NBA Playoffs: Round 2

So I am late on my predictions (final exams and such) and didn't do so hot in my predictions. Three out of four in the East and a forgettable one out of four in the West. The Mavs/Warriors series was amazing and the Jazz/Rockets was great as well. Other than that there were a lot of teams that barely showed up, (Heat, Wiz, Nuggets and LA) making for some boring games.

The second round is already underway and is promising to be a whole lot better than the first. So with some series already two games in, here are my predictions - with a little cheating.

West

Spurs over Suns in seven
San Antonio leads this series 1-0 already, but I honestly thought they were going to win the series anyway. The defense is just good enough, Nash cannot guard Parker and the Spurs are just simply built to win in the playoffs. When the Suns don't shoot the three well, they lose. If the other games are half as dramatic as game one, this will be one hell of a series.

Warriors over Jazz in seven
That's right, give me some of that Golden State kool-aid and save me a seat next to Jessica Alba on the Warrior bandwagon. Looking at game one the Jazz played Golden State's style and ended up winning the game. But the Warriors can take solace in the fact that they were a Jason Richardson wide open three away from leading that game with less than a minute to go.

The Jazz will kill the Warriors on the boards and Boozer will have some huge games, but I don't believe Utah can keep playing the Warrior way for an entire series. Plus I don't care how good a road team Utah is, that crowd in Oakland is going to be insane.

East

Cavaliers over Nets in six
The series no one cares about. The Raptors/Nets series was pretty even and yet terribly unwatchable. In game one of this series the Cavs won 81-77. Yawn. This series needs a LeBron vs. Carter brawl or something to make it exciting. As far as the game goes, the Cavs are better on the boards, have the better star, and actually have players who aren't guards. Inconsistency be damned, Cavs win.

Chicago over Detroit in seven
I know they are down 0-2 to the best team in the East. I know they are young, inexperienced and probably a little out coached. But something tells me the Bulls aren't going to go down this easily. Ben Gordon has done a disappearing act so far and I think that will change. Chris "Fountain of Youth" Webber dropped 22 points in their last win, I don't think that will happen again. Even if the Bulls don't win, I think this series goes longer than four games.

How the Warriors are saving the NBA

The Golden State Warriors haven't been in the NBA playoffs in 12 years. A young Chris Webber and Latrell Sprewell were the leaders of that team. More than a decade later, after compiling a 9-1 record down the stretch and barely sneaking into the playoffs at 42-40, the Warriors have the heavily favored Mavericks down three games to one.

Heavily favored isn't the right term. Dallas won 67 games this season, having one of the best regular seasons in the history of the sport. The Mavs are stacked with talent, including MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki. Despite the Warriors sweeping the season series with the Mavs, 3-0, few gave them a realistic chance to oust the West's top seed. There are still three more games to be played, two of those at Dallas. But the Warriors have outplayed the Mavericks in every way thus far. In doing so, the Warriors are saving the NBA.

Of the three major sports - baseball, football and basketball - basketball has to be third in terms of popularity. The TV ratings sag, especially during the long, drawn out playoffs. Even though the league has marketable stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Tim Duncan, it is still struggling to keep pace with the NFL and MLB.

I don't think I am alone in saying this, the Mavs/Warriors series has been everything one would want in a sporting event. Last night I found myself cheering aloud as the Warriors refused to lose in front of their 20,000 strong home crowd. You could feel the electricity of the crowd, starved for more than ten years, as their team closed in on a historic upset. Whether these fans have been there all year long, or have hopped on the bandwagon, is irrelevant. If you lived in the Bay area, why would you not want to be a part of this?

Golden State toppling the Mavericks and advancing to the second round would be the best thing for the NBA. Golden State would become everybody's team. The Oracle Arena would become a place visiting teams dread to play in. Baron Davis would vault himself into stardom. Ugly memories of Stephen Jackson in the stands at Detroit would be forgotten, for a while at least. An upset of this magnitude (no eight seed has beaten a one seed in a best of seven series in the NBA) would no doubt grab peoples attention.

The Golden State Warriors would become an NBA team again.