Post by SPL on Jan 6, 2017 14:06:47 GMT -6
Round 1
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1) 76ers vs 8) Washington Bullets
Season Series
Day 26 - Bullets 126 76ers 106
Day 40 - 76ers 126 Bullets 122
Day 71 - 76ers 130 Bullets 129
Day 102 - Bullets 134 76ers 129
Injuries - None
match up - season series split at 2 a piece and other than the first game of the season on day 26, the games played close. I think this was the worst case matchup in the first round for the 76ers, I think the Cavs, Bobcats or Hornets would have been a better match up. The Bullets are an aging team but they have the fire power and quality players to keep this series interesting. I think the 76ers are still the better team but I feel this series will go the distance.
Prediction - 76ers 4-3
2) Bucks vs 7) Cavs
Season Series
Day 50 - Bucks 120 Cavs 104
Day 56 - Bucks 119 Cavs 88
Day 84 - Bucks 134 Cavs 97
Day 118 - Cavs 112 Bucks 94
Injuries - Bucks - Lou Williams (Broken Skull 18 days) , Cavs - Moe Harkless (Broken Skull 3 days)
match up - Bucks took the season series 3-1 with most of those games being lopsided. They also held the Cavs to their 2nd lowest offensive output on day 56 at 88 points. I think the big difference in this series will be in the rebounding. The Bucks are one if not the best rebounding teams in the league, Granger (9.5 rebounds) Lewis (8.5 rebounds) on the wings will be the ultimate difference in this match up.
Prediction - Bucks 4-1
3) Nets vs 6) Celtics
Season Series
Day 6 - Celtics 97 Nets 93
Day 36 - Nets 134 Celtics 118
Day 42 - Nets 120 Celtics 110
Day 92 - Celtics 108 Nets 96
Injuries - Nets Dominique Wilkins (Torn Hamstring 2 days), Celtics Larry Bird (Severe Migraines 7 days)
match up - On the season the series split at 2 a piece with the Celtics taking the last game at day 92. If both teams were healthy in this series, I think that there could potentially be a different outcome but with Larry Legend down for 7 days, that is going to be the big difference in this series. The Celtics just have no depth at the wing behind Bird and Jackson. I can see the Celtics stealing a game behind a great game by Jackson.
Prediction - Nets 4-1
4) Knicks vs 5) Hawks
Season Series
Day 1 - Hawks 122 Knicks 103
Day 2 - Knicks 124 Hawks 118
Day 17 - Knicks 123 Hawks 70
Day 112 - Knicks 137 Hawks 111
Injuries - Knicks Butch Lee (Blured vision 4 days) Benji Wilson (Flu 2 days) Hawks - None
match up - After day 1 this was a series that was dominated by the Knicks. The Hawks through their level of pace played are allowing about 4 points less than any other team in the league. They are a good defensive team but I don't feel they are as good as that number shows. They do have very good defensive bigs with Kaman, Cisse and Johnson and good defensive wings in Artest and Pierce. The Knicks are another very good defensive team as well that has more offensive fire power when healthy, the issue is Butch Lee is a big piece of that equation and with him missing 4 days, which might equate to 2-3 games (depending on off days) will play a significant role in this series.
Prediction - Knicks 4-3
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1) Blazers vs 8) Warriors
Season Series
Day 25 - Blazers 131 Warriors 99
Day 29 - Blazers 121 Warriors 109
Day 99 - Blazers 116 Warriors 112
Day 107 - Blazers 119 Warriors 109
Injuries - Blazers - none Warriors - Wayne Embry (sprained wrist 8 days)
match up - The season series was completely dominated by the Blazers. The Blazers are a match up night mare for any team in the league with Baylor and Arenas and both are capable of taking over in any game. The Warriors in this past sim are one of the hottest teams in the league since group think in chat helped them with line up changes. In the last sim they went 9-0 with wins over Clippers, Hornets, Sonics (x2) and Bullets being the significant wins. This is however not a real good match up for the Warriors and I feel they will be lucky to take a game off the better Blazers team.
Prediction - Blazers 4-1
2) Jazz vs 7) TWolves
Season Series
Day 15 - Twolves 128 Jazz 110
Day 19 - TWolves 133 Jazz 123
Day 84 - Jazz 142 Twolves 124
Day 97 - Jazz 159 Twolves 124
Injuries - Jazz - None TWolves - Walt Bellamy (Broken Ribs 2 days)
match up - On the season the series was split at 2 with the Wolves taking the first 2 games of the season and the Jazz taking the last 2 on the season. The Bellamy injury is not a long one but should be significant in the 1st game as the Wolves have very little big man depth. The strength on the Wolves team is in their back court. Lilliard, Long and Wade are a very good and young core for this team. They also have Kirk Hinrich who according to one individual is the best rookie from this past draft class. The Jazz have been a team that has been up and down all year, they are not as good as their record or seed would indicate. Ultimately the Jazz have a bit more depth than the Wolves but this should be a competitive match up.
Prediction - Jazz 4-2
3) Suns vs 6) Thunder
Season Series
Day 30 - Suns 146 thunder 131
Day 66 - Suns 108 Thunder 101
Day 70 - Suns 143 Thunder 136
Day 72 - Thunder 112 Suns 108
Injuries - None
match up - Suns won the season series at 3-1 but none of the games other than the 1st were heavily in the favor of one team. Both teams enter this match up healthy and I feel the Suns are a team if they stay healthy throughout the post season is a team with real good potential in the post season. They rebound well, defend well and have an outstanding scorer in Baby Jordan with 2 good scorers in Hughes and Fat. The big factor in this first round match up is going to be Covington's defense on Jamison on the offensive end. I think Covington will neutralize him and swing this match up in the Suns favor.
Prediction - Suns 4-2
4) Rockets vs 5) Sonics
Season Series
Day 1 - Sonics 136 Rockets 122
Day 14 - Sonics 114 Rockets 106
Day 93 - Rockets 131 Sonics 102
Day 108 - Rockets 123 Sonics 111
Injuries - None
match up - This was a series split with the Sonics taking the early season games and Rockets taking the games later in the season. In this match up the interesting match up is Phegley vs Allan Houston at the SG. Houston on the season has been the best offensive player for the Rockets averaging 29.7 points on good efficency numbers, Phegley averaged 2.7 steals and 1.5 blocks a game. If he can limit Houston, the match up of Prince and Worthy vs Scrhoder and Farmer are in the favor of the Sonics. The other factor in this will be if the Sonics bigs can contain Embiid. This has the makings of a real good series.
Prediction - Sonics 4-3
Round 2
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1) 76ers vs 4) Knicks
Season Series
Day 14 - 76ers 120 Knicks 108
Day 19 - 76ers 128 knicks 121
Day 99 - 76ers 136 Knicks 127
Day 110 - Knicks 142 76ers 129
match up - 76ers won the season series 3-1 with the knicks taking the last game on day 110. The big match up in this game will be at the PG with Butch Lee vs Reggie Theus and the defensive wings on the 76ers vs Jones. Ultimately in this match up the 76ers have just too much depth for the Knicks to overcome but the knicks should be able to keep this series close and competitive.
Prediction - 76ers 4-2
2) Bucks vs 3) Nets
Season Series
Day 11 - Nets 143 Bucks 124
Day 90 - Nets 116 Bucks 94
Day 106 - Nets 123 Bucks 116
match up - Nets won this series 3-0 on the season and other than last game they won in a convincing fashion. This series is going to be a very good and close match up on teams that are built in a similar fashion. You have very good rebounding defensive wings with bigs that pound the glass on both ends. You also have very good PG play with Lue vs Lewis. On the wings I feel that it tilts in the favor of the bucks but the nets have the better bigs in this match up. This will be a series that will go 7 games and I am going to lean towards the team that took the season series but I would not be surprised if the Bucks took this one.
Prediction - Nets 4-3
Western Conference
1) Blazers vs 5) Sonics
Season Series
Day 21 - Sonics 122 Blazers 120
Day 58 - Blazers 127 Sonics 97
Day 63 - Blazers 119 Sonics 84
Day 80 - Blazers 139 Sonics 94
match up - After losing the first game of the season series to the Sonics the Blazers won the next 3 games and held the Sonics each time under 100 points. Looking through the games it appears that the match up of Worthy vs Baylor was one that the Blazers were able to take a big advantage in. Will be interesting to see if Phegley is moved to match up with Baylor to try and slow him down. Regardless, I feel this series will go like the last 3 in this series and will be a win for the Blazers.
Prediction - Blazers 4-1
2) Jazz vs 3) Suns
Season Series
Day 39 - Suns 115 Jazz 110
Day 55 - Jazz 125 Suns 123
Day 68 - Suns 119 Jazz 118
Day 105 - Jazz 128 Suns 113
Match up - A split series at 2 a piece with all the games being pretty competitive with each other. When I looked through my box score on the day 55 win, I am always puzzled on how my team won that game vs the Suns. This will be a series that will match 2 good pgs in Henderson and Fat but where I feel the series will be a difference is on the wing. I think Baby Jordan will be too strong for anything that the Jazz can roll out there.
Prediction - Suns 4-3
Round 3
Eastern Conference Finals
1) 76ers vs 3) Nets
Season Series
Day 47 - 76ers 118 Nets 117
Day 68 - 76ers 129 Nets 116
Day 79 - 76ers 127 Nets 98
Day 83 - 76ers 140 Nets 136
Match up - This is a series that was dominated by the 76ers on the regular season, however 2 of those games were decided within 5 points. I think this series will play closer to the 1st and 4th game of the regular season series. These are teams that are very similar, good efficent bigs, wings that can rebound and defend and efficent pgs. Ultimately I just feel that the 76ers have a slight edge but I thinkt his will play out as a very competitive series, where if an injury were to occur it could swing the series.
Prediction - 76ers 4-3
Western Conference Finals
1) Blazers vs 3) Suns
Season Series
Day 1 - Suns 114 Blazers 105
Day 7 - Suns 116 Blazers 78
Day 17 - Suns 115 Blazers 111
Day 37 - Blazers 145 Suns 130
Match Up - Suns took this series 3-1 with the first 3 games coming within the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season. The Blazers in this series have the 2 best players in Arenas and Baylor. But I feel if the Suns can get the match up in their favor and get Covington and his defense on Baylor and Baby Jordan in a match up vs Hardaway, that will swing the match up in their favor.
Prediction - Suns 4-3
SIM FINALS
1) 76ers vs 3) Suns
Season Series
Day 10 - Suns 121 76ers 118
Day 28 - 76ers 135 Suns 111
Match up - The series was split on the season with each team winning on their home floor. This is a series that I feel will play out a little differently than the previous series for the Suns. If they try and get Covington to defend the top wing scoring threat, that opens the defensive wings (Crowder and Middleton) to match up on Baby Jordan. The 76ers also have an advantage on the inside as well with Brand and Randolph. Ultimately the depth of the 76ers will win out in this series.
Prediction - 76ers 4-2
