The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The Conference Semi-Finals

Recap

Jean-Andre Venel, the believed father of modern orthopedics.

Derrick Rose
Kobe Bryant
Steve Nash
Jodie Meeks
Metta World Peace
Luol Deng
Kirk Heinrich
Joakim Noah
Russell Westbrook
Rajon Rondo
Amar'e Stoudemire
Danny Granger
Tiago Splitter
David Lee
Danilo Gallinari
Carlos Delfino
Blake Griffin
Jeremy Lin
et al

These were all the people that were significantlly  injured during the playoffs. It's a shame. I will subscribe to a theory by Bill Simmons he mentioned in his latest article (well, part 1 of it as he can write long articles, but they are good most of time). He postulates that many players are doing down because of the style of play nowadays. As early as the early 2000s, many teams had low post players that could score on the low block. Thus, teams on many possessions could dump it down low and sort of minimize the energy they use, applicable to both the offensive and defensive players. Now, however, with the defensive rules changing in the early 2000s, more teams now are playing an offensive style that involves high pick and roll and spacing the floor, and penetration with the overwhelming majority of teams having literally nobody that can score consistently on the low block. This means players are using so much more energy and creating more wear and tear their bodies when they have to fight through tons of screens , voraciously close out on shooters, and are constantly rotating defensively all the while not having or facing a low post player to take some of the energy burden off on night after night after night. Very interesting. 

There were no mega surprises as Golden State beating Denver in 6 was a mild surprise. It's not totally surprising the Bulls beat the sad Nets as I knew the Bulls would be competitive and make it long series, but that's what happens when you let a team takes you to game 7 as it only takes one bad game to be sent home for the summer. The Clippers couldn't do anything to stop Z-Bo and Gasol the Younger and Griffin's high ankle sprain suffered in practice surely did not help their cause. Paul was essentially trying to win it on his own, but it's just impossible. The only shame is the aforementioned injury plague that spread like wildfire. Boston battled like I knew they would, but they, like the Lakers, were doomed by forces beyond their control. As for the Hawks and Pacers, aaaaaa forget it...

Western Conference

(1) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. (5) Memphis Grizzlies

This will be interesting to me. OKC is obviously wounded with Westbrook out for the playoffs. However, they do have the personnel to make it very difficult on Memphis as they have three solid low post defenders in Perkins, Ibaka, and Collison to provide at least some resistance against Z-Bo and Gasol the Younger (as opposed to the Clippers' front court getting ate up). Without Westbrook, Memphis will have the athletic edge in the backcourt as Memphis is going to have to ride with Fisher as their main back up combo guard...ehhsh. We get to see two things now. One, we will see Westbrook's value since he was always the goat whenever OKC lost. I always defended him and said he's an aggressive point guard and they have been a very successful team with him playing that way as they only have 2 guys that can consistently score 20+ points every night. Second, as Bill Simmons said, and I agree with him on this, Durant is now getting a taste of what LeBron went through in Cleveland when LeBron had to do literally everything. He had to score 30+ every night, distribute to everybody, be the anchor of the perimeter defense, be the emotional leader, and be the guy that everybody depends on to take them to the promise land. If they were a defensive minded team like Memphis or Chicago, they would have a better shot. Memphis is nasty defensively and they only have to focus on one guy and dare "The Others" (shot out to Shaq) to beat them 4 times. Sad to see a player go. I see this one as a 6 game series in Memphis' favor.

(2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Golden State Warriors

Poor San Antonio, they get no respect. As soon as Westbrook went down, people in the media immediately jumped to, "is Memphis now the favorite?" What the f***?! This is a San Antonio conference now because of one reason, the apparent return of. Golden State is cute as they caught fire and played with unbelievable fearlessness for a relatively young squad. I knew Denver would struggle away from home, but my goodness. I think we are seeing a star emerge in Curry. I see the beginnings of him using his shooting ability to open it up for his teammates. I'm seeing him penetrate on guys that close him out hard, for obvious reasons, and set up teammates for wide open looks. San Antonio will have a recipe to breakdown and dismantle the baby Warriors as Duncan just has to deal with Bogut and almost nothing else. Will be interesting to see what Pop does with Curry and Thompson defensively and how often will Leonard be on Curry. Golden State is rising, but it's not their time yet. San Antonio in 5.

Eastern Conference

(1) Miami Heat vs. (5) Chicago Bulls

Miami is super-rested while the wounded Bulls just finished a grueling 7 game series on Saturday and have to play Miami on one day rest. There may not be a point in watching the second half of game one as Miami usually is held to a close game in the first half before wearing their opponents down in the second half. The Bulls just don't have the fire power to face a rested, healthy Miami team while Deng is questionable at best for the early part of the series, Noah battling on one foot, Rose refusing to play, and Heinrich is wounded. LeBron will be both angry and prepared for the Bulls' attempt to punk him and the Heat as they did in their last game in which the Bulls halted Miami's historic streak. LeBron was right, though he took some heat, they Bulls weren't making basketball plays and were mugging the Heat. Rest, health, and extra motivation the recipe for cooked Bull. Bulls have zero chance. If Deng and Heinrich miss multiple games, it's a Miami sweep. If they do play and be effective, it's worth a game, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say Miami in 5.

(2) New York Knicks vs. (3) Indiana Pacers

Will this be a new Chapter in the Rivalry?

At last we get to see the battle of these two teams, the Knicks versus "Hicks" as they use to say back in their rivalry in 90s. Those were some fun playoff series. I don't know if this series will be as fun as those in the 90s as these two teams play a boring style. Again, we might see some dreadfully low scores as with the Boston-New York series. Indiana plays great defense and New York plays spotty great defense. It will be interesting as Indiana is probably a better, younger version of Boston, a team New York should have swept or beat in 5 if they were that legit. Melo will get his, but Indiana will do a better team job on Felton as their defensive rotations should be faster and crisper than Boston's. I really have no idea how this series is going to play out because no scenario is outrageous outside of one team sweeping the other while the other team is healthy. New York has proven so far that they can play terribly on their home floor, so their home court advantage may be a little compromised. I can't wait to see if Paul George will show us that "next level" potential as Curry demonstrated in round 1.  We'll see with this one. I'll take Indiana in 6 (and rooting for Indiana to win as it keeps a bet alive. A friend told me Indiana would beat the Heat in the conference finals. I told him if Indiana beats Miami, I have to give him double of what he would pay me if Miami wins).