NBA Playoffs 2012: 10 Bold Predictions for 2nd Round

Playoff basketball is here, and what a glorious time it is. To think that it was only six months ago when we didn't even think there would be a season. 

But here we are today. While the regular-season product wasn't all that great, we still have the postseason—where dreams come to life, history is made and legends are born. If there was ever a time to leave it all on the floor, now is it. 

The first round has been a mild disappointment, and that may be putting it lightly. Injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah could possibly prevent the Chicago Bulls getting out of the first round, while the New York Knicks find themselves hobbling against the Miami Heat with injuries to several of their best players. 

Only a few series look like they could go the distance, and even that may be a stretch. With that in mind, we cast our eyes upon the second round where there is potential for a few great series.

Let's take a look ahead with 10 bold predictions for what could potentially happen within the next few weeks.

The Miami Heat Will Sweep the Indiana Pacers

The road out of the Eastern Conference is turning out to be a little too easy for the Miami Heat.

It was predicted by many that either the Heat, the Chicago Bulls or the Boston Celtics would be the team to come out of the East. As of now, the Heat are in the best shape to establish themselves as the front-runner, as injuries and age have played a large factor in their competition's postseason runs.

With the Heat projected to defeat the New York Knicks in Game 5 after an awful showing in Game 4, they will soon have the pleasure of taking on the Indiana Pacers.

Without a doubt, the Pacers have been one of the league's most improved teams. They finished with the eight seed last year after finishing 37-45 and even managed to give the No. 1-seeded Chicago Bulls a few scares in their first-round series that lasted five games. Noticing the potential, team president Larry Bird sought out players who could aid his team.

He followed through by picking up David West to replace a glaring hole at the 4 and then traded for San Antonio's George Hill to bolster a shooting guard position that already featured Paul George. As a result, the Pacers finished with a third seed after compiling a 42-24 record, their best season since 2004.

The Pacers are going to most likely dispose of the Orlando Magic in five games. It's exactly what we expected from the Pacers when we first found out that Dwight Howard would not be participating. However, it's how they're winning games that leads us to believe they're not ready to take on a team like the Heat.

In four meetings with Orlando, the Pacers have struggled in two of them. They blew them out in Games 2 and 3, but they managed to lose in Game 1 and needed overtime to eek out a two-point win in Game 4. This is a Magic team playing without Dwight Howard and currently utilizing Glen Davis as their starting center.

Yet the Pacers are having trouble putting that team away? How do you expect them to steal a game or two away from a Miami Heat team that features one of the most dangerous trios in the league?

The Heat finished the regular season 3-1 against the Pacers. I'm not one to bring about regular-season results in the postseason, but Miami won those three games by a combined 52 points. The only loss came at the end of a back-to-back where the Heat had just come from a loss to Oklahoma City.

The Pacers match up well in the right areas and have a significant advantage at center, but they have yet to utilize Roy Hibbert in a larger role against the 6'11" Davis. It's tough to imagine this Pacers team stealing a win away from a team that is far superior than a Magic team without Howard.

The Philadelphia 76ers Will Give the Boston Celtics a Serious Run

Chicago Bulls fans: If you're expecting any mention of the Bulls on this list, this is it.

The Bulls aren't going to beat the Philadelphia 76ers. Sorry, it's just difficult to believe that a team without Derrick Rose and an injured Joakim Noah is going to win three consecutive games against a great defensive team with a trio of guards who can change the outcome of a game. Perhaps your coach shouldn't have allowed Noah to painfully limp up and down court?

Moving on in this strange 2011-'12 season will be the Sixers, a squad who probably had the worst finish of any playoff team. The Sixers found themselves at the top of the Atlantic Division for a large part of the season, only to see themselves end up in third behind the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. In fact, they might not have even made it had the Milwaukee Bucks gone on a hot streak.

The division rival Boston Celtics, on the other hand, finished the season on a hot streak and ended up with the fifth seed after a poor start to the season. Dealing with various injuries, the lack of a center and a depleted bench, the Celtics managed to overcome the odds to win yet another division title over the rising up-and-comers in Philadelphia and New York.

Now the Sixers and Celtics will meet in the semifinals. It's not going to be pretty. This isn't going to be a series where you want to clear out your appointments to catch a game between these two teams. The majority of the games will end up with both teams scoring under 90 points and field-goal percentages well below the 40 percent threshold.

The Sixers truly held their own against the Celtics in the regular season, too. A 103-71 win at home and a 99-86 win at home are their victories, while Boston took the final meeting at TD Garden 103-79. It's tough looking at those scores because it truly is a tale of two different teams.

When Philly beat Boston those two times, they were one of the hottest teams. When they lost to Boston, however, they were significantly struggling to scavenge some wins.

We're going to have an ugly, grind-it-out series. I believe the Celtics will take it in the end, but it won't be decided until Game 7.

The Lakers and Thunder Will Have the Best Series of the Playoffs

The Oklahoma City Thunder are already in the second round. We're just waiting for the Los Angeles Lakers to finish off their series against the Denver Nuggets so we can get to watching what will be the most entertaining series of the playoffs.

There are too many storylines to accompany this series. You have the league's two top scorers in Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant going at it, the top offensive frontcourt duo in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum matched up with the top defensive frontcourt duo in Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and the return of Metta World Peace.

We all remember the last time the Thunder and Lakers met, right? If you don't, World Peace was thrown out of the game and eventually suspended because of a fierce elbow he threw into the side of Thunder sixth man James Harden's head. He continually denies having the intention to throw the elbow and claims it was a celebration gone wrong.

Harden was a little too close to Metta, but we're still not buying his story.

Perhaps the best part of this story is the possibility of their being a possible change upon the Western Conference throne. Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers have long been considered as the team to beat in the West since Pau Gasol joined the team. They made it to the NBA finals for three consecutive seasons before losing in the second round last year to the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Thunder are the young team looking to become the new team to beat in the West. Their three-man core of Durant, Westbrook and Harden are all 23 years old or younger and are looking to become the new kings of the tougher of the two conferences.

Both teams are extremely motivated and ambitious. In one corner, you have a Lakers team led by Bryant looking to get rid of the bad taste left in his mouth due to last year's sweep at the hands of Dallas, and in the other you have a Thunder team who came a few miscues away from making it to their first NBA finals.

Also, you're going to have Kobe Bryant on a mission to win his sixth ring. Can't we just give the Lakers Game 5 against Denver so we can start this already?

The San Antonio Spurs Are Going to Lose One Game Through Their First 2 Series

So, yeah, this San Antonio Spurs team is pretty good.

Did I say pretty good? I meant to say "somebody kill it with fire before it spreads" good.

The San Antonio Spurs have been the best team all year and we're just now starting to realize it in the playoffs. All it took for the Spurs to convince us was a firm beating of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz weren't much competition, even with a vaunted frontcourt, but it was still astounding to see the aged Spurs wallop a team with stars half the age of their stars.

Take a look at how good this team is by observing the box score in their Game 4 win over the Jazz. The Spurs' highest scorer was Manu Ginobili with 17 points, while Tony Parker and Tim Duncan chipped in 11 points apiece. Gary Neal had 11 and Tiago Splitter had 10, but the real story was the statistics of Ginobili, Duncan and Parker.

This is why they're extremely scary. Those three didn't have the best offensive games and played in 27 minutes or less, yet they still beat the Jazz with absurd ease. Like I said, I know this is the Jazz, but don't you think it's a little scary that the Spurs' big three is still getting a significant amount of rest in the playoffs?

Parker and Duncan were the only players to average 30 minutes of playing time or more in the series. They barely clipped that mark, however, with Parker averaging 32 and Duncan averaging 30. Two players averaging 30 minutes or more of playing time and the Spurs are the highest-scoring team in the playoffs.

The Memphis Grizzlies or Los Angeles Clippers? I'm sorry, but neither of these teams have a chance at taking down the Spurs. As good as Chris Paul (I can't be the only one waiting to see him and Tony Parker go at it) has been for Los Angeles, it's not going to mean much when he's going against the playoff's deepest team.

The Spurs are just a juggernaut right now. You're not going to out-coach them and you're not going to out-wit them, either. The only way to beat the Spurs at this point is a strong defense that can cover a lot of ground and an athletic offense that knows how to score in more ways than one.

The Celtics' Age Is Going to Come into Serious Questioning

When I took observance of the Boston Celtics' second-round series against the Miami Heat last season, there was one thing I noticed late in every game. It crippled the Celtics each and every time the fourth quarter or overtime came around, which eventually led the Heat to stunning them and needing only five games to move on to the conference finals.

That thought I had? This team is tired. The Celtics were keeping up with the Heat in just about every game through the first three quarters. However, once the fourth quarter came around, Miami's athleticism and stingy defense became too much for a weary Boston team that had just spent 36 minutes chasing around Dwyane Wade and/or LeBron James.

It's one year later. The Celtics, with the exception of Avery Bradley, haven't gotten any deeper as a team and are still lacking in several areas that will get exploited when taking on the Philadelphia 76ers in the next round. Also, they're all one year older, and that's more of a detriment to their performance rather than a benefit to their experience.

Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are going to have their hands full all series. Allen will be busy attempting to keep up with Louis Williams and Evan Turner, while Pierce will be attempting to score on arguably the best wing defender in the league in Andre Iguodala.

Garnett may have the easiest assignments among the three, as he will most likely be taking on the likes of Elton Brand, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes.

They'll get their usual help from Bradley, Rajon Rondo and Brandon Bass, and it will be sufficient enough to allow them to move on to the conference finals. However, they're going to be worn out in their series against Philly, which will require at least six games to determine a winner.

This may be the Celtics' last run to have a legitimate shot at winning a title. They're going to give it their all in every single game because they don't have much of a choice. It's not win or go home, anymore. It's win or go ring chasing for the next few years.

LeBron James Averages 30 Points Against the Pacers

LeBron James is having so much fun against the New York Knicks, what makes you think he'd stop when his Miami Heat eventually take on the Indiana Pacers in the second round?

In four games, James is averaging 28 points, six boards, five assists and two steals per. He's shooting 49 percent from the field and 36 percent from deep. Let's not forget that he's doing this against fellow All-Star Carmelo Anthony, while also taking on a team that currently has the reigning Defensive Player of the Year under the rim in Tyson Chandler.

Each game has had James leaving a significant footprint. In Game 1, he went berserk to the tune of 32 points, including his own 9-0 run at the end of the first half following a flagrant foul by Chandler. Game 2 was a bit pedestrian, with James only scoring 19, but he also chipped in nine assists and seven rebounds.

Game 3 would be a personal message to his critics. With the Heat only up by two going into the fourth, James took it upon himself to take over by outscoring the entire Knicks team 17-14 in the final frame. He wouldn't be able to save Game 4, but he would nearly steal a win thanks to six consecutive points in the final seconds.

Could it have been nine points had he taken the final shot? We'll never know. You'll have to ask the guy who decided it would be better to put Shane Battier on Carmelo in the fourth quarter instead of LeBron.

There aren't many deterrents in the Heat's upcoming series against Indiana, either. Danny Granger is a solid defender, but he's not solid enough to limit a player who is playing like a man on a mission. James is looking at these playoffs with a much broader view than ever before and it's hard to believe that Granger will be the one to stop that.

Roy Hibbert in the middle could cause some problems, but it's relatively easy to get him into foul trouble. A few early drives by LeBron and Dwyane Wade could make Hibbert's time in the second round short-lived, especially with the amount of contact fouls that have been called in just about every series.

Granger and Dahntay Jones will most likely be the two primary defenders on James. LeBron will be looking forward to it.

Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant Each Hit at Least One Game-Winner in Their Series

This isn't going to be the series in the NBA playoffs for those little stories I presented to you in the previous slide concerning the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Sure, you have Metta World Peace to be met with a reception in Oklahoma City that will be reminiscent of LeBron James' return to Cleveland, and you have an incredible matchup of frontcourts, but the real story lies between the ageless veteran and the youthful, ambitious All-Star.

Kobe Bryant has made a career on winning. Outside of those dreadful years without Shaquille O'Neal or Pau Gasol, Bryant's entire career can be based on the concept of winning. Even when he didn't have O'Neal or Gasol, he still managed to win games. He won those games because it's second nature to him and he knows what it takes to be victorious.

If it takes 81 points to beat the Toronto Raptors, so be it. Sixty-one points against the Dallas Mavericks before the start of the fourth quarter? Meh. An incredible game-winner so ridiculous that even he couldn't believe it? Whatever it takes.

Kevin Durant isn't Kobe Bryant and he never will be. He won't become Kobe Bryant because he's already Kevin Durant, a player who is special enough to avoid the comparisons of future Hall of Famers. At 23 years old, Durant has already won three consecutive scoring titles and has captured the attention of millions not because of his flashy play, but because he's cold-blooded and is incredibly mature.

That's what makes this series featuring the Lakers and Thunder so wonderful. Two superstars going in opposite directions in their careers yet still pining for the same goal that every player wants to achieve at least once in their career. Even though Durant will be going for his first and Bryant for his sixth, it's going to be compelling to watch two players who adore winning to fight it out for another chance.

These are two players that were beaten in ways they didn't expect. Kobe didn't expect his Lakers to get swept and Kevin certainly didn't expect his team to consistently blow fourth-quarter leads. This is the year to right those past wrongs, but only one of these players will be able to do so.

In a series featuring Bryant and Durant, you have to be insane to not believe that each of these players will have at least one game-winner.

Sadly, Spencer Hawes Is Going to Earn a Huge Paycheck

It really pains me to write this because it just goes to show that we will never learn from our mistakes.

It was absurd contracts like Gilbert Arenas and Rashard Lewis making over $20 million a year to underachieve and Joe Johnson receiving $20 million per to hit jump shots that got us into a lockout. Instead of conserving money and giving it out to the few superstars that actually deserve to make $20 million in a season, the owners are just handing out millions upon millions to any player who fills a niche.

Spencer Hawes will be the next player to receive a contract so insane that it will make the New York Knicks look smart for signing Jerome Jordan to a deal worth over $30 million.

Hawes is averaging 13 points on 58 percent shooting to go along with six boards per in the first four games of the Sixers' series against the Chicago Bulls. After recording a mere seven combined points in Games 1 and 2, Hawes has scored a combined 43 points and 17 rebounds in Games 3 and 4. He has been the boost the Sixers needed to possibly pull off a monumental upset.

Hawes shot 7-of-15 in Game 3 and 9-of-11 in Game 4. He's one of the softest big men you will ever see down low, but he has a mid-range and perimeter game that aids him on the offensive end. Luckily for the Sixers, that jump shot of Hawes' has been hitting the past two games and it's allowed Philadelphia to stretch the floor and keep the Bulls' big men out of the paint.

If Hawes continues hitting his jumper, he's going to become the talk of Philadelphia. In fact, the past two games have been Hawes' highest-scoring point totals of the entire 2011-'12 season.

With the Celtics being most likely the next team to take on Philadelphia, we may have yet to see him play his best basketball. He'll be aiming to keep Kevin Garnett, Brandon Bass and Greg Stiemsma far from the basket while continuing his recent stretch of hot shooting.

Just because of his size and improved play, Hawes might be making nearly $10 million per season for the next few years. He's going to be an unrestricted free agent and with so many teams pining for a center who can be somewhat effective, Hawes will be looked at by many teams looking for a big man who can stretch the floor and grab rebounds.

Blake Griffin Will Be a Non-Factor Against the Spurs

It's becoming extremely difficult for anyone to score against the San Antonio Spurs these days.

Even though they're the highest-scoring team in the playoffs, it's still difficult to score on Gregg Popovich's defense. It has greatly improved from last year and was in the middle of the pack in the regular season, allowing a little below 97 points per game. Not bad for a team that finished second in the league in scoring at 104 points per.

When you're such a good offensive team, it's tough to find a balance between that and the defensive end. Leave it to the Spurs to do so. Also, it may occur to you that I'm speaking of the Spurs in an extremely positive light, but I only do so because I truly admire how this team finds ways to play so efficiently despite having an aged three-man core and a number of role players whose names you don't know.

With that being said, when the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Spurs, I expect the Clippers to give the Spurs significantly more of a challenge than Utah did. It's not saying much, but it's certainly possible to see Los Angeles stealing a game or two thanks in part to Chris Paul, who has been playing at an MVP level for the past few months.

He's the sole reason why the Clippers are going to see their second semifinals in the past decade. Without him, there's no 27-point comeback in Game 1 and there's no clutch baskets being made in Games 3 and 4.

However, the only way the Clippers even think about taking this series is if Blake Griffin gets involved on the offensive end. Griffin has improved his playoff play over the past five games and has done well against a strong Grizzlies frontcourt.

But this is the Spurs he will soon be facing, and they have a great coach and strong veteran minds peppered throughout the roster. As good an athlete as Griffin is, you need to find ways to score against a team like the Spurs because they will make adjustments in order to keep you out of the lane.

There's no doubt that the Spurs will be targeting to limit Griffin. They know that he has the athleticism and flashy play to instill life into his teammates and the home crowd, and the Spurs recognize that they can't let that happen.

We should all be expecting Griffin to either pass out a lot or develop some sort of jump shot over the next two weeks.

There Will Be Suspensions...

If there's been anything more hideous than the number of injuries to star players in the playoffs, it's been the officiating.

Absolutely horrendous is the best way to describe it. In just about every series, there have been questionable calls that are in turn getting the worst out of players. It's completely disrupting the flow and rhythm of every game to hear a whistle tweet once out of every four possessions.

We're already getting a mediocre product on account of the lockout and the rash of injuries. We don't need the officiating to make it worse. It's completely understood that the playoffs can get extremely testy, but that doesn't mean there should be technical fouls getting handed out left and right. NBA players are still human beings and they should be allowed to show emotions.

They're not dancing in an end zone—they're simply letting out frustration. Defenses are extremely stingy in the playoffs, so when you make a big play, it's natural to talk some mess or let out a droning scream. If two players get into a minor altercation that's nothing more than words being thrown, there's no need for a technical foul to be tossed out.

Those technical fouls are serious. What if one player gets hyped over a dunk in the first quarter and is given a technical? He'll have to keep his mouth shut and walk on eggshell's for the rest of the game. That's going to limit his performance and it's going to affect his attitude towards the contest at hand.

Referees have been having just as much trouble as the players when it comes to coping with the lockout. Don't forget that these guys are also working around the clock in a condensed schedule as well. The calls are a little questionable at times, the players are tense from being tired and overworked and the refs have to blow the whistle to keep the peace.

We were just hoping it wouldn't be like that in the postseason, yet it's been worse than the regular season. Don't be surprised if you find a few breaking news pieces involving a player getting suspended over an altercation or receiving two technical fouls in a game.