Sunday, April 19, 2009

Affect of Kevin Garnett's injury on the NBA Playoffs

The NBA playoffs are here. I will admit that the news of Kevin Garnett's injury has brought my excitement down quite a bit, but I'm trying to stay positive. For those of you who don't know, on Thursday it was announced that Garnett will most likely be out for the entire playoffs. This pretty much eliminates the Celtics from contention. The fact is, even with a healthy Garnett, they would have had a really tough time beating the Cavs. In saying all this, I would like to point out that the Celtics still have a pretty damn good team without Garnett, In fact, they have put up better numbers offensively without him. For those of you who think the Celtics will lose to the Bulls first round, remember that the Celtics still have Paul Pierce. Let's not forget that it was Pierce who was the finals MVP last year, outdueling Lebron and Kobe in the process.

I still think the Celtics will advance to the conference finals. It really all depends how Big Baby Davis and Miki Moore play down low, if Marbury can be productive in backing up Rondo, and if Eddie House can hit big threes down the stretch. I'm not trying to be a homer here. In fact, even if Garnett was playing, I would've predicted the Cavs to win. But the fact is the Celtics still have Pierce, Allen and Rondo, as well as big time playoff experience under their belt. I'm going to be rooting for the Cavs to somehow lose. The only chance of that is if Dwayne Wade and the Heat play them. Also, I will be rooting hard against Kobe Bryant. Call me a hater, and maybe I am, but as much I enjoyed the Celtics game 6 Finals victory last year, the image of Kobe quitting on his team will always make me view him in a negative light. By the way, their is no way Jordan would've allowed his team to lose by 36 in a deciding game, zero chance.

In the West, I see the Lakers cruising to the finals. As much as I despise Kobe, he is a great player and will not let the Lakers be upset early. The only challenge to them would've been the Spurs, but the Ginobli injury takes that off the table. In the East I see a Celtics-Cavs conference final, with the Cavs winning in 5. The Cavs-Lakers will play in in the finals, and the Cavs home court will lead them to a game 7 victory. I say all this now, but I may have a different outlook two weeks from now.

While I'm sad the Celtics probably won't repeat this year because of the Garnett injury, their championship run last year is enough to last me another decade. I have to enjoy these next two months because after that it is a full two months of baseball season before football starts. Thanks for reading!

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