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Thursday’s NBA Playoff Match Ups

 (Hawks @ Cavs Game 2)

5/7/09

The second round is underway and we already have a good idea who will be advancing to both the Western and Eastern Conference finals.

The Los Angeles Lakers struggled to start their series against the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets seem to be handling the Dallas Mavericks with relative ease and the Cleveland Cavaliers might be able to pull off another sweep against the lowly Atlanta Hawks. The Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics looks like it could go the distance, but the Magic are definitely in the driver’s seat after game one.

Only two teams in the entire NBA have come out on top of the Cavs at home in Cleveland. Philadelphia 76ers got lucky facing the Cavs at home will they were sitting all their stars including LeBron James and Mo Williams, but no other team besides the Lakers have been any competition for this season’s NBA MVP and the red hot Cavs.

Game one was a big indication of things to come. At times the Hawks looked like they could give the Cavs some problems insides as Josh Smith seemed to score at will, but after Cleveland adjusted the Hawks took a back seat and watched LeBron James light them up for the rest of the night until the lead was so big that Coach of the Year Mike Brown decided to sit his starters.

Unless the Hawks started to set it up I think we will see a repeat performance by LeBron and company in game two at Quicken Loans Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers may have been the best team in the league coming into round two, but after their disappointing game one loss to the defensive minded Rockets and the Cavs looking like they haven’t missed a step after their break between games, Cleveland may have surpassed Kobe Bryant’s boys for the league’s top team.

The Cavs haven’t exactly been tested by a great defensive team like the Lakers have against the Rockets, but LeBron James is playing the best basketball I have seen him play in the six years in the league and his supporting cast is stepping up and knocking down shots.

I still believe the Los Angeles Lakers can beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in a seven game series, but it will be interesting to see how prepared the Cavs are if they both end up meeting in the NBA finals. With the Lakers having to play against tough defenses and the Cavs easily going through teams like the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks you have to wonder if the Cavs will be ready to compete with the Lakers if it comes down to that.

I am getting a little ahead of myself talking about a Lakers and Cavs final, especially after seeing the Lakers drop game one at home to Houston, but the Cavs will not see good competition until the reach the Eastern Conference finals against either the defending champion Boston Celtics or Dwight Howard’s Orlando Magic.

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