NBA Playoffs 2012: Lower Seeds Most Likely to Pull Shocking Upset

The NBA playoff seedings are almost locked up, and there appears to be a surprising amount of lower seeds with a chance to do some real damage.

Some teams didn’t give a full effort during the regular season. Others were either set back by injuries or just took a while to gel in this wild lockout-shortened season.

With that in mind, here are three teams that have all of the tools necessary to pull off the first-round upset.

Denver Nuggets

Denver is getting healthy at the perfect time and is one of the few teams that match up well against the San Antonio Spurs, but that doesn’t look like it will be happening.

Right now it looks like they’ll play a Lakers team that is going to sorely miss Metta World Peace, who will likely get a suspension that bleeds over into the first round of the playoffs.

Yes, I’m aware that the Nuggets have made the playoffs nine years in a row and have lost in the first round in eight of them, but this team is different.

They are young, quick and finally shoring up the defense with the emergence of Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee.

The two of them have the ability to neutralize Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Previously with Nene on board, the Nuggets were killed in the paint.

If the Nuggets can steal one of the first two games on the road, all of the pressure will reside with the Lakers and a young Denver team can run them ragged in the high altitude of the Pepsi Center.

Orlando Magic

Yes, I know Dwight Howard is out for the season…but isn’t this the ultimate opportunity to stick it to him?

Obviously Stan Van Gundy would love nothing more than to win a playoff series without his All-Star center that is practically begging to get him fired.

The healthy players were all essentially thrown under the bus by Howard at some point this season; what better way to exact revenge on him than winning their first-round playoff series a year after being embarrassed by the Atlanta Hawks?

They will likely be playing the Indiana Pacers in Round 1, a team that is incredibly light on postseason experience and has yet to really show us they can compete consistently under pressure.

If the Magic are hitting their threes in bunches, Orlando is going to be an incredibly dangerous squad.  

Memphis Grizzles

OK, so nobody is going to be shocked if the Grizz knockout the Clippers, but this team can go even further.

With Zach Randolph coming off the bench, the balance and versatility of the offense has been remarkable. The team is firing on all cylinders at the perfect time, registering a 12-3 mark in the month of April.

Nobody guards on the perimeter like Tony Allen. Mike Conley has morphed into a top-10 point guard and Marc Gasol continues to look like the better Gasol brother.

All of the ingredients are in place to make a strong run to the Western Conference finals. Nobody wants to play the Grizzles right now.

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