NBA PLAYOFFS – SECOND ROUND PREVIEW (PART 3)

I’ll stop stringing you along by previewing the two remaining second round series. First up is the Suns-Spurs series, which tips off tonight, followed by the Magic-Hawks series, which starts tomorrow.

#3 Phoenix Suns vs. #7 San Antonio Spurs

This is a very tough series to pick. The Suns looked vulnerable at times playing against a depleted Portland team, but won their four games by an average of 19 points, which is quite impressive. The Spurs, on the other hand, were in control of their series from Game 2 on and made relatively quick work of the West’s 2nd seed, Dallas. The Suns and Spurs were both around +5 in regular season point differential, with San Antonio having a slight edge. This stat taken by itself would make the Spurs slight favorites (especially with the emergence of George Hill in the postseason), however the Suns have the home court advantage, where, Game 1 of the Portland series aside, they are tough to beat (32-9 during the regular season). The key for Phoenix may be the potential return from injury of Robin Lopez, who improves their interior defense without having to waste minutes on Jarron “Roadblock” Collins. If they can slow down Tim Duncan, they should have enough offense to take this series. On the other end, San Antonio needs to contain the Suns’ perimeter onslaught. If guys like Jared Dudley and Channing Frye are able to step off the bench and rain threes, this series could be over quickly. One final thing worth mentioning is the hip injury Nash suffered during the Portland series. If he isn’t 100 percent, it goes without saying that the Suns could be in trouble, even though they were able to prevail despite his subpar performance in Game 6 at Portland last week. Whoever comes out on top, this should be a wonderful series, given the quality of the two teams and the colorful playoff history these teams share. A series this evenly matched should go seven games, and I’ll give Phoenix the nod since they have the home court advantage.

Prediction: Suns in 7


#2 Orlando Magic vs #3 Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks are breathing easy after their close call against the Bucks in the first round, but they probably shouldn’t be. Hopefully they realize that if they bring that sort of effort in this round against the Magic, they are going to get slapped. Orlando just swept an underrated Charlotte team out of the playoffs despite getting limited contributions from their best player, Dwight Howard. I said during my first round preview that Orlando was the best team in the NBA by point differential this season, so the Hawks are going to need to come up with something special to get past the Magic. For starters, they need Joe Johnson to play better than he did in the second half of the Bucks series. Over Games 5-7, Johnson averaged only 14.3 points on 37% shooting, and that isn’t going to get it done. The Hawks probably won’t be able to count on Al Horford inside with Howard patrolling the paint, so they are going to need the perimeter guys to shoot lights out. On the other end of the floor, the Hawks need to stop one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses, which will be a tall task since defense isn’t this team’s strong suit (106.7 DR during the regular season, good for 13th in the league). All this adds up to quite the tall task in front of the Hawks if they want to advance. Atlanta is a very good team, so they might be able to take a game or two, but in the end the Magic are the clear favorites. Look for them to cruise into the conference finals.

Prediction: Magic in 5

-The BOMB