My pics in bold below:
Eastern Conference
1: Boston Celtics in 4
8: Atlanta Hawks
2: Detroit Pistons in 5
7: Philadelphia 76ers
3: Orlando Magic in 6
6: Toronto Raptors
4: Cleveland Cavaliers in 7
5: Washington Wizards
Basically, IMO, in the Eastern Conference, the top 4 teams are a bit too hard to knock off through an upset from the lower ranked teams. I will say though, if any team can possibly pull it off, Washington is probably that team. Philly will probably surprise Detroit by keeping their games close, but Detroit has those finishers when the clock is winding down.
Toronto is just frustrating to watch, and anyone who predicts the Raps to pull off an upset this year is out to lunch. Not exactly a playoff team with only 1 real scoring option. Defensively and offensively, they're going to have a hard time with Turkloglu and I think he'll be the game breaker in this series. Another prediction: this will be the series Ford is run out of town with his selfish one-on-one play and his turnovers.
Western Conference
1: Los Angeles Lakers in 6
8: Denver Nuggets
2: New Orleans Hornets
7: Dallas Mavericks in 7
3: San Antonio Spurs in 7
6: Phoenix Suns
4: Utah Jazz
5: Houston Rockets in 6
Lakers and Nuggets is going to be a crazy offensive showcase, and Denver will probably outscore LA a couple games. I think New Orleans is one of the most overrated teams with Paul and Stojakovic being the stars while David West has overachieved this year. While Dallas has struggled, Kidd will really turn it up and at the end of the day, it'll be a pointguard matchup. Spurs and Suns will be really nice to watch - offense vs. defense. San Antonio always seems to know how to play against run-and-gun teams though without slowing the game down too much, and SA will squeek out the win here (simply because I don't think Phoenix has that one scorer that can dominate anymore even though they play that game). Jazz/Rockets I'll just take the streakier team in Houston, but I'm hoping Utah wins out as I hate both Alston/McGrady.
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