NBA Playoffs Race

Since Connor hates the NBA, I’m trying to step up and give the readers of this website some balance. Anyway I am going to break down both the Western and Eastern Conference races for the last playoff spots.

The race for the Western Conference breaks down to three teams: the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, and Golden State Warriors. The standings as of today have Dallas in the seventh spot with a game lead on both the Nuggets and Warriors. They each have six games left to play in the season. My prediction is that the Mavericks and Warriors will make it while the Nuggets will not. Mavericks recently got the reigning MVP back, Dirk Nowitzki and his leadership and experience will help Dallas beat out the other two teams for the seventh spot in the Western Conference. The last spot will barely go to the Warriors, although they lost a critical game to the Hornets earlier today. Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson are the kind of emotional leaders that Denver lacks. Their style of play keeps them in every game. Also Stephen Jackson is possibly the sweetest human being of all time. He famously attempted to fight the entire city of Detroit with Ron Artest, and also tried to stop outside a strip club by climbing on his car and firing his handgun into the air (don’t worry he had a permit to carry the gun). Anyway back to basketball, they have depth, scorers, and leaders. They are not scared of anyone and they play great team basketball. That’s what separates them from Denver, who on paper is one of the most talented teams in the NBA. They have two of the best scorers in the NBA in Carmelo and AI and incredibly gifted big man in Marcus Camby but they fail to play as a team. They can drop 160 points in one night and lose by twenty the next and that sort of inconsistency will cost them at the end of the season.

The Eastern Conference race is a little more settled, with the Atlanta Hawks (Gasp!) holding a three and half game lead over the Indiana Pacers for the final spot. The Hawks will need to win a couple more to clinch but with games against the Heat and Knicks this seems like an attainable goal. The Hawks go into the playoffs playing some of their best basketball of the season (and really of the last ten years). Barring a major collapse the Hawks will get to be the lucky sacrificial lambs to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs! With Mike Bibby running the point the Hawks are a much more dangerous team than they were but just making the playoffs maybe enough of an accomplishment for the beleaguered franchise.