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Pro Sports Wrap - Sports Personality of the Day:Tony Romo

2010 NBA Playoffs Preview Round One

April 15th 2011 13:53
East

1 Bulls vs 8 Pacers

What is there to say about this game? The best team in the league is going up against a team that was five games under .500. Prediction: Bulls in 4. MVP: Derrick Rose.

2 Heat vs 7 76ers

Andre Iguodala and the rest of the Sixers' players are very athletic and should be able to stick around with the Heat. If you're not a top four seed though, you won't bother the Big Three too much. Prediction: Heat in 5. MVP: Dwayne Wade.

3 Celtics vs 6 Knicks

The Knicks won't be able to stop Doc Rivers's prolific half-court offense. Rajon Rondo will break out of his slump and own Chauncey Billups. Carmelo Anthony will keep things close, but the C's are the defending Eastern Conference champs for a reason. Prediction: Celtics in 6. MVP: Rajon Rondo.


4 Magic vs 5 Hawks

This is easily the best series of the four in the East. Al Horford has really improved on the defensive end, and he won't get destroyed like last year against Dwight Howard. The Hawks are more athletic than the Magic, but I think that the all-around talent of the Magic gets them by. Prediction: Magic in 6. MVP: Dwight Howard.

West

1 Spurs vs 8 Grizzlies

Even though Manu Ginobili isn't at full strength, I don't think that really matters much in this series. He's probably only going to miss one game anyway, and the Spurs are still going to be great without him. The Grizzlies are a pretty good team, but the savvy Spurs take this in 5. MVP: George Hill.

2 Lakers vs 7 Hornets

Chris Paul is going to cause a ton of problems for the Lakers, but the Hornets can't cause the defending champs too much trouble. The talk of a Lakers' collapse will have to wait another round. Prediction: Lakers in 5. MVP: Pau Gasol.


3 Mavericks vs 6 Trail Blazers

This is my upset special right here. Although Dirk and the Mavs are a great team, no doubt, I love the Trail Blazers and their efficient-but-not-sexy brand of basketball. Guys like Gerald Wallace, Marcus Camby, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Miller, and even Brandon Roy (in a limited bench role) are playing well off of eachother- gee, that sounds a lot like the Spurs. Prediction: Blazers in 7. MVP: Gerald Wallace.

4 Thunder vs 5 Nuggets

I love what the Nuggets have done since the Melo trade, but it all ends here against a really good Thunder team. Their interior is good enough to match up with K-Mart and Nene now that they have Kendrick Perkins. I don't think the Nuggets have an answer against KD, and I see him going off. Prediction: Thunder in 6. MVP: Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant
Hey Danilo, Remember Griffin's Dunk? Things Are About to Get Worse vs. The Durantula
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No.1 vs. No. 2 Seed in NBA

April 7th 2011 14:36
The Spurs clinched the number one seed in the West after a win against Sacramento and a Lakers' loss against the Warriors. Everyone has been talking a lot about it, but I'm here to tell you that all this talk is meaningless. The title of this post is a verbal irony that almost sums up my feelings on this subject.

When you think about it, the one and two seeds are elite teams that are pretty much evenly matched. Only a few games will separate these teams, but a team's record really isn't that important come playoff time. The only advantage the number one seed has over the number two seed is that they get the home court advantage- one game- over the two seed. That one game is further devalued when you take into account that any elite team can still win games on the road.

The number one seed is important when you factor in that there are seven teams they will have the advantage against. I hypothesized that there is a 90 percent chance of the first seed beating the eighth seed and a 65 percent chance of them beating the fourth or fifth seed.

I also hypothesized that there is an 85 percent chance of the two seed beating the 7 seven seed and a 60 percent chance of them beating either the third or sixth seed. The first seed's totals multiply out to be 59 percent, and the two seed's chances are about 51 percent. There is only an 8 percent difference in the probability of the first seed and second seed getting to the conference finals.

Furthermore, there is about a 30 percent chance in total- multiply .59 and .51- of the one and two seeds facing eachother. The only advantage the one seed has on the two seed is that one extra home game that the two seed can easily overcome. Therefore, the difference between the one and two seed is extremely little. I divided one by seven- one extra game in a seven game series- and multiplied it by .38- probability of match-up plus strength of schedule- to show that there is only a 5 percent difference between the top two seeds in terms of playoff advantage.
San Antonio Spurs
The Debate is Meaningless

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