Stanley Cup Finals Preview

 
New Jersey Devils vs LA Kings

 

New Jersey finished the regular season with 102 points and a 48-28-6 record. The Devils finished in a tie for the fifth most points in the Eastern Conference with the Boston Bruins. Forward Ilya Kovalchuk led the Devils in points with 83, and goals with 37. Forward Patrik Elias had 52 assists to lead the team. Bryce Salvador, a defenseman, led the team with a plus/minus of +18. Goaltender Martin Brodeur finished the season with a 31-24-4 record, and a goals against average of 2.41.

In the Playoffs, the Devils; defeated the Florida Panthers in seven games (with Adam Henrique scoring the OT winner in game seven), the Philadelphia Flyers in five games, and the New York Rangers in seven games.

New Jersey's leading scorer in the playoffs is Iyla Kovalchuk; he leads the team in goals(7), assists(11), and points(18). Forward, Adam Henrique, has ended two playoff series in OT. (Panthers and Rangers.) Martin Brodeur has a 12-5 record, and a 2.04 Goals against average in the playoffs.

LA finished eighth in the Western Conference, off a 40-27-15 record in regular season play. The Kings were second to last in goals per game, scoring just 2.3 per game. LA's leading scorer during regular season play was forward Anze Kopitar. He finished with 76 points. Kopitar, also led the Kings in goals(25), and assists(51). Defenseman, Willie Mitchell, led the Kings with a +20, in the plus/minus statistic. Goaltender, Jonathon Quick, finished the regular season with a 35-21-13 record. He recorded a 1.91 goals against average, good for second in the league.

Dustin Brown, a forward, and Jonathon Quick are been the biggest reasons the 8th seeded Kings are in the Stanley Cup Finals. In the playoffs, Quick leads all goalies with a 1.54 goals against average, and a .946 save percentage. He also is 12-2 in the playoffs. Brown has 7 goals, and 9 assists for 16 points. He, and teammate Anze Kopitar, are the only players averaging over a point per game left in the playoffs. 

The Kings have rolled through the playoffs, needing only 14 games in three series to make the Finals. LA defeated; the Vancouver Canucks in 5 games in round 1, the St. Louis Blues in 4 games in round 2, and the Phoenix Coyotes in 5 games in the Western Conference Finals.


The advantage at the forward position is a wash between these two teams. LA has two great scoring lines, and a very productive third and fourth line. New Jersey has more depth at forward than LA. They also have two stars in Kovalchuk and Parise, so this is a really tight matchup.

The  Kings have a slight edge at the defensive position. Drew Doughty is a stud D-man and he leads the Kings D corps. LA also gets big contributions from veterans Willie Mitchell, and Rob Scuderi on the back end. New Jersey's defense is led by Anton Volchenkov, and Bryce Salvador. Peter Harrold is able to chip in offensively, for the Devils.

This is a great goaltending matchup between these two teams. Jonathon Quick is the best goalie in the NHL, and has been the best goalie in the playoffs. Martin Brodeur was the best goalie for many years in the NHL, and is the best goalie of all-time. This is the most important matchup of the Finals. Whoever wins the goaltending duel, will win the Stanley Cup.

The Pick: Devils in 7
LA is the favorite and they should be, as they beat the top three seeds in the West on their way to the finals, and it only took them 14 games to do it. The Kings are also undefeated in eight games on the road this postseason. The Kings have had eight days off since their last game though, and could be rusty. The Devils are peaking right now. They have the momentum from beating their hated rival, the New York Rangers, in the Eastern Conference Finals. NJ is also playing for Martin Brodeur, as he may be retiring after this series is finished.

Both teams will forecheck and play aggresive hockey, which should make for a thirlling Stanley Cup Finals. This should be a long series with multiple ovetime games, because the two teams are so evenly matched. In the end, I believe Brodeur's experience will win out in the seventh and deciding game for New Jersey.

Celtics at Heat pick

 

Celtics(+8) at Heat OVER/UNDER 178
Lebron and Wade controlled game one of this series, for the Heat. Boston could not score in the second half, as they ended up with just 33 points combined in the third and fourth quarters, or two less points then they scored in the second quarter alone. The Celtics looked tired in the second half. Their second round series against Philly looked like it took a toll on this old team. Miami was definitely the fresher team. Can the veteran Celtics recover, and put forth a better effort tonight?
The Pick: Miami 92 Boston 85

Thunder at Spurs game 2 pick

Thunder(+5) at Spurs OVER/UNDER  203
The Thunder need this game to stay in this series, and slow down the Spurs momentum. With a win, the Spurs will grab a commanding 2-0 lead on the Thunder.
THE PICK: Thunder 101 Spurs-99 under

Celtics at Heat pick against the spread

Boston(+8) at Miami OVER/UNDER 180

Boston is coming off a grueling seven game series against the Sixers, and they are banged up. They played on Saturday night and then had to travel to Miami. Miami has been off and is well rested. The Heat also have the two best players in this series. Look for Wade and James to cause havoc on the defensive end, which will lead to easy buckets on the offensive end. Boston is a veteran team and has to be running on fumes right now. It might be in there best interest to rest players, if this gets out of hand early.

The Pick Miami 90 Boston 76/ Under

NBA Conference Final Previews

 


Eastern Conference Final
#5 Boston Celtics at #2 Miami Heat
Miami is the favorite in this series, as well they should be. Boston is extremely banged up, and will need Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo to play out of there minds, in order to upset the Heat. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are both battling leg injuries for the Celtics. Boston will also be without Avery Bradley, a key cog for them, for the rest of the playoffs. Miami will likely be without Chris Bosh, for the entirety of this series.

Miami is of course led by D'Wayne Wade and Lebron James. Those two account for the majority of the Heat's offense. The Heat have no bench and will need Wade and James to continue their stellar play to beat the Celtics. Miami is well rested and will have the home court advantage in this series.

The Celtics are fielding a team that has four star players, but two of them are playing at about 60%. Boston will need an epic Rajon Rondo series to keep them competitive. The Celtics rely on their defense, but they have no one that can keep up with Lebron or Wade. Boston struggles to score, and that will be more of a problem against the Heat then it was in there previous two series. Unless Ray Allen and Paul Pierce can get HGH shots to cure their respective injuries, this will be a short series.

The Pick: Miami in 5 games. This would be a much more competitive series, if Pierce was healthy, but he can't guard Lebron on one leg. Lebron should dominate this match-up, if he doesn't, he will never win an NBA Title.

Western Conference Final
#2 Oklahoma City Thunder at #1 San Antonio Spurs
The Thunder blew game 1. They had an 11 point lead to start the fourth quarter and they allowed the Spurs to come back and win. This does not bode well for them. The Spurs have won 19 games in a row. They have won there first nine playoff games. The last team to do that was the 2001 LA Lakers, who went on to win there first 11 playoff games en route to the 2001 NBA Title.

OKC is led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. In order to come back and win this series, they will need Westbrook and Harden to play much better. The Thunder thrive when they can get out and run in the open court. If they can do this, they will make this a long series and mabe even win it. If the Thunder have to settle for jump shots, the Spurs will win this series. The Thunder have the young legs, but the Spurs have the playoff experience.

The Spurs are led by Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. If these two guys out play Westbrook and Harden, this will be a quick series win for the Spurs. San Antonio gets contributions from every player that steps on the court for them. They also have a great coach in Greg Popovich. He is far and away the best coach in the NBA, and provides his team with a huge advantage. This Spurs team has rolled through the NBA playoffs so far, and they appear to be unstoppable.

The Pick. Spurs in 7 games. The Thunder showed they can play with the Spurs, but the Spurs are too well coached and have too much depth to lose this series. This should be the best series of the NBA Playoffs, as both teams are extremely talented, can score the ball, and play hard. The Spurs experience will be the difference maker in this series.