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Imagine if Andrew Wiggins had chosen Kentucky instead of Kansas?
The Wildcats would be bigger favorites to win the 2014 NCAA title than the Miami Heat are to win the 2013 NBA title.
But the player expected to be the first overall selection of the 2014 NBA draft went with the Jayhawks, who are losing all five starters from last year’s team.
Well, we have one series tied at 2-2, and if the basketball gods smile on us we are on our way to four Game 7s. We can’t all be that lucky, can we? But we can hope. (Note to self: Powerball reminder).
But if we are going to get to four Game 7s, we are going to need to see some improvement from at least one player on each trailing team (plus the Warriors, who are tied 2-2 but are at a substantial experience deficit against the time-tested San Antonio Spurs).
More on those four guys in the video below — plus some data to back up my points:
Hard to tell if David Lee’s camera was out of focus — or whether there was so much confetti falling from the rafters at Oracle Arena that it just made it seem that way.
You can certainly make that argument, though a lot remains to be determined over the rest of the second round.
But this much we know: The Thunder are a shell of the tam that went to the NBA Finals last season, and they have nobody who can stop Mike Conley (and, to a lesser degree, Marc Gasol). The Golden State Warriors are green, as they showed at the end of Game 1, and the San Antonio Spurs are going against an opponent that is riding a wave of positive vibes.
In the East, it remains to be seen if Game 1 was an aberration or a sign of what lies ahead for Miami and Chicago. And the Pacers-Knicks series has been two completely opposite games.
We spanned all the NBA playoff series in this podcast with ESPNRadio in Memphis with host Eric Hasseltine. Enjoy.
Can we settle on this factoid after the first 4 days of the second round of the NBA Playoffs? The Golden State Warrors are now America’s team — unless, of course, you live in San Antonio and spend your days sticking needles into Joey Crawford voodoo dolls. Or you are Spike Lee.
