NBA Playoffs—What have we learned?

Here comes Lebron and the Cavs!

We would like to thank the Hawks for participating in the playoffs. Please pick up your parting gifts as you leave the arena: The Cavs are serious! The Cavs are undefeated in the playoffs so far. They are disposing of the undermanned competition by an average of nearly 20 points a game. This team for the first time in franchise history looks like it has no intention of taking a game off let alone allowing a team to beat it in Cleveland in these NBA Finals.

Bulldoz NBA Playoffs
NBA Playoffs

The team seems to be totally focused on winning and that focus is provided by Lebron James. He has the will to win regardless of the situation and has willed the team to comebacks against some of the best teams in the league during the regular season. Now, he and his mates are making playoff teams look like the Washington Generals against the Globetrotters.

Don’t expect them to get pressed by any team until the finals.

Boston is struggling with the Magic: This version of the Celtics is a shadow of the team that won the championship last year. They are hurt and seem to be using that as an excuse to explain losses to an inferior Magic team. The Celts were lucky to win Game 4 and that luck will not continue. The Magic will win the series as soon as they begin to remember to get the ball to their superstar Dwight Howard in the last few minutes of a game. Magic win in 7 games.

The Lakers seem to take games off: How else can you explain the Lakers losing to Houston in Game 4 even though the Rockets are missing their biggest piece? The Lakers looked like a team that expected the Rockets to give up after C Yao Ming went down with a foot injury in Game 3.

Kobe Bryant doesn’t seem to have the ability that Lebron does to keep the team focused. In addition, Andrew Bynum struggled while Yao was on the floor. Even in game 4, the shadow of Yao seemed to be effective against Bynum. Bynum recovered in game 5 and helped the Lakers take a 3-2 advantage in the series.

Now that Yao is out for the rest of the playoffs, the Lakers will win the series. Had he been healthy, the Lakers would have gone down in 6 games. However, the Lakers will have to get focused in a hurry if they are going to get to the finals. They are probably the deepest team in the league but they had better take Denver more seriously than they have Houston. The Nuggets will not be an easy out.

Owner Mark “the punk” Cuban is going to blow up the Mavs: Look for a lot of changes in Dallas after the season. They are not competitive now and need to upgrade their team overall. The bench has been particularly unproductive in the playoffs this season except for Jason Terry. The trade for Jason Kidd was like throwing a piece of spaghetti against a wall to see if it’s done. It has not worked out like the Mavs thought.

It looks like Erick Dampier got old all of a sudden. The Mavs have tried to shake up the starting lineup without much success. Look for a lot of changes in Mav Land. Unfortunately, the exit of Cuban will not be among them.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for and edits https://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on and edits .

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