Okay, so here we go with Part II of our occasional series on the NBA Playoffs, looking at the First Round of the Eastern Conference.
Detroit won’t be able to do too much with Cleveland. I caught game two of their first round series last night, and it was like watching a cat play with a mouse, or possibly a lion playing with a ball of string, or maybe even Jimi Hendrix setting fire to his guitar. The Pistons have a proud record of playoff achievement this decade, but this team is a shadow of what it once was. Sure, Rip Hamilton was able to get free off a couple of staggered screens, hit a few jumpers early on, and Rasheed Wallace committed a couple of nasty fouls on LeBron et al, but this one was all about the Cavaliers. They will be done with the Pistons in a matter of days.
The other three matchups are where it gets interesting. You have Boston playing Chicago, which thanks to the absence of Kevin Garnett and the superlative perimeter play of the young Bulls, looks like it will go seven. Derrick Rose, who was named rookie of the year earlier today, put thirty-six points and eleven assists on the C’s in game one, tying a record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971 for most points scored by a rookie on debut in the playoffs. The C’s were able to contain Rose in game two, but their other guard, Ben Gordon, went for forty-two in a close loss. The C’s are, of course, the defending champs, but without Garnett to anchor their interior defense they’ll have to make some pretty smart on-the-fly-adjustments. This one will go seven, and it’s entirely possible the Bulls will be able to pull it off.
The Orlando Magic were heavily favoured going into their three versus six tussle with the Philadelphia 76ers, but laid an egg in the first game as they lost it on a buzzer beater to Andre Iguodala (sometimes known as Iggy Hop, for his ridiculous athleticism). They came back strong in Game Two, however, beating the Sixers by nine to even it at one apiece. This one has the look of a six game series, but it’s hard to see the Sixers playing the role of spoiler. For one thing, the Magic have Superman himself, Dwight Howard, manning the middle, and while Rafer Alston doesn’t quite neutralize the Sixers’ point guard Andre Miller, he has had some big playoff moments in his career as an NBA journeyman.
In game one of the Atlanta-Miami series, all five Atlanta starters scored in double figures, and the Hawks won by twenty-six points. In game two, all five Atlanta starters scored in double figures, and the Hawks lost by fifteen. The two main points of difference in this game were that the Heat’s superstar Dwyane Wade, who can do everything but spell his first name correctly, went for thirty-three points, seven assists, and five rebounds, as opposed to nineteen, five and five with eight turnovers in game one; the second thing was that in game two, the Heat were able to get nineteen points out of Jermaine O’Neal, who was once so good that he starred in his very own segment of NBA Entertainment’s The Foundation DVD, back when he was playing for the Pacers. O’Neal had a particularly anemic effort in game one, and how he performs will be the x-factor in this series. His knees gave out about three years ago, but he is a canny veteran who, if he can still find ways to score in the post, will be a huge for the Heat. This one looks like it will go at least six games.