Posts Tagged ‘Detroit Pistons’

Eastern Conference

(1) Cleveland vs (8) Chicago
It’s simply hard to imagine Chicago Bulls, who barely scraped by the Toronto Raptors into the playoff, beating the LeBrons. Bulls simply don’t have anyone who can guard LeBron James. Cavaliers are too tough inside: Brad Miller and Joakim Noah versus Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Verejao.

Have we forgotten Antawn Jamison? Wouldn’t he be excited to get into the playoffs with a title contender?

Bulls are nowhere nearly the team that last year nearly upset the Boston Celtics. They might win one close game at home, but look for Cavs to finish this one early.

(2) Orlando vs (7) Charlotte
Can we expect a franchise in its inaugural playoff series to throw of a team that has been arguably the best in the league since the All-Star break? Bobcats might take one game as they did in the season series with the Magic, but nothing beyond that.

(3) Atlanta vs (6) Milwaukee
Milwaukee Bucks were a team that no one wanted to play, but as Andrew Bogut hit the floor and injured his hand, so did the chances of Milwaukee progressing past the first found of playoffs. Look to the last meeting between these two teams and how the Bogutless Bucks handled the Hawks to show how the series will progress. And imagine how scary Bucks would have been with healthy Bogut and Michael Redd.

(4) Celtics vs (5) Miami Heat
Old legs of the Boston Celtics are on the verge of breaking from the surmounting pressures of the NBA grind. This series reminds me of 80’s Bulls/Pistons battles, Heat have their Michael Jordan in Dwayne Wade going against Pistons who are the Celtics, but with a lot more mileage on their feet.

Sure would be nice for the C’s to win another title and built somehow on the resurgence of the Celtics lore. But, the pieces of the puzzle were put together just a tad bit late.

The longer the series goes, more chances for the Heat to pull off an upset.

The time has come. Allen Iverson could possibly be out of the NBA. Memphis Grizzlies experiment hasn’t worked out as well as everyone has hoped. Well, at least not as Iverson wanted it to be.

Relegated to coming of the bench, Iverson adjusted well to a reserve role that was never a part of his repertoire. Could a player such as Iverson ever really accept an unselfish role and be a real team player? Definitely not.

Larry Brown appeared to be the only basketball entity that was able to curtail Iverson’s whims. Thus, Iverson was able to reach the NBA Finals (eventually losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Iverson was loved in Philly, he gave the city of brotherly love his all, but apparently that was not enough. In the end he could not give himself to the city. In a city that would have lauded him as its greatest hero, maybe even greater than Rocky Marciano, Iverson could never mend himself in order to mesh with a personality that rivaled his own.

Chris Webber and Iverson could’ve taken the 76ers to the top.

Who in their right mind would want to play with Iverson? Did he solidify the Detroit Pistons? They probably wanted to trade him soon after he arrived in the Motor City.

Iverson, a player that pushes himself harder than anyone else can push themselves, is not the kind of player that demands respect and emulation. He is the prototypical ball-hog that so many of us have encountered playing on the playgrounds, the kind of player that no one wants to play with.

Iverson will probably make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, but he is not truly deserving of that honor. Being inducted into the Hall of fame should signify a player’s greatness. Great players are not judged solely on the stats that they accumulate over their careers. They are judged on the merit of their accomplishments and how positively they impacted the game. What positive impact did Iverson have?

Great players are supposed to make the people around them better. How many people can call themselves Iverson’s teammates? How many more can say that they were better of playing with Iverson?

Great players don’t always win a championship during their careers. In that way life is cruel in the way that it would play a sick joke on someone not deserving of that honor. If Iverson never wins an NBA championship throughout his illustrious (sic) career, that wouldn’t faze even one bit. But, if somehow an opportunity presents it self so that Iverson’s is close to one to that elusive dream, then failure would be a fitting joke that life can ever play on a man.

Something is rotten in the state of Cleveland, and that something is the play of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Six games into the season there is talk already of how their offseason moves are not having the desired effect…make LeBron James want to stay in Cleveland.

Already it looks like the signing of Shaq isn’t working out. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is off to a horrific start in his new role the back-up center.  Role players aren’t performing how they did last year…oh yeah, Delonte West is trouble with the law!

What else can go wrong for a team that was supposed to tear through this season just as a puppy goes through a kid homework?!?

Probably things can get worse for Cleveland if King James declares that he is no longer interested in playing for the Cavs.

What will happen then? What ensues could be the biggest sports story ever…ever. Imagine Michael Jordan declaring that he no longer to play for the Chicago Bulls after they were unable to get past the Detroit Pistons in the late 80’s.

Many people think that LeBron is ready to bolt for New York if things don’t change soon. Well, they could be at least partially right. The chances are slim that LeBron will want to go to a team that is horridly incapable of getting its act together. There must be much better suitors for the King.

If LeBron wants to play for a major market team, New Jersey Nets are positioned more favorably to lure him out of Ohio. Primed to move to Brooklyn (New York), Nets are partially owned by James’ buddy Jay-Z and that can only boost Nets odds. Besides, if LeBron is intent on becoming a serious businessman, then there is nothing better than learning from a really rich guy, Russian steel magnate Mikhail Prokhorov.

What do Cavs do if they want to keep James in town? Well…there is nothing that they can really do. James’ departure would lend itself perfectly to the case of Kevin Garnett wanting out of Minnesota, so that he can have a real chance to win.

As much as athletes like to tout their horn about being loyal to their teams (and in the end their never do), reality is that some teams are naturally predisposed to winning, while others are just trying to emulate them.

Signing Shaq didn’t help the Phoenix Suns. Why should it work any differently for Cavs? Isn’t it obvious that Shaq is no longer the dominant force of old? He had it in him to bring the Miami Heat to the pinnacle of the NBA. No such luck in Phoenix. And as much as I would have loved for Suns to have won one with Shaq on their side, the chances of that happening in Cleveland are slim to none.

Not many people seem to learn from history. Wilt Chamberlain’s tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers did bring success, but that success wasn’t achieved by Chamberlain alone. And in as much as LeBron might believe that Shaq will be that missing piece of a championship puzzle, reality is sure to prove otherwise. I will then have the last laugh when LeBron gets fed up with Cleveland and bolts for New York…but not the Knicks, but my New Jersey Nets.