NBA Playoffs First Round Wrap

by Rob King

The fair-weather fan hoping to see crossover stars Lebron and Kobe, and major market franchises like the Lakers and Knicks in the 2005 playoffs, won’t get interested in watching until the Miami Heat and defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons meet as expected in the Eastern Conference Finals. Of course some voyeuristic viewers are looking forward to the second round match-up between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons in hopes of seeing a repeat of the malice at The Palace.

For authentic hoop heads the 2005 playoffs have been entertaining. Personally I have been rolling with the Wildcats as former University of Arizona point guards wrapped up their first round playoff series - Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks, and Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards.

Up in Boston, the Celtics hoped to emulate their New England neighbors in the NFL and end the title hopes of another team from Indiana. They tried beating the Pacers in game seven and putting Miller time on ice forever. But, the Indiana Pacers showed they could handle “The Truth” and beat Boston for a Game 7 road win.

The playoffs have been exciting with new stars emerging and some old ones making sure we don’t forget them. There have been disappointments as well. Let’s start on the West side.

After closing the regular season strong the Denver Nuggets appeared poised to make noise in the postseason. When George Karl’s crew beat the Spurs in game one, expectations were raised even higher. The noise ended after game two as San Antonio put an end to their former ABA adversary’s postseason plan. Denver disappointed many of the experts who picked them to push the San Antonio Spurs to limit in their first round playoff encounter by bowing out in five games.

I can excuse the Sacramento Kings letting Ray Allen go off ‘cause “he got game”. But Jerome James!! The Sac-town boys went down in five games and made the Seattle SuperSonics center look like Shaquille O’Neal. Expect James’ Shaq imitation to end abruptly against Tim Duncan in the Sonics second round match up against the San Antonio Spurs. Ray Allen will continue playing like Jesus Shuttlesworth but anticipate the Spurs prevailing in five games and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

Next we travel to Memphis where the Grizzlies first round performance against the Phoenix Suns was bleak. The Suns were hardly challenged during their first round series sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis put up a better fight with the media than on the court against the Suns. Phoenix put on an impressive offensive display to maul the Grizzlies four-love, but look for the Suns to set in a thrilling second round series against the Dallas Mavericks.

On the East coast, everyone expected the Detroit Pistons to make quick work of the Philadelphia 76’ers. The series lasted only five games but the Pistons had no answer for Allen Iverson who averaged 31 points and 10 assists per game and played almost every minute of the final three contests.

In New Jersey, yours truly, the King drank the Kidd and Carter Kool-Aid after picking the Nets to take the Miami Heat to six games in their first round meeting. Based on the Nets 15-4 record to finish the regular season I believed they would be more competitive against the Heat who appeared vulnerable after closing the season 7and 7. After watching the Heat wrap the Nets up and send them fishing in four games I could point out that the series may have turned out different if Nets point maestro Jason Kidd makes a wide open three pointer to win game three but I won’t.

What I will point out is that the way Dwyane Wade is playing, Detroit and even Denver have to regret passing him up in the 2003 NBA draft. Think off how different the Denver-San Antonio series turns out with Wade in the Nugget backcourt to match up with the Spurs tandem of Ginobli and Parker. Imagine the Pistons with D-Wade instead of Darko Milicic. A “Bad Boy” title repeat would be assured.

Back to life, back to reality. Watching Wade and Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas match up should be compelling. Seeing Shaq destroy Wiz centers won’t be as the Heat beat the Wiz in five games.