2013/14 1st Round Recap

WEST


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- T'Wolves shock the #1 Seed Houston Rockets in a 4 Game Sweep... The injury to James Harden in Game 1 hurt the Rockets in a big way... Harden was able to play through the pain but he clearly wasn't himself only averaging 16 points per game throughout the series... Kevin Love for the Wolves was a man amongst boys as he came up big averagin 26 points and 13 rebounds per game...



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- We knew the Suns were the better team but we didn't know that they were 4 straight wins better... Phoenix easily took care of the Blazers 4-0 to move on to face the T'Wolves in the 2nd round... Suns PG Goran Dragic showed why he has made the All Star Team these past two years as he averaged 21 points and 12 assists for the 4 game series... Former #2 overall Pick Michael Beasley has turned the corner in his career it seems... He averaged 18 points and 9 rebounds per game the last two seasons and he stepped it up even more in this Series... Beasley put up 22 points and 11 rebounds per game for the Suns as the Blazers had no answer for him...



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- I picked the Kings to win the Series before it began because of their depth and their ability to slow the game down vs the run happy Warrior squad... Well, that didn't work out as I thought it would, sure, the Kings won the Series in 5 games, but, they couldn't slow down the Warriors as they averaged 107 points per game... Instead of being a slow down pace that I thought, the Kings beat the Warriors at their own game... Up and Down fastbreak offense was the name of the game this series and these two teams put on a show for 5 games...



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- As I expected the Thunder easily handled the Nuggets in 5 games... Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant averaged 58 points per game combined throughout the series... When those two are playing like that I'm not sure if there is a team in the NBA that can stop them... If you recall, the Thunder made it all the way to the West Finals last Season, but, they had to take on the Lakers without Kevin Durant because of a torn ligament in his wrist he sustained vs the Spurs in the West Semi Finals... If Durant can stay healthy this year, I think the Thunder is going to come out of the West...


EAST



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- I didn't give the Knicks much of a chance in this Series, and, They didn't let me down as they were swept out of the first round by the team with the best record in the NBA This Season... Carmelo Anthony did everything he could, averaging 31 points per game in the 4 game series, but, the rest of the Knicks just didn't show up... With the Summer of 2014 now upon them, there could be some big moves coming to the Big Apple... For the Sixers they advance as expected and continue their fantastic Season... The addition of SG Manu Ginobli has done wonders for this team... Manu is a guy that the rest of the team looks up to, and, even if he isn't the player he once was, his leadership and experience are priceless to this young team who fell just short of the NBA Finals last year losing to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals...


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- I had a feeling coming into this one that the Wizards might have a slight edge on the inside with Emeka Okafor and Nene vs Tristan Thompson and Samuel Dalembert and, unfortunately I was right... The Cavs lost the series in 5 games, and, every game they lost they were outrebounded, the game they won, they also won the rebounding battle... Cavs PG Kyrie Irving did everything he could to carry his team to victory, averaging 26 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists per game, but, the rebounding advantage for the Wizards was too much to over-come... This series solidifies what we already knew about the young Cavaliers, and that is, they just aren't quite ready to take that step into the relm of the NBA's Elite Teams... They have a great young core in place with Irving, Waiters, Muhammen and Thompson, but they need some more depth on the front line and maybe another wing player off the bench to really do some damage next season... They will use this as a learning experience and I look for them to come back stronger in the 2015 Season...


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- Chris Bosh strained his Achilles in the final week of the regular season... It was expected that he'd be able to fight through the pain and play in this series, however, he wasn't able to do so... With Bosh out, LeBron James would step up and play Power Forward, and Center throughout the series... LeBron would play 45 minutes per game in the Series and he did everything he could to lead his team, but, in the end the Pacers were able to pull off the Upset of the Playoffs so far knocking off the Heat in Six Games... We knew the Pacers had the Defensive ability to slow down the Heat, and with Bosh out, that made the Pacers job that much easier... Despite LeBron putting up some of the best Playoff Series numbers of all time, 45 minutes, 33 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists per game, the Heat just didn't have enough from everyone else to get the job done... The win propels the Pacers into the 2nd round and the loss raises numerous questions on South Beach... With the league collective bargaining agreement changing next year, there are many that believe there is no way that the Heat will be able to keep "The Big 3" of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh... All 3 have player options for 2015 but, there have already been rumors of all 3 wanting to explore free agency... Stay tuned...


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- For the Nets, many fans and media members thought there NBA Final Asperations went away when SG Joe Johnson went down with a Torn MCL in the 1st game of the series... The Nets rallied and that was not to be the case... The Bulls, who lost to the Lakers in Six games in the NBA Finals last year, had their sights set on a return trip this Season... The Brooklyn Nets had a different idea though and this would be the best 1st round Series of them all... 7 games of pure basketball joy for the fans... In the end it would be the Nets that would come out on top, thanks in large part to the Deadline acquisition from the Lakers Pau Gasol... In the Series Gasol average 25 points and 12 rebounds per game... Gasol had 25 and 10 in the series clinching 7th game... Derrick Rose had 39 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals in Game 7 but it wasn't enough... Brooklyn moves on and the Bulls go home...