NBA Playoffs: Best in the East?

Writing by admin on Wednesday, 9 of May , 2007 at 11:59 am

Anyone who doesn’t agree the Detroit Pistons are the best team in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket is just kidding themselves.

Detroit breezed through the Orlando Magic in the opening round and if Game 1 of their second-round series with Chicago means anything, that matchup won’t last long either. The Pistons simply obliterated the Bulls in Game 1 by a lopsided score of 95-69. The Pistons and Bulls looked like a pretty even matchup on paper, but in the opener Detroit outplayed Chicago in every facet of the game. That win clearly anoints the Pistons over the Bulls in the Conference, but what about the rest of the East?

Let’s start with the New Jersey Nets because, really, that won’t take too long. The Nets are lucky to even be in the playoffs, period. Sure, they knocked off Toronto in the opening round, but they didn’t exactly make it look easy. The Nets, to put it bluntly are Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. Take one out of the equation (which isn’t as hard to do as it seems) and the Nets are sunk. Carter has a reputation of coming up short and the Nets will too in the playoffs, at least as long as VC is their go-to guy.

That leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers. With LeBron James in tow the Cavs probably have the best chance of taking away the Pistons’ Eastern Conference crown. Cleveland did almost send Detroit packing in last year’s postseason before Detroit regrouped and throttled Cleveland when it really counted. LeBron James may yet hoist the NBA Championship trophy, but he’s still a year or two – and another player or two – away from even getting out of the East just yet.

The reason the Pistons are so good is because of their balance. Not only do the Pistons do an excellent job of balancing offense and defense, but their roster excels at balancing the scoring output. When you have Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber all running down the floor toward you, which one do you expect to score? With the Pistons the answer is all of them, making them incredibly difficult to guard and contain.

NBA playoff odds can be found here.

Category: Online NBA Basketball Betting

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