11916 2 Blogs into1: NBA playoff predictions and NBA Award picks! The MVP award means the most valuable player to his team. Well, in the MVP voting it means the “Best" player. I believe the award SHOULD go to Chris Paul (CP3) for a couple of reasons. One he is more valuable then any other player in the league to his team. Second if you need stats to prove something he leads league in steals and Assists. No one had New Orleans currently 2nd in the West. I believe Kobe is going to win it. He is the best player and also his team is #1 in the West. Kevin Garnett should not be in the discussion because well he has Allen and Pierce right beside him. When Dir k won that was different. Sure they had the best record like GARNETT right now, but he didn’t have Kidd then and he doesn’t have 2 all-stars to support him. If Garnett should be in the discussion, so should Pierce. Lebron he has the stats, but so did Kobe last 5 years and he didn’t get it YET. His team is 4th in the East while Kobe’s is in the West #1. Lebron needs to lead his team into the post season with the BEST record in the East to be in the discussion and still have the stats. In a few years or maybe next year. So for my predictions for MVP is CP3 should win, but Kobe will win. Lets go to the ROY! Durant and Horford are the 2 favorites. The only reason people picked Horford is because his team made it to the playoffs. Sure they did but, this is the best ROY. It has to go to the former Longhorn! He lead his team in pts. As a rookie. It goes to Kevin Durant. The Most improved award goes to a man that has picked up his game from last season to this one. Turkoglu and Rondo seem to be the favorites. Turkoglu could have gone to the all-star game earlier this year so that tells you who is more improved. Rondo is surrounded by the “BIG 3". So he is highly Underrated since he is right beside them. The 6th man award is a really easy chose for me. It is Manu Ginobili! He brings more to his team then any other 6th man. Manu is part of the “BIG 3" in SA so that helps him also rise to the top of the list. For me there wasn’t many choices to choose from. If the Hornets don’t get the 1 award then the Coach of the year should go to Byron Scott! No one had New Orleans a playoff team. I certainly didn’t have them 2nd in the best West race ever. The team went from no fans to sell out crowds. They went from Nothing to Something. Scott should get the credit for this! Garnett will probably NOT get the MVP award! What he should get is the Defense POY award! His team is #1 on defense this year which is underrated because everyone was saying how great Offense was going to be because of the “BIG 3" Main reason for the Defense being #1 in the League is Garnett’s excellent play on D. So to wrap up the Awards ceremony : ROY: Kevin Durant, Most Improved: Hedo Turkoglu, 6th Man: Manu Ginobili, Coach of the Year: Byron Scott, Defense POY: Kevin Garnett, MVP: Kobe Bryant. This years playoffs are going to be fun. Really fun in the west. Except for the fact that C’s had the biggest turnaround from one season to another, they haven’t done anything yet. Spurs were worried about Parkers health at first, that healed. Now it’s Manu with the concern. Playoff time isn’t the time to get hurt. One team that has done a lot about injuries is the LA Lakers. Everyone has been hurt here and there. That 21-pt. win over the Spurs has helped them home court adv. Through out the Playoffs. Sure that’s good, but they will have to do most of the job without Andrew Bynum. 1st Round West Bracket: 1.Lakers-8.Nuggets-LA WON 3-0 season series! Kobe will come out firing! Lakers will win in 6! I give Nuggets 2 games because they have the skills and players to compete with LA. Only 2 though LA is to tough. 4-2 LA 4.Jazz-5.Rockets-Rockets lost Yao for the whole season. Since then they have been almost every seed alive! McGrady has never step foot more then Round 1. But, he will have to do it without Yao. Jazz have home court and they have been perfect at home this year. McGrady will need to wait another year. Jazz are just a better team. Theirs no Yao, which makes it even harder. Jazz 4-2 3.Spurs-6.Suns-These 2 teams have met almost every year in the playoffs since 2004. Suns won the Season series 3-1. Spurs know when to turn it around. Playoff time. Shaq can’t win everywhere he goes. Spurs will win in 7. If Suns have any chance they need it from there bench. Barbosa will help, but it won’t be enough. 4-3 Spurs 2.Hornets-7.Mavricks-Just on the last night of the season Mavs beat the Hornets. Kidd had his 100th triple double of his career. Since their last game was over the Hornets, I’m going upset. Wait, it’s the West there is no such thing as upsets. Mavs has experience, Hornets don’t. Mavs will win in 7! I just don’t believe Hornets can contain Dirk in the Paint as much as they would like to. The x-factors for each team will be guys that give a lot from the bench! From the Mavs I believe Terry behind Kidd will be the x-factor for them. I also believe Pargo has been having big games last couple of weeks. So he is their x-factor.4-3 Mavs 1st Round East Bracket: 1.Celtics-8.Hawks-Lets just get down to it. Hawks will need a miracle to win this series. Celtics will win in 4. Celtics #1 on Defense and the Big 3 should get them to the Semi. Conference round. Celtics 4-0 4.Cavaliers-5.Wizards-Last 2 years Lebron got rid of Arenas. Arenas says that won’t happen 3 times in a row. I believe that makes Lebron more intense to win. It will go to 7 games, But, in the end the Cavs will win. Sure Cavs are only 500 since trade, but that’s about to change. 4-3 Cavs 3.Magic-6.Raptors-A lot of people will give Raptors a good 6 or 7 game series, buy, I’m going 6 the most. Magic have been really good and underrated in the East this year. They won’t have a problem vs. the Raptors. Magic 4-2 2.Pistons-7.76ERS-The Pistons bench has stepped it up lately. That is why I’m going Pistons in 5 easily. I believe Sixers will win game 3 and that’s about it. Pistons 4-1 West Semi Conference Round: 1.Lakers-4.Jazz-Kobe Bryant can turn a game around when ever he wants to. Jazz will make sure that doesn’t happen. I will go with another upset. I just don’t think LA is ready to win yet and Jazz are. Jazz 4-3 3.Spurs-7.Mavricks- How do these 2 teams always find each other in the playoffs. Everyone knows this is going to 7 games. Spurs AGAIN will know it is playoff time. They will be a little to strong for the Mavs to handle. 4-3 Spurs. East Semi Conference Round: 1.Celtics-4.Cavaliers- Lebron will turn it up like he did last year to the Pistons. But, Celtics have the best Defense that is why I see this series going to only 6 games. Lebron will need a little more help he is not going to the finals. 4-2 Celtics 2.Pistons-3.Magic-Pistons nor the C’s won’t have trouble going to the Conference Finals. Both will easily make it. I see the Pistons in 6 over the Magic. Pistons 4-2 West Finals: 3.Spurs-4.Jazz-It is a rematch of last years West finals. Again Spurs have Home court. That is the reason they will go back to the Finals. Jazz will give them 7 games. But, they will come up short wants again. 4-3 Spurs East Finals: 1.Celtics-2.Pistons- Everyone had this East finals. Sure C’s have the Big 3. Sure they have the best Defense. But, 1 thing they DON’T have is the Experience. I think in game 7 KG or Pierce or Allen will say “I can do it by myself" well you can’t. That is why Detroit will go back to the where they belong. NBA Finals: 2.Pistons-3.Spurs-In 05 these teams met in the finals. The Spurs won in 7. Det. Fans said it would have been different if Games 6 and 7 were in Det. Well, this time we do. Spurs never repeat and won’t this time either. Det. Bench is better and will have 6 and 7 in Det. Detroit 4-3!! Please Comment! true 2008-04-19T09:56:21Z 50272 1 2008-04-19T09:56:21Z