Obviously everyone on this board has teams they follow but the playoffs are here and it's time to talk about the other teams we don't normally watch as well.

Matchups in the East:
Boston - New York
Chicago - Brooklyn
Atlanta - Indianapolis
Milwaukee - Miami

Matchups in the West:
Oklahoma City - Houston
San Antonio - LA Lakers
Denver - Golden State
LA Clippers - Memphis

What matchups are you ready to see? Are there any teams you wouldn't normally watch that intrigue you in the playoffs?

Also, does anyone care about the Eastern Conference since it would take killing Lebron for the Heat to not win it?

I'm looking forward to Denver - Golden State. Should be almost like an All Star game with the amount of points they can put up on each other.

NY-BOS is really the only intriguing matchup for me out East.

CHI and BK will be a good series but I don't have much interest there.

Out WEST, all series are going to be great and I can't wait to watch them tip off this weekend.

Outside of OKC-HOU, all the series are up for the grabs out west and that's why I think it's going to be great. I don't think LAL can beat San Antonio but the uncertainty around SA and their injuries leaves the door slightly open there.

As far as MEM/LAC goes, that's going to be another tough, gritty, ground it out series with a team hobbling out to face a fresh and ready OKC team.

I think DEN will be able to handle GS because ultimately, you have to be able to get some stops in order to win games in the playoffs and I like Denver's defense a little more than I like Golden States. If Faried and Lawson are good to go, I think this has the potential to be a great/long series though.

I care about the East. But that's just because Im looking forward to seeing the heat get to the finals in about 13 or 14 games

On the west side of things, I'll be rooting for the clips to make it out.

New York is the only team that could even make it a competitive series vs Miami.

Indiana can't do it this year. and the rest of the teams are a joke.

I agree. I think NY is the only team that has a chance against Miami in the east, maybe even moreso than the Thunder would in the finals.

Boston - New York
Chicago - Brooklyn
Atlanta - Indianapolis
Milwaukee - Miami

Matchups in the West:
Oklahoma City - Houston
San Antonio - LA Lakers
Denver - Golden State
LA Clippers - Memphis

The first round matchups in the East all look pretty clear to me as far as who will win. The only interesting matchup on that side of the bracket is Pacers/Knicks, which the Knicks should win. Lebron is winning the East.

OKC has really separated in the West. I think they are going to rape and pillage their way to the finals. Every other series should be a great, entertaining contest between good teams. Previously I thought the Spurs would cruise to the WCF and had a realistic shot to win the West, but not the way they have been playing with Manu/Tony/Diaw injuries and the Jackson situation. LAL is not an easy opponent with Howard and Gasol both playing well; I'm not convinced the Spurs will even make it out of the first round.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 4/18/2013 4:45p).]

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I agree. I think NY is the only team that has a chance against Miami in the east, maybe even moreso than the Thunder would in the finals.

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I'm not goin to argue with that.

As for the West, the Thunder are the clear, heavy favorites right now and the only team that could knock them out is a healthy SA team. Not sure that's happening this year.

Denver is a solid team but they lack a closer and Gallo out hurts some. I can't see them beating OKC if they get to the WCF.

None of the East first round series look to have much suspense to them...there might be a 7-game series in there because of the rampant mediocrity over there, but other than that and seeing if Boston can challenge NY, the East = nap time for a couple of weeks.

I'm not sure Houston can provide much resistance against OKC, but the rest of the West looks competitive in round one. I'll be interested to see if Denver can continue their home court dominance while short-handed.

The only questions in the East are who will Miami play in the EC Finals, and how many games will it take them to win the East. My guess is 14. There are 5 teams in the West that could have been the #2 seed.


In the West, I'm guessing the only upset MIGHT be Denver over SAS. The Clips-Grizzlies series could get ugly because the teams don't like each other. It's the "We Don't Bluff City" vs. "Lob(Flop) City"


From Saturday.

As an OKC fan, I'm scared ****less of Denver.

All of you ****ers who don't think the rockets will be fun to watch can go **** yourselves! You c0ck gobblers should just sit back and enjoy the damn good basketball you're about to witness!

Pahdz...I'm more worried about Memphis. 2 of the losses to Denver were in OT and by 2. Not saying they would be easy to play at all but Memphis has always worried me more. Maybe I remember the series two years ago!

I agree with both of Diet's game wishes.

If the Rockets upset the Thunder, where would that rank in upset history?

Are we going to do a prediction thread similar to the one we did last year? If I am not mistaken it was HotardAg who was running it?

Anyone watching Boston NY? Pretty good game one. I've never liked the Celtics but man they play good half court ball. Hate new York's 1on1 offense

Rockets upsetting the Thunder would be as big as

Nuggets over the Sonics

&

Warriors over the Mavs

Or Memphis over SA

Rockets over Thunder would be bigger than MEM over SA (Memphis was on fire and the Spurs were decimated by injuries) and maybe even bigger than GSW over DAL (GSW was on a tear and a bad matchup).

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 4/20/2013 5:04p).]

OK, it wasn't really a foul but I still like that they called Lawson for the offensive foul on the flop. He ought to get a fine for the flop.

Who missed the Memphis series in 2011 for the Spurs?

Jason Terry sucks.

Decimated by injures my ass...a fully healthy ginobili wouldn't have made a difference. Duncan, Mcdyess, Richard Jefferson and Tony Parker were all healthy too. Wtf?

Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph made the entire spurs team their *****.

[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 4/20/2013 6:05p).]

[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 4/20/2013 6:06p).]

Didn't Ginobili injure himself floppy vs Phoenix thag year?

Doesn't matter...ginobili scored 33 pts in game 5 of that series.

Spurs fan just have revisionist history.

Ginobili missed game 1 and was playing with a broken arm. Duncan was probably at 80%. Two of the big 3 were playing hurt against a super hot Memphis team that was a tough matchup to begin with. Every Spurs fan was dreading that series.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 4/20/2013 6:26p).]

Seems like David Lee is done for the year. You could hear him on the ground saying he heard a pop. Pops are never good.

Denver should sweep

Awesome first 2 games. NBA playoffs are much more enjoyable to me than the NCAA tournament

Chicago did a good job getting to the playoffs this year but imagine how much better they'd be with Rose back.

If Denver had Danilo I think they would've gone farther than they will. He is a mismatch for most teams.

Either Brooklyn looks really good or Chicago is not nearly as good as I was expecting them to be. This is embarrassing

blake griffin's offensive game is laughable at best