Partway Thru Round 2

All 4 series are at least 3 games in, so let's see where we're at. Looking back at my predictions for Round 1, I got six of the eight winners right (and how was I to know Derrick Rose would blow out his ACL?), but didn't get any of the series lengths right. One game off on a lot of them, though.

Question: Why are they giving the Boston/Philly series 2 days off between games 4 and 5? Especially while the both series in Los Angeles are going on back-to-back days. I know some of the latter is probably owed to having to accommodate two series, plus a hockey playoff series, but that doesn't explain the extra day for Celts/Sixers. I'd imagine it can only help Boston, who could use all the rest they can get. I mean, they were leading by what, 15 at the half in Game 4 and lost by 10? I know blowing big leads seems to be the hip thing to do this postseason, but jeez, get it together Boston. Garnett did not have a good Game 4, which makes me wonder if he was feeling a little gassed. There's only so much he can do, the other guys have to step up the nights he isn't feeling it.

Anyway, at this point it's down to best of 3. Boston has homecourt, though Philly's already proven they can win there, but then Boston's proven they can beat the 76ers on the road too. My prediction of Boston is 6 is still in play, though. Not much seems to have changed from when the series started. The Sixers are still younger, healthier, and possibly deeper. The question is whether Boston's best players can maintain the energy needed to play at their highest levels and overcome all that (I think Boston's best players, at their best, are better than Philly's).

You know, I've taken my fair share of shots at Chris Bosh, mostly because his track record didn't compare to LeBron or Wade's, so I felt the question of whether it was really a Big Three was valid. Say what you will, but at least Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen had all reached Conference Finals separately before they joined forces. Bosh had never been out of the first round. That being said, we see now what Bosh brings to the table by his absence. The Heat have no big men left who demand any respect from the Pacers' defense. Wade's struggling badly, and lashing out at his coach in full view of the world, and LeBron's looking a little gassed having to play power forward.

The Pacers, meanwhile, are getting contributions from everyone, taking advantage of the edge Hibbert gives them down low, and showing no fear of Miami. Kudos to Indiana. I think they see a path to the Finals if they can beat the Heat, and they want to take it. I'd be perfectly OK with that, but it's only 2-1 right now. Wade could still get on track. Battier, Mike Miller, or Udonis Haslem could remember how to shoot (Mario Chalmers seems to have remembered, but we'll see if that was a one-game aberration). Or LeBron could revert to Cleveland era LeBron, the guy who put mediocre teams on his back and won playoff series like this one. Of course, he didn't usually have to assume a major portion of the rebounding and interior defense load to go along with all the scoring he did.

The Thunder are up 3-1 on the Lakers, hooray. L.A. has had chances to win each of the last three games, but only managed it once. And that was only by going +14 on free throw attempts. The NBA: where one team shooting more free throws is always suspect! Anyway, L.A. had a 13 point lead a third of the way through the 4th quarter yesterday, and wound up losing by 3. If not for their roomies, that would have been pretty embarrassing. It looks like it was a sloppy game for one where both teams managed to reach 100 points. People slipping, or making dumb passes, clanking free throws. Westbrook and Durant both had a big game, Pau Gasol did not, and got called out by Kobe for it after. Of course he did. Never mind he shot 12 of 28, which is not that great a percentage. I understand Perkins was fronting Bynum in the 4th quarter, but surely there's some way to get the ball inside, anyway. The guy was lighting it up in the first quarter.

Like I said, the Lakers would probably be more embarrassed about their loss if not for the Clippers. The Clippers were leading 40-16 at one point in the second quarter. From then on, the Spurs outscored them 80-46. Holy crap. Up by 24, lost by 10? Can we just declare the series over at 3-0? It's done, alright, even if the Clippers win game 4. Which they might, we don't know how much the Spurs exhausted themselves making that comeback. Assuming the Clips have any fight left after that debacle. I'm sure Chris Paul does, though it isn't clear whether his body can do what his spirit commands Then again, the Spurs are possibly the deepest team left in the postseason, and they have the best coach. I could absolutely see them winning a game 4 against a desperate Clippers team, when Popovich has to lean heavily on his bench, because the Duncan/Parker/Ginobli troika are gassed after Game 3.

I guess we'll see. But it looks like I seriously underestimated the Thunder's ability to close out games, and possibly underestimated just how good the Spurs are (though it only takes one Clippers win for my prediction to come true).