WESTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Golden State Warriors v (5) Portland Trail Blazers
Pick: Warriors in 6
Why?: Obviously no Steph Curry until probably game 3 or 4 or 5 hurts but I dont think it hurts the Warriors here as much as people think. Sean Livingston is a really good defender and will do a better job on Damian Lillard than Steph would. Obviously Dame is going to get his, but I don't see this being a huge challenge for the Warriors. And I know, I know, Portland beat them by 32 in Portland this year. But the Warriors won the other 3 games, AND in that game the Warriors turned it over 20 times (13 in the 3rd quarter) and Portland shot 54% and 57% from 3. So unless you believe in your heart of hearts Portland will do that 4 times Golden State will win this series and Steph should be back in time to find a rythm.
(2) San Antonio Spurs v (3) Oklahoma City Thunder
Pick: Spurs in 7
Why: Obviously everyone is expecting a great series here. 2 of the 4 best teams in the NBA going at it. I don't have much on this series though as everyone knows how good both these teams are. I will say this though, it may not go 7 games if all are really close because the Thunder struggle late in games. The Spurs defense is so good that the "give the ball to KD every time and let him iso" won't work all that well, and it doesn't against other teams anyway. So that's all that could keep what should be a great series from going 7 games.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Cleveland Cavaliers v (4) Atlanta Hawks
Pick: Cavs in 5
Why: I'd love for the Hawks to make this a series, but they have nobody who can even slow LeBron down. It's tough to make him shoot jumpers he can never hit when he can get to the rim at will. The Haeks were better last year, and had home court, and the Cavs swept them in the East finals without Kevin Love and Kyrie in a limited role. So I just don't see Cleveland having a lot of difficulty in this series.
(2) Toronto Raptors v (3) Miami Heat
Pick: Raptors in 7
Why: The Raps had their fair share of struggles in round 1. But they hadn't won a playoff series in 15 years, when they had Vince Carter in 2001. Now all the pressure to make it out of the first round is off the Raptors shoulders and from here on out it's all a bonus to their fans (unless they get swept in embarrassing fashion). I still believe in the Raptors, with less pressure to win now I think their All-Stars Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry will start to be better. Also it'd be hard for them to be worse than they were last round. The Raps are 5th in offensive efficiency and the Heat are 12th. Miami is 8th in defensive efficiency and Toronto is 11th. Miami has more playoff experience, but they are a lot older and I don't think they match up all that well with Toronto. Wade is nowhere near the defender he used to be, so Miami's best bet on DeRozan is probably Justise Winslow, who's a rookie. One cause for concern is Kyle Lowry's elbow he injured late in the season, and it's speculated that's one reason he's shooting so poorly. If that's true then that really hurts Toronto's cause for beating the Heat and even being competition for the Cavs. Also Chris Bosh is reportedly pushing the Heat to let him play again, after they shut him down with blood clots for the second consecutive season. All in all is I expect the Raptors to surprise people and play much better, and I think they will and win what should (hopefully) be a long series with a lot of close games.
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