by Tom Weppel
* this article is exclusive to eujacksonville.com
Now that the regular season has finished, it is now time for things to get serious, as the NBA playoffs will begin. This of course goes on for another two months, culminating with the NBA Championship. The San Antonio Spurs are your defending champions.
Going into the postseason, there cannot be more disparity in how things shape up between the two Conferences. In the Eastern Conference, we can essentially pencil in the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons to play for the Conference championship. Boston has played a fabulous season, setting a record for the greatest turnaround, measured by wins, in the history of the League. The additions of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have been a godsend. Paul Pierce makes for a great trio of solid, professionals that have done a great job and are looking forward to hopefully taking the Celtics, a franchise that has pl ayed for championship n their storied history many times, back where their fans feel they belong.
The Pistons have the talent and the experience to go all the way, as we have seen in the past. That said, they are also aging, and the team might look at this as one of their last chances to capitalize on their collective fortunes. And so look for Chauncey Billups, Teyshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Rip Hamilton to take care of business. They will certainly give the Celtics a tough time. Boston and Detroit would be a great conference final.
Out West, we have an entirely different story. ALL EIGHT TEAMS HAVE 50 OR MORE WINS! That’s entirely unheard of in the NBA. In fact, I would venture to say its never happened like that. And so the seedings and match ups will be so interesting, in my mind. Don’t think for a second that a #8 seed like the Denver Nuggets will be an easy opponent for a #1 seed like the Lakers. All four first round series will be very, very competitive.
A lot of NBA fans will tell you that whoever wins the Western Conference will be favored to win the NBA title. I would tell you that you should hold off on believing that until we actually see who comes out on the winning end.
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been hard-hitting and rollicking, with tough play, nasty defense, and an intensity that you’ll never find during the regular season. The playoffs in the NHL are what make the League what it is. All eight series have been competitive, but the one team that stands out to me is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Here is a team that has been playing some great hockey. And they are loaded, with the youngster Sidney Crosby leading the way with his scoring abilities. His teammates include fellow centers Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, wingers Marian Hossa, Petr Sykora, Gary Roberts, and Ryan Malone. They have solid defensemen in Sergei Gonchar and Hal Gill, and they’ve gotten great goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury. Put it all together, and I see the Pens getting to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Meanwhile, you would think that the Detroit Red Wings would be cruising along right now. Yet, they have stumbled just a tad against the Predators. However, the Wings should be able to take care of their business with a stellar cast that includes center Henrik Zetterberg, winger Tomas Holstrom, defensemen Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski, and goalie Domink Hasek.
So, it would be great if we saw Pittsburgh and Detroit meet in the Finals, But if you know and follow the NHL, then you know that anything can happen in the playoffs, no matter what the circumstances. Should be fun to watch…
You look at the standings after a few weeks in MLB, and you wonder what on earth is going on. With the Orioles, Royals, and Athletics all at or near the top in the American League, and the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Brewers doing the same, you start shaking your head.
And so, where are the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Tigers, and Mets? All the ‘sexy’ teams that have received so much attention on a constant basis are all playing .550 ball, if not lower. Of course, the team having the toughest season so far is the Tigers, who have been a disaster, after beefing up their roster and thinking they could contend for a title. But Detroit needs to first get back on the winning track, with better pitching, hitting, and fielding. If they don’t do that, they will have some unhappy fans for the summer.
But we all know the season is still very young. The season is full of ups and downs. But every team will tell you they like coming out with a solid start to get the season going. And so it’ll be interesting to see if the ‘expensive’ teams can overtake all the ‘poor’ teams, and when will they do so?
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
Article Published in the April 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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