2007 Playoffs Picks! Bulls, Warriors, Crack, Freebasers!

Stephen Jackson- Hero to Some, Dapper to Others

The 2007 NBA Playoffs are in effect! We gaze into our crsytal ball and see ... nothing. We don;t own a crystal ball. We own a Spalding "never flat" which is, duh, flat. The pix:

Mr. West's picks...

Pistons over Magic in 4. Detroit has it all and the shallow Magic aren't in any position to expose the weaknesses. Dwight Howard might get in some highlights but this series looks done before it started. Maybe Detroit gets lazy for a game but that's it.

Cleveland over Washington in 4. LeBron gets the best break of his career so far when Agent Zero and Caron Butler miss this series. Coulda been a good revenge series from last year. Much as I don't trust Larry Hughes, Eric Snow and Sideshow Verajeo, no group led by Jarvis Hayes and Antonio Daniels is gonna pounce.

Nets over Raptors in 6. The NBA playoffs do not reward teams who have underperformed all season. Nets are pretty much the only underperfomers of this season who can turn it on and thrive bu only because they facee Toronto. The Nets Big 3 are overrated but no one on Toronto can even spell "playoffs."

Chicago over Miami in 7. Many predict the Heat to fall this year. I say it starts early. The Bulls earned some respect last year in the playoffs and their tough, balanced approach is more than an older Shaq and damaged Wade can handle. You think old bastards like Payton, Posey and 'Toine are gonna make the difference in a seven games series? Uh, no.

Dallas over Golden State in 6. Why can the Warriors cause the Mavs some stress? They are a bunch of crazy fuckers who don't even know any better from the top on down. I'm gonna rely on Dirk and Jason Terry before I rely on Stephen Jackson and Jason Richardson & Co. I could see some great, fun games developing, though.

San Antonio over Denver in 6. The Spurs are back in form as the dark, evil empire. The Nuggets have recently gotten Iverson in the mix properly but is it enough to take the Spurs? Bad bet. If Nene and Camby deliver solid D and a little O, watcch out. Spurs have a habit of losing early round playoff games.

Houston over Utah in 7. T-Mac is overrated and a slacker. What's worse for the Rockets is that they are thin and Utah will match their desire to make each possession count. I see Utah trying to beat up McGrady and Yao- and failing. AK-47 regressed this year, so expect McGrady to go off and earn some respect.

Phoenix over Lakers in 6. Kobe can do what he wants but it won't be enough. Nash will do his thing, and the star of the game will rotate each game from Amare to Marion to Bell as they get hold and cold. But the constant of Nash will not relent in this series.

Round 2 will go as follows:
Cleveland over Nets in 7.
Detroit over Chicago in 6.
San Antonio over Dallas in 7.
Phoenix over Houston in 6.

Conference Finals:
Detroit over Cleveland in 6.
San Antonio over Phoenix in 6.

Finals:
San Antonio over Detroit in 6.

Mr. East pix ...

Pistons over Magic in 5. This could be a surprise in the making. Dwight Howard might be the best
player in the series, but he won't quite be enough. The Magic have a puncher's chance against the might Pistons, but Chauncey Billups is too much for anyone trying to defend him.

Cavs over Wizards in 4. The Wizards have no chance, right? No Arenas. No Butler. It's over. I agree. I would have picked the Bullets if Mr. Hibachi was around, but he isn't.

Nets ovr Raptors in 6. The Raptors had a nice little season. They won their first (watered-down) division title and found a nice mix of players to help them compete for years to come. The Nets are a better team. Watch. Yes, Chris Bosh is great. Anthony Parker has translated his EuroLeague success to the NBA. Bargnani is good. You still have to figure out how to stop Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson. In the end, I think the Nets will win this one, despite a very strong showing by Bosh. T.J. Ford is NOT the man.

Bulls over Heat in 6. The Heat are the defending champs. They have Shaq and Wade. Well, they have a 90 year old Shaq, and a one armed Wade. You can tell me that Eddie Jones, Antoine Walker, Jason Kapono, Alonzo Mourning, Jason Williams, Udonis
Haslem, and James Posey are enough to make up for the crippled stars. No way.

Golden State over Dallas in 7. This will be a fun series. I actually give the Warriors a puncher's chance in this one too. Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Biedrins. Sounds good to me. I know the Mavs are great, and I know that Nowitzki should be the MVP, but I just don't know. I like the Warriors post-All Star break edition and they are very hot. I'm going upset.

Suns over Lakers in 6. Kobe is a machine. Cyborg. Terminator. Odom is very good. That's about it. It's a testament to Kobe's greatness that they are even in the playoffs. Not for long. Kobe will win two games by himself.

Nuggets over Spurs in 6. Marcus Camby gave Tim Duncan fits in the 1999 Finals. He will do it again here. I hate the Spurs. They are just horribly uninteresting and while they play basketball very very well, I don't think they will be able to stop
Allen Iverson. Iverson fit in very well with the Nuggets other players, but this is killing time or it's dying time and he's an assasin. I'm going with The Answer.

Rockets over Jazz in 4. I don't like the Rockets to go far in these playoffs, if only because I think T-Mac is made of paper mache. They will easily handle Utah though. Utah is undersized to play against Houston and while they will use their quickness to counter Yao, he will eat them alive in the end. Utah has zero chance.

Round 2 will go as follows:
Nets over Cleveland in 6.
Detroit over Chicago in 6.
Nuggets over Golden State in 5.
Phoenix over Houston in 4.

Conference Finals:
Detroit over Nets in 5.
Suns over Nuggets in 7.

Finals:
Suns over Detroit in 6.