A couple of months ago I said that it was the worst time of the year for sports. Two months later, it's just about the best time of the year in sports. We have the NHL playoffs heating up, with teams almost ready to advance to the second round. Last week, we saw underdog Trevor Immelman win the Masters. Baseball is a couple of weeks into the season and teams are just about back into the groove. And, of course, the NBA playoffs kick off tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.
There are some great first round matchups this year. In the West, we have the number 1 seeded Lakers playing the last seeded Nuggets. This should be a decent series, considering its a top seeded team versus the last seeded team. But, the Lakers should pull away in 5 or 6 games. The next best team in the West, the Hornets, will play the Mavericks. This is another good matchup, but I am taking the Hornets in 6 games. The Jazz and Rockets will face off in a series that could go to either team, but I like the Rockets. The most intriguing first round matchup in the West is probably the Suns and Spurs. The Suns revamped their team with the addition of Shaquille O'Neil during the season. O'Neil has won four NBA championships and is one of the best big men basketball has ever seen. It will be fun to see him match up against three time NBA champion, Spurs' Tim Duncan.
In the East, there isn't much competition in the first two matchups. The Celtics will defeat the Hawks and the Pistons should destroy the 76ers. The other two matchups should be better games with better overall competition. The Magic will face off against the Raptors in what should be a great matchup seeing Chris Bosh take on Dwight Howard. The first round series that I am most interested in is the Cavs and Wizards. This will be the third year in a row that these two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs. The Cavs won the first time, in the controversial game 6 when Lebron James told Gilbert Arenas not to miss his free throws. Arenas missed both free throws late in the fourth quarter and the Cavs won the series. The next year, Arenas and Caron Butler were hurt and didn't play a game. The Cavs swept the Wizards in 4 games. This year, Gilbert has already started his usual sweet talk, saying that he is happy they are playing the Cavs because the Cavs can't beat them for a third time. Deshawn Stevenson, of the Wizards, added that Lebron James is overrated. Lebron said that he doesn't need his opponents to motivate him. This should be a great first round of playoffs, starting with Wizards Cavs 12:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
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