Today, the playoffs open up with the defending Champion Boston Celtics beginning their title defense against the Chicago Bulls. Boston will be without their leader Kevin Garnett for the playoffs due to a knee injury that he sustained in the latter part of the season.
"It's not official that he's out for the entire playoffs, but it's official as far as I'm concerned," said head coach of the Celtics, Doc Rivers. "I just don't see how. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it."
Garnett sprained the knee against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 19, missing the next month before returning for four games. He then re-aggravated the knee against the Orlando Magic while going for a rebound, causing Coach Rivers to make the decision to rest him for the remainder of the regular season, before the playoffs began.
The loss of Garnett should give the Bulls a better opportunity to upset the Celtics in the first round but they will need to play well every game and hope that either Ray Allen or Paul Pierce struggle throughout the series.
The match up between the Cleveland Cavaliers, who will have home court throughout the playoffs, and the Detroit Pistons, expect the Pistons to only win one game, if that. The Pistons made the mistake of trading the foundation of their team, Chauncey Billups, for a player that has known to not be much of a team player, Allen Iverson. The Pistons barely managed to squeeze into the playoffs and were rewarded with the right to play the Cavaliers without Iverson, who is out for the rest of the season with a back injury. This is going to be route so Detroit fans can expect to see more trades this off-season. Iverson is already rumored to be heading to Charlotte for a reunion with ex-head coach Larry Brown.
One of the more exciting match ups should be between the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers. Orlando has been a powerhouse all season but the 76ers have a young core group of players that are known to give 100 percent every night, no matter the opponent. Last year the 76ers gave the Pistons a scare in the first round before losing in Game 6 of the series. Expect much of the same in this series, with Orlando barely making it to the next round.
The Miami Heat will be relying on the heroics of Dwayne Wade to beat the Atlanta Hawks. Wade will most likely need to score nearly 40 points per game and get nearly double digits in rebounds and assists. If Wade does not show signs of another Flash sighting, expect Atlanta to blowout the Heat in this series. Atlanta will most likely win and advance to the next round in 5 to 6 games unless Wade is able to pull off a miraculous performance and will his team to a victory.
That's it for this installment! Enjoy this weekend's games within the Eastern Conference.
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