Hollinger Picks Suns to go to Finals vs Cavs

[GYDevil]

The article is Premium so not knowing the rules about that I won't divulge much other than to say that he picks the Suns to win the West and lose to the Cavs in the Final. He does also say however that almost any of the other teams could make it without much surprise.

My opinion is that the Suns have a great chance to win the first 2 rounds and if they match up with the Lakers and don't have Lopez they will be in trouble. Beating Dallas in round 2 would be more difficult than SA but I am not sold on the Mavs and think the Suns would survive that series. All that being said, when you are a Suns fan you always go in expecting the worst and hope for the best. I will be happy if they can get by the Blazers and everything after that would be gravy.

 

[JS22]

I was just going to post this. It's not too hard to find the article if you do a bit of digging on Google.

With the way the Suns are playing right now I wouldn't put it past them. That said, my expectations are still extremely low after being burned so many times. If Lopez was healthy I'd be much more confident. (Never thought I'd say that.)

 

[AfroSuns]

This excerpt from the article cracked me up.

The Suns are 28-7 in their past 35 games, playing so well that they now boast, "We're going to start Jarron Collins and still beat you.

 

[GYDevil]

What's scary is how good this team could be with Lopez in there. Even if he only played the minutes Collins is playing he is 10x better and would make a big difference.

The pessimistic side of me shudders at the thought that if Lopez doesn't play this postseason and Amare opts out and leaves we could have potentially a Championship-quality team that never got to play together.

 

[TheHopToad]

Part of Hollinger's premise involves the Suns maintaining home court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.

He has the Spurs beating Dallas, so we would have HCA vs San Antonio. He has the Thunder taking the Lakers to 7 games in the first round before losing, and has the Jazz beating the Lakers in the second round, thus giving us HCA in the WCF.

I doubt all of those events are going to fall in the Suns lap exactly like that. Our history of getting screwed just can't flip the opposite way that quickly.

I'd be tempted to take that deal right now and call the season good, but losing even in the finals still sucks (still have a bad taste in my mouth from the Superbowl)

 

[Gaddabout]

I'm glad the Lakers and OKC are far off on the other side of the bracket, because both of those teams do a great job running the Suns off the 3-point line. They both extend their defense well. Especially OKC. Bad, bad matchups for the Suns.

Portland does the same thing, though. It's why they beat the Suns twice this season. The offense is predicated on shooting a good percentage behind the stripe. If they get a hand in the face of Richardson and the other 3pt shooters, it could be a very challenging series.

 

[dodie53]

i pick the suns to win the championship

 

[krazyasiankid]

i pick the suns to win the championship

Sarcasm?

 

[PDXChris]

As long as it is not a Orlando vs. Dallas finals, I do not really care. How lame would that be.

 

[TJ]

As long as it is not a Orlando vs. Dallas finals, I do not really care. How lame would that be.

To me, its lame if the Suns arent in the Finals

 

[Mulli]

Wager Wager Wager

 

[SactownSunsFan]

Well, that pretty much dooms our chance at making the NBA Finals.

 

[GYDevil]

I'm glad the Lakers and OKC are far off on the other side of the bracket, because both of those teams do a great job running the Suns off the 3-point line. They both extend their defense well. Especially OKC. Bad, bad matchups for the Suns.

Portland does the same thing, though. It's why they beat the Suns twice this season. The offense is predicated on shooting a good percentage behind the stripe. If they get a hand in the face of Richardson and the other 3pt shooters, it could be a very challenging series.

I agree that the way to defend the Suns is by staying with the 3 point shooters but I believe that this version of the Suns is better equipped to handle that type of defense. No one can consistently guard Amare down low so Portland will have to double-team unless they want their bigs to get in serious foul trouble. Also, with Nash, Goran, Hill, Richardson, etc. they have lots of guys that will drive and kick. IMO the Suns may lose 1-2 close games but no way do the Blazers have enough offense to beat the Suns 4 out of 7.

 

[chickenhead]

The break goes Portland's way with Lopez out for the series, but the bigger break is Roy being out. This series is very winnable for the Suns. Missing Lopez in the second round will be a much bigger challenge.

Any more complete updates on Lopez? All I've seen is that he is confirmed out of the PDX series per Gentry, the most recent prognosis is positive, but he'll still need to get back into game shape when he's cleared, so second round is still very much in doubt.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Portland does the same thing, though. It's why they beat the Suns twice this season. The offense is predicated on shooting a good percentage behind the stripe. If they get a hand in the face of Richardson and the other 3pt shooters, it could be a very challenging series.

I agree with what you're saying, but also think we have too much talent and depth for the Blazers to compete. I think most of the games will be close, because the Blazers are expert hackers, and are adept at suddenly turning basketball into football, but I still think we'll beat them in 5.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I agree that the way to defend the Suns is by staying with the 3 point shooters but I believe that this version of the Suns is better equipped to handle that type of defense. No one can consistently guard Amare down low so Portland will have to double-team unless they want their bigs to get in serious foul trouble. Also, with Nash, Goran, Hill, Richardson, etc. they have lots of guys that will drive and kick. IMO the Suns may lose 1-2 close games but no way do the Blazers have enough offense to beat the Suns 4 out of 7.

Stay with the three point shooters for the whole game and Amare is going to go for 60 points.