2012 NBA Playoffs Start Toady

Today, the National Basketball Association playoffs begin and every series looks to be competitive and interesting, even those pairing up the disparate #1 and #8 seeds.  It’s sad that everyone acts as if they are somehow entitled to play for and win the NBA championship, which is actually a very high honor.  Not to attain it and whine about it is tantamount to poor sportsmanship, in my opinion.  Still, you keep hearing about all these players in mid- or late-career supposedly concerned that they won’t win one.  Boo, hoo…

As I did for the “Sweet Sixteen” college teams during the NCAA Division One championship tournament, I am taking the NBA’s “sweet sixteen” and ranking them by how I like them.  This time, though, I believe that the seeding is more accurately reflective of each team’s prospects for advancing.  So instead, following each personal preference entry I will include that team’s seeding within their conference, followed by that conference (e for East, w for West).  Here goes…

1-San Antonio Spurs  [1w] 

2-Dallas Mavericks [7w] 

3-Boston Celtics [4e] 

4-Chicago Bulls [1e] 

5-Miami Heat [2e] 

6-Orlando Magic [6e] 

7-Los Angeles Clippers [5w] 

8-Atlanta Hawks [5e] 

9-New York Knicks [7e] 

10-Denver Nuggets [6w] 

11-Utah Jazz [7w] 

12-Memphis Grizzlies [4w] 

13-Philadelphia 76ers [8e] 

14-Indiana Pacers [3e] 

15-Oklahoma City Thunder [2w] 

16 Los Angeles Lakers [3w]

Now just because I have a team relatively lower in my preference list (eg Indiana), that doesn’t mean that I dislike it.  I just happen to like others more.  The only exceptions are Oklahoma City and the Lakers (especially the Lakers)…