Last-Minute NBA Playoff Round 1 Predictions

Celtics over the Knicks in 7 games. Do not underestimate how the tragedy might help bring Boston as a city together and the Celtics as a team together. And I already had the Celtics winning this series prior to the tragedy but now that they have just that much more to play for, I don't think they're going to go out in the first round. It won't be easy, but they'll pull this series out in 7 games. Not to mention if the Celtics can play consistent defense and get the Knicks to start shooting bad, it'll be 6 games instead of 7, lol.

Chicago over Brooklyn in 6 games. Neither of these teams are very noteworthy but Chicago is a tougher, grittier team with more heart.

Indiana over Atlanta in 5 games. Atlanta is not tough enough or consistent enough to beat Indiana. Not that Indiana is that much better than the Hawks but they're defense and solid big man and swing man play will make this a relatively quick series.

Miami over the Bucks in 5 games. This should be a sweep but I think that Miami has a tendency to play down to their competition (ie - those close games during the 27 game winning streak) and I think the Bucks can steal one.

Golden State over Denver 7 games. This one was really a toss-up for me but I think with Galinari being out, the Warriors have a great chance. This is going to easily be the most exciting series - in terms of points scored - in the first round.

Clippers over Memphis in 6 games. The Grizzlies can slow down the Clippers for a couple games but even when they do, Chris Paul is the best floor general in the game. I am very interested in seeing how rough Z-Bo plays Griffin though.

Lakers over Spurs in 7 games. This is a great match-up for the Lakers. If Steve Blake and Jody Whatley Meeks show up every game, the Lakers have a really good chance to win. The Spurs do not have big men that can stop both Pau and Dwight if they're both aggressive. And from what I hear, Manu may be out and if that's the case, it could get very ugly for the Spurs. I tihnk that Tony Parker will play better than he has been but I don't think that he and Tim Duncan can do it by themselves. I just have a gut feeling the Lakers are going to pull this one off.

Oklahoma City over Houston in 4 games. Unlike the Heat, the Thunder will sweep The "Asian Beards".

NFL Wildcard Weekend Predictions

This weekend marks the beginning of the playoffs. As I suspected, my Redskins won because Tony Romo brain farted the game away. I was a little nervous but it's true when they say you can always count on Tony to drop the ball... Or throw the INT... or fumble the hold on the kick. Pick one, he'll taker care of it for you.

This weekend you've got one game that I think will be close and three that I think will be relatively easy wins. Let's start with the easy wins:

Texans vs Bengals: I think the Bengals are a solid team. I LOVE how AJ Green plays and their defensive line is pretty daggon good. But, I believe that their youth will hurt them in this game, especially at the QB position. I know what you're thinking, Matt Schaub is not much better or more reliable which is true but, Matt also has Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, and Ben Tate to mask his ineptitude. That is unless, the Bengals somehow jump out to a huge lead and Schaub has to throw to win the game. If that's the case, all the mask is off and Schaub will have to step up. In the end, I think the Texans win this game by a couple TDs.

Packers vs Vikings: Plain and simply, I expect Aaron Rodgers to rip the Vikings defense a new one. Rodgers seemed pretty unhappy last week and they almost won that game. It was in the cards for the Vikings to win because of the drive to get AP to break the record and the euphoria surrounding that effort at the end of the game. But this week the game will be at Lambeau and I doubt the Vikings can put "Giants D-Line last year" type pressure on Rodgers throughout the game. Which means the soon-to-be-named MVP will be heading home after this weekend. What an epic year for Peterson though, like ridiculously epic!

Colts vs Ravens: The Colts defense is pretty much a sieve but a few days ago (read: pre-Ray Lewis announcement), I thought the Colts would come in and play tough and maybe fluster Joe "not too far removed from Romo status" Flacco and be able to throw the ball to Hilton and Wayne effectively enough to squeak out a tough win. And, they've got karma on their side with their coach beating cancer and coming back and ... you know the rest. But once Ray Ray made his announcement the chances of the Colts winning pretty much went to zero in my mind. Read the following closely:

THERE IS NO WAY THAT THE RAVENS PLAYERS WILL ALLOW RAY LEWIS'S LAST HOME GAME TO BE A LOSS!

It's not going to happen. It can't happen. The Ravens won't make it to the Superbowl but maybe they'll get to the NFC Championship riding a Ray Lewis high, maybe. Regardless of where the "ride" ends, Ray Lewis's last home game will likely be a rout led by Ray Rice TDs and Flacco not Flacking up the game. I'd be willing to bet that it's going to be at least one score by the Ravens defense where Ed Reed intercepts a pass, runs to the one yard line, waits on Ray Lewis, pitches it to him, and Ray Lewis rumbles past 5 offensive lineman for the score. Watch, that shyt is gonna happen.

Now for the tough game, one that unfortunately involves my favorite team.

Seahawks vs Redskins: I think most people would say that this game is a pretty even match on paper with both teams being able to put up points but the Seahawks having a better defense. I think this game is going to come down to coaching, offensive execution, and the Redskins defense. If the Skins defense can hold the Seahawks to less than 20 points, I think we win! If not, it's a toss-up. It'll be interesting to see how both teams defend the other side's QB since they have similar styles. If the Redskins can have success running, I think they'll have a good chance to put up 30 points again. The Seahawks interior run defense is all that great though their defense is ranked pretty high this year. The Redskins have the hurculean task of stopping Marshawn Lynch which if I were a Redskins coach, I'd put my eggs in the basket of "let's make the rookie QB that doesn't throw it more than beat us" rather than letting Lynch destroy us like he did the Saints last year. But that's just me and I don't get paid to coach or blog about sports. Anyway, I think this will be an epic game to end the playoff weekend and I can't wait to watch! I've got the Redskins winning 27-24.

The Knicks aren't very good (yet), but Boston isn't much better

Watching the first two games of the Boston vs. NY series has made me realize a few things...

Number 1: The Knicks are NOT playing smart, disciplined basketball when it really matters.

Game 1, Melo takes a three ball at the end of the game rather than trying to drive and drawing contact. Game 2, Jared Jeffries doofs a pass at the end of the game when he could have simply tried to actually shoot the ball. Not to mention with 4+ seconds left the Knicks let the Celtics inbound the ball and run the clock out (completely inexcusable at that point in the game).

Number 2: Mike D'Antoni teams play defense by happenstance.

Call it playing defense "when you want to" or playing defense by happenstance, either way the Knicks and D'Antoni's Suns teams were and are notorious for scoring and not playing much defense. How many times do commentators and other coaches have to say "defense wins championships" before we all realize that for the most part, it's completely true?! Melo and Stoudemire, the two stars on this team (well, one SUPERstar and one star), play defense when they want. Stoudemire's much more of a defensive force when he puts his mind to it. Melo well we all know he's there primarily to put the ball in the bucket. But imagine if he wanted to play defense at the level of a Kobe, Dwight (both are great individual defenders), and maybe even Dwayne Wade, or LeBron (two great team defenders).

Number 3: The Knicks have no real veteran leadership.

Boston's veteran leadership and will to win has shown at the end of each of these first two games. They should be down 0-2 right now having dropped two games on their home floor. If the Knicks had a couple veteran guys who are committed to keeping everyone on the same page in tough situations and executing well, I think they would have won the first two games. Melo cannot win by himself. I repeat, it's GREAT to watch and he's a beast on the offensive end but MELO CANNOT WIN BY HIMSELF! That was proven in Denver and it was proven again last night. He needs help from not only Amare but some veteran guys who aren't afraid to step up, speak up, and make sure everyone is giving their all in each phase of the game when it really counts. Maybe Chauncey can play this role or does play this role somewhat, but I feel like there's still someone missing (P.J. Brown, anyone?).

Number 4: The Celtics are not looking too good.

Maybe this series is gonna be their wake-up call but after watching them almost blow two games to a Knicks team that they shouldn't be having this much trouble with, I'm not so convinced that the Celtics are going to be as tough of an "out" this year for Miami or Chicago as I initially thought. Maybe they are underestimating the Knicks a bit or maybe they're just lethargic right now and will really get-up for the next round (if they make it). Either way, the Celtics are looking a little old to me and I'm not sure they'll be able to get it together, even with Shaq in the line-up. Especially when you consider the Knicks almost won last night without Chauncey and with Amare out for the majority of the game. If the Knicks actually were a team that executed well for a full 48 minutes, they would have won.

Number 5: Doc Rivers is a hell of a coach.

I think I knew this already, but I really came to appreciate just how good a coach he is after these last two games. Last night (as pointed out by the commentators) he fooled everyone by giving KG the chance to make the go-ahead bucket. I would have bet money that Pierce was gonna get that shot. This isn't the sole reason I think he's a good coach obviously, but it's an example of where I think his coaching ability stands-out (or either he just got lucky, ha). Doc just seems to know his team very well as far as strengths and weaknesses go and he also has the complete respect and command of his team. I don't see that from the Knicks (and a lot of other teams... Hey Spoelstra!) in the same way I see it from the Celtics. Those guys in green believe they always have a chance to win and they trust their coach to get them there. The Knicks seem to believe they have a chance to win if Melo & Amare can get it done moreso than they believe in their coach and what he's asking them to do.