NBA Playoffs - first round thoughts, second round predictions

So, I got six out of 8 series winners, which isn't bad.

The Washington/Bulls series went almost as I predicted. Tough series, could have gone either way. Washington won in 7. They would have probably lost if Chicago had Deng and Curry, though. The Bulls are going to be very good next year.

Most people picked Boston to beat Indiana. I picked Indy, and even though it took more games than I predicted, it ended in a seventh game rout for Indy. Yay me. And Yay Indy. That's a very dangerous team.

Detroit/Philly series went exactly as I thought it would. Iverson was incredible, but the Pistons won easily in five games.

Miami/Jersey was a series where I called the winner, but not the nature of the series. I thought it was going to be a tough series. Turns out Wade is even better than I thought (and I thought he was pretty awesome), and the Heat destroyed the nets in 4 games, only one of which was close. Wow.

I knew Dallas/Houston was a tough series to call, and it turned out to be a great, crazy series, with an anti-climactic ending. Hated to see Houston go. Dallas KILLED them in the seventh game. Tracy McGrady was amazing, and I hope what he takes with him is the first six games, and not his so-so performance in the last game, in which only he and Yao came to play, and the supporting cast pretty much watched on defense and sucked on offense. I didn't call the winner, but I did call the close series.

Things turned out very different than I thought they would in the Seattle-Sacramento series. I put too much emphasis on Seattle's lack of inside defense, and forgot that the Kings don't seem to have a defense at ALL. Ouch.

San Antonio/Denver was a good test for the Spurs. Denver is a good team. Spurs killed them in five after dropping the first game. Manu Ginobili is really good, y'all.

Phoenix annihilated Memphis in four games. Even I thought it would take 5, and I'm a big Suns believer. This team is really, really scary.

Second Round Predictions:

Miami v. Washington
Miami is the better team, and they got some much needed rest. I say they steamroll the Wizards in 5.

Detroit v. Indiana
This'll be a war. The champs are a much better team, but these teams hate each other, and both will pull out all the stops to win. I say Indy scares the living daylights out of the pistons before losing in... say... six. On the other hand, on sheer ability, the Pistons should KILL them. I don't know about this series, but I'll stick with Detroit in 6.

Dallas v. Phoenix. Nash versus his old team is the juicy story. Amare vs. Dirk will be the real story. Or maybe the perfection of the Phoenix starting five vs. Dallas' superior bench. Doesn't matter. Will be a great series, with fun games. And Phoenix win in 5 or 6.

San Antonio v. Seattle. I gave Seattle no respect in the first round, and they prove me wrong. Let's see if they can do it again. I think San Antonio KILLS THEM DEAD. They'll probably have one game where they shoot lights out and win. Maybe even win big. But that's only going to piss Duncan off, and the Spurs win in 5.