Finally, the second round begins!
But on Day 17, some teams didn't get the memo. Or they got the memo and were powerless to do anything. Hard to say which of those is actually the case.
First, Washington vs. Indiana.
The Wizards beat a patsy rather easily. Indiana fought (?) through a seven-game series with ...what should have been a bigger patsy.
It's easy to tell which of these two actually belongs in the second round. Even though the Wizards beat Chicago...they actually managed to look impressive while doing so. Indiana, on the other hand, may have been impressive for about 5-7 quarters out of seven games.
Do the Pacers deserve the benefit of the doubt? I would say no. Indeed, that's what happens when you go seven games against a sub-.500 team in the East.
Sound familiar? It ought to, since I'm restating a point made earlier yesterday by PTI's Mike Wilbon. And since I'm restating it, I obviously agree wholeheartedly. Also, all credit to him.
As for how this series is going to go...well, I posted on CBS Sports that I thought they'd all end in five games. That's what I'd like to see, although I doubt it'll happen. I think it's a more gutsy move than saying that some of them will go seven. Picking a series to go seven, in my opinion, is wishy-washy.
Conversely, picking a sweep is insane. So with my choice being either five or six, I went with five. Mostly because the teams that should win should do so rather comfortably.
Then again, only two did that in the first round. So maybe I'm being a fool.
Washington leads 1-0. Game 2 is Wednesday.
Last, Los Angeles vs. Oklahoma City.
I'm not sure what happened to the Thunder since Saturday. But I'm damn certain they won't want to watch the tape from this one.
Ugh.
There's not much to say other than that LA dominated the game pretty much from beginning to end. When you put up 39 in the first, it's generally a bad sign for the other team. The Thunder didn't quite go away, but they didn't really make a solid comeback either. It was weird in that sense.
This has to be troubling for the coaches.
Los Angeles leads 1-0. Game 2 is Wednesday.
Later today, the second round starts in Miami and San Antonio. Oh yeah!
No comments:
Post a Comment