This is my favourite time of year. Not only because the playoffs are here, but because I get to write my playoff diary again. No one knows what is going to happen over the next 45 days. Heroes will be born, hearts will be broken, and man-crushes will surface… but I cannot tell you right now who those heroes will be, which team’s hearts will break, and which players will make my pants bulge. But in 45 days or so I will know, and I’ll be able to look back over my playoff diary and understand how it all unfolded between our eyes. For a bit of nostalgia check my playoff diary from last year. But unless you’re a Spurs fan you won’t want to live in the past. Day 1 starts now.

Day 1 – According to Plan

Nothing from today really surprised me, and before I start hearing “that’s easy to say after the games have been played”, let me make it clear that I made all my playoff predictions before today. I didn’t write a blog about it, but I did get onto the forums to have my say (and a playoff podcast is coming soon). My predictions went a little like this:

East
Boston in 4
Detroit in 5
Cavs in 6
Magic in 6

West
Lakers in 6
Dallas in 6
Suns in 7
Jazz in 5

I never bought into the fact the Wizards ever had a chance against the Cavs, I’ve seen Lebron do too much playoff damage to believe that. He proved today that even without being 100% he can lead this team, and came up big down the stretch as usual. This is with Wally and Delonte shooting a combined 5-20, with Ben Wallace going 0-0 in 23 minutes, and the Cleveland bench going 6-20. In short, the Wizards would do lucky to have that kind of miserable production from Lebron’s supporting cast again, yet they still couldn’t capitalize.

As I and many others predicted, the Suns v Spurs series will be the most entertaining and hard-fought of all the first round series, and boy did it live up to expectations today with a double-OT thriller. I still think the Suns will take this series, and game 1 probably only slipped past them due to Shaq and Amare’s foul trouble. Shaq: “I just wanted to play aggressive, but the floppers prevailed today. Amare and myself are going to continue to play aggressive… Hopefully those guys will compete rather than just fall down.” I’d love to agree with you Shaq, but these are the Spurs. They do whatever it takes to win, whether its flopping, jabbing, or kneeing you in the balls. I remember getting so frustrated last year watching Amare rack up stupid fouls, and thinking the Suns would have easily taken them if it wasn’t for foul trouble. Please Phoenix, don’t make me go through the same thing this year…

I will remember the 2006-2007 playoffs for a few reasons: the Warriors shocking (but not so shocking) upset of the Mavs, Lebron’s historic game 5 against Detroit, Baron Davis’ dunk on AK47’s head, and the time I fell in love with Deron Williams. Since following Deron in last year’s playoffs I’ve been one of his biggest fans, and right now he’s probably my favourite non-Detroit player in the league. Today I watched the Utah v Rockets game, and while Deron appeared to have a “quiet” 20 and 10, he was instrumental during the five minute patch when the game was blown open. He set up Korver for a couple of late threes in the 3rd quarter, then drained a three himself early in the 4th that pushed the lead to 12 and seemed to take the air out of the Toyota Center. All this while playing with a lower back injury, leading a team that is supposed to be crap on the road. It’s only day 1, but it already looks like DW is embarking on another majestic playoff campaign.

Today’s Playoff MVP Votes:
3 votes – Chris Paul
2 votes – Tim Duncan
1 vote – Deron Williams

Comment posted by
at 4/21/2008 1:53:44 PM

[…] Robd’s Playoff Diary is back […]


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