Eastern Conference First Round Playoff Preview

It's playoff time in the NBA, a time for the team to shine. Regular season success matter little; it's all about matchups now. It's all about how one team matches up against another. It's "five as one" vs. "five as one", a social experiment of sorts; how does one team co-mingle with another?

Here is NBA Wired's preview of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Chicago Bulls (1) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (8)

Rose will see plenty of Iggy in the first round.

Andre Iguodala and Jrue Holiday anchor perhaps the best perimeter defense in the league, a strength which on paper appears perfect for slowing Derrick Rose and the Bulls. Chicago specializes in shutting down superstar-centric offenses, but that doesn't matter against Philly's multi-polar offense. This series is ripe for an upset, right?

Well, it could have been if the Sixers weren't trending downward as the season progressed. Philly blazed through the first part of the season before struggling down the stretch en route to the eighth seed, whereas Chicago adapted to the absence of Rose. Chicago is going to win the possession battle: they take care of the ball better than Philly forces turnovers, and their dominant offensive rebounding corps will provide extra shots against a team without a singularly dominant defensive rebounder.

A major advantage for Chicago is their defensive depth. Philly's Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young anchor a potent scoring bench, but they'll be running into Omer Asik and Taj Gibson, who anchor arguably the best bench defense in the league.


Pick: Chicago Bulls


Miami Heat (2) vs. New York Knicks (7)


This is the most exciting matchup in the conference. The last time these two teams hooked up in the first round of the playoffs after a lockout was 1999, when Allan Houston got his $100 million shot to go down.

Talk about a marketable matchup...

These Knicks are a wildly different team than at season's start thanks to Mike Woodson's emphasis on defense. Tyson Chandler is possibly the purest anti-Heat weapon in the league, a center who can take advantage of Miami's small frontcourt with his length and movement. New York's explosive bench can push the pace against Miami's slower bench players. Iman Shumpert's defense against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James will be integral. On the other side, how will Miami defend Carmelo Anthony, who has been surging since the All-Star break and is out to prove himself against his 2003 draftmates?

In the end, Miami is going to have the two biggest matchup advantages on the court for 40 minutes per game. James and Wade are the two best players in the series and are on a mission to avenge last year's NBA Finals loss.

This series will go a minimum of six games.


Pick: Miami Heat


Indian Pacers (3) vs. Orlando Magic (6)


Should have just put Milwaukee in the sixth spot.

The Dwight Howard-less Orlando Magic have no chance against arguably the deepest team in the conference. Danny Granger's play improved throughout the season; post-All-Star Break, he averaged 19.4 points per game on 45 percent shooting, 41.3 percent from 3, and 90.8 percent from the free throw line. Granger and Paul George should be able to bother Orlando's 3-point shooters, who don't have Howard opening the floor for them.


Pick: Indiana Pacers

Boston Celtics (4) vs. Atlanta Hawks (5)

Jeff Teague needs to prevent Rajon Rondo's penetration.

This is going to be a tight series. Boston is the better team, but Atlanta has home-court advantage, a rebounding advantage, and an improved Josh Smith. J-Smoove nearly put up a 20/10/4 season this year and carried Atlanta's frontcourt after Al Horford sustained an injury.

Jeff Teague vs. Rajon Rondo is the premier matchup to watch; if Teague can cause havoc and open up jumpers for Atlanta's shooters, they have a chance. But that's a tough task with Kevin Garnet manning the middle. With KG's move to C and Horford's absence, he'll be free to guard Zaza Pachulia and Ivan Johnson, meaning he can roam and help out on Smith and Teague. Avery Bradley's development as a defensive stopper will prove handy against Joe Johnson.

Atlanta doesn't have the offense to score against the best defense in the league; Boston still has Paul Pierce for isolation scoring when a drought occurs.


Pick: Boston Celtics

Click here to see the first round Western Conference matchups!

Tyson Chandler's Big Apple Impact

Jeremy Lin deserves the headlines he has garnered.  He has spearheaded the current New York run and put them back in the playoff picture, right as head coach Mike D'Antoni was on the cusp of unemployment.

But another pre-season Knick acquisition- one initially publicized more but has since been overshadowed since Linsanity took hold- is Tyson Chandler.  Chandler was supposed to come in and give the Knicks a defensive backbone, completing the Chandler-Amar'e Stoudemire- Carmelo Anthony trio.    

Chandler's ability to catch and finish is nearly unmatched.  

Amidst the many surprises N.Y. has encountered this season, Chandler has been a welcomed constant.  The straight-out-of-high school veteran center has seemed to click with the Ivy League youngster on both ends, rolling to the hoop for alley-oops on one end and having Lin's back after a blow-by on the other.  By the eye-test, they seem to communicate well.  

The Knicks are currently sixth in the NBA in defensive rating.  The last time New York finished a season in the top ten in defensive rating was back in 2001, when coach Jeff Van Gundy, ever-mean mugging Kurt Thomas, and young Marcus Camby were leading the defensive charge.  

Chandler has no doubt been a huge part of N.Y.'s defensive resurgence.  Never a prolific shot-blocker, Chandler's shot-changing help defense is his greatest asset.  It's important to note that actually blocking shots is overrated; it's better to block 1.4 shots per game and change a bunch of interior shot attempts (that's Chandler) than block three shot attempts and play bad help defense the other 92 possessions per game.  

Chandler's also rebounding the ball well with a 22.6 defensive rebound rate.  That's important since New York doesn't have any other great interior-oriented rebounders.  New York is the third-best defensive rebounding team in the league (it surprised the hell out of me, too).

Credit should also go to Jared Jeffries and defensive coach Mike Woodson, but Chandler is usually the last line of the defense.    

And Chandler remains the prototype for this era's role-playing offensive player at center.  Despite not playing with a playmaking PG until two weeks and having poor spacing as a result of team-wide shooting woes and zero ball movement, Chandler is averaging 11.7 points per game on a league-leading 73.6 percent True Shooting.  His individual offensive rating is a league-leading 136- basically, when he gets the ball, he doesn't make mistakes.  Insanity- no L. 

Something that worries me is that he's playing a lot of minutes- a lot more than last year.  He played less than 28 minutes per game last year; this year, he's up around 34.  That's a testament to his judiciousness with personal fouls, but D'Antoni would be wise to give him more breathers.  Chandler has been prone to injuries in the past. 

Chandler's two-way play and ability to play like a superstar role-player has proven constant through in-season turnover and turmoil for N.Y.  The right Baby Bull seems to be yielding great results thus far.     

While Mayweather Talks of Race, Jeremy Lin is the People's Champ

This has wrestling promo written all over it.


Floyd Mayweather is flapping his gums again about something he isn't qualified to talk about.  The controversial boxer saw fit to say that Jeremy Lin, the point guard wunderkind of the New York Knicks, is only getting positive press because he's Asian.  Mayweather, the same guy who fought at Wrestlemania a few years back.  Mayweather, who has teased us with a match against Manny Pacquiao for ages, Rock-Cena style.

Jeremy Lin, in wrestling terms, is over with the fans as a babyface.

Prediction:  Mayweather makes a few more unflattering comments about Lin until Pacquiao, who has been assaulted by anti-Asian Mayweather comments in the past, steps in and challenges Mayweather to a match at Wrestlemania this year.  The match is even for 12 rounds when out of nowhere, Lin clocks Mayweather with a steel chair, giving Pacquiao the victory.


Lin's reign atop New York may be about as dramatic as a well-sold wrestling promo right now, but his play warrants the hype .  As was mentioned in the above article, Lin is the first NBA player in history- counting black, white, yellow, brown, green, aqua, maroon, pink, and emerald players- to drop at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starts.  His Steve Nashian ability to allow his teammates to settle into their comfort zones while he takes care of the rest has propelled New York recently.


In short, there's a reason Lin has recently wrestled headlines away from all of the other main event talents, from Kobe Bryant to Deron Williams to Ricky Rubio.  He's that damn good.


Mayweather should know that.  Love him or hate him, Mayweather is a great talent in his sport.  But real is supposed to recognize real, not randomly spatter it with racist remarks over social media with absolutely no provocation.


Either Mayweather is a real-life heel, or wrestling feuds are real.

Tyson Chandler: A Redemptive, Transformative Acquisition for New York

With all of the Dwight Howard/billionaire Russian tampering and CP3/rigged NBA talk traipsing around ESPN, message boards, and the blogosphere, Tyson Chandler's move to the New York Knicks has almost been pushed aside.  A top-5 defensive center in the NBA joining forces with two of the league's best scoring forwards gives New York its most formidable front line since Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason were anchoring all-time great defenses in the mid-'90's.

Tyson Chandler will give N.Y. some much needed defense and heart.

Though this squad won't be nearly as dominant defensively as their predecessors, they've got great overall potential.  What kind of team is this though?  

Given the news that N.Y. will acquire Chandler via sign-and-trade, I'm going to assume Chauncey Billups still becomes an amnesty victim, leaving Chandler, Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Landry Fields, and presumably Toney Douglas as New York's starting five.  Coach D'Antoni has indicated that Douglas will bring the ball up the floor while Melo acts as a Larry Bird-type of facilitator.  Obviously this is mere Twitter fodder, words Mike came up with for some lulz, because Melo has never shown himself to have the type of court vision Larry Bird had.  Different players, different skill sets.  

So how does this offense work?  How should it work?  Where will the new Knick fit?    

Well, Chandler has already proven himself to be one of the best role player-centers in the entire league offensively, combining ultra-efficient catch-and-score paint offense (so low role- no ball domination necessary) with elite offensive rebounding and no turnovers (so he gives his team more chances to score).  He's had his greatest offensive successes with either a superb playmaker in Chris Paul giving him gimmes or elite spacing in Dallas, mainly through the game of Dirk Nowitzki.  

New York doesn't have Paul - let's see where the U.S. Supreme Court says he should end up in the coming months - but they do have some sweet spacing of their own.  Amar'e is one of the great off-ball big men in NBA history.  Not only is he great from mid-range, but he also gets into the paint through dives from the perimeter and off curls at the high-post.  Melo, Fields, and Douglas are sufficient threats from range.  Chandler is primed for another efficient year offensively- as long as his minutes are handled correctly and New York slows their pace down.  These two caveats are integral.    

Chandler had a big year in 2008, then two injury-filled years.  Last year was a big year, but in reduced minutes (less than 28 per game) and on a slower, methodical team.  N.O. in '08 ran a methodical style of play as well, capitalizing on Paul's efficient use of Chandler and shooters.  That same methodical style should apply to New York this year as well, and not just for Chandler's sake.    

It'd serve Melo and Amar'e well to slow the pace down as well in my opinion.  Although they are great iso scorers, they are at their best as finishers, especially Amar'e.  Without a true distributor, using Douglas to get the ball to these scorers in a frenetic offense seems like a recipe for bad half-court offense and lackadaisical transition defense.  Instead, slow it down.  Put Amar'e in pick-n-rolls with Douglas and Melo and put Melo in the mid-post.  Execute.

More importantly, make Amar'e and Melo more aware of their defensive responsibilities, especially in transition.  

I liked Ian Thomsen's article on how Chandler can change the defense and the culture of New York like a KG-lite, especially with Mike Woodson preaching defense, too.  What Thomsen didn't mention was that 2008 Boston had Kendrick Perkins serving as the brick wall supplying backup to KG's motion-sensor horizontal mid-range defense system- basically, KG played help D all over the floor, but if anybody got to the paint, KP laid wood on them or blocked their shot.  Chandler's PF is Amar'e, and his backup is Amar'e.  What has to change?  

One is Amar'e's defensive intensity, and two is N.Y.'s backup C plan.  Even Chandler had big ole' Brendan Haywood last year backing him up.  The Knicks just need another big body to spell Chandler and move people around in the paint.  Anybody but Eddy Curry...

So, New York needs another big frontcourt body and league-average point guard who concentrates on distributing and can hit open 3's.  That sounds doable.  

New York fans deserved the Chandler signing, and they deserve the feeling of happiness that comes with it.  People love to spew vitriolic rants aimed at the Knicks, but they had to suffer through the Isiah Thomas-era and the crap that came along with it.  

In the middle part of last decade, Thomas obtained Curry, the wrong Baby Bull- the one that only added to his considerable baby fat.  Now they're counting on the mature, achieving one to be that key component to fully transform them.          

  

       

Looks Like We Made It...

Dear NBA,

Welcome back.

F*** you.

You better be worth it this season.

I'm not going to one game this year.

Don't pull this crap ever again.

Let's go Knicks, Nets, and Lakers!

And so help you God if this is a tease of some kind...

Best Regards,
James


P.S.  League Pass should be free.

Reaction to the Iman Shumpert Selection

The New York Knicks selected Iman Shumpert out of Georgia Tech with the 17th pick of the NBA draft last month, a decision that has gotten mixed reviews.  I feel I can pretty much project this guy as Michael Jordan II and not get proven wrong seeing as how the NBA is never going to play another game again, but doomsday lockout scenarios are far too depressing to talk about on a holiday weekend.

Apparently, Shumpert is a ridiculous athlete, a top-of-the-list run/jump draftee with length.  Any and every team can use a player like that.  If a long perimeter athlete develops enough brains to play smart team ball, he can usually find a way to be a championship role player.  He can also be one of the many talented flameouts who have graced the modern era of the NBA.

Iman Shumpert with David Stern on draft night.

Shumpert is going to be a lead guard in the NBA, not a pure point.  He wasn't a pure point in college, and because of his size and the fact that it's difficult to transition into an NBA point guard once you're in the NBA, I think he'll be a wing with handles that can play point occasionally.  With his athletic tools, he should be a solid defender, especially in terms of closing out on three-point shooters, something the Knicks could greatly use right now.

The Knicks need size and a young pure point guard who can grow with Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.  Chauncey Billups is one of the best point guards of his generation, but he is declining.  I feel like the Knicks are either extremely confident they can lure Chris Paul or Deron Williams to N.Y., or they think Toney Douglas brings what they need already.

Shumpert is a solid pick overall.  He doesn't fill N.Y.'s most pressing needs, but he shores up some weaknesses the Knicks had and makes them more athletic.  The board at 17 was bare of any sure pick that could address the major team needs, and it would have been counterproductive to try to fit a square peg in a round hole just for the sake of showing the public that they understand what needs to be done.  It was a better decision to shore up a secondary weakness of wing depth and perimeter closeout ability.  And absolute best case scenario, he turns into an explosive peripheral scorer.   

Or maybe Michael Jordan...