My NBA Playoff Prediction Update

Alright, so as you all know, I gave out my NBA playoff predictions way back in October, before the season started.

I actually did not do that bad of a job in predicting what would go wrong except for a couple of "minor" errors here and there.

I had both the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics making the playoffs, with the Pistons on top of the conference. I wrongfully had the Celtics in 6^th place, but once again, that's just a minor issue.

I also had the New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, and Cleveland Cavaliers making the post-season. Thus, so far I'm 5 for 5.

Now I mistakenly had the misfortune of predicting that the New York Knicks' acquisition of Zach Randolph would lead them to a playoff, and I also had the Miami Heat in the 8^th seed. That makes me 5 for 7, and I still content that the Chicago Bulls will make the playoffs, which would make 6 for 8.

Then of course, there is the Western Conference, where I was almost perfect. I have the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, and New Orleans Hornets making the playoffs. It's not important to go over seeding, because the seeding in the West is far from being settled. Thus, I am 13 for 15 if we assume those 7 teams will make the playoffs. I also had the Denver Nuggets making it, and while that seems bleak, it's not impossible that I could go a perfect 8 for 8 in the West, and 14 for 16 overall. I don't know how impressive that is in predicting the NBA playoff contenders, but it can't be horrible.

With four months having passed since I made my pre-season predictions, I am now ready to give an update on those, as well as how I believe the playoffs will pan out, now that all of the big time trades have been completed and we have a good idea of how these teams will look going forward.

Eastern Conference:

1. Detroit Pistons

2. Boston Celtics

3. Orlando Magic

4. Cleveland Cavaliers

5. Toronto Raptors

6. Washington Wizards

7. New Jersey Nets

8. Chicago Bulls

Western Conference

1. San Antonio Spurs

2. Los Angeles Lakers

3. Utah Jazz

4. Phoenix Suns

5. Dallas Mavericks

6. New Orleans Hornets

7. Golden State Warriors

8. Denver Nuggets

So who comes out of the Eastern Conference? That has to be the Detroit Pistons. I love what the Cleveland Cavaliers have done to bring LeBron James support, and I think the Celtics are a fantastic scoring threat, but at the end of the day, I believe in the best defense coming out of the East, and that team is undoubtedly the Detroit Pistons.

A defensive team, the San Antonio Spurs, also wins my Western Conference team, although, I don't base my decision in the West on defense as much as I did in the East. That's because in the West, as much as defense wins championships, there will come a game or two where a team will have to outscore an opponent. And with the Spurs have three legitimate players who can go for 30 and score against anybody in the league, I have to go with them, especially when all three of those players can play defense.

So I have the Detroit Pistons vs. the San Antonio Spurs in a repeat of the 2005 NBA Finals.

Guess what? I also have a repeat of the outcome, with Spurs winning this one in 7 games.

Are the Spurs the safe pick? Sure they are. And when they picked up Kurt Thomas from the Sonics, they became the smart pick.

TheSportsWatchers.com prides itself on being smart. Enough said.