gpikeNBA Playoffs: Sunday's Games
April 16th 2011 00:36
After Saturday's games, the remainder of the games are played throughout Sunday.Top-seeded San Antonio kicks off the day of games hosting Memphis.
Memphis at San Antonio: This is not your normal 1 vs 8 matchup. Memphis can throw a scare into the Spurs. The teams split their regular season series with both teams winning at home, two times apiece. Memphis began resting guys with the chance of facing Dallas, the Lakers, or San Antonio early last week. They wanted San Antonio, and after losing to Portland and the Clippers, Memphis gets them.
The Grizzlies lost a ton of firepower when Rudy Gay was injured for the remainder of the season. Shane Battier and Tony Allen are not the same on the offensive side as Gay. They are both good defenders, but can't score as much. Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley both need to come out and play to earn that first game shocker here.
San Antonio will be missing Manu Ginoboli after he got hurt in the teams season-finale to Phoenix. The injury is not expected to keep him out of more then one game though. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan get to face off against younger versions of themselves with Randolph and Conley. The Spurs have the better supporting cast, earning game one.
New Orleans at Los Angeles: The easiest series in the West. The Lakers stumbled in the final weeks of the regular season, though get rewarded with the Hornets here. Chris Paul needs some help here.
Trevor Ariza has the talent to be a key person in this series versus his former team. Emeka Okefor also has to be up for the challenge with Pau Gasol. Carl Landry versus Ron Artest matchup could be a huge factor in the series and game one for that matter.
Los Angeles is the favorite to win it all again. Kobe Bryant is very hard to stop in the playoffs. The Hornets won't be able to stop him. The Lakers win with ease in game one.
New York at Boston: This series has a chance to be interesting. The Knicks showed some fight in that winning streak before the season ended of seven games. Boston is lacking something key with a lackluster effort down the stretch.
Carmelo Anthony, and Amare Stoudemire need to average around 28 points apiece for the Knicks. They have shown the ability to accomplish this. Chauncey Billups is going to struggle against Rajon Rondo and Delonte West. Landry Fields defending skills will be put to the test against Ray Allen.
Boston has a deep bench, they just seemed un-interested in those final weeks. Bringing Troy Murphy, Glen Davis, Jeff Green, and West off the bench is huge. Kevin Garnett rallies the troops here as the Celtics get win number one.
Denver at Oklahoma City: Both teams are evenly matched here. Though the Thunder won two games down the stretch of the regular season over the Nuggets, this series has the makings of something special. Athletes all around will take the court in the final game of the weekend.
Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook have two of the top ten basketball players in the league this year. Throwing in Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, and James Harden makes the Thunder an appealing pick to win the West.
Denver was awarded after dealing Anthony with a great group of players from the Knicks. Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and Raymond Felton have provided great leadership for the Nuggets. Ty Lawson has shown he can score when he wants to going for 37 points versus Minnesota last Saturday in Denver's 130-106 win. Denver leads the league in scoring with 107.5 points per game. The Thunder win game one, though it will go down to the final minutes. Look for this series to go the limit of seven games.
Memphis at San Antonio: This is not your normal 1 vs 8 matchup. Memphis can throw a scare into the Spurs. The teams split their regular season series with both teams winning at home, two times apiece. Memphis began resting guys with the chance of facing Dallas, the Lakers, or San Antonio early last week. They wanted San Antonio, and after losing to Portland and the Clippers, Memphis gets them.
The Grizzlies lost a ton of firepower when Rudy Gay was injured for the remainder of the season. Shane Battier and Tony Allen are not the same on the offensive side as Gay. They are both good defenders, but can't score as much. Zach Randolph, and Mike Conley both need to come out and play to earn that first game shocker here.
San Antonio will be missing Manu Ginoboli after he got hurt in the teams season-finale to Phoenix. The injury is not expected to keep him out of more then one game though. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan get to face off against younger versions of themselves with Randolph and Conley. The Spurs have the better supporting cast, earning game one.
New Orleans at Los Angeles: The easiest series in the West. The Lakers stumbled in the final weeks of the regular season, though get rewarded with the Hornets here. Chris Paul needs some help here.
Trevor Ariza has the talent to be a key person in this series versus his former team. Emeka Okefor also has to be up for the challenge with Pau Gasol. Carl Landry versus Ron Artest matchup could be a huge factor in the series and game one for that matter.
Los Angeles is the favorite to win it all again. Kobe Bryant is very hard to stop in the playoffs. The Hornets won't be able to stop him. The Lakers win with ease in game one.
New York at Boston: This series has a chance to be interesting. The Knicks showed some fight in that winning streak before the season ended of seven games. Boston is lacking something key with a lackluster effort down the stretch.
Carmelo Anthony, and Amare Stoudemire need to average around 28 points apiece for the Knicks. They have shown the ability to accomplish this. Chauncey Billups is going to struggle against Rajon Rondo and Delonte West. Landry Fields defending skills will be put to the test against Ray Allen.
Boston has a deep bench, they just seemed un-interested in those final weeks. Bringing Troy Murphy, Glen Davis, Jeff Green, and West off the bench is huge. Kevin Garnett rallies the troops here as the Celtics get win number one.
Denver at Oklahoma City: Both teams are evenly matched here. Though the Thunder won two games down the stretch of the regular season over the Nuggets, this series has the makings of something special. Athletes all around will take the court in the final game of the weekend.
Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook have two of the top ten basketball players in the league this year. Throwing in Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka, and James Harden makes the Thunder an appealing pick to win the West.
Denver was awarded after dealing Anthony with a great group of players from the Knicks. Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and Raymond Felton have provided great leadership for the Nuggets. Ty Lawson has shown he can score when he wants to going for 37 points versus Minnesota last Saturday in Denver's 130-106 win. Denver leads the league in scoring with 107.5 points per game. The Thunder win game one, though it will go down to the final minutes. Look for this series to go the limit of seven games.
Trevor Ariza is amongst a group of Hornets who need to step it up against the Lakers
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