Evaluating Rounds 2 and 3 of Fantasy NBA Playoff Basketball

user warning: Unknown column 'u.signature_format' in 'field list' query: SELECT c.cid as cid, c.pid, c.nid, c.subject, c.comment, c.format, c.timestamp, c.name, c.mail, c.homepage, u.uid, u.name AS registered_name, u.signature, u.signature_format, u.picture, u.data, c.thread, c.status FROM fantasysportsday_comments c INNER JOIN fantasysportsday_users u ON c.uid = u.uid WHERE c.nid = 6812 AND c.status = 0 ORDER BY SUBSTRING(c.thread, 1, (LENGTH(c.thread) - 1)) LIMIT 0, 50 in /home/drupal6/public_html/modules/comment/comment.module on line 992.

By: staff Posted: May 7, 2009

Round 2 and 3 in Fantasy NBA

The NBA Playoffs is already on its second round and we’ve seen players show their capabilities to play under pressure. Update your fantasy team with these observations on the current match-ups:

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks

Sorry Hawks fans but no one believes that your team will beat the best team in the East with the best record in the league. The recently crowned MVP didn’t even blink after the awarding ceremony. The supporting cast of Williams, West and Ilgauskas is almost unstoppable. Fantasy league players could just hope Smith and Bibby would put up defensive numbers aside from concentrating on offense.

Orlando Magic vs. Boston Celtics

Like last year, the playoffs road for the Celtics is never a dominating story. Add to the story that defensive mammoth KG is on the injured list, the numbers put up by Boston can be easily challenged by Orlando. Look out for Howard since he’s faster and better than Perkins. The smart supporting cast of Orlando will also be there. On the Boston side, Rondo, House and Pierce is already an established scorer but Allen is not that good especially in the early stage of playoffs. Expect the series would have the saga compared to Celtics-Bulls.

Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers

Now that Yao Ming and Ron Artest are showing their basketball prowess instead of relying to the jinxed T-Mac, expect domination in their match-ups. Yes, Bynum will be guarding Yao Ming but if Game 1 is any indication, the young center’s playoff match-up would never be good. On the other hand, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant will still be on their brilliant stats considering their match-ups and playoff experience is already there. Between the supporting casts, Rockets is more intense but Lakers additional men could still score.

Denver Nuggets vs. Dallas Mavericks

Denver is getting a lot better every time they step into the court. This is scary because it’s still round 2 and they don’t seem to have any problems crushing Dallas. The teamwork of the starters is very impressive under the leadership of Billups. No impressive numbers from the team leader but he can certainly carry the team. Dallas on the other hand would have to work harder. For fantasy league players, Nowitzki is probably the next best thing after Lebron as he can potentially put up a triple double. Terry is also there but he alone could not provide the complete support Nowitzki needs.

Round 3 (Conference Finals) Fantasy Predictions

As the playoffs are starting to get intense, the big numbers are now coming from the big guys. This is especially true in the West where the centers are scoring and forwards are passing like crazy or scoring without any trouble. In the East, you’ll see Magic dominating because of the prowess of Howard with an impressive supporting cast. The only exception every fantasy league player would consider is when Hawks win over the Cavaliers and Boston would come out victorious in this series. When that happens, it’s the small guys of the East vs. the big guys (if possibly, with Kobe) on the West.