NBA First Round Predictions

There will be four NBA first round series opening games tomorrow. My predictions on those series follows.

Three of the four NBA Eastern Conference teams playing tomorrow have links to basketball great, Michael Jordan. He played for both the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards and is the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. The other team, the two time champion Miami Heat, features today’s most famous player, LeBron James.

Miami should have no problem with Charlotte and will win in five. In the other Eastern Conference series starting tomorrow, Jordan’s main team as a player, the Bulls (6 NBA titles, all with Jordan) in six games vs his “bogus return to basketball” team, the Wizards.

In the Western Conference, the top ranked San Antonio Spurs are hoping to win a fifth title, all since 1999, and first since 2007. Their first round opponent, fellow Texas team, the Dallas Mavericks, have won one NBA title, but it is the more recent one, having won it in 2011. The Spurs to win this series in 5 games.

The other series matches the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. Slight apologies, but the Rockets make it 8 of 8 favorites that I picked, say in six games.