1st rd Playoff prediction thread.... for playoff prediction superiority guys.

In four regular season games against Miami George Hill averaged 3.5 PPG and shot 31.3% from the field and 33% from three point range.

Last year in the ECF he averaged 13 a game but only 38.6% shooting from the field. He's shooting 44% from the field this series.

Also George and Hibbert came off the court limping something to keep an eye on. This series just reminds me of Lakers-Kings in 2002. Teams like the Kings or Pacers aren't ready for the challenge they just aren't.

Could you see the Pacers rallying down 2-1 in this series or 3-2? I can see Miami doing that but not the fragile Pacers.
 
Interesting that you mention the Kings of 2002 - I see a little bit of them in Indiana as well.

I don't see Indiana coming back and winning 3 straight to end the series. They need to get one of the two games in Miami. I think that they will.

I would be surprised if Indiana lost Game 5 at home. I wouldn't feel confident about them coming back from 3-2 down to Miami. In fairness though, they've already done that in the playoffs this year.

Regarding George Hill, I don't think that he's a great player at all. But I do think that he's capable of making wide open jumpers. Where he gets in trouble is when he's trying to do too much. As long as Indiana continues to use him as a floor spacer and he isn't forced into trying to create shots for himself or others, he'll be fine. He's really a guy that should be part of most teams bench ... but for whatever reason he kind of works as a starter on this Pacers team.
 
Indiana so far has been run out of their own gym in both game 5's this year at home so why would you be surprised if they lost that game this time around?

Also I'm being kind comparing them to 2002 Kings.

I actually see more 2011 Bulls. They are a team who works well as a team but doesn't have enough fire power. They are a team many thought would give Miami trouble due to their size but Lebron/Wade proved to be too much for them that series.

Problem for the Pacers is and this will be the same problem for OKC is when they go to their bench the game falls apart. All five starters scored in double figures and had respectable +/- on the court but their bench gave them nothing.

While Miami doesn't have a great bench and it will be exposed against the Spurs, their bench is better than the Pacers/OKC. Cole, Birdman, Allen and Battier are all capable of stepping up while I don't see a guy who can for Indiana except maybe Scola which is a big maybe.

So as long as Miami doesn't bury themselves with their starters(Haslem was awful today and was a minus 20 on the court in only 18 minutes) they'll be in good shape when Vogel has to go to the bench. Starting in game three the series will go every other game so if he plans on playing his starters 40+ minutes they'll be worn down as the series goes on.
 
The series is over. Miami is going to win. It will be 3-1 going into game 5. Indiana won't win 3 straight against LeBron.
 
The series is over. Miami is going to win. It will be 3-1 going into game 5. Indiana won't win 3 straight against LeBron.
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If they are down 3-1 which I expect I bet they roll over and die in game five.
 
The Bulls are another interesting comparison. I'm not sure that I'd say that Indiana is a better team than that Bulls team is, but I don't think that this Miami team is anywhere close to as good as that team and I think that this Indiana team matches up a little bit better in that West > Boozer, Hibbert is a bigger obstacle in the lane than Noah (although I think Noah's a better overall defender), Indiana has 2 guys that can not only defend LBJ and Wade but also create shots in George and Mr. Irrational Confidence, and that Rose could be taken away by putting a bigger LBJ on him whereas the better players for Indiana are all roughly a similar height and it's harder for LBJ to completely take them away.

As for the prior Game 5's, you could have said the same thing about Game 1's before Sunday. However, if you want to go series by series Atlanta absolutely shot the 3 ridiculously well in that game and my guess is that Indiana thought that Washington was going to roll over.

I agree that Indiana's biggest problem in this series is going to come down to getting something from their bench. They need to get something out of Scola, CJ Watson, or maybe even an Evan Turner appearance at some point. While I'm not convinced that Miami's bench is particularly great anymore, they do have a number of guys that know their role and are generally interchangeable enough to play the guys that are working on that particular night.

Basketball is a game of matchups and these teams really do matchup well against one another. I haven't seen anything at this point that doesn't make me think that this isn't a 7 game series. I think Miami will win Game 3 in a close game and Indiana will take Games 4 and 5. Miami has a massive LBJ game in Game 6 leaving Game 7. The last 12 months between these two teams has been tied to that game being in Indiana instead of Miami. I do think that we'll get that to play out. As for the outcome? I've picked Indiana all year so I can't change now. But as with everybody else, it's hard to buy into everything that Indiana is selling ... they are still in a prove it mode.
 
On paper the 2011 Heat might be better but I trust this Heat team more.

This group has a better bench(that team had nothing and was starting a washed up Bibby at PG).

This team also knows their role and has a championship swagger. That team although the prime of the big 3 IMO didn't have defined roles yet, Spoelstra wasn't confident as a coach and they didn't particularly respond well to pressure due to the enormous spotlight on them that hadn't been seen since 2004 Lakers.
 
There's no doubt that this is going to be an intriguing series with a lot of future ramifications for both teams.

It's hard for me not to look at this Miami team and wonder if it's on their last run. Wondering whether LBJ leaves and goes to a better situation or stays in Miami around a situation where I'm not entirely sure that they are going to be able to surround him with much is going to be very, very interesting to watch.
 
There's no doubt that this is going to be an intriguing series with a lot of future ramifications for both teams.

It's hard for me not to look at this Miami team and wonder if it's on their last run. Wondering whether LBJ leaves and goes to a better situation or stays in Miami around a situation where I'm not entirely sure that they are going to be able to surround him with much is going to be very, very interesting to watch.
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I thought there was no way Lebron leaves but with Cleveland getting the #1 pick it's interesting.

I think staying with Pat Riley in Miami is still the smart move. Might have a 2 year transition but you can reload easier in a desired situation like Miami than Cleveland.
 
APAG is right.

In the past, Indiana could beat Miami but you never got the impression that they could blow them off the court.

They didn't just beat Miami yesterday, they outplayed them in every which way. The fact that they are doing that while the entire world says that they are struggling is saying something.

The only "advantage" that I see with Miami right now is that they have LBJ. If you think that Wade's still Wade that's one thing and if you think Bosh has an ability to be effective that's another. But if you were holding a draft of all the players in this series, LBJ would go first, then George, West, and Hibbert before getting to the point of figuring out if you'd rather have Stephenson or Wade. At worst, Indiana's got 5 of the 8 best players in this series and at best they have 4 of the 5 best.
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This team does not suck. The rebuild is ahead of schedule.

The Mariners are going to win 85-90 games this year.

Welp despite having only one "advantage" the Heat seemed to have had Indiana on lockdown mode. Since the game one eruption of 107 points the Pacers have scored 83 and 87 points since then.

The Heat made Hibbert a liability today in the fourth quarter as David West couldn't guard Ray Allen. That Heat lineup of Cole-Allen-Wade-Lebron-Bosh has given them fits this entire series.

Wade another 23+ point game for him in this series. I knew he'd have a big series after Stephenson basically called him out.
 
Looks like Dwayne Wade isn't the 4th or 5th best player in the series after all. He's obviously not as good as 5 years ago, but he's still a great player and championship experience is still important. In a must win playoff game, I would take him over any Pacer, including George.
 
That's the thing, Miami has an on and off switch. Due to the Pacers playing like shit going into the playoffs they obviously underestimated them in game one despite what they say.

In game two and game three you saw Miami dialed in. They don't always shoot well when dialed in but you can tell when Miami is dialed in by their defense.

They have brought their defense. Stephenson awoke Wade too with those comments. Just like I said whenever people question Wade he always erupts. Remember heading into game 4 vs the Spurs there was actual talk about how Miami should bench Wade? Same with game 7? Those were his two best games last year.

Today Lebron looked like Lebron of last year. He brought his defense after the first quarter and was that shutdown defender. He was setting up his teammates and took over the game.

Vogel also froze like he usually does in these games, after Allen hits his second three you gotta pull Hibbert and make an adjustment. He didn't and the game got away from him. I feel like Spoelstra is always one step ahead of him.
 
Lance Stephenson needs to learn to shut his trap. He just said he's in Lebron's head.

I love Chris Bosh response "if averaging 27 a game is in somebodies head please stay there".
 
I'm surprised race never resurrected himself for playoff hot talk. Guess the full blown AIDs really has won. RIP. Go Heat!
 
I'm surprised race never resurrected himself for playoff hot talk. Guess the full blown AIDs really has won. RIP. Go Heat!
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Race should have laid off rolling fags ($75k) in the village

- Worm
 
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No question that Hibbert has been jekyl and hyde a bit against the Heat this year ...

Funny that you mention that I read the articles by Zach Lowe - I will agree that I thought that he wrote a very good article highlighting how Indiana gives Miami trouble. But I picked Indiana a long time ago to beat Miami considering that I have a Vegas slip sitting on my counter for them to win the NBA Title.

There are a lot of teams that like to think that they match up well with Miami by making them do things that they don't like to do. Few can actually do it.

Miami is a very new age team that doesn't really care about scoring in the paint in the traditional sense of using bigs and post ups. They want the paint as open as possible because that allows LBJ and Wade to drive to the hoop at all times without obstacles.

Few teams can offer up a rim obstacle like Hibbert. Few teams can offer up a PF option like David West in tandem. Few teams have an option to guard LBJ like Paul George. Few teams have an option to stay with Wade in Mr. Irrational Confidence.

I do agree with the assessment that Indiana's got to clean up their rebounding to win this series. It would also help them out a bunch if they can find an option or two off the bench that can rise to the occasion at some point in the series.

Miami is favored by many and rightfully so. But they look very old to me and have been relying way too much on LBJ (which they have been able to get away with so far). Too many of their key contributors seem on their last legs to me. Battier looks done. Jesus Shuttlesworth can still hit the open shot but I don't see a lot more out of him at this point. I never feel like you're going to get any kind of consistency out of Chalmers or Cole. They've been resorting to using James Jones and Rashard Lewis to try to stretch the floor - both would be abused in this series.

Maybe LBJ is up to it to have another massive series and put his team on his back. But I see Wade as being more old than rested. And Bosh normally doesn't play particularly well against Indiana and is never confused with being a dominant rebounder.

This series is a lot closer than I think a lot are giving credit for. I think most think that Miami will win 1 of the first 2 in Indiana, then take 2 at home, lose game 5, and then clinch in game 6. My expectation is that we'll be 2-2 after 4 games. I do think that Miami's best chance to win the series is in 6. I also would like to see how Indiana handles having game 7 at home if it gets to that point. They've played all year working to have THAT game on their home court - can they capitalize on it?

I'd be very surprised if either series didn't go the distance. Even with the Ibaka injury, OKC is a bad matchup for the Spurs. These should be great conference finals.
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The bolded parts are just fucking gold.

This team does not suck.

5 reasons the Huskies win. Say 34-17?

Mariners will win 85-90 games.

Congrats Tequilla you own half of those fucktarded at the time statements that continues to be hilarious in retrospect.
 
No question that Hibbert has been jekyl and hyde a bit against the Heat this year ...

Funny that you mention that I read the articles by Zach Lowe - I will agree that I thought that he wrote a very good article highlighting how Indiana gives Miami trouble. But I picked Indiana a long time ago to beat Miami considering that I have a Vegas slip sitting on my counter for them to win the NBA Title.

There are a lot of teams that like to think that they match up well with Miami by making them do things that they don't like to do. Few can actually do it.

Miami is a very new age team that doesn't really care about scoring in the paint in the traditional sense of using bigs and post ups. They want the paint as open as possible because that allows LBJ and Wade to drive to the hoop at all times without obstacles.

Few teams can offer up a rim obstacle like Hibbert. Few teams can offer up a PF option like David West in tandem. Few teams have an option to guard LBJ like Paul George. Few teams have an option to stay with Wade in Mr. Irrational Confidence.

I do agree with the assessment that Indiana's got to clean up their rebounding to win this series. It would also help them out a bunch if they can find an option or two off the bench that can rise to the occasion at some point in the series.

Miami is favored by many and rightfully so. But they look very old to me and have been relying way too much on LBJ (which they have been able to get away with so far). Too many of their key contributors seem on their last legs to me. Battier looks done. Jesus Shuttlesworth can still hit the open shot but I don't see a lot more out of him at this point. I never feel like you're going to get any kind of consistency out of Chalmers or Cole. They've been resorting to using James Jones and Rashard Lewis to try to stretch the floor - both would be abused in this series.

Maybe LBJ is up to it to have another massive series and put his team on his back. But I see Wade as being more old than rested. And Bosh normally doesn't play particularly well against Indiana and is never confused with being a dominant rebounder.

This series is a lot closer than I think a lot are giving credit for. I think most think that Miami will win 1 of the first 2 in Indiana, then take 2 at home, lose game 5, and then clinch in game 6. My expectation is that we'll be 2-2 after 4 games. I do think that Miami's best chance to win the series is in 6. I also would like to see how Indiana handles having game 7 at home if it gets to that point. They've played all year working to have THAT game on their home court - can they capitalize on it?

I'd be very surprised if either series didn't go the distance. Even with the Ibaka injury, OKC is a bad matchup for the Spurs. These should be great conference finals.
Click to expand...

The bolded parts are just fucking gold.

This team does not suck.

5 reasons the Huskies win. Say 34-17?

Mariners will win 85-90 games.

Congrats Tequilla you own half of those fucktarded at the time statements that continues to be hilarious in retrospect.
Click to expand...

My guess is that they'll get out of April 3-5 games above .500 ...

Oakland is probably good enough to still win 90+ and win the division. But with the way the rest of the division is looking, the Mariners could very easily stumble into 85-90 wins this year if the rotation gets back healthy. The pen is still a giant question mark though. The offense is young, will have ups and downs, but in general, is a massive improvement over what has been here for most of the last 5-10 years.

You should really stop with your Kent Griswold twisting impression. I've NEVER said that the Mariners WOULD win 85-90 games. What I've said is that the Mariners COULD stumble into 85-90 wins with a healthy rotation and that 88-90 wins COULD win the Wild Card in the AL this year.

The Mariners are 25-25 after 50 games and only recently got Iwakuma back and Paxton/Walker are getting closer. The Angels and Yankees lead the Wild Card right now at 28-22 and 27-23. The AL as a whole is more or less a mediocre dreckfest.

So I'd recommend that you either quote me correctly, take away your comment saying that I've said something that I haven't, or be prepared to meet me at a Circle K, take the gloves off, and roll.
 
No question that Hibbert has been jekyl and hyde a bit against the Heat this year ...

Funny that you mention that I read the articles by Zach Lowe - I will agree that I thought that he wrote a very good article highlighting how Indiana gives Miami trouble. But I picked Indiana a long time ago to beat Miami considering that I have a Vegas slip sitting on my counter for them to win the NBA Title.

There are a lot of teams that like to think that they match up well with Miami by making them do things that they don't like to do. Few can actually do it.

Miami is a very new age team that doesn't really care about scoring in the paint in the traditional sense of using bigs and post ups. They want the paint as open as possible because that allows LBJ and Wade to drive to the hoop at all times without obstacles.

Few teams can offer up a rim obstacle like Hibbert. Few teams can offer up a PF option like David West in tandem. Few teams have an option to guard LBJ like Paul George. Few teams have an option to stay with Wade in Mr. Irrational Confidence.

I do agree with the assessment that Indiana's got to clean up their rebounding to win this series. It would also help them out a bunch if they can find an option or two off the bench that can rise to the occasion at some point in the series.

Miami is favored by many and rightfully so. But they look very old to me and have been relying way too much on LBJ (which they have been able to get away with so far). Too many of their key contributors seem on their last legs to me. Battier looks done. Jesus Shuttlesworth can still hit the open shot but I don't see a lot more out of him at this point. I never feel like you're going to get any kind of consistency out of Chalmers or Cole. They've been resorting to using James Jones and Rashard Lewis to try to stretch the floor - both would be abused in this series.

Maybe LBJ is up to it to have another massive series and put his team on his back. But I see Wade as being more old than rested. And Bosh normally doesn't play particularly well against Indiana and is never confused with being a dominant rebounder.

This series is a lot closer than I think a lot are giving credit for. I think most think that Miami will win 1 of the first 2 in Indiana, then take 2 at home, lose game 5, and then clinch in game 6. My expectation is that we'll be 2-2 after 4 games. I do think that Miami's best chance to win the series is in 6. I also would like to see how Indiana handles having game 7 at home if it gets to that point. They've played all year working to have THAT game on their home court - can they capitalize on it?

I'd be very surprised if either series didn't go the distance. Even with the Ibaka injury, OKC is a bad matchup for the Spurs. These should be great conference finals.
Click to expand...

The bolded parts are just fucking gold.

This team does not suck.

5 reasons the Huskies win. Say 34-17?

Mariners will win 85-90 games.

Congrats Tequilla you own half of those fucktarded at the time statements that continues to be hilarious in retrospect.
Click to expand...

My guess is that they'll get out of April 3-5 games above .500 ...

Oakland is probably good enough to still win 90+ and win the division. But with the way the rest of the division is looking, the Mariners could very easily stumble into 85-90 wins this year if the rotation gets back healthy. The pen is still a giant question mark though. The offense is young, will have ups and downs, but in general, is a massive improvement over what has been here for most of the last 5-10 years.

You should really stop with your Kent Griswold twisting impression. I've NEVER said that the Mariners WOULD win 85-90 games. What I've said is that the Mariners COULD stumble into 85-90 wins with a healthy rotation and that 88-90 wins COULD win the Wild Card in the AL this year.

The Mariners are 25-25 after 50 games and only recently got Iwakuma back and Paxton/Walker are getting closer. The Angels and Yankees lead the Wild Card right now at 28-22 and 27-23. The AL as a whole is more or less a mediocre dreckfest.

So I'd recommend that you either quote me correctly, take away your comment saying that I've said something that I haven't, or be prepared to meet me at a Circle K, take the gloves off, and roll.
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You said the Mariners could easily stumble into 85-90 wins. That, plus your answer of September for when the Mariner talk will be over sure seems like a prediction of 85 wins to me.

Your NBA playoff predictions have been Kim like as well.

 
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