2012 NBA Playoffs Predictions

The National Basketball Association’s truncated dress rehearsal has (finally) come to a close and it is time for the real season to begin.  The NBA Playoffs.  Where living legends like Dirk Nowitzki put the crown on top of their legacy, or nicknames such as “Big Shot Bob” are earned by guys like Robert Horry, or Lebron James inspires aspiring comedic sportswriters everywhere to create new four quarters jokes.  The staff at SportDFW put on our Nostradamus caps, read the tea leaves and consulted the constellations to bring you our prescient predictions.

Chris “Thrill” Hill:
Over the next few weeks, NBA fans should prepare to see one of the most dazzling displays of basketball in playoff history.  People will use words such as amazing, once-in-a-generation, and Jordan-esque to describe the all-around game, basketball IQ, and the offensive/defensive tenacity of the one and only, King James.

There will be great basketball games being played out in the West with San Antonio emerging as the representative to block the coronation of the young OKC Thunder, but this story will be overshadowed in the media by the elevation of LeBron’s game as well as the Heat’s.

Everyone will have all but handed LeBron and company the title…everyone but the Gregg Popovich-led Spurs.  King James will clearly be the best player on the court, but the Spurs will be the team ultimately treated like royalty.  Spurs in 6 over the Heat for the 2012 NBA Championship.

Justin Brumit
The Mavs have been extremely inconsistent during the lockout-shortened NBA season and Dirk hasn’t been the Dirk that we all know.  He is surrounded by a revamped Mavs roster, but I believe this veteran team with solid playoff experience will play much better when the playoffs begin.  As of right now, they are looking at getting the OKC Thunder in the 1st round.  This is an almost certain death sentence for Dallas despite them playing the Thunder pretty well this season, but they also have the ability to move up to the #6 seed and get the LA Lakers who they swept out of the playoffs last season.  You never know what can happen in the playoffs, but I think they can beat anyone but OKC.  I’m not saying they will, but if Dirk can score close to his career playoff average of 26 PPG, the defense continues to be solid and the veterans show some leadership, they have a shot.

Matt Barbour:

Eastern Conference

The lesser conference once again promises to deliver some overwhelming mismatches in the first round.  Chicago, Miami and the Indianapolis Pacers should all easily advance in five games at most.  The Celtics-Hawks series is probably the most intriguing, but Boston’s recent good play and Atlanta’s history of underperforming in the playoffs makes me lean towards Boston.

Things will get interesting in the second round.  Rajon Rando vs Derrick Rose will be a rare matchup of stud players who will actually guard each other.  The veteran Celtics will test the Bulls and take a game in Chicago.  But reigning MVP Rose and the Bulls will win in Boston in game six to take the series.  The Miami-Indiana series will probably be the best one of the second round, if not the entire playoffs.  The Pacers are a gritty, hard-working team and the Heat are the overhyped-glamour boys from South Beach.  Indiana will give Miami everything they can handle, but the Heat’s superior talent will eventually win the series in seven games.

Chicago couldn’t do anything with Lebron James in last season’s playoff meeting with the Bulls as The King was at his first three quarters best.  But the Heat will be spent after the grueling Pacers series and the Bulls will take this one at home in game 5 and move on to The Finals.

Western Conference

In the West, there aren’t any real upsets to be had as any of these teams can beat another.  But Pop is too good of a coach to waste a one seed two years in a row, so the Spurs will move on.  The Lakers would be a tough matchup for anyone if it weren’t for the idiot formerly known as Ron Artest’s suspension.  The Nuggets take advantage and move on to round two as does everybody’s new second favorite team, Lob City.  And this may very well be a homer pick, but I do think the 2011 NBA Champions (I still love typing that) have OKC’s number and will beat them in six.

This makes round two in the West very intriguing.  David Stern and his fellow league office execs will be praying to their deity of choice for league poster-boy Blake Griffin (and the 2nd largest media market Los Angeles Clippers) to continue their run past the small-market Spurs, but it won’t happen.  San Antonio advances to the Western Conference Finals with a win in game seven.  If Dallas does pull the (slight) upset and beats Oklahoma City in the first round, watch out.  They will be full of irrational confidence and that will show when they dispatch the Nuggets with ease in five games.

Dallas Mavericks – San Antonio Spurs is one of the great rivalries of the modern NBA, if not all of sports.  There is no doubt they will wage a spirited series where the momentum will swing wildly from one team to another.  The Mavericks fan in me doesn’t want to type this next sentence.  The journalist in me says the Spurs are too good and the Mavs are too old and shorthanded to go any further.  Spurs win in six.

The NBA Finals

The Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs will be a very intriguing matchup on the court, but a ratings failure off of it.  The Spurs will have no answer for Derrick Rose, but the Bulls will have difficulty containing Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker in clutch time.  This will be a close, low-scoring series that the Spurs will take in six games to win their fifth NBA title.  I kinda hate myself right now for having typed that.

Nathan Stacken:
Is this the year LeBron James wins his first NBA championship?  Early on in the year, I would have said no, but given the injuries that the Chicago Bulls are dealing with and the questions surrounding Derrick Rose, the Heat don’t have to worry about the Bulls in my opinion.  They have to worry about the Boston Celtics.  That’s right, the Boston Celtics are ready to make one final stand against the Heat, but can they hold up for seven games?  That is the real debate.  I honestly don’t trust the Miami Heat to come out of the East, but I trust Chicago and Boston even less.  If anyone else comes out of the East, it would be a shock.

In the West, it’s wide, wide open.  I’ve thought pretty much all season that the Oklahoma City Thunder were coming out and representing the West, but their play down the stretch scares me (and a lot of other people).  Plus with the whole James Harden incident, knowing that he is truly 100 percent healthy would give me more confidence to put the Thunder into the NBA Finals.  But you also have Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers who will be right there despite not having Metta World Peace for the first round.  The L.A.

Clippers have a chance at making a run with Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, though next year may be their year.  What about the Memphis Grizzlies to make a surprise run?  Wouldn’t be too shocking.

And then of course there are the San Antonio Spurs, the number one seed in the West.  Hardly anyone gives them a chance.  Perhaps everyone is in wait-and-see mode since they lost as the top seed to the eight seed Memphis Grizzlies last year.  But the team is playing well starting with Manu Ginobli.  Perhaps we should all say watch out for the Spurs, but I’m going with my prediction I had at the beginning of the season: the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Dallas, sorry, you won’t beat OKC in the first round.  It’s just not going to happen.

So in the NBA Finals, it’ll be the Thunder against the Heat.  I’ll pick the Thunder to win it all with no certainty whatsoever.  The playoffs should be good.  Enjoy!

Erasmus:
It’s hard to see anybody beating the Dallas Mavericks in these playoffs.  It has been truly inspirational to watch the way that Lamar Odom has become the emotional leader of this team with his gritty play, Herculean hustle and crowd-pleasing work ethic.   HAHAHAHAHAHA, ok, I seriously almost pooped myself I just laughed so hard.  The Mavs are screwed.

Meathead World Peace will come back in time to go all beast mode and lead the Lakers to their 45th title (this might not be a factual number).  And by beast mode, I mean he will literally eat the smug look off of Dwayne Wade’s face in The Finals.  Why am I suddenly craving Arby’s?

C. Joseph Wright

I think the Mavericks can beat the Thunder in the opening round, but their level of play will have to improve drastically if they hope to win in the second round.  It seemed like the Mavericks lack unity and chemistry when Lamar Odom was still playing, now it seems like they are searching for an identity.  If they find that identity, pull together as a group, and develop a chemistry like they had in the playoffs last year, they could be dangerous.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see the L.A. Lakers and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

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