The NBA playoffs have already been going on for about a month and with each passing game, the developing storylines and the drama that comes along with them have been fantastic.
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We have the dinosaur-age San Antonio Spurs who have not lost a playoff game yet, the Miami Heat and LeBron James, who have been struggling to beat the lowly Indiana Pacers, and the Los Angeles Lakers who look like their time is up.
But this is just a taste of what’s getting people talking.
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The remarkable thing is, the NBA championship is as wide open as it can possibly get and while some analysts have predictions as to who will meet in the finals, we all really have no clue.
All seven remaining teams in the playoffs will have to go through obstacles in order to achieve their goal of winning the title. So we have compiled a list of 10 things that can and will affect which team becomes the world champions.
Check out the list on the following pages!
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The young talent of the Thunder’s “big three”: The Oklahoma City Thunder are a relatively new member of the contender crowd. Just two years ago, they gave the Lakers a rough time in the first round and we all knew they would just get better and better. Now, their time seems to have come.
The talented foursome of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and James Harden’s beard have only lost one playoff game so far and could eliminate the Lakers tonight after pulling out two close games in the last three. Although Tinseltown isn’t the only place scared of them.
Many experts have chosen the San Antonio Spurs to make the finals and eventually prevail, but they will have to get through the Thunder first.
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LeBron’s fourth quarter struggles: It is a well-known fact that LeBron James has had trouble closing games, especially playoff games, in the last year or so. In games 2 and 3 against the Indiana Pacers, he struggled mightily, leading to two losses for the Miami Heat.
Despite bouncing back in a larger-than-life way yesterday afternoon (40 pts., 18 reb., 9 ass.), the jury is still out as to whether he has the ability to close out these important games on a regular basis. If he is not able to do so, the Heat may not move on to the next round and even if they do, will have a hard time beating their likely opponent, the Boston Celtics.
At least LeBron believes in himself; his mouthguard has the roman numerals “XVI” to signify the number of wins it takes to gain the title.
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Andre Iguodala and the scrappy Sixers squad: One of the surprise teams of the NBA playoffs so far have been the Philadelphia 76ers. After eliminating the Derrick Rose-less Bulls in the first round, the Sixers have given the veteran Boston Celtics team a run for their money. They stole game 2 in Boston and came back from a 18-point deficit in game 4 to tie the series up.
Nobody is suggesting that this team will make it to the finals, but they have a chance of knocking out a Celtics team, who are attempting to make their last run, if they keep playing at this level. If that does happen it could shake up the whole Eastern Conference and give the Heat an open path to the finals, assuming they survive the Pacers.
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The old and crafty Spurs: The San Antonio Spurs have steamrolled through the playoffs thus far and cannot be stopped. Their long-time big 3, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker are playing like they’re in their twenties, and coach Gregg Popovich is a master at his own disguise. They have outscored the opponent by an average of about 16 points in all 8 playoff wins, not to mention they have one of the deepest and most talented benches in the league.
Also, the Spurs are on an 18-game winning streak and have not lost since April 11th. These Spurs can definitely stop the Heat from winning their first title with LeBron and can also stop the Celtics short of their potential last title run if they happen to meet in the finals.
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Chris Bosh’s absence: Many Miami and NBA fans have been saying for a while how Chris Bosh is not an essential part of the Heat and if he happened to be out, LeBron and Dwyane Wade would carry them. Boy, were they wrong. Bosh is out indefinitely with a strained abdominal muscle and Miami has no legitimate backups for his position.
Even if they are able to eek out a series win against Indiana, the Heat are looking at a potential matchup against the Celtics, where Kevin Garnett will feast on them sans Bosh. We could see the Celtics heading back to the finals regardless if the Heat win this round or not.
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The Pacers’ gritty play vs. the Heat: Even though the Pacers’ hopes for winning the series went a bit down yesterday after allowing Miami to tie the series, they’ve still got a shot. Danny Granger and the other veterans know how to get in LeBron’s head and proved just that in the first three games.
As our favorite analyst Skip Bayless would say, once you get in “The Chosen One'”s head, he turns into “The Frozen One.” If the Pacers manage to pull off this upset, which is not even that big considering they are the third seed, the Celtics will probably beat them in the next round and end up in the finals.
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The Black Mamba: Yes, the Lakers are down 3-1. Yes, they do not have home-court advantage. Yes, the Thunder are the better team. But as the old saying goes, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Kobe Bryant has had a solid series, but he hasn’t had much help from his teammates. The Thunder have had a hard enough time dealing with him and they do not want to deal with an angry black mamba, and that’s exactly what he is now.
After a heart-breaking Game 4 loss, Kobe called out teammate Pau Gasol and has not been shy to do that in the past. Kobe is fully capable of going on a scoring tear and winning at least one game by himself, so L.A. has that going for them. The Lakers (Kobe) might not have a chance to pull this off but if they do, you heard it here first.
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Old-school Kevin Garnett: It seems like we say this every year, but this could actually be the Celtics’ last legitimate run at a title for a while. Kevin Garnett knows this and is responding with some of the best games of his career. The 36-year-old center is averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds for the playoffs and helped the team pull out a few wins when the other members of the big 3, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, were not playing well.
The Heat should be scared of this team if and when they meet up with them. This Celtics team not only has a shot of making the finals, but taking it all home seems like a possibility right now.
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Dwyane Wade‘s attitude: This is the third Miami Heat player to appear on this list and for good reason. While the Heat are an elite team, they have some problems to figure out. One of them is how to keep their star Dwyane Wade on track. During one of his worst games in Game 3 against the Pacers, Wade was seen jawing with coach Erik Spoelstra on the sideline and was quickly separated by teammates.
Reportedly, Spoelstra called Wade “soft” and he reacted with some strong language. Regardless, Wade needs to get his head in the game if he wants to win his second title. He bounced back in a major way yesterday with a 22 point second half on the way to a win. If Wade continues to have issues with himself and his team, the finals favorite Heat squad could be going fishing very soon.
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Playoff injuries: Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and Chris Bosh have already gone down with injuries in these playoffs. While this thought is terrible, it can happen to any player at any time. We would not even be talking about the Sixers if Derrick Rose were healthy and the Knicks could have won more than one game with Shumpert playing. Bosh’s injury has already made the Heat less of a favorite to win it all, but what if it happened to another team?
If Russell Westbrook goes down, the Thunder are done. If Paul Pierce goes down, the Celtics are done and so on. We can only hope this doesn’t happen, but injuries have already swayed this year’s outcome. The Chicago Bulls were one of the favorites to make the finals and they were bounced in the first round.
