2 seed is ours if we beat Chicago.

[Fafnir]

I wouldn't dare make any concrete statements at this point with LA losing to GS and Utah this week and us and SA going all Jekyl and Hyde the last month or so.

For all we know, we beat Chi tonight and they lose to Orlando on Sunday plus one more loss while we beat the Heat Sunday and end up #1 by winning out.

Dwight is likely to be suspended for that game if they uphold his technical from last night.

If so they're not beating Chicago.

[Employee8]

Granted the last few years the 1-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference have advanced to the second round but...upsets do happen.  2007, the number 6 Nets upstarted the 3 Raptors and the 5 Chicago mopped 4 Miami.

Most likely matchup:

CHI/IND
BOS/PHI
MIA/NYK
ORL/ATL

Chicago and Boston are heavily favored to win.  I think the Knicks might have ONE series in them.  Surprise the Heat on the road in the first game and win out the home games.  Long shot but still possible.  And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

I'm not so sure if Miami is a lock to advance to the second round.  They tighten up late in the game and nobody knows who's taking the last shot.  My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

[GreenEnvy]

Granted the last few years the 1-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference have advanced to the second round but...upsets do happen.  2007, the number 6 Nets upstarted the 3 Raptors and the 5 Chicago mopped 4 Miami.

Most likely matchup:

CHI/IND
BOS/PHI
MIA/NYK
ORL/ATL

Chicago and Boston are heavily favored to win.  I think the Knicks might have ONE series in them.  Surprise the Heat on the road in the first game and win out the home games.  Long shot but still possible.  And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

I'm not so sure if Miami is a lock to advance to the second round.  They tighten up late in the game and nobody knows who's taking the last shot.  My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

So Wade and Bosh are chokers as well?

I wonder if the Knicks (or Sixers) really can put up a good fight against them in the first round.

[Employee8]

Granted the last few years the 1-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference have advanced to the second round but...upsets do happen.  2007, the number 6 Nets upstarted the 3 Raptors and the 5 Chicago mopped 4 Miami.

Most likely matchup:

CHI/IND
BOS/PHI
MIA/NYK
ORL/ATL

Chicago and Boston are heavily favored to win.  I think the Knicks might have ONE series in them.  Surprise the Heat on the road in the first game and win out the home games.  Long shot but still possible.  And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

I'm not so sure if Miami is a lock to advance to the second round.  They tighten up late in the game and nobody knows who's taking the last shot.  My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

So Wade and Bosh are chokers as well?

I wonder if the Knicks (or Sixers) really can put up a good fight against them in the first round.

Well it's already known that the Heat hasn't identified that last player to take a shot.  Maybe they'll figure it out throughout the playoffs but while they're figuring it out, maybe the Knicks can surprise them.  I know they are not a deep team whatsoever but I can see a team like them having one good series, like the Clippers did against um the Suns?  They lost the series in 7 games, yes but then again, each game was won or lost by a handful of mistakes.

[Fafnir]

Granted the last few years the 1-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference have advanced to the second round but...upsets do happen.  2007, the number 6 Nets upstarted the 3 Raptors and the 5 Chicago mopped 4 Miami.

Most likely matchup:

CHI/IND
BOS/PHI
MIA/NYK
ORL/ATL

Chicago and Boston are heavily favored to win.  I think the Knicks might have ONE series in them.  Surprise the Heat on the road in the first game and win out the home games.  Long shot but still possible.  And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

I'm not so sure if Miami is a lock to advance to the second round.  They tighten up late in the game and nobody knows who's taking the last shot.  My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

So Wade and Bosh are chokers as well?

I wonder if the Knicks (or Sixers) really can put up a good fight against them in the first round.

Well it's already known that the Heat hasn't identified that last player to take a shot.  Maybe they'll figure it out throughout the playoffs but while they're figuring it out, maybe the Knicks can surprise them.  I know they are not a deep team whatsoever but I can see a team like them having one good series, like the Clippers did against um the Suns?  They lost the series in 7 games, yes but then again, each game was won or lost by a handful of mistakes.

Having a single player who is going to take "the shot" is an awful way to score against a good defense.

You want a guy to handle the ball at the end of games consistently, but he needs to be a willing passer.

I don't think the Knicks or the Heat are all that deep, though the Heat's starters playing more minutes in the playoffs makes them stronger not weaker. In the playoffs your bench is less important than the regular season not more.

[RJ87]

Granted the last few years the 1-4 seeds in the Eastern Conference have advanced to the second round but...upsets do happen.  2007, the number 6 Nets upstarted the 3 Raptors and the 5 Chicago mopped 4 Miami.

Most likely matchup:

CHI/IND
BOS/PHI
MIA/NYK
ORL/ATL

Chicago and Boston are heavily favored to win.  I think the Knicks might have ONE series in them.  Surprise the Heat on the road in the first game and win out the home games.  Long shot but still possible.  And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

I'm not so sure if Miami is a lock to advance to the second round.  They tighten up late in the game and nobody knows who's taking the last shot.  My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

So Wade and Bosh are chokers as well?

I wonder if the Knicks (or Sixers) really can put up a good fight against them in the first round.

Well it's already known that the Heat hasn't identified that last player to take a shot.  Maybe they'll figure it out throughout the playoffs but while they're figuring it out, maybe the Knicks can surprise them.  I know they are not a deep team whatsoever but I can see a team like them having one good series, like the Clippers did against um the Suns?  They lost the series in 7 games, yes but then again, each game was won or lost by a handful of mistakes.

Having a single player who is going to take "the shot" is an awful way to score against a good defense.

You want a guy to handle the ball at the end of games consistently, but he needs to be a willing passer.

I don't think the Knicks or the Heat are all that deep, though the Heat's starters playing more minutes in the playoffs makes them stronger not weaker. In the playoffs your bench is less important than the regular season not more.

I'm also picking NYK as the most likely upset against MIA - not because of that whole "last second shot" issue, but because I think they just match up very well:

PG: Billups vs. Bibby/Chalmers - Chauncey is getting old, but he's much better than Bibby at this stage in their careers. And Chalmers is far too inconsistent.
SG: Landry vs. Wade - Wade gets the nod here, but Landry's no slouch. The guy is the leading rebounding guard in the league, and can play defense. His lack of playoff experience may come into play though.
SF: Melo vs LBJ - LBJ because he offers more in the rebounding and assists categories, but he will have his hands full on defense against Melo.
PF: Stat vs. Bosh - I'm gonna give the edge to Amar'e here. Mainly because he's really taken his leadership and assertiveness to another level since getting to NY.
C: NY's Mish-mash vs MIA's Mish-mash - It's a wash in their current states. But Ronny Turiaf can make a difference defensively if he's healthy enough.

If Udonis Haslem is healthy and ready to go, and if the good Mike Miller shows up then Miami's bench gets the edge. But those are both big "if's"

[Employee8]

I think how a team responds in the closing seconds of a playoff game is a good test of what they are made out of.  The Heat has shown that they don't really know what to do with the ball in a tight game during the regular season, so how is that going to translate into the playoffs where the stakes are much higher and tempers are bound to explode if the wrong player takes the wrong shot?  It's a very interesting storyline that surrounds the Heat because great chemistry is forged during the playoffs and it carries over to the next season.

I think Miami has the better match up when it comes to the individuals.  I'm thinking the intangibles are what will sink the Heat, you think it's the personnel.  Both valid opinions.

[PosImpos]

And if we win, that means we play ATL/ORL and that series is a tossup.

 My bet is we're up against Orlando in the second round and I'm pegging the NYK/MIA as the best upset in the playoffs.  But that is um, if the standings don't move around before the end of the season.

Because Orlando and Atlanta are locked into 4 /5, the only way we'd face either team is if we end up with the number 1 overall seed.  That's pretty unlikely at this point. 

It's exceedingly more likely that we'll end up with the 2 or 3 and face Miami (NYK or PHI in the event of an upset) in the second round.

The Bulls will almost certainly face Atlanta or Orlando in the 2nd round.