Teams That Will Be Crushed in 2nd Round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs
The Eastern Conference semifinals were set before the West and both the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers will have a tough time.
Indiana will have to slow down LeBron James and the Miami Heat in order to advance past the second round.
This will be a tough task and it may be a scary contest for the Pacers. After losing the regular season series 3-1 to Miami, the Pacers look to avenge the Heat in the playoffs.
The Heat look almost unstoppable with the MVP, LeBron James, playing at his best right now.
In Miami's wins versus Indiana in the regular season, James averaged 27.6 points per game. He played like an MVP against Indiana in all three of Miami's wins in the regular season. If he continues to play this well against the Pacers in the playoffs, he will have a field day all game long.
Indiana's depth is not minimal, but Miami's is tremendous. Miami's backups consist of: Norris Cole, Mike Miller, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Ronny Turiaf. That's not a bad starting lineup! Indiana has talent though. The final score won't be blowouts, but Miami's starting five plus their bench is just too good.
Yes the "Big 3" is great, but Miami's bench is the key. Darren Collison and Roy Hibbert can be tough matchups for Miami, but once Miami can bring its bench in to give the starters a breather for crunch time, there's no stopping Miami.
Experience will beat youth when the Boston Celtics take down the Philadelphia 76ers.
Every year, Boston plays its best ball in the playoffs. The veterans play on cruise control through the regular season and then kick it into the next gear for the playoffs.
Philadelphia won the regular season series 2-1, but Boston will have no thoughts about the regular season when it comes to playing the 76ers in the playoffs.
When the original "Big 3" was formed, Rajon Rondo stood in the shadow and received little attention. Now, things have changed and Rondo is the man of the hour.
In the first round of the playoffs against Atlanta, Rondo went off. Though he missed a game for bumping a referee, Rondo still averaged 16.8 points, 11.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. Rondo is a serious triple-double threat every night as a point guard.
The 76ers have a solid bench and the team is younger than the Celtics. However, if Rondo keeps playing like this with the experience of Boston's veterans, the Celtics will easily win the series.
With injuries and age there are always concerns, but Boston has been here before and came out victorious. Nobody can ever take away experience.
Both of these series may not have blowout scores, but Boston and Miami will find ways to easily win their respective series.
