Give and Go
By Erie Times-News Sports Erie Times-New staff bloggers
The Erie Times-News sports staff delivers in-depth coverage of the Erie BayHawks and pro and college basketball   Read more about this blog.
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Posted: May 14th, 2011
Game 7 for Griz-Thunder, Game 1 for Bulls-Heat

If Oklahoma City can't find an answer for Memphis PF Zach Randolph, it will fall to the eighth-seeded Grizzlies in Sunday's Game 7./AP Photo

1-2 so far. Not good.

Chicago over Atlanta is the only conference semifinal prediction I’ve gotten right in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

Picked Boston in six games. The Celtics lost in five to the Miami Heat.

Picked the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The two-time defending NBA champions were swept by the Dallas Mavericks.

I could see the Miami one, coming because age was going to catch Boston sooner or later, but Dallas sweeping the Lakers? The only people who picked that besides Charles Barkley (He’s been on during these playoffs) are Dallas owner Mark Cuban and his closest family members.

Everyone else went with the Lakers.

Now I picked Oklahoma City to take down Memphis in six games, but we’re going to have a deciding Game 7 today to determine who will face the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

Can’t see Kevin Durant having two bad games in a row so I’m pretty confident in my Thunder pick, but Memphis won’t go down easily. Got too many tough guys. The Grizzlies are more than capable of winning today.

But they won’t.

The Miami Heat's dynamic duo - LeBron James (headband) and Dwyane Wade - are set to invade Chicago for Game 1 against the top-seeded Bulls on Sunday night./AP Photo.

As for the Eastern Conference finals, you’ve got Miami and Chicago. The top-seeded Bulls won the season series, 3-0, but LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are on the same wavelength on the court at the right time.

Scary thought for the Bulls, but they do have the advantage at the point guard spot on the Heat as Boston did with Rajon Rondo.

The difference is one, Rondo got hurt, and two, Derrick Rose can score 40-plus points. Rondo can’t with two good arms, let alone one.

It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Miami inserts Mario Chalmers  to replace Mike Bibby because Bibby can’t guard Rose even if there were two of him.

On the flip side, I’m hearing all this about Luol Deng can check James. Don’t see it going down nor do I see Keith Bogans handling Wade, but Ronnie Brewer will be key for Chicago.

If Brewer can make life tough for Wade, he’ll play more down the stretch than Kyle Korver even though Korver is the 3-point threat.

As far as the 4-5 spots, the Bulls have the edge because one, they have depth there and two, Heat forward Chris Bosh can’t be counted on to deliver every night and in a series when points are going to be hard to come by, the Heat will need Bosh to come through with at least 18 to 20 points a game in a series.

Can’t have an 1-for-18 game like he did against Chicago during the regular season. Carlos Boozer’s toe problem isn’t as big of a deal now because he’s playing better and Joakim Noah isn’t backing down from Bosh – at all.

So who do I like in this series?

Da Bulls, but the Big 3 will prevail in six. If it goes seven, Chicago will take it.

 

 

 

 

Posted in: NBA
Comments
2 Responses to “Game 7 for Griz-Thunder, Game 1 for Bulls-Heat”
  1. deron says:

    Good job, Z-Bo and Memphis. Way to defend home-court. That being said, OKC will win Sunday at home; KD is going to have more than 12 points.

    We finally got a Game 7 in the playoffs; now we’re going to hear the misleading stat about home teams winning Game Seven 75% or 80% of the time. They’re at home because they have the better record and are probably the better team anyway.

    http://theresastatforthat.blogspot.com/2011/04/game-7-in-nba-playoffs-home-court.html

  2. Polo Game says:

    I saw this game. It was the best!

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