NBA Playoffs Conference Finals 2011, East and West

The regular season had 30 teams. Come playoff time, and they were whitteled down to 16. Now, after upsets of the Spurs at the hands of the Grizzlies, Magic by the Hawks:

Despite the expert picks

Clean sweep of the Lakers at the hands of the Mavs:

Again, not so expert

And the Miami stars finally exorcising the ghosts of the Celtics, we are left with four teams. Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, OKC Thunder and Dallas Mavericks.

Eastern Conference Finals:

The East has played out as expected with the Bulls and Heat squaring off in the Conference Finals and now the series is tied at 1 a piece. The Bulls had a great game in Game 1, capitalizing on their hustle and rebounding, and a few posters by Taj Gibson. Later, Wade said in half jest that his kid dunked on him on a Nerf hoop and yelled “Gibson”. Of course, the Heat stormed back to tie the series when Chicago’s shooting went cold. Derrick Rose airballed two 3s in the last few minutes, although one of those may have been blocked. This series is claiming the highest TV ratings of any recent playoff series, on one hand we have the villainous Miami Heat and their humble and contrite (*snicker*) superstars and on the other hand there are the underdogs and scrappy Bulls (how is it that in spite of having the best regular season record, having the Coach of the year in Thibs and having the MVP, Derrick Rose they are still underdogs?).

There will probably be some 40 point games in this one before all is said and done.

Western Conference Finals:

The time is now for the Dallas Mavericks. Their team has aging superstars and their point guard Jason Kidd, rather than dishing out assists, will need an assist to walk soon enough. Although Dirk Nowitzki is on the wrong side of 30, his game does not rely on his athleticism as much as it does on ‘spinning, off balance fadeaways off one leg which will have you benched unless your name is Dirk’. The Dallas star has been chided for the collapse in 2006 Finals after leading 2 games to the Miami Heat. He’s been berated for letting the ‘We believe’ Warriors upsetting them in the playoffs. As a rookie he had a rough time finding his niche, and it seems he’s been under-appreciated since then. People are quick to forget that he’s in company with Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Pettit and Elgin Baylor as the only players who have averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds in the playoffs.

Herr Nowitzki’s wrath has officially boiled over. In Game 1 it seemed that Dirk came out with one purpose, to drive a stake in the heart of the Thunder, and we were treated to what was perhaps the greatest shooting game ever. Dirk had 48 points, shooting 12 of 15 and making all 24 of his free throws. In the 3rd quarter of Game 1, he drew fouls like honey draws bees. The Thunder being a young team couldn’t help but get a bit demoralized when Dirk could hardly miss irrespective of what they threw at him. They did come back to tie the series in Game 2. There was a twist, as Westbrook sat out for most of the 4th quarter, however the adjustment helped them here apparently.

With Kevin Durant (6”9) and Dirk Nowitzki (7”) being the best shooting big men in the NBA, this series may have more 40 point games than the one in the East. But the X factors for both teams, JJ Barea for the Mavs and James Harden for the Thunder may just tip the scale here. One way to find out, tune in on 22nd, Sunday at 6:30 AM on Ten Sports for Game 3.