Bob Knight (3), John Wooden (10), Mike Krzyzewski (3), Adolph Rupp (4), Denny Crum (2), and Dean Smith (2) as the only coaches with multiple championships. Calhoun is a coach that deserves all the accolades he gets because his players play hard and graduate. After over thirty years in the business it's nice to see a coach like him win especially considering he had a cancer scare a while back.

This UConn team had a deep bench and solid guard play featuring Ben Gordon, and point man Taliek Brown, the NY bred guard who showed that despite his lack of a jumper he could still make a serious impact as he shutdown Jarrett Jack who had a wonderful tournament for the Yellow Jackets. Gordon should probably be the MVP of the tourney because while center Emeka Okafor, the Most Outstanding Player (M.O.P.) in the final game, was battling injuries during the tourney, Gordon was upping his scoring (from 19 to 21) and making clutch shots like late in that Duke game (The real championship game from this writer’s perspective!). For the second straight year a Big East team won the championship (last year it was Syracuse) and the last time a West Coast team won it all was Arizona in 1997. Any more talk about a East Coast bias should be halted till the West can win one! Be careful to not sleep on G-Tech because they have most of their players coming back and a dynamic young coach in Paul Hewitt.

Paul Hornung’s Comments

I think that the Pro Football Hall of Famer Hornung’s comments basically saying Notre Dame should lower it’s academic standards so that they can get the black athlete were an insulting to black’s and their intelligence. It would be one thing to say kids in urban schools needed to get a second look by the school because the school systems in most cities pale in comparison to it suburban counterparts but to single out black athletes like they are the only ones who receive favors is dead wrong. It is also an insult to those players that bust their butts for the Irish and got a degree like Tim Brown, Raghib Ismail, Tony Rice and many others. It is amazing what comes out of people’s mouths! It's not worth more than a paragraph.

Charles Barkley’s “Announcement”

After getting his jersey retired in Phoenix in March, Barkley said he would go into the Hall Of Fame as a Phoenix Sun rather than a Philadelphia Sixers. While most would think of it as an insult also consider that it’s not like the baseball where they put a cap on your head. On the Hall of Fame plaque it says what teams you played for. I’m personally hurt he said he’d go in as a Sun because it reminds me of the whole Reggie White/ Eagles situation where White confused hatred of the administration and Harold Katz for the love of the fans. In the end though Barkley, I guarantee will come back and profess his love for Philly again and say he will go in as a Sixer. He is just emotional like that!

Any questions, comments, suggestions email me at Clayton@geoclan.com.