Like my man Chuck, I wanted to revisit my preseason predictions, as well as do the midseason awards. Sure, the second half started last night, but All-Star Weekend was poppin in da club, and everyone needed a little break after that.
I'll just get this out of the way and say that I was pretty well off the mark in the Atlantic. I had the standings looking something like Phila, Boston, Knicks, Brooklyn, Toronto. Now to be fair, Bynum hasn't played a god damn minute for the Sixers, which slightly influences their team. Alas, the road to the Eastern Conference Finals does not look like it's going to run through South Philly. The Knicks came out better than anyone expected, Beantown is a year older and much more injured, and Brooklyn is pretty mediocre. Toronto has slightly improved their win percentage, but still sit in the basement.
Now to the Southeast, where the Heat are taking care of things, as expected. 7.5 games back sit the Atlanta Hawks, who, like I predicted, can expect to be a midlevel seed who goes out early. Only excitement left here is to see if they trade Josh Smith or not. Below them, the Wizards. I was hoping they'd push for the 8th seed, which obviously isn't happening. Wall was out much longer than expected, and that really killed any hope they had. But they've been playing good basketball since his return, and a core of Wall/Beal/Nene is great to build on. The Magic and Bobcats bring up the rear. That puts me at 5/5 in the Southeast, and I expect someone to pay me for that kind of insight.
Awards time!
MVP: As I have previously stated, I want someone other than Bron to win. But after his recent stretch of play, it's in his hands. Durant is next up, with CP3 and darkhorse Tony Parker waiting in the wings. Obviously a lot of basketball left to play, and as Chuck said, one of the tightest races ever. The level of basketball these guys are playing is unreal.
Rookie of the Year: Damian Lillard. No contest.
Defensive Player: Joakim Noah. Not the biggest fan of him, but you can't deny what a force his is, playing an integral part of Chicago's surprise run to the 5 seed in the absence of DRose.
6th Man: Jamal Crawford. JR Smith can make a push if he and the Knicks pick things back up, but somebody from the Clippers needs to be recognized for their success.
Most Improved: Jrue Holiday. Chuck already made the case, but you can't deny the growth of Jrue, carrying a team sans their blockbuster trade acquisition. Without Jrue, the Sixers might be the worst team in the league.
Coach of the Year: Strong case for Mark Jackson, but the Warriors are in a precarious position. They've lost 6 straight, and need to turn things around stat before they start slipping further down the standings and giving the Lakers a whiff of a playoff spot. The award can be his, but Mike Woodson is waiting in the wings to snatch it if Golden State collapses.
Eastern Conference Finals: Miami vs Indiana. I just don't see the Bulls beating the Heat in the second round, regardless of a Rose comeback. They thoroughly dispatched of the Bulls in Rose's MVP season, and I don't see any reason for that to change. Not with the way Bron is playing. I think Indiana pulls an upset and knocks off a Knicks team who will not be able to shoot their way into the ECF. Miami wins in 6 very tough games.
Western Conference Finals: OKC vs San Antonio. Obvious sleeper here is the Clippers, but I just don't know which of those two teams I'd pick the Clippers to beat. OKC wins in 7.
Finals: OKC vs Miami, the rematch. Expect more of this. Heat in 6.
Showing posts with label championship prediction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label championship prediction. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Midseason Recap
I know this is a few days late now, but I figured I'd go back over my initial predictions for this season, hand out Chuck's midseason awards and make some second half predictions.
First to recap my previews of the Northwest and Pacific Divisions.
Out in the Northwest, it was no secret going in to this season that K. Smooth and the fellas would easily conquer the competition and grab a top 3 seed in the West. My real brilliance came in with the 62-20 record prediction. Currently the Thunder sit at 39-14 and if they continue with their current win rate, they will end up 63-19. I'd say that makes me a fucking genius.
The major mistakes I made in the Northwest were predicting the Minnesota Timberwolves as the 2nd place team and the Jazz to only win 1 game. In my defense on the outlandish Minnesota prediction, they have been decimated by injuries this year and Kevin Love has only played in 18 games (posting averages of 18+ppg and 14rpg). No way a team that has traveled at times with only 7 people to away games is going to have a winning season. As for the Jazz, the liquor laws in Salt Lake City have not been loosened so they are bound to falter under the pressure of the home stretch.
In the Pacific, I was pretty damn close sans the meltdown out in Lakerland that no one in the entire world saw coming. As long as the Warriors stay the course, they'll actually be better than my 43-39 prediction (47-35) and they'll be a 5/6 seed in the playoffs. NO ONE can want to play this Warrior team. If Bogut actually rounds into form so they have an inside presence and if Steph Curry stays healthy, I think they can surprise the Clippers or Grizzlies in the first round. I was also able to correctly predict horrible, atrocious, embarrassing teams in both Sacramento and Phoenix, but that's nothing to write home about.
Midseason Awards:
MVP: Kevin Durant (I'm the biggest Kevin Durant apologist in the world, but this may be the tightest MVP race ever.)
Rookie of the Year: Damien Lillard in a landslide (Notice I didn't mention the idiotic prediction I made regarding him in the preseason.)
Defensive Player of the Year: Larry Sanders (Video game like block numbers, gets the nod in a surprise over Tyson Chandler)
6th Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford (17ppg off the bench, could also make a case for J.R. Smith but he has cooled off from the beginning of the year. Honorable Mention: Kevin Martin)
Most Improved Player: YOUR Jrue Holiday (Ridiculous year. 19 and 9 up from 13.5 and 4.5 last year. Paul George is also a strong candidate here especially with how he has carried Indiana without Danny Granger but I'm a homer so Jrue gets the nod.)
Coach of the Year: Mark Jackson (Look at the turnaround. That's enough evidence right there.) George Karl gets honorable mention. (Has Denver playing incredible basketball with no All-Stars and really no go-to scorer.)
All NBA Team: I'm going to do the same thing the All-Star game did and pick two back court and three front court players. Back Court: Chris Paul and Tony Parker (I really wanted to put James Harden in here because he is carrying Houston, but could not ignore Tony Parker scoring 20 a game on 54% from the field while dishing out 8 assits). Front Court: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony
Eastern Conference Finals: Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks
Sleeper: Chicago Bulls. If Joakim Noah can get healthy and Poohdini returns anywhere close to where he was last year, I honestly believe they could beat the Heat in the second round.
Western Conference Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs
No Sleeper here. No chance.
NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Not so sleeper: San Antonio Spurs. Would not surprise me in the least to see Pop take Timmy D and the gang to South Beach.
NBA Champion: Oklahoma City Thunder. One reason, Kevin Durant. He is having one of the greatest scoring seasons of all time and as long as Russ Russ gets him the ball in the clutch instead of blindfolding himself and taking wild layup attempts, the Thunder will take down the Heat in Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
First to recap my previews of the Northwest and Pacific Divisions.
Out in the Northwest, it was no secret going in to this season that K. Smooth and the fellas would easily conquer the competition and grab a top 3 seed in the West. My real brilliance came in with the 62-20 record prediction. Currently the Thunder sit at 39-14 and if they continue with their current win rate, they will end up 63-19. I'd say that makes me a fucking genius.
The major mistakes I made in the Northwest were predicting the Minnesota Timberwolves as the 2nd place team and the Jazz to only win 1 game. In my defense on the outlandish Minnesota prediction, they have been decimated by injuries this year and Kevin Love has only played in 18 games (posting averages of 18+ppg and 14rpg). No way a team that has traveled at times with only 7 people to away games is going to have a winning season. As for the Jazz, the liquor laws in Salt Lake City have not been loosened so they are bound to falter under the pressure of the home stretch.
In the Pacific, I was pretty damn close sans the meltdown out in Lakerland that no one in the entire world saw coming. As long as the Warriors stay the course, they'll actually be better than my 43-39 prediction (47-35) and they'll be a 5/6 seed in the playoffs. NO ONE can want to play this Warrior team. If Bogut actually rounds into form so they have an inside presence and if Steph Curry stays healthy, I think they can surprise the Clippers or Grizzlies in the first round. I was also able to correctly predict horrible, atrocious, embarrassing teams in both Sacramento and Phoenix, but that's nothing to write home about.
Midseason Awards:
MVP: Kevin Durant (I'm the biggest Kevin Durant apologist in the world, but this may be the tightest MVP race ever.)
Rookie of the Year: Damien Lillard in a landslide (Notice I didn't mention the idiotic prediction I made regarding him in the preseason.)
Defensive Player of the Year: Larry Sanders (Video game like block numbers, gets the nod in a surprise over Tyson Chandler)
6th Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford (17ppg off the bench, could also make a case for J.R. Smith but he has cooled off from the beginning of the year. Honorable Mention: Kevin Martin)
Most Improved Player: YOUR Jrue Holiday (Ridiculous year. 19 and 9 up from 13.5 and 4.5 last year. Paul George is also a strong candidate here especially with how he has carried Indiana without Danny Granger but I'm a homer so Jrue gets the nod.)
Coach of the Year: Mark Jackson (Look at the turnaround. That's enough evidence right there.) George Karl gets honorable mention. (Has Denver playing incredible basketball with no All-Stars and really no go-to scorer.)
All NBA Team: I'm going to do the same thing the All-Star game did and pick two back court and three front court players. Back Court: Chris Paul and Tony Parker (I really wanted to put James Harden in here because he is carrying Houston, but could not ignore Tony Parker scoring 20 a game on 54% from the field while dishing out 8 assits). Front Court: Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony
Eastern Conference Finals: Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks
Sleeper: Chicago Bulls. If Joakim Noah can get healthy and Poohdini returns anywhere close to where he was last year, I honestly believe they could beat the Heat in the second round.
Western Conference Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs
No Sleeper here. No chance.
NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Not so sleeper: San Antonio Spurs. Would not surprise me in the least to see Pop take Timmy D and the gang to South Beach.
NBA Champion: Oklahoma City Thunder. One reason, Kevin Durant. He is having one of the greatest scoring seasons of all time and as long as Russ Russ gets him the ball in the clutch instead of blindfolding himself and taking wild layup attempts, the Thunder will take down the Heat in Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
Monday, January 21, 2013
K. Smooth and another NBA first
The weekend tore through da club like K. Smooth tore through the Mavs' defense on Friday night. It left us all hungover, burping up Italian meats and asking why we put up with our 40 hour a week cube jobs.
That all being said, this isn't about us, our shitty jobs or our bad attitudes. This is about someone who found the key to averting the life of a desk jockey: grow to be almost 7 feet tall and have a freakish 7'5" wing span. I give you the NBA's best player, Kevin Durant. Last night, he became the first player in NBA history to make 20+ free throws in back to back games. He is now 41/42 from the line over his last 2 and an insane 91% from the charity stripe this season. In those last two, he has combined to score 89 points. For those of you that are math challenged, that's almost 45ppg. 45!
I'd say with recent injuries, the MVP race has now fallen squarely on Durant vs. LeBron. If I were a betting man, my money would be on the protagonist to unseat the villain for MVP and for NBA supremacy.
That all being said, this isn't about us, our shitty jobs or our bad attitudes. This is about someone who found the key to averting the life of a desk jockey: grow to be almost 7 feet tall and have a freakish 7'5" wing span. I give you the NBA's best player, Kevin Durant. Last night, he became the first player in NBA history to make 20+ free throws in back to back games. He is now 41/42 from the line over his last 2 and an insane 91% from the charity stripe this season. In those last two, he has combined to score 89 points. For those of you that are math challenged, that's almost 45ppg. 45!
I'd say with recent injuries, the MVP race has now fallen squarely on Durant vs. LeBron. If I were a betting man, my money would be on the protagonist to unseat the villain for MVP and for NBA supremacy.
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