African Sports Monthly Mar, 2015 | Page 24

NBA Playoffs Outlook As the balance of power shifts in the NBA, we see the emergence of new teams mirroring the emergence of new stars in the league. Topmost amongst teams that have transformed themselves from underperformers to potential contenders are the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks. In fact before going to press with this issue of African Sports Monthly, the Atlanta Hawks had already clinched a playoff spot for the 2014/15 season. Both team which were at the bottom of the pile of average performing teams in the league a couple of years back currently boast of the best records in the league. The question though is, will their regular season successes translate to real playoff triumphs, well that remains to be seen. Predictions: The Atlanta Hawks though successful thus far, will not emerge as the Eastern Conference flag bearer. They will be bumped off very likely in the Eastern Conference Finals that is if they get that far. They have put up a good performance so far but their performance is looking very much like fools gold at this stage, especially with the struggles they have been going through since the All Star break. If the playoffs were to start this first week of March (2015) the current conference standings indicate that the Golden State Warriors will face the Oklahoma City Thunder squad; and that will mean they will likely be bumped off in the first round and that for a team that has done so well till now will be a very bitter pill to swallow for this young and talented squad. The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking very much like the 2014/15 Eastern Conference champions and in saying that means that they will be in the NBA Finals. They started the season off rather slow but have picked up momentum and are playing at a very high level, especially after the JR Smith and Iman Shumpert trade with the New York Knicks. Will LeBron James finally hoist the Larry Obrien Trophy for Cleveland Ohio? The San Antonio Spurs have reached their waterloo and will finally run out of steam this year. Its core of ageing players in Tim Duncan, Manu Genobili and Tony Parker will have to contend with the speed of a younger league. They will likely face their division nemesis the Memphis Grizzlies who are playing incredible basketball and so they are set to get knocked out of the first round. The Los Angeles Clippers will very likely get knocked out of the first round by a talented Portland Trailblazer Squad led by the fearless and super talented Damian Lillard. They are currently standing as the 4th and 5th seeds in the Western Conference and with all likelihood face each other in the first round of the playoffs. It will be a tough out for the Clippers given how well DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul have played thus far. The Houston Rockets with MVP Candidate and leading scorer in the league; James Harden will make a deep run into the playoffs this year, but in order for them to conquer the Western Conference they will absolutely need the services of Dwight Howard who is slated to return before the start of the playoffs. If all goes well they will likely meet a very good Memphis Grizzlies team in the Western Conference Finals