Hmm Denver is not a dark horse to pull a up set with 2 big guys inside one that is huge, and fast very hard to stop and is more consistent now in Nene.And AI+Melo can win a series them selfs each.Hmm
No, Denver is not a dark horse. They will lose in the first round this year... no chance at an upset, especially considering they'll end up playing Dallas, PHX, or SA.
Denver will probably be 7th or 6th so Dallas wouldn't be including, and with Kobe ballhoggin, we got the 6th spot by the end of the year.
I agree with Bigmo, I do not see Denver as a dark horse come playoff time. Sure they have good scorers in Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, and they have one or two good individual defensive players like Camby. All together they do not have the team defense to make a run in this post season, nor will they be able to score with a team like the Suns. So I am not expecting to see them do much.If there is one team in the West that I think has the best chance to win minus Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio, it is Houston in my opinion. They have the makings to be a scary team come playoff time. They have a great team defense with two people down low that can alter shots with their length in Yao and Mutumbo, they have good perimeter defenders like Shane Battier, and Mcgrady can hold his own on the defensive end. They are a very good rebounding team that will be able to rebound with anyone else in the league. Offensively they have a balanced offensive attack able to score from inside and out, they have role players that can hit the open shots. They have two stars that can take over a game with their scoring in Ming and Mcgrady. Mcgrady can push them through in late game situations with his scoring from the wing. This can be a very dangerous team come playoff time in my opinion.
Denver gets walloped on and the Suns move on. The biggest thing holding back teams like Utah and Toronto is experience. Toronto has only a couple guys who have even been on a playoff team, and only Mo Pete has played on a team that has gotten to the second round. Utah has a little more experience having two guys with world championships, but after that they have a few guys remaining from their old playoff teams and thats it. compare their teams to the teams they are likely to face in the first round and the experience factor will really play a part. The Raptors will face the Heat most likely, who are the defending champions and have a couple of guys with 10 years plus playoff experience. The Jazz will face Houston, who has guys who haven't been very far but they've been to the playoffs many times.The Bulls have the advantage of not only having a lot of experience, but they seem to not really be talked about recently despite having the third best record in the East. if any of those teams really make noise in the postseason I would say it's going to be the Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls are the main darkhorse in the playoffs this year. Chicago has the full pacakge, a great defensive post prescence in Ben Wallace, two of the most versatile scorers in the NBA who also have court vision in Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. A very talented SF who has an amazing amount of versatility in Luol Deng. PJ Brown the veteran PF and Tyrus Thomas, who in my opinion is the Bulls X-factor. There are nights that Tyrus Thomas with his freakish athletecism dominates the game. Chicago also has one of the best team defenses and the NBA. The best thing about Chicago is their packed young bench filled with guys like Chris Duhon and Andres Nocioni. Last year they were referred to as they 'baby bulls' becuase of all their young talent that had yet to completely blossom, now it has and it's created the dominant force we've seen since the playoffs.The one thing that Chicago has to work in if they wan't to go deep this year is their clutch play. I've seen time after time Ben Gordon miss clutch shots. That has to stop, if Gordon can't step up go to Hinrich or Deng. As Redneck said, Toronto and Utah are going to be held back by experience while this will not effect Chicago as they have been in the playoffs the last two years. Out of these three teams if one of them makes the conference finals, it's Chicago.
Chicago has no chance of winning a title, or even getting past a healthy Miami or Detroit. As I have been saying from the beginning of the season, until they get a player that can consistently get them around 25PPG and be a superstar type player, they won't get anywhere. Ben Gordon is the closest they have, but he is not consistent enough.I think Houston and Utah could be dangerous, that's about it as far as darkhorses.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Apr 3 2007, 05:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Chicago has no chance of winning a title, or even getting past a healthy Miami or Detroit. As I have been saying from the beginning of the season, until they get a player that can consistently get them around 25PPG and be a superstar type player, they won't get anywhere. Ben Gordon is the closest they have, but he is not consistent enough.I think Houston and Utah could be dangerous, that's about it as far as darkhorses.</div>I never said anything about getting to the finals. I said "Out of these three teams if one of them makes the conference finals, it's Chicago." It is true, Chicago may lack Ben Gordon who is young and consistency comes with age pretty often (Although not in all cases) but the West is pretty dominated by the "big bad three" of San Antonio, Pheonix, and Dallas while the East is very wide open. I have said why I believe that Chicago is a good enough team to make the conference finals but let's look at their situation. Right now Chicago is supposed to play Washington, without Caron Butler, Washington has no chance of outscoring Chicago and without any team defense on the Wizards part Chicago will dominate the series. Now the real test will be Detroit the next round. It could be tough but if there is a team in the East who will upset Detroit it is a healthy Miami or Chicago.
I'm lookin' further down the rankings, and got my eye on the Clippers and Warriors. Both teams more than capable of pulling an upset. In the east I'm looking at New Jersey, as nobody should count them out either. I think this year's Playoffs should be just as good as last year's were.... Last year's were the best in quite a long time I thought.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GArenas @ Apr 3 2007, 05:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I never said anything about getting to the finals. I said "Out of these three teams if one of them makes the conference finals, it's Chicago." It is true, Chicago may lack Ben Gordon who is young and consistency comes with age pretty often (Although not in all cases) but the West is pretty dominated by the "big bad three" of San Antonio, Pheonix, and Dallas while the East is very wide open. I have said why I believe that Chicago is a good enough team to make the conference finals but let's look at their situation. Right now Chicago is supposed to play Washington, without Caron Butler, Washington has no chance of outscoring Chicago and without any team defense on the Wizards part Chicago will dominate the series. Now the real test will be Detroit the next round. It could be tough but if there is a team in the East who will upset Detroit it is a healthy Miami or Chicago.</div>I wasn't responding to you, I was speaking in general. I didn't even read your post...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Apr 3 2007, 06:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I wasn't responding to you, I was speaking in general. I didn't even read your post...</div>My mistake, mines was about the Bulls so I assumed you were talking to me.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I'm lookin' further down the rankings, and got my eye on the Clippers and Warriors. Both teams more than capable of pulling an upset. In the east I'm looking at New Jersey, as nobody should count them out either. I think this year's Playoffs should be just as good as last year's were.... Last year's were the best in quite a long time I thought.</div>Clippers and Warriors really can't put up a great fight against Dallas and Pheonix. Although it is true that Golden State has given problems to Dallas during the games that they have played, this is a 7 game series. Dallas is an experienced squad filled with talent and veterans who play smart basketball while Golden State has not been in the playoffs for years.New Jersey is the only team deep in the rankings who can pull off an upset against the second seeded Cavs. I'm still not completely convinced about the Cavs being able to make a long playoff run. They rely way too much on LeBron, if his playmaking abilities and his talent of making his own offense is very valuable and I feel as though the Cavs require it way too much while New Jersey has three go to guys who can score. That will be a problem for Cleveland to deal with. Only upset I can see happening, however NJ has been under-achieving this entire year. I don't think they're going to randomly go back to the same prosperity as the Nets squad last year. This is the one series that I feel alot of different scenarios could occur.
GA, Golden State is the only other team in the league to defeat Dallas twice this year... The other team? The Suns. Plus, the Warriors play the way the Suns play, and gave Phoenix fits in their last game... I wouldn't rule them out completely, but you're right it IS a 7 game series and for Golden State to win 4 against either team would be VERY difficult to do. Think about the Clippers though... I feel that they too have been under-achieving this season, when you compare it to last year, and the fact they practically have all of the same players on the roster (minus a few injuries to players like Livingston and Cassell).... But I think the Clippers (should they get the 8th spot over Golden State) are more than capable of upsetting a Dallas or Phoenix as well... Being a Suns fan though, I'd love for Dallas to get knocked out in the 1st or 2nd round!
The dark horse for this year is undoubtably the detroit pistons they will have no challenge with any team in the east including a healthy miami the team with the most chance to upset in the playoffs is the Los angelos Lakers Last year they took phenoix to a game 7 being the 7th seed Now that the triangle offence is starting to click with Odem Walton and the big men turiaf and Kwame brown if the team can do what they did last year in the playoffs they can turn to be dominant not only inside on boards but controll the perimeter the whole game of every game.
I think that for the East, the Bulls have a decent chance to do some damage. The east is weak as we all know, and I think that I would put them as the 2nd best team in the conference when Miami doesn't have Wade. They are deeper, and have more options on offense than Cleveland, Miami doesn't have Wade, Wizards are without Butler, and I think that the Raps are too inexperienced.For the West, give me Houston. They have a great duo in Yao and T-Mac, and they have alot of role players as well. They are a good defensive team, and IF they can stay healthy, they might be able to do alright. If they can grab the 5th seed in the west, they could get out of the first round, but thats about all for me. I think the West is pretty much up between Dallas, Phoenix, and San Antonio and thats it....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Trail_Blazer @ Apr 3 2007, 07:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>GA, Golden State is the only other team in the league to defeat Dallas twice this year... The other team? The Suns. </div>It's a 7 game series. Dallas prepares for Golden State and will run their up-tempo style. However if Dallas does not feel comfortable in that range they have the correct amount of experience players to impose the pace they want on an inexperienced Warriors squad. Dallas is just too much of a powerhouse to let away a 7 game series to a mediocre team that matches up badly with Dallas.
The Wizards were a darkhorse for the playoffs when Caron Butler was healthy and ready to go for the playoffs.. now any team can take us in 4-5 games.Chicago Bulls can definitely make the ECF.. I just don't see the Cavs advancing past the 2nd round, who's going to step it up after LeBron? Hughes? Gooden? Big Z? All these guys are pretty inconsistent and the Cavs rely way too much on LeBron for scoring, and other things, as well. I believe the Bulls could also give the Heat a run for their money. Wade's status would be definitely questionable entering the playoffs, and Miami isn't a great perimeter defensive team. Against Chicago, guys like Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, and Andres Nocioni are all fantastic perimeter players (Nocioni should be back for the playoffs). Chicago took Miami to 6 games in the 1st round last year, and Miami was with a 100% healthy Dwyane Wade. The only team that is capable of stopping Chicago is Detroit. They both play similar games, but Detroit has much more playoff experience than them, and they are just a better overall team.
The Houston Rockets. They will be scary with Yao and Tracy healthy, and with their amazing defense also. They're a dark horse for the WCF....hey, it could happen.....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Apr 4 2007, 09:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Houston Rockets. They will be scary with Yao and Tracy healthy, and with their amazing defense also. They're a dark horse for the WCF....hey, it could happen.....</div>Well, if they are to make it past the first round against the Utah Jazz then they will play the Dallas Mavericks who are the favorite to win it this year. Dallas is too much of a powerhouse to go down in the second round, they are much to deep, much too smart of a team in general, much too talented, and too determined this year. Houston will not lack on the defensive end however will not be able to compete with Dallas's offense as a team (I know T-mac and Yao can score but not all of Houston can put up big numbers like Dallas). I see where you are coming from, with the fact that they have all the pieces to contend for a championship but in the wild west there are too many experienced and dominantn teams in the west. There really aren't any true Dark Horses out west, in fact I will be very surprised if two of the big three teams in the West (Dallas, Pheonix, San Antonio) do not meet in the WCF.
