How the West Was Won
On Sunday, the Detroit Pistons won their second straight “must-win” game against the Cavs, advancing to the ECFs for a rematch with the Miami Heat. Even with the Cavs up three games to two, I still liked the Pistons. While they seem to lose focus and stumbled a bit in losing three straight to LeBron's Cavs, it's hard not to favor the experienced, veteran-rich team over the young Cavs whose team depth doesn't extend much below LeBron. Surpringly, the Cavs made Game 6 a nail-biter, where if it wasn't for a few key offensive rebounds from the Pistons late in the game, the Cavs may have taken the series at home in Game 6. However, the Pistons won, and Game 7 was, IMO, a foregone conclusion. To give the Cavs their credit, they put up a good fight in the first half, but fatigue, inexperienced coaching, and big-game jitters made them ineffective in the second half, and Detroit cruised to the W and the ECFs.
In the West, I thought the Mavs inexperience would lead to a San Antonio Spurs victory in Game 7. Even with the Mavs leading through much of the game, my eyes were on the last 5 minutes. The Spurs came through, and when Manu hit that 3 to put the Spurs up by 3 with a little over a half-minute to go in the game, I thought it was iced. But Dirk hit a bucket and got to the line to tie it back up. In overtime, the Spurs looked tired and waiting (expecting) someone to step up. But no one did, and the Mavs bested their cross-state rivals.
And in the other Game 7 last night, the Suns outshot the Clippers. The Suns are effectively running a 7-man rotation and scoring well over 100 on most nights. They're running fast break after fast break, moving without the ball, and have come off their second straight 7-game series. How these guys are able to stand, let alone play 48 minutes of basketball every other night, is beyond me. Will fatigue catch up to the Suns in the WCFs? I hope not, I hope we get blessed with another 7-game series thats as exciting as the other series we've been enjoying this postseason.
With Dallas and Phoenix's wins last night, my Wester Conference picks have been decimated, as I expected the Spurs and Clippers to square off in the WCF. My predictions in the East are still spot on, save for the Cavs besting the Washington Wizards. Given the new shakedown, I predict Mavs over Suns in 6 and Pistons over the Heat in 7, with the Mavs winning it all in 6.