Hope (NBA Playoffs: Conference Finals)

Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And a good thing never dies.

-- Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

The second game today was a bit of a letdown excitement-wise, but no way the same can be said for the playoffs as a whole. We still have 2 rounds to play, so it's still too early to call these the Best Ever, but every day that passes it's looking more and more like that might be the case.

You've probably heard that, this post season, we've already seen more overtime games than any other playoffs in NBA history. Throw in the number of close games, and what we've had so far has been nothing short of a gift from the basketball gods.

More prayers were answered when Dallas knocked out the defending champs, meaning that a new champion will be crowned this June. If you're talking about a favorite, all signs point to the motor city, but you can't discount the strength of the Mavericks--

Stop the music, as Jeff Jarrett used to say. It seems the prevailing opinion is that a Mavs/Pistons Finals is inevitable, these conference finals merely a formality. I might remind anyone harboring thoughts of that nature that the Pistons were stretched to the limit by a poor defensive team, and the Mavs nearly allowed a worn and tired Spurs team to come back and win the series, which would have led to sports writers the world over calling Dirk one of the biggest choke artists the game has ever seen.

No, the teams bound for the Finals are far from decided. The Mavs and Pistons may very well end up meeting each other in two weeks' time, but getting there will be far from a cakewalk. Please remember that the Miami Heat are by far a better offensive and defensive team than the Cavaliers, and the Phoenix Suns are...

Nevermind. Let's roll out the predictions:

Eastern Conference Finals





vs.





Here's what I've been hoping and waiting for all year. If you had asked me -- and I've written as much -- two months ago how this series would go, I would have told you a sweep for the D. But the Heat have come together since then. This is not the pseudo-gelling we witnessed shortly after the All-Star break, but the fully-functioning unit Riles hoped for when he assembled this team last summer. No bullshit. I don't know if it took the GP and Wade shouting match to do it, but sometime prior to game 2 against the Nets, the Heat formed like Voltron. I've been as big a critic of Antoine Walker as anyone, but I think (pray to the core of my very being is probably more honest, but whatever; see the quote which opens this post) he's finally got it, something earlier in the season I went on record stating he would never do.

The game tomorrow is going to be hard fought, and I honestly think the Heat will have a near-impossible time getting the W, but this team has some surprises yet, I think.

As for the Pistons, the D they showed on Sunday was completely ridiculoid. They played like they were on dust! Why it took a game seven for them to break out of their lackadaisical stupor is anyone's guess, but there's no way they come out tomorrow with a lesser effort.

The Heat should be prepared for them, though. You can bet Riles has a strategy, and, although he's a very competent coach, Flip Saunders is no Pat Riley. Riley picks up steam as his teams advance in the playoffs; Saunders's teams run out of gas.

Prediction: Miami wins series 4-3



Western Conference Finals





vs.





First the Suns were favored against Kobe and the his not-so-merry men, then, when they fell behind 3-1, every Tom, Dick and Hank made an about-face and wrote how the Suns are only built for the regular season. Against the Clippers, they were the underdogs at first, but those same critics again pulled a changeabout, and the Suns' standing in the mind of Joe Sportswriter returned to where it originally stood. (Welcome back; did you pick me up anything during your trip?) Now, they're going to be huge underdogs against the Mavs. Dallas after all actually has the defensive prowess to stop the Suns' run-and-gun offense, or at least slow it down a little; and Phoenix's own lack of D (read: they play D about as well as I speak Aramaic) is going to be fully exposed; but let us please remember one thing: the Mavs were able to outlast the defending champs because they adopted a similar style of play to that of Phoenix; and let us also remember how last year's series between these two teams went. Sure, the Suns, much like the Heat in the East, are basically a new team, and the Mavs have only gotten better, stronger; but if anything, save for the loss of Amare Stoudamire, Phoenix has similarly improved.

This is going to be a lot harder fought, I believe, than most people think.

And like Miami, I believe this is Phoenix's year. Sounds crazy, right?

Sure. And I am the basketball gods' fool.

Prediction: Phoenix wins series 4-3