2008 Woodie Awards
NBA Playoff Preview
Nate Kosher
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports
After one of the most exciting regular seasons in years, the NBA playoffs have arrived. The wild Western conference playoff picture was finally decided, and only seven wins separated the number 1 though 8 seeds. Now that we know who will be playing each other, it's time to look at each matchup.
The Lakers earned the number 1 seed after winning the Pacific Division and will be playing the Denver Nuggets, who beat out everyone's favorite underdogs, the Warriors, and slid into the playoffs with an 8 seed. The Lakers should have no problem with the offensive juggernaut known as the Nuggets, who seem to forget about playing any sort of defense. Denver has no one who can matchup with Kobe Bryant, and the most compelling matchup of this series may actually be George Karl, Nuggets Head Coach, versus his son, Coby Karl, Lakers benchwarmer. Pick: Lakers in 5
The New Orleans Hornets were the number 2 seed in the Western Conference after a season in which they set a franchise record for wins with 56. No one expected the Hornets to do as well as they did, and the 2007-2008 season will be remembered as the year that Chris Paul became a bonafide NBA superstar. However, the Hornets were unlucky and will be facing off against Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks. The Mavs have the definite edge over the young Hornets in playoff experience, and it appears the Hornets may still be a year or two away from greatness. After it looked like Dallas might miss the playoffs, Dirk turned it on and led the team to a number seven seed. Now he will lead the Mavericks over the Hornets in a first round upset. Pick: Mavs in 6
The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns will renew their playoff rivalry in the first round of this year's playoffs. After last year's series in which Steve Nash's nose and Phoenix fans' hearts were left bleeding all over the Arizona desert, expect more bad blood in this match up between the third seed Spurs and sixth seed Suns. The Suns' main purpose for acquiring Shaquille O'Neal was to add size after losing to the Spurs in the playoffs the last two years. The Shaq experiment appeared to work after the Suns dominated the Spurs at home on April 9th. The acquisition of O'Neal has also lit a fire under Amare Stoudamire, who played like a man obsessed from the All-Star break on, averaging 29 points per game in February and March. Shaq has traditionally owned Tim Duncan in the playoffs. Expect more of the Duncan sad face this playoffs as I believe this is the year the Suns get over the hump. Of course, that prediction is contingent on Robert Horry not checking Nash into the scorer's table and the NBA not repeating the dumbest suspension ruling I've ever seen. Pick: Suns in 7
The last first round match up is between the number four seed Utah Jazz and the number five seed Houston Rockets. The Rockets played well after losing Yao Ming to a season-ending injury and reeled off an amazing 22-game winning streak. The Rockets will be without their starting point guard Rafer Alston for at least the first two games of this series, which means that Tracy McGrady needs to play his best basketball for Houston to win. However, the Jazz has too many weapons and I expect them to win this series. Pick: Jazz in 6
Editor's Note: We understand the playoffs started last weekend, but due to press deadlines, but articles were written prior due to press deadlines.
The Lakers earned the number 1 seed after winning the Pacific Division and will be playing the Denver Nuggets, who beat out everyone's favorite underdogs, the Warriors, and slid into the playoffs with an 8 seed. The Lakers should have no problem with the offensive juggernaut known as the Nuggets, who seem to forget about playing any sort of defense. Denver has no one who can matchup with Kobe Bryant, and the most compelling matchup of this series may actually be George Karl, Nuggets Head Coach, versus his son, Coby Karl, Lakers benchwarmer. Pick: Lakers in 5
The New Orleans Hornets were the number 2 seed in the Western Conference after a season in which they set a franchise record for wins with 56. No one expected the Hornets to do as well as they did, and the 2007-2008 season will be remembered as the year that Chris Paul became a bonafide NBA superstar. However, the Hornets were unlucky and will be facing off against Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks. The Mavs have the definite edge over the young Hornets in playoff experience, and it appears the Hornets may still be a year or two away from greatness. After it looked like Dallas might miss the playoffs, Dirk turned it on and led the team to a number seven seed. Now he will lead the Mavericks over the Hornets in a first round upset. Pick: Mavs in 6
The San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns will renew their playoff rivalry in the first round of this year's playoffs. After last year's series in which Steve Nash's nose and Phoenix fans' hearts were left bleeding all over the Arizona desert, expect more bad blood in this match up between the third seed Spurs and sixth seed Suns. The Suns' main purpose for acquiring Shaquille O'Neal was to add size after losing to the Spurs in the playoffs the last two years. The Shaq experiment appeared to work after the Suns dominated the Spurs at home on April 9th. The acquisition of O'Neal has also lit a fire under Amare Stoudamire, who played like a man obsessed from the All-Star break on, averaging 29 points per game in February and March. Shaq has traditionally owned Tim Duncan in the playoffs. Expect more of the Duncan sad face this playoffs as I believe this is the year the Suns get over the hump. Of course, that prediction is contingent on Robert Horry not checking Nash into the scorer's table and the NBA not repeating the dumbest suspension ruling I've ever seen. Pick: Suns in 7
The last first round match up is between the number four seed Utah Jazz and the number five seed Houston Rockets. The Rockets played well after losing Yao Ming to a season-ending injury and reeled off an amazing 22-game winning streak. The Rockets will be without their starting point guard Rafer Alston for at least the first two games of this series, which means that Tracy McGrady needs to play his best basketball for Houston to win. However, the Jazz has too many weapons and I expect them to win this series. Pick: Jazz in 6
Editor's Note: We understand the playoffs started last weekend, but due to press deadlines, but articles were written prior due to press deadlines.
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