SpicyTricks

Eastern Conference:
It’s official, there are only 3 teams remaining in the Eastern Conference, 1 of which are already in the Conference Finals.  The defending-champion, Miami Heat, knocked-off the #5 seed Chicago Bulls Wednesday night by a score of 94-91.  Despite the Bulls being up by 7 at the start of the final period, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew how to get the job done, and said, “We know what we’re doing wrong, now let’s just see if we can go out there and fix it.”  Tthey did, coming out with the win by 3. Four time MVP LeBron James led the Heat to the win, leading their team in points, rebounds, and assists, as well as coming up just a couple rebounds and assists short of his ninth career playoff triple-double.

The Heat will most likely take on the #3 seed Indianapolis Pacers in the Conference Finals, as they are leading the Knicks 3-1 in the Conference Semifinals.  Game 5 of this matchup will be Thursday night at 8pm at Madison Square Garden.  Perhaps Spike Lee’s appearance will motivate them to put together a quick 3-game win streak to put them in the Conference Finals.  TNT NBA analyst (and former Pacer) Reggie Miller says that if the Knicks can find their offense and rebound well, they’ll be right back in the series, and perhaps force a game 6, and maybe even a game 7 at the Garden.  Knicks guard J.R. Smith and super star forward Carmelo Anthony combined to shoot 16-45 in Game 4, leaving a lot of room for improvement, hopefully some improvement that can be put together very soon, before their season comes to a close.  The Knicks were also out rebounded in games 1, 3, and 4, as that has also been an important factor on their losses.  Extra shots in a possession are vital, especially in win-or-go-home playoff games, so yet again, let’s hope the Knicks can crash the boards in game 5 to try to keep their season alive.

Western Conference:
Much like the Eastern Conference, the West has only three teams left, due to the fact that the Memphis Grizzlies did what many people believed only the Miami Heat could do at the beginning of the playoffs; beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. This opinion changed after the Thunder lost star point guard Russell Westbrook, who injured his knee only two games into the postseason. After losing game one against the Thunder, the Grizzlies responded by winning four straight and knocking out an undermanned Oklahoma City team, who was lead by the second place finisher in MVP voting, Kevin Durant.

Durant, who averaged 28.1 points in the regular season, said, “"I gave it all I had for my team. I left it all out there on the floor, I missed 16 shots, but I kept fighting, I kept being aggressive. That's all I can ask for."

The Grizzlies were lead by big man Zach Randolph, who was a major factor in sending Memphis to their first conference final. Randolph, talking about the achievement said "This is the first time, so it definitely means a lot. I'm happy, but we've still got work to do, I want to win a ring."

The Grizzlies next opponent isn't as easily predictable as the Heat’s, due to the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors being in a close series. The Spurs currently lead the series 3 games to 2, but game 6 will be played in Oracle Arena where the Warriors have been great this season. The Warriors are lead by young duo Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who are often referred to as the "Super Splash Brothers" for their ability to make any shot they take. The pair was on fire in the first two games but have since slowed down due in large part to the defense by Spurs guard Danny Green. Since then, the slack has been picked up by rookie Harrison Barnes who has had 4 games of 20 points or more during the postseason which is astounding considering he is only 20 years old. The Spurs are led by their star veteran trio of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili. Parker, who battled injuries throughout the season, has been on fire and has hit many big shots late in games. Duncan, who is 17 years older than the Warriors Barnes, has helped a small San Antonio team from being dominated on the glass and has also been scoring around 20 points a game in this series. Ginobili hit the biggest shot of the postseason so far, when he made a three pointer with 2 seconds left in game one of the series, when the Spurs were done one in overtime. The Spurs have also gotten great offense from Green and forward Kawhi Leonard. No matter which team wins the series, it should be a great conference final.