Eastern Conference:
#1 Miami vs #3 Indiana (Heat 4-3)
This series played out like I thought it would, plus 1 game. I knew the Pacers would give the Heat a strong series and they did. In fact, they outplayed Miami in all but two games. They just happened to be games that the Heat looked at as must wins. Despite the obvious strengths that Indiana brought to the series I still believed that Miami would eventually return to the finals for a third straight season.
The Pacers did expose two serious weaknesses of the Heat that, if not corrected, could come back to haunt them in the finals. Miami has gone through the regular season and the playoffs with a sense of arrogance. They seem to be of the mindset that they can win if they want to...if they have to. I think Indiana rattled them a little. The competition got progressively better against the Heat in the playoffs and they could have easily lost this series. LeBron James won it for them. That brings me to the second weakness, Bosh and Wade. For the heat to win the finals they must have game in and game out production from at least two of the big three if not all three. They did not get that kind of support from Wade and Bosh throughout the Pacers series. They're going to need it to beat the Spurs.
Western Conference:
I picked the Spurs to win this series...in seven games. A San Antonio sweep never occurred to me. Especially after the way Golden State pushed the Spurs. Memphis looked unfazed after the Thunder series and while I thought the Spurs would win the series, I thought the Grizzlies would make them work for it. Conventional wisdom says that Memphis used it's entire tank to get out of a tough series with OKC. However, I believe that they just ran in to a superior Spurs team that was irritated by the Warriors and is now focused on one thing. Winning one more NBA title.
Memphis is a tough team with an even tougher coach. San Antonio is a well coached, robotic team that plays as well together as any team, even Miami. The Spurs played 4 systematic, 48 minute games. It didn't matter what city they were playing in or in front of what crowd. In fact, I had to look at center court during a couple of the games just to see where they were playing. As for the outcome of the games, they might as well all been in Texas. Memphis wasn't even in the games. They seemed to be 15 - 20 points down at the beginning of each game, fighting from behind the entire series. By game 4 the Grizzlies were demoralized and resigned to losing the series. The Spurs were business like the entire series and hardly celebrated the fact that they were Western Conference Champions. The job is not finished and they know it.
As for Memphis, we discover after the series that there is turmoil within the organization. The new ownership group, responsible for the Rudy Gay trade, has more mischief up their collective sleeves. This week they granted head coach Lionel Hollins permission to entertain other coaching positions. Hollins is having a difficult time adapting to the micro-management style of the new owners. If they let Hollins leave, Memphis will return to it's previous status as a non factor in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies are who they are because of Lionel Hollins. Without him, they are just another NBA team.
On to the NBA Finals!
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