Bold Predictions Gone Awry
So at the start of the season I went with a bold pick to be the NBA Champs. I went with the Western Conference team with a burgeoning star at power forward, a center with the ability to score, a solid defensive shooting guard who could knock down the three ball, a lock-down defender at the small forward, a young dynamic point guard with an incredibly bright future, a solid bench, and a tough, hard-nosed scorer as their sixth man. Nope, I did not choose the Utah Jazz. I chose the other Western Conference team that had all those pieces, Los Angeles Clippers, in the hopes that the Clips would build off their earlier successes and make a push for a title for the first time ever. Whoops. Here we sit with the Utah Jazz on the verge of making a title run, and I did not see how good that team was going to be. The sad part about all this, I do not like the Jazz, but man are they ever tough. They even made the smart decision to change their uniforms to help them win a title, which is a theory I have long held. (I will write about this some time, but for now, think Colorado Avalance, Denver Broncos, Steve Young’s San Francisco 49ers’ title, and a handful of others). Too bad they had to run into San Antonio (who I would have picked, but did not want to seem like a homer who writes how awesome his team is). Despite missing the prediction for the first game, I do not see the Jazz pulling off the upset. They will win Game 3 in Utah, but that will be all. Spurs in 5 games.
As for my other half of the preseason predictions, I had the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the Eastern Conference. After watching LeBron coast through some of these playoff games, and multiple regular season games, I am not convinced that this team can beat Detroit, especially after adding Chris Webber. However, I did pick them at the start, and I fell compelled to ride it out. Therefore, I will have to back my man, Mike Brown, and hope that Sasha Pavlovic’s newfound heart can help the Cavs pull this out. Cavs in 7.
