FINALLY!!! The regular season is
over and it’s time for the best basketball tournament; the NBA playoffs. It
took us until the last day of the season but we finally know the match-ups.
This piece won’t have the Nets vs Raptors series; that piece will be coming out
shortly as well as a Western conference preview.
1st seed Indiana
Pacers vs 8th seed Atlanta
Hawks
Season series 2-2
This season series was a tie but
the last time these two teams played, The Hawks destroyed the Pacers, 107-88.
The Pacers are limping into the playoffs but they did beat OKC at home on
Sunday. Plus they stunk in April; a month that doesn’t mean much in basketball.
April is about giving your players rest
and preparing for the playoffs. And there is no stat that proves if you
struggle coming into the playoffs you’ll get bounced in the first round. Let’s
take a look at some key points for this series.
Team Match-up
Okay, for some odd reason the Hawks
have the best offense rating against the Pacers. Their rating is 104.6 and a
defensive rating of 97.3. Put those numbers together and the Hawks have a Net
rating of 7.3 vs the Pacers. That’s the highest of any team in the league that
has played Indiana a minimum of three times.
Pero Antic
Yes, that’s a player on the Hawks
and he is an absolute key focus in this series. Antic is a seven footer who can
shoot the three which means he pulls Roy “Jello-Shot” Hibbert away from the rim
and could open it up for the Teague and Millsap pick and roll and pick and pop.
The Hawks only played the Pacers twice this year with Antic healthy and both
times they beat the Pacers by double digits. The first game was a 97-87 win and
Antic was a +20 the highest of any player in the game and Hibbert was a -21 the
lowest of any player in that game. In the second game, The Hawks win over the
Pacers a 107-88. Antic was a plus 10, no
big deal, but Hibbert was a -19 and was benched after 9 minutes. Coming into
this season no one had an idea on who Pero Antic was but he very well could be
an important part in this series.
The Three Ball
The only chance Atlanta has of
beating Indiana is if they light up the three point line. In their two wins vs
the Pacers, the Hawks shot 44% and 33% from three and in the loses they shot
28% and 46% (yes they lost a game where they lost that game but scoring 98
points vs the Pacers isn’t easy). During the regular season the Pacers opponent
three point percentage was 35%, the third best in the league. Atlanta shot 36%
from three this year tied for 13th best in the league.
Prediction
There is no way the Pacers are
losing this series; they’ll win in five games. The Hawks might catch fire for
one game and just beat the Pacers that way, but this Hawks team is pathetic. It’s embarrassing that they’re in the playoffs,
but no worries, the Pacers will dispose of them.
2 Seed Miami Heat vs Charlotte Bobcats
I really wrote that the Bobcats are
in the playoffs. This series will be a sweep. There isn’t much to look at but we’ll look at
a few things.
Season series 4-0 Miami
Match-up
During the regular season the
Bobcats had a net rating of -14.8 vs the Heat which is just bad. At least
Charlotte is in the playoffs and can start building some playoff experience.
They’ll be unstoppable next year anyway when the Charlotte Hornets return
82-0!!!
LeBron vs MKG
LeBron is the best in the league
and many consider Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to be one of the best perimeter defenders
in the league. But when LeBron faced the Bobcats this year he averaged 37
points a game on 62% from the field and 56% from the three. I didn’t even
realize this until now. HOLY SHIT THIS
IS CRAZY! LeBron is about to go nuts in this series.
Al Jefferson
I don’t know how I am supposes to
move on after that LeBron stat but I will try. For the Bobcats to win a game in
this series they’ll need everything to go right and that starts with Big Al
(Okay side story I saw the Nets play the Bobcats at Barclays a few months ago
and was sitting right next to where the Bobcats came out. After his warm ups
Big Al came by I got his attention and he came to sign the program I had that
the Nets hand out every home game (does anyone read those?) so big Al is 6
inches in front of me he’s about to sign the program when he goes to write the
pen doesn’t work and I am standing there in heartbreak) Okay story time over.
Big Al averaged 25 ppg vs Miami on 57% from the field. He’ll need to drop 40
for the Bobcats to win a game.
Prediction
Bobc… Yeah
right The Heat will sweep the Bobcats.
4 Seed Chicago Bulls
vs 5 Seed Washington Wizards
This is a very interesting series. The Wizards have the better backcourt by far
and the Bulls front court is a lot better than Washington’s frontcourt.
Season Series 2-1 Washington
Match-up
The Wizards won 2 of 3 vs the Bulls,
but have a net rating of -1.7. These
teams are so evenly matched in Washington’s two wins their offensive rating was
107 but the one loss they had vs the Bulls, that rating was 87.4. Chicago
finished the regular season with the best defense in the NBA allowing 91.8
points per 100 possessions. Unfortunately for the Bulls they finished with the
worst offense in the NBA with 93.8 point per 100 possessions.
The House of Guards (I didn’t come up this this someone else did. I
don’t know who but credit to them).
John Wall is finally in the playoffs
but against the Bulls this year. His net rating was -1.8; he wasn’t special in
any of the games vs the Bulls this year. Wall will have a tough time vs the
Chicago defense. It is important for
John to hit his three point shot. He’s
shooting 35% from the three this year. If
the Wizards win this series Wall will need to shoot higher than that. The other
part of the Wizards back court is Bradley Beal. He as well has a negative net rating vs the
Bulls this year, -3.5. Beal shot 40% from the three this year but against this
suffocating Bulls defense he won’t get many good looks. If the Wizards win this
series they’ll need a big series from their backcourt.
Bull’s defense
Washington as a team this year is
shooting 38% from the three tied for fourth highest in the league. The Bulls
defense allows opponents to shoot 35% from three 8th best in the
league. It’s very simple for Chicago to take away the three and you win. If the
Wizards can’t hit the three how will they score against Tom Thibodeau’s
defense? They won’t.
Prediction
It’s been a good year for the
Wizards but the Bulls have been here before and are simply the better team and
they have the better coach. Give me the Bulls in six.
Make sure to follow @threwthenet on
twitter, we have Nets and Raptors preview coming up along with a western
conference preview. Enjoy the playoffs.
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