NBA 2013 PLAYOFFS

The Playoffs are finally here and the Quest to topple the Miami Heat (an effort in futility if you ask me) off their throne is well underway. For about a Month or so the Post Season picture was quite clear with 15 of the 16 teams already settled and the La Lakers and the Utah Jazz fighting over the last spot. And to some extent the Lakers had been written off up until Wednesday night when they turned everything on its head and Clinched the last spot and surprisingly without Kobe Bryant their talismanic captain (Guess his injury sparked something in the players)

However only Miami Heat,Milwaukee Bucks,New York Knicks and the Boston Celtic knew for certain who and where they would be playing when the playoffs tipped off proper

EASTERN CONFERENCE

MIAMI HEAT (1) V MILWAUKEE BUCKS (8)

In all honesty this matchup will be the easiest series to predict this entire playoff post season. The pairing was set before wednesday night , but this series over the last two years has been quite close with the Heat winning the Series 3-1 against the Bucks. Lebron James is coming off the greatest season any player has had Since the great and legendary Michael Jordan and of course the heat went on that 27 game winning streak almost equalling the La Lakers 70's Class. However don't let that lure you into a sense of Heat Dominance. The Milwaukee Bucks always seem to come up with the goods whenever they play the defending Champions, with Larry Sanders having an amazing performance in the solitary win over the Heat this season.

Hopefully the Lebron James and his team mates will show the Killer instinct they possess which saw them win 66 games this season and not allow the Bucks play to their strengths. Failure to do so may be disastruous.

The Heat should take the series in 4

NEW YORK KNICKS (2) V BOSTON CELTICS (7)

This is going to be a battle between two very different teams. The Knicks are younger and fresher and in Coach Mike Woodson they have a viable candidate for Coach of the year. They have also managed to somehow cope with the absence of the injured Amare Stoudemire and the retired Rasheed Wallace while the celtics are aging, they also have to deal with the fact that they will have to perform without their star point guard Rajon Rondo. In as much as all fingers are pointing at the New York Knicks for a comfortable passage in this series , they just may get a shocker and see the Celtics having none of it and pulling off an upset,giving their all. The down side to that is whoever they face in the next round will sweep them off fairly easily as they'll be tired

The Knicks should take this in 5,conserving their energy for the next round

INDIANA PACERS (3) V ATLANTA HAWKS

These 2 have gone head to head this season and have had a share of the spoils. The Hawks winning the first 2 meetings and the Pacers winning the second 2. This seems to be the "boring" matchup of the series as both teams lack Big name players but on a neutral basis it should serve as a good contest.

This Series should drag to game 7 with the Pacers taking it

BROOKLYN NETS (4) V CHICAGO BULLS

2 names come to mind when you hear this Matchup. Jay Z (because of his affiliation with the nets) and Derrick Rose. In as much as it would make for good TV to see Derrick Rose play some part in this series its highly unlikely he does as he is still recovering from his torn ACL surgery. The Bulls will just have to learn to carry on without him as they have for quite a while now and they have players who can step up to the plate in his absence. Luol Deng and Joachim Noah

As good of a first year as they have had,its safe to say that the Brooklyn Nets really aren't so good and the distraction of Jay Z 's buisness transactions may have been a bit too much for them. The fact that they ended up as the 4th seed really tells you how weak the Eastern conference was in the 2012/13 season

Chicago Bulls Should take this Series in 6

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Now in theWestern Conference,this is where it all goes down. Exciting matchups all the way

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (1) V HOUSTON ROCKETS (8)

This Season the thunder took the series 2-1 with blowout margins of 30 and 22 points ,and an exciting 3 point loss. In both OKC wins,former thunder James Harden went for 46 on 14 for 19 so its important for the Thunder to learn how to neutralize him which shouldn't be so hard since he used to play for them

In as much as we'd all like to believe that the Thunder will blow the Rockets Sky high , the Rockets will not go down without a fight and they have players like Jeremy Lin,Chandler Parsons,Patrick Beverly who can land more than one three pointer in a game and the Thunder have a vulnerability on the perimeter this season failing to close shooters down, and for what its worth they still miss James Harden who has transformed the rockets into an unlikely playoff team and also balanced and supported an overpaid Jeremy Lin.

OKC should take this in 5. I see the Rockets Squeezing out 2 games and making life difficult for them

SAN ANTONIO SPURS (2) V LOS ANGELES LAKERS (7)

This San Antonio Spurs team is built around seemingly pensionering trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginogli; Duncan is without a doubt one of the best players of all time and Future Hall of Famer. They also have one of the greatest coaches of all time in Gregg Popovich and if Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili had been lucky enough to be injury free, the Spurs would have sealed top spot in the Western Conference

Now the Spurs have signed Tracy (T-Mac) McGrady right before the start of the playoffs, adding some valuable experience to their roster. No team with McGrady on their books has ever made it past the first round of the NBA playoffs. One can safely say he's cursed and hope he doesn't jinx the team. However he isn't expected to feature prominently in Popovich's plans and should be called upon to give rest time to the regulars in the team

Lakers Lakers Lakers!!! My dearly beloved Los Angeles Lakers. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong for the lakers this season went wrong.

They got 2 potential Hall of Famers in Dwight (DH12) Howard and Steve Nash (The Zinidene Zidane of Basketball in my opinion) and look what happened. Nash has had a torrid time with injuries while Dwight Howard just couldn't fit into the lineup. Add some coaching problems into the mix. Mike Brown was fired within 5 games and they Passed over Phil Jackson in favour of Mike D'Antoni. The cherry right on top was losing Kobe Bryant to an achilles injury a week before the end of the regular season. No Laker fan on this planet would have thought that any of this would happen to the team

O.K. No need feeling sorry for themselves. They're in the playoffs and that's that. Dwight Howard will have to step up to the plate and carry the team. Everyone has to be a leader and stand up to be counted in the absence of the Black Mamba

The Spurs I'm sure won't underestimate the Lakers even without Kobe.  For some reason I think the other Lakers have a point to prove and they'll go all out

Lakers take the Series in 5 (Hey,I'm a Laker Fan. You weren't expecting me to give it to Spurs were you?!)

DENVER NUGGETS (3) V GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (6)

The Nuggets won the Season series 3-1 with the Warriors solitary win coming by a single point at home, talk about close game. They did send their first meeting into. Double overtime though before losing at home

In Kenneth Faried the Nuggets have a player who is good in transition and can hustle to make the baskets when the chips are down. Unfortunately for them he suffered a severe ankle injury on sunday and may likely be unavailable in the first or even two games of the series. Its no news that the Nuggets need him desperately

Meanwhile in the Warriors. Season finale against the Trail Blazers, Steph Curry set the all time NBA record for three pointers in a season at 270. Curry might be the biggest X-Factor in the western Conference and he could single handedly win the Warriors a game anywhere

While this isn't one of the high profile matchups ,its still one to watch from a neutral standpoint

I think the Nuggets should take this in 7 games

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (4) V MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

 The Clippers are wrapping up their very first season in franchise history where they were without a doubt the best team in Los Angeles and in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin they have the players to back that up. The playoffs will be a whole lot more fun if the clippers can send the Grizzlies off and make it to the next round

Chris Paul has transformed himself into the best point guard in the league and carries a more potent impact offensively

The Grizzlies however are an efficient team. What they lack in flash and panache they make up for in direct play. Sometimes they don't play pretty and that's the hallmark of their game. After trading their best player Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors , they'll have to look to other players to step up to the plate

The Clippers should wrap this up in 7 games. I don't see the Grizzlies coping with the intensity they bring

So there you have it. Let's see how it all plays out in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs