It’s time. The rematch everyone thought would happen happened, and the stage is set for a very exciting championship between the Cavs and the Warriors. Last year the Warriors prevailed 4-2. Will it be different this year? I’ll give it my best shot. Last time, I went 2-0 on predictions, bringing my record to 11-3, and getting 5 correct on the amount of games. We’ll see how I do for my final 2016 NBA Playoff Predictions.

Game 1

Game 1 of the series will be close thriller in Oakland. Steph and Warriors will look a bit like they did versus the Thunder, but the Warriors use their home court to their advantage, winning 102-97. Warriors lead, 1-0.

Game 2

Game 2 of the series is a close contest yet again. However, the three point shooting of Cleveland, especially J.R. Smith and Channing  Frye, leads the Cavs to a close 105-96 victory. Series tied, 1-1.

Game 3

LeBron & Co. gets another win as the series switches to Cleveland. Good team defense and a triple double from LeBron give the Cavs a 108-92 win. Cavaliers lead, 2-1.

Game 4

The Cavs jump out to an early lead and appear to be running away with the game, but Steph and Klay catch fire once again and hand Cleveland their first Postseason loss at home, winning 114-106. Series tied, 2-2.

Game 5

In a pivotal game 5, the Warriors get a overtime win thanks to an impressive contribution from Andre Iguodala. Klay Thompson buries some threes in the OT period, and Golden State wins, 125-118. Warriors lead, 3-2.

Game 6

Cleveland comes out firing, and the big 3 of James, Irving, and Love account for 80 points. The Cavs lead wire-to-wire and win, 105-89. Series tied, 3-3.

Game 7

In a Game 7 to remember, the Warriors and Cavs go down to the wire, with both star player performing well. Steph puts up 40, including 2 dagger threes in the final minute. Golden State goes home champions once again, winning 118-110.

     Golden State Wins Championship, 4-3

Well, that’s it. There’s my prediction. Hopefully I’ll finish off a strong Playoff prediction series with a good Finals pick. We’ll see.

– Antonio Arredondo

 

 

Last round had a couple of surprises. The Thunder, who were destroyed in Game 1 versus the Spurs, would win in 6. The Raptors finally broke through the curse of Canada and advanced into the Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. Last round, I went 2 for 4, and got 1 round completely right. This brings my total to 9/12 correct winners, and 5/12 correct amount of games. We’ll see how I do for the Conference Finals.

Western Conference Finals (Warriors-Thunder)

This will certainly be an exciting series to watch. The Thunder are coming off 3 straight wins over the mighty Spurs, and the Warriors off one of the most competitive 5-game series of all time vs. the Blazers. Now it will be stars vs. stars in a shooting display round. The Thunder will surprise many and keep it close, but the Warriors get it done in Oklahoma City. Golden State wins, 4-2

Eastern Conference Finals (Cavs-Raptors)

This is also a surprise ECF, as the Raptors are in their first Conference Finals of all time. The Cavs, meanwhile, have been here before. Their experience, and home court, will show in the first 2 games. Toronto takes game 3, but the team is tired after two 7-game series to start the playoffs. The Cavs rest and shooting display over the last few weeks shine in all games, and Cleveland advances once again. Cleveland wins, 4-1

-Antonio Arredondo

-Top picture from http://www.fxtribune.com/

 

 

Well, that went better than expected. Of the eight series that happened last round, I got seven correct on who won, and four correct on the amount of games it would take. With the Thunder-Spurs game on as I write, I’ll make my predictions on who will win the Conference Semifinals.

Western Conference

(1) Golden State vs. (5) Portland

I love the Blazers. I really do. But, even without Steph Curry, the Warriors clearly have a better team than the Blazers. They get through most games without a hiccup, and move on the the Conference Finals. Golden State wins, 4-1. 

(2) San Antonio vs. (3) Oklahoma City

This series will have its moments. Most games will be close, but some will be blowouts. The inexperience of Coach Billy Donovan will hinder the Thunder, and the Spurs’ storied ball movement gets them the series. San Antonio wins, 4-2

Eastern Conference

(1) Cleveland vs. (4) Atlanta

This series will be closer than the last time the two teams met, which was a 4-0 sweep in favor of the Cavs in last year Conference Finals. The Hawks know they have what it takes, but LeBron James and Co. are too much for them, and Cleveland advances on.          Cleveland wins, 4-2.

(2) Toronto vs. (3) Miami

This series will be a down-to-the wire affair with many golden moments. However, Toronto continues not having that clutch X Factor, and will blow many oppurtunities to win games. Miami wins, 4-2.

 

Hopefully I’m as good at picking NBA games as I looked in the first round. I will be back at the conclusion of Round 2 for my predictions on the Conference Finals.

-Antonio Arredondo

-The above picture taken from OregonLive.com

They won the championship last year. They aren’t doing as good this year.

-Antonio Arredondo

Dedicated to my biggest fan, Scott Wilkinson 

Well, it’s that time of the year again (No, I don’t mean tax season). It’s time for the NBA playoffs to swing underway. There was a big last day in the regular season, with the Rockets making the playoffs despite atrocious defense, the Warriors winning 73, and of course, Kobe scoring 60 in his farewell game. And now the playoffs are about to start. With some fantastic looking matchups, as well as some for-sure blowouts, here are my predictions for this year’s First Round!

Western Conference

(1) Golden State vs. (8) Houston

There’s no way. Absolutely no way this upset can happen. Houston’s defense is too bad, Golden State’s offensive flow too good. Steph Curry & Co. will trounce the hapless Rockets in every game. Golden State wins, 4-0.

(2) San Antonio vs. (7) Memphis

There’s the same deal for this series. San Antonio is obviously the better team in this one, with Memphis’ injuries all around the team. Their half-of-a-roster team won’t be able to do much against the mighty Spurs. San Antonio wins, 4-0.

(3) Oklahoma City vs. (6) Dallas

This matchup is slightly more compelling than the other two. Dallas could be able to get something going with the shooting of Williams, Matthews, and Harris. However, the injury to J.J. Barea is too much for the Mavs, and Oklahoma City takes advantage of it.           Oklahoma City wins, 4-1.

(4) L.A. Clippers vs. (5) Portland

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking that I believe the Blazers can pull this out. Maybe it’s the fact that they can beat the Clippers. Portland lost the season series 3-1, but all games were close. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will do some damage, but the Blazers’ bench will be the dagger. Portland wins, 4-2

Eastern Conference

(1) Cleveland vs. (8) Detroit

This will be a lot closer of a contest than people think. Detroit actually won the season series, 3-1. Detroit will smack Cleveland in the mouth and take a 2-1 lead before Cleveland regains composure, and LeBron will lead the team to 3 straight wins. Cleveland wins, 4-2.

(2) Toronto vs. (7) Indiana

The Pacers return from their one year playoff absence and will look to beat Toronto. They’ll give it their best shot, and there will be some close games, but Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan overpower Paul George in most. Toronto wins, 4-1.

(3) Miami vs. (6) Charlotte

This one’s gonna be fun. Miami and Charlotte both sit at 48-34, and they tied 2-2 in the season series. Some close action will ensue for both teams. Tempers will rise, games will be close, and the series will stay close all the way through. Charlotte pushes it to a Game 7, but the Heat use the home-court to their advantage. Miami wins, 4-3.

(4) Atlanta vs. (5) Boston

Another compelling matchup between two more 48-34 teams, Atlanta and Boston will both use their ragtag group of “role” players to the best of their ability. Atlanta takes game 1, but Boston wins three straight before closing out the Hawks in Game 6 thanks to Isaiah Thomas. Boston wins, 4-2.

 

Hopefully these picks are a little better than my Super Bowl  and Bracketology predictions. I’ll and be back for the Second Round predictions at the conclusion of my perfectly picked first round (Hopefully).

-Antonio Arredondo

– The above picture is from https://i.ytimg.com

 

 

 

So with March Madness rolling around, I thought it was time to throw out my seeding predictions for this year’s tournament. I’m basing this off how ESPN’s Joe Lunardi does it. I will have, the seeds for the 68 teams in the field, in my opinion. Now, I’m no Lunardi, but maybe my bracket will be more correct than his.

Midwest Bracket

#1 Kansas vs. #16 Fairleigh Dickinson

#8 Pittsburgh vs. #9 Temple

#5 Kentucky vs. #12 Chattanooga

#4 Purdue vs. #13 Stony Brook

#6 Baylor vs. #11 St. Bonaventure/ Connecticut

#3 Miami vs. #14 South Dakota State

#7 Colorado vs. #10 Gonzaga

#2 Xavier vs. #15 Weber State

West Bracket

#1 Michigan State vs. #16 Hampton/Austin Peay

#8 Oregon State vs #9 Butler

#5 Arizona vs #12 Monmouth

#4 Texas A&M vs. #13 UNC Wilmington

#6 Iowa vs. #11 South Carolina

#3 Oregon vs. #14 New Mexico State

#7 Providence vs. #10 Cincinnati

#2 North Carolina vs. #15 UAB

East Bracket

#1 Villanova vs. #16 FGCU/Holy Cross

#8 Wisconsin vs #9 Syracuse

#5 Seton Hall vs. #12 Alabama

#4 Indiana vs. #13 Yale

#6 Notre Dame vs. #11 San Diego State

#3 Duke vs. #14 Stephen F. Austin

#7 Dayton vs. #10 Texas Tech

#2 West Virginia vs. #15 UNC Asheville

South Bracket

#1 Virginia vs. #16 Texas Southern

#8 USC vs.#9 Wichita State

#5 California vs. #12 Arkansas-Little Rock

#4 Maryland vs #13 Iona

#6 Texas vs. #11 Tulsa/VCU

#3 Utah vs. #14 Hawaii

#7 Seton Hall vs. #10 St. Joe’s

#2 Oklahoma vs. #15 Green Bay

-Antonio Arredondo

 

On the NBA’s Thursday trade deadline, the Blazers traded a pick for Anderson Varejao, and a 2018 1st-round pick from Cleveland. A good deal for the team, it seemed. Varejao is a realible starting center, and was a big piece in the Cleveland organization. However, the Blazers released Varejao, and the team seemed to lose a valuable player. There were many factors in Anderson’s release form Portland.

One reason was the overall youth of the team. Besides Chris Kaman (who doesn’t play much anyway), the Blazers posts are all relatively young. Noah Vonleh, Meyers Leonard, Moe Harkless and Mason Plumlee have all been in the league for 4 years or less. Ed Davis is older, but younger than Varejao. Anderson’s age would have been good for the team, but the team already has young leaders in Dame and C.J.

Another reason is the overall chemistry of the team. You can now officially say it, the Blazers are rolling. 10-1 in their last 11 games, beating the 49-5 Warriors and just recently beating the Jazz. They have excellent ball movement, a stellar defense, and knock down-shooting and rebounding.  Do you know who hadn’t been part of the that? Anderson Varejao. Sure, he is a fine player, but he would be behind on how the teams work. Mid-season trades hardly benefit if a big player comes to town. They just don’t get how the team flows. Just ask the Mavs how Rajon Rondo worked out for them.

Varejao also has a lot of injury problems. Over the past 6 years, he has had only one season in which he played over 32 games. That season was 2013-14. The last thing the Blazers, and the city of Portland, needs is a player with injury problems. Brandon Roy and Sam Bowie still haunt the Bench, and Greg Oden’s suit got more time on the court than he did. Injury history is not something that Portland wants to deal with.

The final, and probably biggest reason, is that Varejao would take minutes away from young and valuable players. Portland is trying to develop 4 centers/power forwards.Most receive quite a bit of playing time, although Harkless and Leonard vary in time depending on the matchup. The addition of Anderson Varejao would hurt the team, because he would take away the time needed to further advance the skills of the players.

Yes, Anderson Varejao is an excellent player, but there are just too many things that don’t fit with the Blazers. We need to improve our already-budding core, as well as our role players.Varejao will probably probably be claimed off waivers by a team such as the Warriors. Maybe (or probably) he and his suit will get a good workout down in Oakland.

-Antonio Arredondo

 

The 50th Super Bowl had some similarities to the first one between Green Bay and Kansas  City: the game was defense-oriented, with rushing being crucial to the game. In a season which there were broken passing records yet again, the big game had none. With 4 field goals, 14 punts, a defensive score, and 8 three-and-outs, the game was not how many expected the season to go down in September.

Denver’s defense was obviously the reason they won. Sacking Cam Newton 6 times, the Bronco defense held on to every opportunity. Forcing 4 turnovers, the Broncos showed why the defense is one of the best of all time. On the other side for Denver, the offense struggled. They were only able to put together one sustained drive (the first one). Other scoring drives were due to turnover, the 61 yard punt return by Jordan Norwood, or a 30 yard pass by Manning.

Speaking of Manning, he showed that he might have been the worst Super Bowl starting QB of all time, except for maybe Rex Grossman. With the worst QBR of any Super Bowl winning QB, Peyton kept on throwing up wounded ducks to his receivers. Manning relied heavily on his defense. but who wouldn’t? The Broncos defense was amazing in the regular and post-season.

For Carolina, this game was a huge disappointment. Cam Newton didn’t show up like I had expected him to. On the first few drives, he bent to pressure. A couple of 40 yard passes in the 2nd half helped ease his stats, but he was not up to Newton-level performance. The offense in general could not finish out drives. Getting onto their side of the 50 was one thing, scoring was another. Whether an interception, sack or missed FG, the Panthers couldn’t quite break the barrier of getting in the end zone more than once. Their defense played fine against Denver’s” Super Bowl caliber offense”, but it wasn’t enough.

So the Denver’s offense may stink. But, as they say,”Defense wins championships”. In this case, it did. I may not be a huge Denver fan, but in the end, it was great to see Peyton Manning walk off the field on his final game in victory.

-Antonio Arredondo

 

Something that my dad will sometimes tell me about the NBA in the 90’s is that “they really let ’em play back then”. And indeed they did. Some no-calls back in the rough-n-tumble 1990s would be reviewed as a flagrant today. According to many, no team from today could beat the best team from the decade. Who was the best team of the decade? The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, of course. With a 72-10 record, the best team in NBA history seemed cemented. But then the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors happened. So far, they are 44-4, posing a serious threat to the Bulls’ record. So many ask: Who would win a game between the two at a neutral location? Let’s take a look…

Stars

There are two obvious stars on each team: Michael Jordan and Steph Curry. Jordan is the unstoppable star, Curry the knock-down three point shooter. In a game against each other, both would shine. However, defense would play a huge role in who would get the win. The Warriors would probably put Draymond Green or Andre Iguodala on Jordan. However, Jordan, being himself would still put up around 30 in the game. On Steph, the Bulls would put Ron Harper, the defensive specialist. He would help limit Steph in some parts of his game, but not all. Curry will put up 25.

The 2nd-Man

This would be the Thompson-Pippen match up. Both have a good outside shot, but with Scottie Pippen being able to attack inside more. The Bulls limiting Curry opens up Thompson’s game more, and he takes some of the opportunity. However, given some of Klay’s inconsistency, he won’t be able to take all of it. On the other hand, Pippen will surge ahead, with the Warrior’s defenders guarding Curry. Utilizing his outside and inside game, Scottie will be able to push the Bulls’ forward. Pippen will ring up 27, while Thompson adds in 21.

Rebounding

While many think the X-factor would be the bench, in my opinion it would be the rebounding. Golden State needs to be able to put in most of their shots due to the lack of rebounding skill. Yes, Green is a good rebounder, but not with the Bulls playing them. The reason? Dennis Rodman. One of the most athletic players of all-time, Rodman will grab in 15 rebounds, his average for the 95-96 year. This will give the Bulls more offensive chances and limit the Warriors on theirs.

Refs

Of course, the outcome relies heavily on which era this is played in. In the 90’s, the Bulls would roam free, with Golden State looking for whistles. However, if played today, many Chicago players would get into foul trouble, something the team could not afford. For now, let’s assume they are playing in the mid-2000’s, a midway point between the two eras. This means that the Bulls would probably be more comfortable than the Warriors, with calls being more laid back. However, big men like Luc Longly would get into some foul issues.

Prediction

The Warriors jump out to an early lead, surprising the Bulls. However, the Bulls fight back with Jordan, Pippen, and Steve Kerr’s scoring. Kerr is mostly kept in check, due to the fact his older self is the coach of the team. However, Dennis Rodman helps give the Bulls an advantage on the glass, which they seize. Chicago pulls away, takes a 10 point lead in the 4th, and holds on to win.

Final Score: Bulls 109, Warriors 104

-Antonio Arredondo

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the Conference Championships out of the way, now is the time for everyone to forget about the Pro Bowl and look ahead to the real game the Super Bowl. With the Broncos squeaking by the Pats, and the Panthers rolling through Arizona, here’s my prediction for Super Bowl 50…

Panthers 24, Broncos 14

Carolina is nearly unstoppable. The last few weeks they have put up 80 points. Meanwhile, the Broncos defense has given up 34. The two powerhouses will combine to limit the Panthers. Jonathon Stewart will struggle mightily against the big Denver D-line, but Cam will be Cam, and will help the offense. On the other side, Peyton isn’t the same player he was 2 years ago. Not playing the whole season, he has struggled at times. The Panther secondary will eat him up. The offenses both will struggle to move, but Denver will have trouble getting on Carolina’s side of the field. The Panthers will have the lead the whole way and cruise to their first Super Bowl win ever. That’s my SB 50 prediction. What’s yours?

-Antonio Arredondo