Eastern Conference Playoffs Preview

Sports are cyclical as everyone likes to remind us (mostly fans of losers), yet somehow the NBA's Eastern Conference has for a long time been sport's Katy Perry; top heavy with little recognizable talent. This year is just like the past 13 or so years post Jordan, where the 6th thru 8th seed wouldn't even be in the playoffs if they were in the West (a time period in which the Knicks still couldn't make the playoffs for 7 years). And even during the Jordan years, the West had better more exciting teams top to bottom. Imagine if Phoenix or Houston were in the East and got to play the Wizards and Cavs 4 times each. As always, though, there are championship contenders in the Eastern conference making up for Tyler Hansbrough's presence in the playoffs (the East has won 3 chips this century and could very well win another this season) and there are loads of superstar talent on the top 6 teams. Here are my very predictable picks (sorry Bottle):

1) Bulls vs 8) Pacers

My cinderella pick, Indiana, can use it's brute strength inside and lightning quick point guard, Darren Collison, to give the Bulls and MVP Rose fits. Danny Granger and the other sharp shooters are going to shock the world and upset the number 1 seed.

Just kidding, of course, Bulls in 4

2) Heat vs 7) Sixers

Maybe the most anticipated playoff run in recent memory, mostly so people can root against the Heat. Post season games usually means tight games, so we'll see if Miami can fix their late game situations problems. Should be no problem dispatching the over achieving Sixers though (shout out to Doug Collins).

Heat in 5

3) Celtics vs 6) Knicks

See my preview tomorrow

4) Magic vs 5) Hawks

The 4-5 matchups in the East always seem to be snoozers, despite the fact that these series should feature the match-ups between the two most evenly talented teams. Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean two good teams. Hopefully this edition of Hawks vs Magic is better than last year's when Atlanta didn't even show up, getting their asses kicked every which way. Outcome remains the same, although in a much tighter series.

Magic in 7