Celtics Dominate, Advance

It certainly took longer than expected (I had them sweeping), but Boston dismantled the outmatched Hawks in Boston today to advance and meet the Cavs in Round 2.

This means I was 8-8 in my predictions for Round 1, albeit none of the predictions of the length of the series were on the mark. That's not too much to brag about, as I went chalk for the majority of my predictions, save for the Spurs topping the Hornets in 6 in Round 2. Yesterday's shellacking didn't do much to support my opinion that the Spurs are a better team than New Orleans. Then again, I doubt Tim Duncan will be held to 5 points and 3 boards ever again in the playoffs.

I'll stand by my original predictions because not much has changed my mind since Round 1. Boston showed they have some serious weaknesses and it has to be a bit disturbing that they couldn't close out Atlanta on the road. Regardless, they should still send Cleveland home packing pretty quickly. I still say it goes down in 5, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go 6 or 7 based on the success that Atlanta had.

Detroit also easily took care of their second round opponent, but I don't think the Pistons are 20 points better than the Magic every night. Dwight Howard will dominate, especially at home, and I still think the series goes 6 or 7.

The Lakers are taking care of the Jazz as we speak, but the game isn't over and Utah is an excellent team. Some have them as a darkhorse to win it all and I couldn't disagree with that choice. I still think LA wins this series but I fully expect it to go the distance.

And even with the Spurs' disappointing Game 1 loss yesterday, I think they will pull it out and win the series at home in Game 6. San Antonio is an excellent home team and I don't expect them to lose there in this series. I think they take the next 3 before losing Game 5 and finishing the Hornets off in San Antonio. New Orleans has been playing better than I thought they would, and Chris Paul is ridiculous, but they are still relatively young and the experienced Spurs know how to get it done in crunch time.