The Definitive NBA Conference Finals Breakdown (Bonus Podcast)

In our first NBA Finals that won’t have MJ, Hakeem, Duncan, Kobe or Shaq in over 20 years! (Yes, that’s true) This may be the beginning of a new era with 4 new teams that were not in the conference finals last year. While only 1 team has true veteran experience in the finals, could this be the year for a young team to turn a new chapter in the NBA? Check out the column below, or make sure to hear what a real expert thinks, and listen to the podcast interview featuring CBS Sports Writer Ben Golliver at the bottom of the page!

P.S. This was written before Game 2 of each series.

Eastern Conference Finals

Because the Heat lack of a dominate big man on the inside (Though I expect them to activate Big Z and Haslem) Gibson, Rose, Bogans, and Deng all have the defense ability to be able to play a 3-2 from the perimeter. Although this may seem to be a disadvantage as Bosh may go for 30 again like he did for the first night, as long as you are shutting down the penetration from Lebron and D. Wade, then you can afford for Bosh to play well.

Lou Deng will be a MAJOR role for whether or not the Bulls win this series. It is obvious that you cannot guard Rose man to man and therefore the double in the paint left Deng open all night for jump shots that he was not missing. Bogans, Gibson, and Korver must follow in these footsteps and take advantage of the open quality shots that the Miami defense is giving you. And oh yea..if you don’t think Deng makes the difference…try arguing against the stats that the Bulls are +18 when Deng is on the court. That’s even better than Rose!

I’m not quite sure if Eric is teaching these boys how to box out but somebody needs to start. While Chicago is a good rebounding team the Heat are not nearly putting up enough boards offensive or defensive. Look at the stats below to see how ridiculous the difference was.

Rebounds (Offensive-Total)
Heat
6-33

Bulls
19-45

LeBron and D-Wade need to be far more aggressive on the weak side. As Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said: "What we do off the ball can't just be fluff." In the conference semis, Bron and Wade scorched the Celtics D this way. They need to get back to that and need to start taking control when times are called for it

While the Bulls looked great in their first game, Chicago cannot rely on jump shots as they were doing. Miami needed a wake up call and got one, and if they win game 2, I expect the Heat to take it in 6.

Game 2 Wrap-Up


Western Conference Finals

While Dallas has always been a good three point shooting team, it seems as of late that they simply can’t miss. With so many different players able to drain 3’s, it seems like if the team is hot than they can’t be stopped. Since Tyson Chandler causes so much attention on the inside, Peja, Jason, JJ, the other Jason, and Stevenson are left wide open while the eyes linger on the big bodies of Chandler and Dirk. Off the ball dribbling from JJ Barea and Jason Terry also set up more perimeter shooting, and don’t forget the best 7-foot jump shooter of all time.

Russell Westbrook has been struggling with his shooting but the one thing that he can always depend on is his speed, and the way him and Durant have been driving down the court, it could turn bad for Dallas. Although it wasn’t a vital part of the game, Durant outran the WHOLE Dallas team with only 4 seconds left to close the half off with an open layup. While it may not have been a crucial factor in game 1, don’t think that OKC Coach Brooks will not pinpoint it.

Durant may be able to take jump shots for 40 points, but with the recent struggle of Cook and Westbrook, it seems he is the only one. One of OKC’s strongest attributes is their ability to get to the line, and despite Dirk taking 98349384 free throws; OKC was still able to shoot more free throws than Dallas. This is because people are late on getting to the ball after penetration, and the Dallas defenders need to be in a position to contest a shot without fouling or take a charge.

I know the OKC bench is not a deep one and was not build to be a deep one, but it shouldn’t be completely invisible when James Harden is not putting up 20 points. While most of the big men just went in and out of rotation to foul Dirk, Cook and Colison were the only ones off the bench besides Harden to score. With a whopping 10 points and 3 assists, the OKC Thunder bench had more turnovers than they did assist. This bench has to play better not just on the scoreboard but as a team as well. Skip Bayless said that James Harden was better than Jason Terry, and although he was TERRIBLY wrong, it’s obvious Harden is more depended on.

While everyone was talking about how was Dallas played, no one is talking about how close OKC was despite the bad play from everyone but Durant. Although it won’t be easy, if OKC wins game 2, I am going to say Dallas will take it in Game 7 thanks to home court, where they shoot on average 14% better.

Thunder vs. Mavericks Game 2 Preview