A Glance at the Rest of the NBA Playoffs -DTOUR Thread

I'm going to take a look at the other playoffs series going on around the Association and share my thoughts, weather you wanted to read them or not.

So the Thunder and the Clippers are set to go tonight in Game 6 of their series.  OKC is lucky to be up 3-2 instead of being done after the Clippers have blown two chances to win games they had seemingly in their grasp.  OKC has also blown a huge lead so maybe things are where they should be.  Both teams have looked both amazing and unstoppable as well as mentally weak and terribly undisciplined.

No better example was Game 5 where the Clippers gave away a 7-point lead with 47 seconds to go and OKC was bailed out of a bad play and terrible shot by some poor officiating and worse defense. I have to say that I would much rather play the Clippers than the Thunder.  OKC seem to be able to raise their level of play against the Spurs, something that LA doesn't seem capable of.  That said if either of these two teams play the way they currently are in the Western Conference Finals, I like San Antonio's chances.

Of course I fully expect the Thunder to prevail and start playing smarter more team oriented basketball that will cause the Spurs no shortage of problems.  But I can and do hope the Clippers can overcome that rough loss in Game 5.

As for the East it still appears that it's Miami's conference to lose.  They beat the Nets in 5 games despite being very lucky to even be up in that series.  The Nets are another team that just could not execute down the stretch and the Heat took full advantage taking two games they had no business winning and making the highest payroll in the history of basketball look bad while doing it.

I think the Nets will probably be better next year.  Jason Kidd finally found some lineups that worked for him and I expect Paul Pierce to come back, but Brooklyn fans have got to be disappointed with how that series went and a lot of the blame has to go on Kidd and those veterans.  Also, I think it's fair to say that Deron Williams is not even in the top 5 PG's in the league any more.  Talk about falling off a cliff.  Sheesh.

Meanwhile the Pacers continue to play Dr. Jeckal and Mr. Hyde.  I can't remember seeing a team that good play so inconsistantly.  They were up 3-1 with a chance to close out the Wizards on their home floor and they get run out of the building.  Not good.  To be fair, Washington is better than I thought they were.  Of course it's impossible to tell how good they are since they aren't really playing a team that I can judge them against.

I can't decide who I want to play the Heat.  In one way I think that the Pacers will be a lot harder for the Heat to score on, but then they themselves can't score on Washington half the time.  The Wiz will be a much more difficult cover for Miami, but I worry that they'll be able to get stops.  I still lean towards Indiana, but man they can look really bad.

Either way, things are shaping up for some interesting games both tonight and in the Conference Finals.  Here's to hoping that the Clips and Thunder go 7 and that the best possible team will win to face Miami.