Rogue
05-15-2009, 08:42 AM
As the league has handled, the Lakers finally were dragged into a seven-game swamp, which will make the WCF a little bit more rivalry. Clearly David Stern doesn't want to see a 5-game WCF, like the those of the past two years. For sure he wants the Lakers to win the western championship, what he doesn't like to see is just a massacre in the WCF. By manipulating the officiating work, the league managed to give Nuggets one more week to rest than the Lakers can get, which will give Nuggets an advantage that may help them play longer in the series against Lakers.
Hadn't the Nuggets got any officiating help, they wouldn't have earned such a long break. If the Nuggets also played 7 games in the second round, even if they made the WCF, they would still be swept out by Lakers with a 0-4, just like the first round of last season. Let alone the extra vacation, the Nuggets also have got other dams to barrier a sweep.
From the team dominated by Melo and Iverson, the new version of Nuggets team is quite a different one. Their offense runs much more fluently with Billups working as the brain. On the other end of the floor, Camby's leave hasn't had any negative effect on this team, oppositely this team has developed a bit defensively thanks to Birdman.
In the past several seasons, the Nuggets played like a bunch of thugs, affiliated by a very loosen organization. Their players are still the same old thugs, but their organization has got reformed by a new gangster that joined that team at the beginning of the 08-09 regular season. Plus, the improvement of this team should also partially owed to the recruitment of some new muscles like Birdman.
To some degree, the entire postseason is walking exactly on the way paved by the league, there is no possibility the league digs a hole on the road that the playoff teams are expected to walk on. The NBA finals of this season is probably granted to be a contest between Cavs and Lakers, or James and Kobe.
Prediction: Lakers in 6.
Hadn't the Nuggets got any officiating help, they wouldn't have earned such a long break. If the Nuggets also played 7 games in the second round, even if they made the WCF, they would still be swept out by Lakers with a 0-4, just like the first round of last season. Let alone the extra vacation, the Nuggets also have got other dams to barrier a sweep.
From the team dominated by Melo and Iverson, the new version of Nuggets team is quite a different one. Their offense runs much more fluently with Billups working as the brain. On the other end of the floor, Camby's leave hasn't had any negative effect on this team, oppositely this team has developed a bit defensively thanks to Birdman.
In the past several seasons, the Nuggets played like a bunch of thugs, affiliated by a very loosen organization. Their players are still the same old thugs, but their organization has got reformed by a new gangster that joined that team at the beginning of the 08-09 regular season. Plus, the improvement of this team should also partially owed to the recruitment of some new muscles like Birdman.
To some degree, the entire postseason is walking exactly on the way paved by the league, there is no possibility the league digs a hole on the road that the playoff teams are expected to walk on. The NBA finals of this season is probably granted to be a contest between Cavs and Lakers, or James and Kobe.
Prediction: Lakers in 6.