Then there were Four

Celtics (1) v Cavaliers (2)

2nd Round Celtics v Wizards

I said – 4-3 Celtics

Result

4-3 Celtics

2nd Round Cavs v Raptors

I said – 4-2 Cavs

Result

4-0 Cavs

The Celtics v Wizards played out as I predicted, with neither team able to gain a win on the road. The teams got into some push and shove in game 3. Two guys with girl’s names, Kelly Oubre lost the plot giving, Kelly Olynk, a shoulder charge which would’ve been put on report in the NRL.

Returning to Boston for a game 7 with everything to play for, the Wizards bench did what they’ve done all year, nothing, and, not for the first time a white guy went nuts in The Garden. Kelly Olynk gave the middle finger to Washington and scored 14 of his 26 points in the 4th quarter.

John Wall and Bradley Beale are both studs and the Wizards are one more player, hello Boogie Cousins, and a bench player or 2 away from being a serious threat to anybody. Whether the management can put that together, well it’s the Wizards so probably not…..

I thought maybe Toronto may have pulled out 2 wins at home, but with Lowry going down they had no chance. The Cavs were just too strong and, LeBron was pretty much messing with them in the end.

Toronto’s future looks murky to say the least, there’s already talk of Lowry getting out of Dodge. I think they’ll struggle to keep this squad together and they may fall back down the Eastern Conference pecking order. This would be a shame because the crowd and the city of Toronto has fully embraced the Raptors team.

Celtics v Cavaliers

If I have to be honest here, it will surprise me if the Celtics gets more than 1 win. The Cavs have been so dominant with no team or player able to slow down LeBron. I spent the whole day trying to come up with a plan for the Brad Stevens and his team and this is all I could come up with.

Danny Ainge needs to call the CIA and get them to put him in touch with some Albanian mercenaries. Fly them to Cleveland, they can kidnap LeBron’s family and hold them to ransom, not returning them until the Celtics win a hard fought series in 7 games and make the finals.

I’m still not sure this works but at this stage if I was Ainge I’d be willing to try anything.

Here’s how this scenario would probably play out. LeBron plays game one scores, 35/12/9 and Cleveland win. After the game LBJ jumps on a plane flies to Albania, murders all the gangsters and their families. To wind down LBJ goes to a hot yoga class, grabs a massage on the plane on the way back, posts a triple double in game 2 and the Cavs win. The Cavs go onto sweep Boston and LeBron declares the US will be placing economic sanctions on Albania.

Seriously though, nothing in the regular season points to Boston winning here. LeBron switching onto a 5ft 8 Isaiah, yeah well you get the picture. Boston will fight like the gritty team they are but, in the end they don’t have the fire power to live with Cleveland.

Because they’re my team I’ll give Boston 1 game out of sympathy.

Result

Cavs 4-1

Warriors (1) v Spurs (2) 1 - 0

2nd Round Warriors v Jazz

I said – 4-2 Warriors

Result 4-0 Warriors

2nd Round Spurs v Rockets

I said – 4-3 Spurs

Result - 4-2 Spurs

The Jazz did their best to hang with the Warriors, the huffed and they puffed but, in the end, the Warriors blew Utah’s house up! The Warriors were like one of those guided drones, they fly in and without getting their hands dirty completely destroy your village.

The biggest drama for the Warriors was what they were going to do after the game in Utah. I doubt very much they followed in the footsteps of Dennis Rodman and flew to Las Vegas for, gambling, hookers and, blow…….. In any case they came, they saw, they kicked some ass.

As for Spurs and Rockets, the first 5 games had set this series up for a 7 game epic encounter. Unfortunately for Rockets fans it only lasted one more, with the Rockets lying down like a narcoleptic. This was despite the Spurs being without Kawai and Tony Parker, it really is a testament to Spurs basketball as a whole. That and LeMarcus Aldridge decided to remind us he can actually play the game. As for the Rockets, questions around James Harden balls aren’t going away as he did his best impression of Casper the ghost. There are actually rumors that milk cartons in Houston have a picture of Harden on them. Plus, Mike D’Antoni is considering saying, F#$k it, and just asking Pop for a job.

Warriors v Spurs

After watching the first 2.5 quarters of game 1, you may have thought, never question Greg Popovich ever, then Zaza, the hunchback of Oakland, took out Kawai, the Warriors went on an 18-0 run and that was pretty much that.

So the big question here is, does Greg Popovich have a master plan for stopping, Steph, Kevin, Draymond, Klay without his number one player?

It’s tough to question the master coach, and he may be able to halt the Warriors juggernaut for 1 maybe 2 games. Unfortunately, you need to win 4 games in a finals series and I just can’t see them doing it. Without Kawai, and with all the admiration I have for Spurs team basketball, the Warriors have far too many offensive weapons and a seriously good defense to go with it. If that doesn’t work, Draymond will kick you in the nuts and, the Mongol, hunchback, Zaza will injure someone. Yeah I hate The Warriors….

Although I hate them, I respect their skills, in Steph, KD, and Klay they have 3 players who can command a double team, which will always leave one of them with a miss-match, and yeah, the Warriors are a good passing team as well, they find those miss-matches and exploit them.

It hurts me to say this but, with the Spurs injuries and the quality of this Warriors team I’m picking 4-1 to Golden State and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another sweep.

If you want to know how pissed Pop is....

Result

Warirors 4 - 1