NBA Playoffs Predictions

Let's start with the East.

Derrick Rose goes down... Okay so we can count the Bulls out. Sure they might win their series against the 76ers but they're not beating the Heat in a seven-game series.

The Knicks got waxed by about 40 points in Game 1 against the Heat, let's go ahead and count them out.

The Pacers lost Game 1 at home to a Magic team playing without Dwight Howard... ouch. Yeah, let's count them out as well. Like I said with the Bulls, they might go on to win this series but they're not getting past the Heat either.

The Celtics and Hawks should be a very competitive series. I could see the winner of this series winning the next series as well and playing the Heat in the Conference Finals.

That being said, nobody in the East can beat the Heat. I mean they just beat the Knicks 100-67! A Bulls team with Derrick Rose possibly could have, but that didn't work out.

Now let's look at the West.

Whereas the Heat are the the only team that can make it out of the East, there are six teams that could make it out of the West-- Thunder, Mavs, Spurs, Lakers, Clippers and Grizzlies. 

What a first round series between the Thunder and Mavs, that's a Conference Finals type of a matchup. I expect the Thunder to move through the West and play the Heat in the NBA Finals, but the Mavs will not be an easy first test, as it took a buzzer-beater for the Thunder to take Game 1.

The Clippers-Grizzlies is also a very interesting series, and it is really a toss-up.

The Spurs should have no problem getting past the Jazz and the lakers should have no problem getting past the Nuggets.

Once it is down to the Thunder-Lakers and Spurs-Clippers/Grizzlies, any of these five teams have the ability to win a seven-game series. If I had to pick, I would have to go with the Thunder-Spurs advancing and the Thunder making it out the West. In the NBA Playoffs, unlike the NCAA March Madness, the best teams nearly always win.

So Heat-Thunder in the Finals... big surprise. There is no question in my mind that the Heat are the best team if they are healthy. But with a player like Kevin Durant, if a game is close he just finds a way to win and hits buzzer-beaters with ease. He is as clutch as Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan when the game is on the line.

So I am going with the Heat, but saying with Durant anything is possible. Hopefully that qualifies as an answer.